Best live music performances

[TechnoForce]

I have seen a ton of bands live from relatively unknown ones to some of the heaviest of hitters as we have a lot of great music festivals in England and I was wondering what some of the best live performances people have seen were and why

I think mine are (in no particular order)

Iron Maiden - Bruce Dickinson's on stage energy was just amazing. He ran more on that stage in a few hours than I do in a week!
Rammstein - The pyro was just amazing. When they kicked in I felt a wall of heat like I have never felt before. I was dripping in sweat in seconds
Tenacious D - Just hilarious. It was a comedy show and a rock concert in one. Jack Black is great with improv too
Flogging Molly - Just gave the audience such a good atmosphere. They were really down to earth and just great to watch
Alice Cooper - Such a mad show. I was just taken in by the whole spectacle

More will come to me in time im sure!

[King Caesar]

Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit): Kurt was asked to pretend like he and the band were actually playing and he would just sing. Instead, Nirvana went crazy, making ridiculous moves and singing extremely deep, which was incredibly amusing to watch.

Van Halen: My one concert was just...wow. There wasn't a song I didn't like, and David Lee Roth still had a ton of energy. Maybe not as much as in the 80's, but he still has it.

[Gojisan866]

Anthrax: I may not have been down in the pit, but goddamn, it was still awesome. I lost my voice singing to every song (except Efilnikufesin, 'cause at the time I didn't know the lyrics quite yet). It was on 11/11/11, National Metal Day, and they started the intro to I'm the Man. I got REALLY excited when they did, 'cause I had asked Scott Ian on Twitter if there was a chance of them playing it when they came here. Again, it was just the intro. After that they did a cover of Refuse/Resist by Sepultura.

'Twas my first metal show ever.

A few months later, I saw Megadeth and Motörhead on Gigantour. As amazing as seeing Motörhead was, I still think Anthrax was the better show.

[TechnoForce]

I would love to see Motorhead live but I have seen Anthrax live and I WAS in the pits it was freaking awesome! Indians and Anti Social rocked!

[Gojisan866]

Yeah, I was dying to hear them play Antisocial, and when they finally did, I was so happy. During Indians, Scott stopped the song right before the "war dance" section and told everyone, no matter how old they were, to be bangin' their heads.

[tymon]

Fair to Midland - 2005
Opeth - 2008. My all-time favorite band headlining with a near perfect set? Yeah, this was epic.
Between the Buried and Me - 2008 (I'm not a fan at all, but goddamn they played well..)
3 - 2008. Holy. skreeonk. Shit. Their album is mediocre at best (IMO) but those songs really come to life in a live setting, and the musicianship is superb. (Note that Opeth, BTBAM and 3 were all at the same show in Spokane. I then got to see all three bands again in Calgary two days later, this time with Dream Theater headlining)
Cynic - 2009
Animals As Leaders - 2010
Alice in Chains - 2010

I've seen a lot of live bands, but these were definitely the tightest and most well performed out of the bunch.

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

Haven't seen too many, but my best concert was L'arc en Ciel at Madison Square Garden. I got free tickets from my Japanese teacher, and me and a couple of my friends went together. Even though I wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, I really enjoyed the music. j-Rock is not so bad after all.

I also saw Smokey Robinson in an outdoor concert at Coney Island a few years ago, but all I remember was how he sang My Girl three times in a row.

[goji1986]

This one's a toughie...

Rage Against the Machine at Rock the Bells in 2007 had one of the most intense crowds I've EVER been in. 30,000 people all going nuts at the opening of Testify!

Anthrax and Metallica at The Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium...Anthrax because their energy was so high (it was a "homecoming" gig for them, having started in the Bronx) and you could tell they were just having fun. Metallica because they knocked it out of the park. It was my 3rd 'Tallica show but the first time I'd heard them play Fade to Black, Sanitarium, and....ORION!!

Jonathan Davis's Alone I Play tour was an incredible experience. I'd seen Korn twice before but in nosebleed seats at large arenas. This was in a small club, I was up close, and I could hear JD singing his heart out. He has an amazing voice. Plus for an acoustic show, it was extremely heavy.

And finally, I just saw Mr. Party Hard himself Andrew WK 2 weeks ago and it was easily one of the most fun shows ever. Anyone and everyone was welcome to hop onstage and rock out with the band. And who knew that song after song about partying would not get tiring in a live setting??

