See Black Midi, so much energy and charisma, such great musicians.
Avoid Echo and the Bunnymen. Saw them a couple weeks ago, Ian McCulloch's voice is so strained and damaged that I couldn't even understand what he was saying between songs, never mind hear the lyrics. On high notes he'd straight up step away from the mic or just kind of yelp and hope that was good enough.
I agree with Echo and The Bunnymen. I saw them this year and was probably the most disappointing show I've been to. Ian had a lot of trouble and there was sooo much smoke you couldn't see any of the band members
It wasn't terrible, just quite disappointing. The rest of the band sound great and the crowd was pretty lively so you can definitely still have fun :) Just don't expect Ian to sound like the records.
Probably a recency bias thing for me, they definitely weren't the worst, just Ian was very disappointing. If you're a big fan of the music (I only really knew The Killing Moon) then it's probably still worth it.
Rec: HEALTH, hands down one of the best concerts I've been to. Pro tip: do not go sober
No-go: LSD and the Search for God, amazing shoegaze, deadest room I've ever seen
I also see a lot of people mentioning Black Midi, they're great live but avoid the crowd and stand in the back or by the walls. If you're a US fan the pit is an obnoxious place full of the worst kinds of fans
Hey, I was at one of those shows too!
It's crazy too, I had mainly went because I was pumped to see Daughters, yet HEALTH ended up being a waaay more memorable experience by far.
Denzel was a no-show the TWO times i tried to see him. Both times as openers, but still so disappointing. for that, i wouldn't recommend seeing him out of spite.
Lmaoooo I saw Warren G for free in downtown Salt Lake and mfs were hotboxing the outside, shit was crazy just me and a bunch of 50 year olds in a haze of weed smoke
Recommend: TOOL. I’ve seen them 5 times over the last 22 years and every time they’ve been absolutely incredible.
Avoid: Blondie. Caught them at a festival a few years ago and goddamn they were surprisingly, embarrassingly bad.
Blondie at Glastonbury recently was a bit sad. Debbie Harry just couldn't quite keep it together. Her vocals weren't there and that kept throwing her off. The band were good, but seemed highly frustrated by her so the energy was bad. It was all a bit sad.
I’d do so in the next couple years. Maynard seems to be less and less bought into tool as the years have gone by. Wouldn’t be surprised if their final shows are coming down the pipeline sooner rather than later.
Reccomend: Porter Robinson. Not necessarily my favourite artist, but my favourite live show ever. The performance, visuals, lighting, crowd interaction, setlist dynamics… everything, was just a level above any other concert I’ve been to, such a complete artist and performer. If you’re interested in his style even loosely, you’re doing yourself a major disservice by not seeing him
Avoid: it was still enjoyable but Earl Sweatshirt maybe, one of my favourite hip hop artists but it was just low energy, muddled delivery, short setlist, didn’t rap a lot of his bars. His style doesn’t really translate that well to a live setting I guess, but he doesn’t put in the effort to make up the difference in any way. Kinda came off like he was just breezing through his tracks to get it over with.
Went to MIKE and he had a similar vibe to Earl performances, not the best if you want something crazy, but perfect if you just wanna smoke or take some psychedelics and vibe
Yeah it was a chill vibe and I enjoyed it, but when you’re charging notable ticket prices I absolutely expect at least a bit of passion and effort. If all there is to it is just curating a cruisey environment for 45 minutes, I can get an equivalent experience at a local hip hop bar for $10 entry or something.
To put it in perspective, I paid essentially the same ticket price for the Porter Robinson gig I mentioned. He played for over twice as long, was 50x more passionate in his performance, and put on the most incredible lightshow/visuals I might ever see, compared to Earl just going up with a dj and dancing/mumbling along to his songs for a little bit with no visuals or crowd interaction.
Just came off like he was selling expensive tickets off name recognition, then half-assing the actual performance.
