Musicians That are Better Live than on Album

[USMarine75]

I'm sure we all have are favorite band or artist that sounds as good or better live than they do on album. (This was inspired by the Adele is always flat thread lol)

My vote is either of these...

1. Dio just nails this song... everything but the solo is as good or better live.


2. Almost anything Mr Big live is perfection. Eric Martin has perfect pitch and Tony Iommi could count the number of bad/off notes Eric has sung in his career on one hand... and he doesn't age either. The mix is always spot on and PG is a perfectionist as well. Hard to pick just one song but here...



3. Since this is a guitar forum... SRV's live tone was even better than on album. Never mind his live playing... dude was known for being even better live.




Honorable mentions outside of typical SSO leanings... Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, and Brad Paisley!

 

[Splenetic]

Thin Lizzy. Amazing in studio, but the live cuts are just next level shit.

Not the whole discography... but I straight up like Pink Floyd's live version of The Wall more than the studio album. ("Is there anybody out there?" released in 2000) ....those '80 and '81 performances are impeccable, and it includes expanded parts, how the album was actually intended originally.

 

[marcwormjim]

-Aristocrats

-Covet, pre-backing tracks (when Keith Grimshaw could stretch out and play lead drums)

-CHON, pre-Homie with Drew

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Mastodon. Every time I've seen them live they just tear shit up. Brent had some trouble singing the last time I saw em but other than that, they had a ton of energy.
Scale the Summit. I've seen them live a couple of times and they're super clean players, even live.
Muse. Last time I saw em live was for the Supermassive Black hole tour or whatever but they were awesome. Matt played piano interludes, he traded solos with the bass player some times. Really fun vibe.
St. Vincent- She's way more fun to listen to live.

Lissie- I love her voice and she's a really solid player too. check out her cover of nothing else matters.

 

[Hollowway]

There are probably a number of performances that are better, just because of the energy of the band. But the one I’m always impressed with is Rush. Those 3 dudes sound EXACTLY like the album. Talk about having it dialed in!

 

[Restarted]

There are probably a number of performances that are better, just because of the energy of the band. But the one I’m always impressed with is Rush. Those 3 dudes sound EXACTLY like the album. Talk about having it dialed in!

Came here to say this. They don't just sound amazing live. The energy is crazy, even recently.
I showed my cousin this video and his jaw dropped

 

[Dayn]

Meshuggah.

I got to see them live in Australia in 2017. I didn't know it was possible to play that music live and sound as tight as the album. Not a single note or beat was astray anywhere. They were like machines, but it was still obviously humans playing. And the sound was incredible. Jens's live vocals are a bit different but great.

So it was like listening to the album, but with a live energy. But that's not all.

They kicked off with Clockworks. The light show they had was insane. The light wasn't just in rhythm with the songs - the light added so much to the experience. Not just flashing in rhythm, but the direction of the lights and where they'd swing to depending on the notes obviously had so much passion dedicated to programming them. It became a full audiovisual experience. You heard the music. You felt the music. You saw the music. The quickly oscillating red/blue lights also made the banners on stage appear to glitch out with the music. If you saw the lightshow only, and were familiar with their music, you would know which song the lights were for.

I think that's the first time I can honestly say when you see them live, you don't go to see them play music - you go to see music.

 

[cip 123]

+1 for meshuggah they're just awesome live.

Eric Johnson, great tone, never misses a note

 

[Velokki]

Meshuggah.

I got to see them live in Australia in 2017. I didn't know it was possible to play that music live and sound as tight as the album. Not a single note or beat was astray anywhere. They were like machines, but it was still obviously humans playing. And the sound was incredible. Jens's live vocals are a bit different but great.

So it was like listening to the album, but with a live energy. But that's not all.

They kicked off with Clockworks. The light show they had was insane. The light wasn't just in rhythm with the songs - the light added so much to the experience. Not just flashing in rhythm, but the direction of the lights and where they'd swing to depending on the notes obviously had so much passion dedicated to programming them. It became a full audiovisual experience. You heard the music. You felt the music. You saw the music. The quickly oscillating red/blue lights also made the banners on stage appear to glitch out with the music. If you saw the lightshow only, and were familiar with their music, you would know which song the lights were for.

I think that's the first time I can honestly say when you see them live, you don't go to see them play music - you go to see music.

Totally agreed, saw them at Brixton Academy @ 2013, and I've never been in such a trance-like state at a show. It was hypnotic.

And check this out if you haven't:


Reason why their lights are so awesome!