[TechnoForce]

I would love to see WK. I doubt he will come to any of the big music festivals over here in England though which is a shame. Its hard to see all the good bands because they so rarley perform for us!

[Wolf Bird]

I just saw Sabaton a few weeks ago on their first headlining tour through the U.S. I wasn't in the pit (not the place for a small girl on crutches!) but instead up on a balcony in the venue. I had an awesome view. And what a show! Those guys have a ton of energy, and Joakim was truly funny when he spoke to the audience between songs. Plus, all the members wore camouflage pants and Joakim had on a shirt that resembled body armor.

Also, Ghost Division is the best concert opener ever.

[GojiFan]

The best live performance I have seen was Linkin Park. Love them or hate them, one can not deny they put on an amazing show at their performances. They sound really damn good too. Some others that were really good are Godsmack, Seether, and Three Days Grace.

[GodzillaDude]

I didn't see this in person but I still consider this to be the best live performance I have ever seen! Which is Evanescence performing "My Immortal" at Rock in Rio 2011!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUTc3Os5bcw

[UltramanGoji]

Back in 2010, I attended the Roger Waters "The Wall Live" concert at HSBC Arena. It was a truly amazing experience with amazing vocals and especially, the Wall itself.

Definitely my favorite live performance I've been to.

[Gojira-Fan]

I haven't been too many live concerts.

However, I did see Alice in Chains in Portland, ME in 2010. That was awesome. Duvall was a better vocalist than Layne live. It doesn't hurt that they are one of my favorite bands as well.

[wrongnote85]

metallica in 04
megadeth in 05
dream theater in 05
van halen in 07

[goji1986]

Gotta add Orion to this list now.

Saw at least a dozen bands and acts, all of varying musical genres, as well as Metallica 2 nights in a row.

They played Ride the Lightning in its entirety, which included the live premiere of Escape as well as my first time hearing Call of Chtulu and Trapped Under Ice live.

The second night was The Black Album, which sounded just incredible. All in all, over those 2 shows I heard around 10 songs live for the first time.

Well worth the $125 price, and if it happens next year I will definitely be going.

[wrongnote85]

Gotta add Orion to this list now.

Saw at least a dozen bands and acts, all of varying musical genres, as well as Metallica 2 nights in a row.

They played Ride the Lightning in its entirety, which included the live premiere of Escape as well as my first time hearing Call of Chtulu and Trapped Under Ice live.

The second night was The Black Album, which sounded just incredible. All in all, over those 2 shows I heard around 10 songs live for the first time.

Well worth the $125 price, and if it happens next year I will definitely be going.

very nice! i love escape, it's always been the odd man out from that album, but it's still a killer tune. i've got a guitar cover of it on my youtube page, check out the link in my sig.

[eabaker]

The Pixies in '04 were absolutely on fire. There was an incredible vibrancy to the performance, and they played a really, really long set, as if they were regarding the audience for waiting nearly a decade and a half between shows. The whole performance moved gradually from slower songs to fast, a point highlighted by their opening with a slow version of "Wave of Mutilation" and ending with a fast version of the same song. Also caught them a few years later, when they were doing a tour where they played the full album of Doolittle, and that was a less grandiose and bombastic, more relaxed, playful performance, and it was pretty fantastic as well.

The Raveonettes always put on a good show. While it wasn't the best set I ever saw them play, catching them at The Troubadour in West Hollywood about a year and a half ago was awesome, because it's such a small, intimate venue. Also, it was shortly after the release of an album I hadn't really cared for, but hearing the songs performed live really brought me around to a lot of them.

I've long since lost count of the number of times I've seen They Might Be Giants live. Again, the best experiences were at the smallest venues, like the House of Blues, Boston. Their rapport with their audience is so good, and the show so driven by the character of the musicians, that in a small venue the quirky comedy really plays and the smattering of sudden emotional moments are really driven home.

[King Caesar]

Aded Pat Benatar and Boston to my list. The latter toured with Kansas, the former with Loverboy and Journey. Why did they not make the cut for great concerts? Loverboy, being the opener for PB & J (lmao), played five songs and for out of there. The singer didn't move around much and I felt kinda bored watching them. Journey played some of their good stuff, but the guitar shredding got old and the renindition of Star Spangled Banner was average at best. Kansas did a great job in instrumentals, but the vocals were a bit of a struggle. They were pretty decent though.