What bands do you think put on the best live shows? I think back in the day, when they still had Keith Moon and John Entwistle (R.I.P), The Who could blow any other band off the stage.
Rammstein puts on an awesome show, with the pyrotechnics and all.
I’ve seen At The Drive-In live before they broke up, and they rocked the house. Best band I’ve ever seen in concert.
311 is always garunteed to rock the house. Best show ever IMO. Also I’ve seen the Specials twice (the ‘new’ specials with Neville as the lead singer) and they put on a pretty damn decent show.
U2 always do great shows. Zoo TV was astonishing to watch; very over the top but that was kind of the point and Bono has great charisma
David Bowie can be terrific and the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix were great in their day.
Talking Heads were wildly creative at their peak too
The second-best show I’ve ever seen (and the best show by a band) was the Helmet show I saw in Houston in (I think) 1993. 800 people crammed into a small space listening to razor-sharp heavy rock. It was awesome.
If an actual band is not a prerequisite, the best show I ever saw was the Rory Block show in Missoula this spring. It was in a small club, and I was 15 feet away from her. She’s so intense; it was otherwordly. Just her and her guitar (and, for a couple of songs, no guitar either). Totally excellent.
Neither of these shows had much to offer in the way of…um…multimedia. Just stripped-down performances, which happens to be the way I like it. Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with Rammstein, but I like my concerts to be all about the music. Just my personal taste.
Jean Michael Jarre
Pink Floyd, obviously…you got your lasers, you got your lights, you got your giant exploding mirror ball, you got your enormous inflatable pigs that breathe fire. How can you top that?
They Might Be Giants put on some really fun concerts, in part because their fans tend to be fun people. They fired a cannon containing shredded money into the crowd during “Polk”. And it remains the only concert I’ve ever been to where a conga line spontaneously broke out.
Two concerts that really stick out in my mind are -
Pearl Jam - RDS, Dublin - Small room, 1000 people, mad intensity.
Radiohead - Strathclyde Uni (Before they were famous). Same.
Pink Floyd have a great show, but its a fully different experience. You sit down, sit back and enjoy. It’s not the fully interactive, pogoing crowd experience of other rock concerts.
But for pure money’s worth, I think I would still go with U2 on this one. The effect, the screens, the glamour…they can still rock the house.
The time I saw Pink Floyd, they were amazing, but that was before they started using props (Meddle had just come out).
Sha Na Na was tops for pure enjoyment.
Loudon Wainwright III was the best one-person act I’ve seen. Just him and his guitar was plenty.
The J. Geils Band was also terrific. They are first on the list of groups that were much better live than recorded.
BTW, none of these had fancy light shows. Just great music played by first class and charismatic musicians. You don’t need anything more.
The good ol’ Grateful Dead. God bless 'em. 
Tool has to be one of the best live bands out there at the moment. Rock hard, razor sharp, very intense.
Although I’ve never seen the live, I’ve been hearing good things about Rush’s capabilities to put on a show. 
Personally, I think The Tea Party is a fantastic live band. Eclectic array of string instruments, charismatic singer, great drummer, fantastic songs - and they always play small venues.
Now, I’m a big Pink Floyd fan, but all that stadium-oriented Volkswagen-sponsored mega-crap just doesn’t do it for me. The last time I saw a stadium concert was Dire Straits in 1992 (another good live band, although technique beats enthousiasm here), at Rotterdam’s Feyenoord stadium. I was all the way in the back, and the music came and went with the wind. It was awful.
A few other great live bands: Queensryche (especialy back in the Mindcrime days), Marillion (if they’re smart enough to plug their guitars in, I don’t care for their more recent acoustic renditions, ugh), Fates Warning (talk about stage presence!), and Dream Theater (again, more technique than enthousiasm, but MAN, are they good).
I guess the best concert I’ve ever seen is still the one Peter Gabriel did at the Forest Hills tennis stadium, back around 1983… I guess it was the “Security” tour.
A lot of great songs, superbly performed, a lot of fun choreography and interaction among Gabriel and his musicians (especially the great Tony Levin).
The best live experiences I’ve had are:
Styx (amazing live, full of energy)
Night Ranger
Journey
Def Leppard
Rush
Bryan Adams
Sammy Hagar
Rik Emmett
Rick Springfield
The worst: Jefferson Starship a few years back without Grace Slick or Micky whatshisname. People were heckling and booing them, it was actually kinda sad.
**MaxTorque—**Definitely They Might Be Giants put on the best shows. They’re playing locally next month. I’m so happy I’ve taken the whole day off from work just to celebrate. My favorite venue to see them was the Bowery Ballroom in New York. They do a version of Exquisite Dead Guy in that place that’ll knock your socks off. I’ve seen They Might Be Giants live more than any other band, even more than…
…Jefferson Starship. Dr. Righteous, I think enjoying a Jefferson Starship concert would have been much easier twenty-five years ago. Nowadays, it takes a little savvy. I’ve seen them several times. Allow me to give you some tips on how to enjoy a Jefferson Starship concert…
Coldfire already threw it out there, but I feel obligated to post as a loyal fan…
Dream Theater and Tool are both unbelievable live.
Oh yeah, Steve Vai (guess which instrument I play) emotes like nobody’s business. He can bring the crowd to its feet with a raise of his eyebrow.
Beating mouthbreather to the punch…
Jesus Lizard
But the lifetime achievement award still has to go to Tom Waits.
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. Incredible show. Mr. Springsteen is the most “into it” performer I’ve ever seen.
The first two Rush concerts I saw were awesome, the last one, Presto, was uninspired.
Black Crowes first and second album tours; third was very very bad.
And a long time ago, Iron Maiden.
Living Colour was freaking awesome live. Best rock concert I ever saw. Technically they were incredible, and they had the crowd in the palm of their hands.
Dream Theatre were great technically, but seemed to lack any emotional connection with the crowd, which makes them not such a great concert band IMO.
Say what you will about Metallica being money grubbing bastards, but live they are still great, they make you feel like your in the front row, even when your in the opposite endzone at a stadium show.
One more band I have to mention is Hatebreed. I saw them Saturday, and they took the energy of a small hardcore show in a club and brought it to a new level, getting a huge reaction at Ozzfest.
A couple of '74 Who shows rate high, but a set by Cactus in Charleston, SC, in 1971 put a part in my hair. One of the most real and moving exhibitions of hard rock I’ve ever seen.
abm
Hendrix at the Electric Factory in February of '68 was really eye-opening. A couple years later, he was a bit of a disappointment.
Little Feat at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr around '74 was awesome. They played for a couple hours, came back did an encore for about a half hour, came back did another encore for about a half hour, then came back and said, “Hell, we’re feeling good, you don’t mind if we just jam for a while do ya?” They played for about another hour. Got out of there about 3 that morning.
Springsteen and the E Street Band in their prime when they were doing 4 hour shows would send you home drained.
The absolute tightest band I ever saw was The Band in '72. They were phenomenal! They were so tight, you could not focus on any one individual, you were forced to regard them as a whole unit.
Currently though, I went to see The Who a couple weeks ago, mostly out of curiousity. But they played with such intensity and power that they could have blown anyone off the stage. They are definitely not ready for the nostalgia circuit!