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Agreed with Meshuggah. I could never get into their studio recordings but as soon as I saw them live they finally clicked with me.

 

[lemeker]

Best live acts I have seen or just sounded better live

AC/DC: Caught them back on Stiff Upper Lip.......next to Floyd the best show I have ever seen live
Rush: Any of the times I've seen them really. The '94 show in Atlanta on the Counterparts tour was awesome. Easily the best 3 piece band.
Pink Floyd: Only one time (well 2 if you count Dave's 2nd set on his On an Island tour, which was all old school Floyd) but what can I say, it's Floyd.
Pantera: The absolute best metal band live ever hands down.
Machine Head: Love these guys live. Their last tour, the whole "evening with", was pretty intense.

 

[efx1138]

Totally agreed, saw them at Brixton Academy @ 2013, and I've never been in such a trance-like state at a show. It was hypnotic.

And check this out if you haven't:


Reason why their lights are so awesome!

Yeah, Meshuggah would be my top as well. Not because there's anything wrong with their studio recordings, far from it but the music gets taken to a whole other level live.

The video is cool but it should be noted that for the last couple of tours the whole rig is pre-programmed light wise. Mårten gave me and a friend a run through of it a couple of years back how it worked, pretty nifty.

 

[oracles]

Another one for Meshuggah, absolutely incredible live experience.

Russian Circles was fucking incredible live as well, with the BEST live bass tone I've ever heard in my life.

 

[KailM]

The three best shows I've ever seen/were better than the albums:

Opeth during the Ghost Reveries tour
The Red Hot Chili Peppers --Californication tour
BB King -- the level of professionalism, his tone, the overall vibe; it was a holy experience.

 

[beerandbeards]

David Lee Roth!


I'll see myself out....

 

[Strobe]

Hopefully I don't get killed for this one.

Back in the early 2000's I saw Creed perform. They were one of several bands at the show, some of which I was more excited to see (Tantric notably). That said, while not expecting to like it, I was super impressed by how much Mark Tremonti could fill out the sound with just one guitar. He just sounded really damn good. This was in his pre-shredder days, but I was not too surprised when he upped his game post-Creed and became a really sick guitar player - he had some serious chops even just doing rhythm stuff.

 

[narad]

Hopefully I don't get killed for this one.

Back in the early 2000's I saw Creed perform. They were one of several bands at the show, some of which I was more excited to see (Tantric notably). That said, while not expecting to like it, I was super impressed by how much Mark Tremonti could fill out the sound with just one guitar. He just sounded really damn good. This was in his pre-shredder days, but I was not too surprised when he upped his game post-Creed and became a really sick guitar player - he had some serious chops even just doing rhythm stuff.

Yea, Creed's great live. Right when I thought they couldn't take me higher, they did.

 

[vilk]

Sunn O)))
Boris
Earth
But that kind of music is like sorta specifically made to be heard extra extra loud, much louder than most people are able to listen to music at home. OMG though, the dude from Earth has literally the funniest voice ever. It's like a Nickelodeon cartoon character.

I love seeing Nile live. Out of all the death metal bands I've seen. Cryptopsy (w/ Lord Worm) is close but watching the dualing guitar solos of Cast Down the Heretic get played perfectly is really neat.


I never saw the band, but Yes' live album Yessongs is IMO the best recordings of any of their 1970s tunes.

 

[wankerness]

Argh, I need to see Meshuggah live. I've been a fan since before Nothing came out, yet I've never gone. They'll probably retire before I do at this rate.

Mastodon strikes me as questionable. I mean, if you're THERE, almost any band with a tiny amount of stage presence and/or energy and/or loud sound is going to seem a ton better live than on album because you're busy being deafened and tossed around. But every recording of them live I've heard has been bad news (primarily that Live at the Aragon DVD).

 

[wankerness]

The three best shows I've ever seen/were better than the albums:

Opeth during the Ghost Reveries tour

I saw this tour. I mean, I loved everything they played and they played it near-flawlessly, but they pretty much just stood there. The only things really added by seeing it live were loud sound and seeing them playing it, and Mikael's weird banter in-between songs.

One time that I saw them live, they had Lacuna Coil with them (they were on the Comalies tour). And I thought they kinda blew everyone else away! I mean, I don't love that album or that band, but they had BY FAR the most polished sound and stage show of the three. They had silly costumes, but they were really into it and seemed like the one group that had actually thought about what they could add live.

(Maybe I just thought Cristina was hot)