# Which Bands are Better Live? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231 "2012-01-21T18:24:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/41 "2012-01-23T15:36:25Z")
Pearl Jam is one of the premier touring bands… they play a different set every show, and play anything from rarities to hits to covers… by far my favorite live band (although I also like them on studio records) ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/42 "2012-01-23T15:56:49Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crowns… hardly anyone (besides me) owns any of their albums, but I’ve never seen anyone disappointed with their live shows. Oooh, good call. Their albums are perfectly fine, and great for blasting at a party, but not exactly something you listen to on headphones to pick up the subtle points. On stage though, Joe just rears back and throws fastballs all night long. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/43 "2012-01-23T17:02:05Z")
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club. It’s not that the studio recordings are bad, you understand; it’s that the live shows are something like a religious experience (in the tent revival sense). And Slim and Munly have no problem climbing down off the stage and getting right into the middle of the crowd–hell, at the first show I went to, Munly practically sat in some guy’s lap. They are not, on any account, to be missed. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/44 "2012-01-23T17:11:10Z")
> [@Cumbrian](#): > > My Morning Jacket, imo. I like them fine enough on record but their live shows are excellent - it’s perfectly possible that their best album is Okonokos, their double. Just what I was coming to post. They have never made a studio record that matches their enormous live energy, and _Okonokos_ is by far the best place to start with them. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/45 "2012-01-23T17:11:51Z")
Kiss. I’m not kidding. Their live shows are pumped full of energy and testosterone, with explosions, and fire, and blood. The best live band ever! ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/46 "2012-01-23T17:13:38Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Also, XTC put on one of the best and most fun shows I’ve ever seen. Well, sadly, we’re not going to see those again after Andy Partridge’s mid-set mental breakdown in 1982 (30 years ago…wow, that long ago?) That reminds me of a Canadian band called Suckerpunch–not the American band with the similar name, this was a surf-punk band from Toronto who managed to work in a reference to oral sex in every song. The show I saw of theirs at the El Mocambo on Spadina Street is still I think the best show I’ve ever seen…just raw and shaking and explosive and almost scarily intense. Of course I had to go out and get their album, and it was a pale shadow of the show. A couple of months later the band just kind of disappeared. A few years later a friend of mine went to another club in TO, and ran into their lead singer tending bar there. They struck up a conversation and the singer readily admitted that a few shows later he’d hit a big patch of stage fright, and they’d decided to pack it in. That show at the El Mocambo where it looked like he had the whole audience in his hand? He was stoned off his mind. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/47 "2012-01-23T17:29:02Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > Foo Fighters. > > They are having a lot of fun out there, and it’s contagious. > > Bonus was they are a little harder live, not quite so pop. I love FF no matter the situation, but my husband was not sold on them until I dragged him to a show. They did an acoustic tour in '05(?) that was awesome. We were lucky enough to get third row seats for it at the Tower in Philly. I bought tickets for the last tour, but I was in China the day they came to Philly and had to sell my tickets. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/48 "2012-01-23T17:48:09Z")
Richard Thompson is outstanding live, whether solo acoustic, or electric w/ a band. ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/49 "2012-01-23T18:36:41Z")
Keb Mo and just about any other blues artist I’ve seen have been better live. I’m singling him out because he had one of the best live performances I’ve ever been to. (Granted, I do not go to a ton of live music.) I recently saw Carolyn Wonderland and she reminded just how much better blues can be when it’s live. ---
**Author:** ![moveover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@moveover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moveover)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/50 "2012-01-24T00:35:48Z")
Yeah, Elvis Costello. What happened to him? His early records were insanely good. I saw him at the Filmore East when he first came over. Just solid, original, diamond-hard rock and roll. But later on he started taking himself way too seriously. He’s also way too in love with his voice, which actually is kind of annoying. He mixes his voice much too prominently on his records and live. His latest CD of a couple of years ago is unlistenable IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/51 "2012-01-24T03:30:53Z")
Daft Punk ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/52 "2012-01-24T03:34:24Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Well, sadly, we’re not going to see those again after Andy Partridge’s mid-set mental breakdown in 1982 (30 years ago…wow, that long ago?) I was waiting to see them at the Hollywood Palladiun soon after that. No shows :(. Had no idea (at the time) about the breakdown. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/53 "2012-01-24T15:28:10Z")
> [@moveover](#): > > Yeah, Elvis Costello. What happened to him? His early records were insanely good. I saw him at the Filmore East when he first came over. Just solid, original, diamond-hard rock and roll. > But later on he started taking himself way too seriously. He’s also way too in love with his voice, which actually is kind of annoying. He mixes his voice much too prominently on his records and live. His latest CD of a couple of years ago is unlistenable IMO. Agreed, on all counts. I saw him just after he released “This Year’s Model,” and that remains one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen (didn’t hurt that the opening act was Rockpile). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231/54 "2012-01-28T14:59:47Z")
The first time I saw Costello was a bit meh, but wasn’t that bad. The second time, the only problem I had was that he played nearly the exact same set (and the first one consisted mainly of hits and obscure ones I hadn’t heard of, not obscure ones I _had_ heard of ;)) But his energy was great in the second show. It was ironic because he had just gotten out of throat surgery so he didn’t talk to the crowd a lot. So there weren’t any breaks between songs (to preserve his voice I assume). And by no breaks, I mean they usually went directly from the drums at the end right into the next song. And when Elvis needed a new guitar he held it up as the drummer was finishing his business, and a roadie came in and changed his guitar, and then Elvis immediately started to pound out the next tune. It was pretty sweet. If he did that _all_ the time, and changed up his sets a bit, I would have said he’s _better_ live, not worse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-bands-are-better-live/610231.md?page=2)