Easy., Queen. I have to admit there are a lot of others. Dead, Allman Brothers, Zappa, Zeppelin, Bob Marley. I've seen a ton but Queen ruled them all on stage
is this the greatest live band of all time?
l know everybody has there own opinion however you be the judge?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyEbr6HvWy0
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Duds - T-Rex: couldn’t play live if their lives depended on it (who is that stupid little git struggling with the mike trying to sing?). The Ramones circa ‘89 going through the motions with about as much enthusiasm as a nun at a rave (although our over-zealous local narcotics law enforcement agency may have had a hand in the outcome]. Chuck Berry circa ‘85 - well his ding a ling wasn’t on fire, that’s for sure. Seems that I’m Chuck Berry‘ is all he needed to say and do, because the crowd cheered anything he did no matter how half arsed it was. It ended up more like a dreary family sing a long than a performance. |
I have seen very few live rock concerts, but in my youth I was dragged by my friends to see a band I had never heard of, King Crimson. That was a concert! (1970, original line-up for COTCK). Soon after that I saw Jethro Tull, and that was a close second. Saw Chuck Berry about 12 years ago at a local outdoor festival - lots of energy but oddly enough I don't remember much about the music. Wanted to see the original Who, but it never happened, but my hearing thanks me. |
Keeping this "short" Fleetwood Mac 75: first tour with Stevie. Return to Forever: Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Al Dimeleola, Chick Corea. PInned in my seat by these all stars. Perfect sound in 3000 seat venue Police 79: Bass that hurt you Yes: In the Round Roger Waters: Wall Tool: Lateralus. Best Sound EVER. I sat behind the mixing boards. |
Quit it already with the "Best" polls and lists. Especially in Music there is no "Best". These "Best" polls are nothing more for fodder from individuals who either do not play an instrument....are a critic professionally.......circling back to players.....have the wrong approach to actuallly playing and listening.....musicians true ones simply dont pay attention to "Best" opinions.....there is not an answer to it.... and of you subscribe to this thought you are stupid. |
Some fab bands here 1/ Beatles, that ability to write so many different, complex sounds. Penny Lane as it’s so descriptive and truly evocative of their early life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-rB0pHI9fU 2/ Beachboys, you try to harmonise. Good vibrations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdt0SOqPJcg 3/ ABBA , those guys worked those girls in so many ways. Let’s go for where it all began, in 1974 Eurovision with Waterloo. |
Good one, @iloveromy! I saw both versions, with Cooder in the Little Village group (with Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner) on a sound stage in Burbank, the version with Landreth at The Roxy Theater on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. The above and the following are impossible to rate as absolute "best", but all great: The Dave Edmunds Band at a big club in NYC (the name of which I don’t recall) in 1982. 100% high-octane rocket fuel Rock ’n’ Roll! Not far behind, NRBQ at The Roxy Theater in Hollywood, a couple of times. The most "fun" live band I’ve ever seen. Marshall Crenshaw at The Peppermint Lounge in NYC, 1982. Graham Maby (from Joe Jackson’s band) on Fender 6-string bass, 4-part harmonies! Rockpile at The Country Club in Reseda, CA, 1980. All American Rock ’n’ Roll at it’s finest, ironic considering all the members are from the UK. The Band at The Berkeley Community Theater, 1969. The finest live music making I’ve ever heard, on the level of a Jazz band. The Beat (U.S., not U.K.) at The Whiskey, the best Power Pop band I saw and heard live, including The Who. The Electric Flag at The Santa Clara County Folk-Rock Festival in 1968. Mike Bloomfield on guitar, the mighty Buddy Miles on drums (who made Keith Moon look like a wimp ;-), four saxes---two baritone, two bass! For singer/songwriters, the sublime Iris Dement, at The Troubadour in Santa Monica and The Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR. I want her music played at my funeral. ;-) Leonard Cohen’s live show was the "grandest" I’ve ever seen, pure class. By the way @allexandar, I saw The Beatles at The Cow Palace (S. San Francisco) in ’65, and they weren’t very good live. Honest! Better than The Stones, though, who absolutely reeked. The most over-rated band in the entire history of Rock ’n’ Roll! |
This isn’t really fair. To determine the best live band of all time you need to consider the live bands of the fourth century, The time of Jesus, and 600 BC. There are not many old hipsters left who saw the best bands from when Jesus was around. (*I just hate the phrase “of all time.” Meaningless bloviation if you ask me.) |
No argument with The Who, Floyd, the Stones on this list; amazing bands that had to be experienced live. But like Moon, Bonham with Zeppelin...and Pearl with Rush...have to be included amongst the greatest drummers of all time, and mesmerized their fans. And Queen’s performance at Live Aid will always be considered amongst the best. |
No. This is the GREATEST band of all time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=416o9b_pjQk Made hunkering in your fallout shelter a pleasure! |
Please remember that Michael Jackson bought the rights to he Beatles catalogue in order to suppress the distribution o further hi sown career. IMHO.I never owned a Beatles album, but just bought Abby Road at a flea market. It is a terrible recording. Pop music is the worst homogenater of musical taste, surpassing country, because at least country musicians tells stories about their audience. I Am The Walrus! Please! |
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus (Live At The Rainbow 4th June 1977 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43cfPgZ8cU8 |
