Best live music

Dickie Beets half decent on the axe as well

 

Saw Dr Feelgood and Eddie & The Hotrods at the Paddock in Canvey Island in 77, and Queen in 74
The Paddocks is a very tiny venue about 500 at most.

also saw at The Kursaal Southend, another tiny venue but very local - Sensational Alex Harvey band and Quo in 75, Thin Lizzy and Ac/Dc in 77.
Saw Hawkwind in 75 but they was ****.
Deep Purple in 74 were very loud !
Dr Feelgood used to play there on a regular basis so saw them loads as a kid.
The Kursaal had concerts most weeks and I saw so many bands there and it was cheap as **** to get in (pay in the door or buy tickets from local record shop!) and we used to walk home after.
Oh the memories and a real shame when it closed.

 

This one’s for you then @gooner4ever

 

omg that takes me back - that filthy suit the Lee used to wear

it was a right sweat box of a venue and they didn’t waste any money on the decor

 

The novelty 70s band from Southend were called The Kursaal Flyers and when they split the Drummer and Lyricist formed the brilliant Power Pop band, The Records...

 

Live music sounds ****, I much prefer studio recorded digitally remastered music.
Unless it's an orchestra.

 

depends on who’s playing the music. If it’s screaming loud guitars and a singer struggling to be heard over the top of it, then I’d agree.

But some of the best musicians know how to create a dynamic in live music, when to pare it back, when to ramp it up. In live music you get that spontaneity and innovation that can be missing from a polished studio production.

 

It's not so much about the sound but rather the shared experience/euphoria of a live gig with several other human beings. I've never felt the same listening to a record as the pure excitement of a really good live performance but I must admit i've been to few damp squibs.

 

Ive seen The Fall play twice. Once at a student Union gig and they were ****ing awful. Out of tune, out of time, Mark E Smith was pissed and they just gave up and ****ed off after about 4 songs. A massive let down as I’d wanted to see them for years.

Then I went to see them again at Brixton academy and they were on fire. Incredible performance. One of those gigs where it all came together and they were more than the sum of their parts, if you get my drift ?

 

Absolutely, I saw The Pogues at Southampton and Shane was so pissed he could barely stand let alone sing, then I saw them supporting U2 at Wembley and they were excellent.

 

I think the mark of a really good band is how well they play live. A small handful of musicians are absolutely at their best on stage, rather than in the studio. Obviously there isn't the opportunity to edit out mistakes, but that's sort of the point really.

Johnny Thunders, who I saw three times live, all in small venues, is one example of an artist who absolutely came alive onstage. Here he is with the Heartbreakers, whose only album was recently remastered - but hearing it doesn't come close to the live experience...

 

One of the tightest bands I've ever seen are Rockpile...just 4 extremely competent musicians in complete syncopation with each other...

 

I saw the Happy Mondays at Brixton Academy once, and they were an hour and a half late coming onstage, presumably because they were trying to wake Sean Ryder out of a heroin coma. Actually the band were really good that night, but the singer wasn't at the races at all, kept singing the wrong songs, and appeared unable to remember the lyrics he actually wrote.

 

Remember seeing Buddy Rich at Cliff pavilion, Southend, about 1986!

 

tbf with the Pogues you knew it was a lottery unfortunately for me both times i saw them he was barely there .

 

FfS, Only Tel has posted something decent.

I've been to 100s of gigs, usually smaller events. Well just cos i like music. Last one was Stray Cats, down in Brum.

These days there are only 4 big groups, i'd love see.
Metallica.
Slipknot
Ramstein.
AC/DC (but that ain't gonna happen.

 

Those 4 bands you mentioned probably wouldn't have happened without the likes of Led Zep and The Who though.

 

Actually the sound is a defining aspect of live performance.
I have a lot of respect for bands who can reproduce their studio sound
to the letter, live on stage.

Yet for other some bands their live performances are more compelling.
For example :

1. Talking Heads ( "Stop making sense" )

I consider the first four songs in the set to be the definitive versions of the tracks.


2. Bowie (Ziggy, Hammersmith Odeon)

Similar to above (Moonage daydream, Rock and roll suicide etc) .
A general overall rawness in the sound compared to the studio recordings.


3. Kraftwerk (UK, 1981)

This is in the days before tech gets them to the live performances that
Martyn Ware called "watching four middle-aged men checking their emails" .

Twas a big effort for bands such as them to cart around studio kit
on tour then (analog synths in particular were notoriously fragile -
Gary Numan for one hardly ever did live shows with the Polymoog
during his height) .

So you got a different sound for the tracks, sometimes in conjunction with
different renditions (Ohm sweet home is one I particularly remember) .

 

Had the best weekend ever at this gig in Leeds...40 years ago and still seems like yesterday.

 

We fooked off on the Sunday before the headline act came on.

Just sayin