There are many great concerts mentioned and good choices. I saw the Beatles at Shea in 65. Couldn't hear them very well with all of the screaming girls, but as an 11 year old kid it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I was sitting in the fourth box behind home plate with my friend, his parents and his older sister. Could not have been in better seats, except for the three boxes in front of us. It was crazy. Teenage girls were climbing over me to go on to the field. the police were carrying girls two at a time, one under each arm to remove them from the field. |
I'm a 67 years old guy and pretty much I've seem live so many bands, from the big, big names to run of the mill, etc. Last time I went to a concert was 10 years ago to take my daughter (13 at the time to see a band that I never heard of but she was almost in tears 'cause she thought I wouldn't let her go see them. So I took her to "Revolution Live" in Fort Lauderdale to see the concert. The name of the band was "Escape the fate ". All I'm going to say is that no matter how many fantastic concerts I saw in my youth, and thereafter; Escape the fate was so energetic, raw, and emotional that I thought I was reliving the emotions of surprise, and the youthful feelings that I experienced when as a teen/young adult at the time the British invasion took over. Yeah, that concert was that good. You could actually dance the night away. I can only remember one other time that I was so shocked at a concert: I went to see Black Sabbath at the Spectrum in Philly. I didn't even realized that there was an opening act, by the time they were done I had completely forgotten about Black Sabbath. At the end of the concert I asked Mike my buddy I went with to the concert who those guys that opened for Black Sabbath were, he said: VAN HALEN. That was the first time I ever heard or saw them. They just had come out with their first album. Men let me tell you after Van Helen got into it I couldn't care less if Black Sabbath was going to play. |
Bill Graham did a great thing in his San Francisco Fillmore Auditorium: he brought in many of the old blues guys that guitarists like Clapton, SRV, Peter Green, and Mike Bloomfield were copying. Seeing Albert King live really changed my perspective. In the mid-80's I was fortunate enough to see Big Joe Turner backed by The Blasters in a small club in L.A. I wouldn't even consider trading that night of music for the two times I saw Hendrix, and Cream. I sure wish I had been able to catch Howlin' Wolf live, though. |
Hey all, Interesting video. Kinda reminds me of some concerts from the early seventies after appropriate preparation... Having seen him many times I'd go with Rory Gallagher for most energy, although J Geils was close - at a local high school no less, and Humble Pie whose Rockin' the Fillmore pretty much duplicates the show I saw. Someone else mentioned (sorry, I can't see the name from here) and I missed, so I've kicked myself for decades - Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in BERLIN. |
No one can pick a “greatest” because every person has their own opinion of what the greatest live band is. Each great band had their moments of greatness in concert. I saw Yes in 73 and they were absolutely great, but the Yessongs album which was taken from several tour stops was their Masterpiece. I love that album. And they had many other Live performances that could never measure up to what they achieved those nights when Yessongs were being taped. How about Chicago Live at Carnegie Hall- one of the best live rock performances ever. But did everything ever come together in other live shows they performed like it did when they recorded at Carnegie Hall? I don’t know. I was at a Pink Floyd Concert during their Momentary Lapse of Reason tour and it was the best outdoor concert sonically I ever heard. The whole area was thundering and rumbling yet with great clarity. Many great live bands were mentioned in the thread. Greatest live band is impossible to say. |
In person the Tubes in their heyday were quite something. Now a lot of how we perceive a show does depend on us, not on the show itself. I remember seeing Todd Rungren once and being bored out of my mind. Man he was sleepy time. The crowd loved it though. They were jumping around and stomping their feet, clapping their hands, all that type of thing. Was it me? Was it that the real Todd fans loved him so much that they didn't care? I really don't know. I remember Led Zepplin putting on one of the absolutely worst shows that I have ever seen, Kezar Stadium 1973 or so, 3+ hours late, Jimmy Page constantly screaming off key at the wrong time, miserable show. My friends though knew that the Zeps could do no wrong so they loved it. Go figure. Then again, there was the time I saw the Bay City Rollers. Yes, I did. It's a long story. They couldn't play their instruments at all. Really lame. All the prepubescent gals in their tartans were in rapture. The joy in their faces when they streamed out of the show to their waiting Mommies was obvious. It most definitely was a terrific show for the audience. Who am I to disagree? After all, the Ramones loved the Bay City Rollers and I thought enough of them to see the early Ramones at least 15 times. On another front, bands have nights when they're hot and nights when they're not. Many times I saw the Dead burn like fire. Many times I saw them smell like something else. I remember Pete Townshend apologizing because the previous show they had in San Francisco was so regrettable. That was the show at the Cow Palace where Moon was carried off halfway through. Pete apologized for the show but I thought it was easily the best show I'd see them do. The Sex Pistols in their last show, the Winterland thing, could not play their instruments at all. They were always ducking thrown objects as well. Musically ragged and disjointed. Great show though? Hell yeah. As has been noted by many, there are no absolutes here. What's important? Musical expertise or showmanship? Audience buy-in or your personal state of mind? I could list a bunch of names, as could most of you, but really, you had to be there. |
Prince, Little Feat, Rory Gallagher(Irish Tour if you never heard him live), Midnight Oil, AC DC(Rock Goes to College), Split Enz (more antipodean greats)and never having seen them live The Bands Last Waltz really commits great live performance to film as does the German Little Feat performance.No Dylan mentions but some things are accepted without saying.Greatest is an impossible ask but its nice to stir memories and share. |