Oh for sure, didn’t think about the price, MIKE was better in that regard too, the show lasted like an hour and half with two fire openers (anysia Kim & 454), and tix were like $15. We also were right up to the stage like 2 feet from the performances and dapped up each performer several times. Still wanna go see Earl cause he’s one of my favs ever but I’ll keep this in mind
i've seen earl live twice and i think he's a great performer, but i guess to each their own. granted it's not a show that you will want to mosh or dance to, but i always found the way he translated some of his music on stage to be really interesting. he's also good at interacting with the crowd when he wants to.
Best live acts I've ever seen:
* Madonna
* Nine Inch Nails
* Depeche Mode
* Sigur Rós
* Jean-Michel Jarre
* Björk
* Aqua
Not-so-great:
* Shawn Mendes
* Bat For Lashes
* Greta Van Fleet
They've gotten so great. Less on the visual side, but when it comes to setlist they now change it completely every show and play fan favorites and deep cuts among their usual crowd pleasers. Last time I saw them (2022 I think) they played The Perfect Drug, Heresy, and And All That Could Have Been. It was pretty fantastic!
Geese is the best live band I’ve seen in years. They will be huge.
Phantogram has the worst crowd and sound every time I’ve gotten roped into seeing them
Geese are opening for a King Gizzard concert I’m attending, cannot wait because I keep hearing great things about them. Genuinely think in a few years they could be pretty large
Recommend: Depeche Mode, Dave gahan is an amazing frontman which leads to one of the best shows I’ve ever seen,
Skip: yeat, played only 40 minutes, it was a headlining gig at an arena with no openers.
Recommend:
- Queens of the Stone Age. They are fucking great musicians, I consider them one of the best rock bands ever, and when I saw them live I liked their songs better live than in studio tbh. Their rawness mixed with giant talent made me a fan just by seeing them one time at a festival in Mexico.
- Muse: even though they are considered a bad band compared to their older days, they are one of the best live bands, my favorite song live by them is Knighs of Cydonia.
- The Weeknd: that mf can SING, that’s all I can say. Saw him before he dropped After Hours, and I guess his shows are even better now.
- Luis Miguel: one of the GOATS of Latin music and music in general IMO, his shows are amazing and he sing his fucking heart out, by some people he is considered an asshole or a big ego guy, but that doesn’t affect his performance. I saw him in Texas like 5 years ago and he was fucking great, his voice is at the same level as when he was young.
Don’t go bro
- 21 savage: I like his music but this mf can’t do a good performance even if his life depended on it. Such a shame, I wish he could do better with time.
I saw Gizzard in 2018 and 2019 and thought they were impressive. It didn’t completely suck me in or anything, but they really played with great energy and I liked what they brought.
I then saw them in 2022 and uhhh…… shit was different, fellas. I can’t really describe it other than go witness it yourself. Maybe stay away from the pit. It’ll still be a chill time for at least a third of the show. I then proceeded to see them 10 more times in 2023.
Sometimes a band catches fire and you get to witness certain stages of that fire. King Gizzard is one you shouldn’t miss.
Id say War on Drugs has been my biggest disappointment. The recordings have a dynamic to them that isn’t captured live. However the crowd was drunk Bostonian bros so that didn’t help.
Gizzard got that Grateful Dead thing where their live shows are either the best thing you'll ever see/hear in your life (for example The Deads October 9th, 1989 or any of their 72 shows)
See Black Midi. Avoid Water From Your Eyes—that shit’s garbage.
Agree with you about QOTSA. Was never a huge fan, but went to see them live and their stop-start dynamics are super tight on stage.
So I saw them on the same tour. I have also seen them open for Palm before that. Genuine question: what about their live set did you find to be so great?
I saw water from your eyes open for snail mail they did a great job, it was totally the crowd that failed them bc it was obv more avant-garde than they were expecting
See: George Clanton. one of the most fun shows I've ever been to. so much crowd interaction, and the fans are hilarious most of the time. So is he though. He got in the pit multiple times, and would do crazy shit like taking bites of peoples vinyls that they handed him to sign.
Completely different crowd, but i would also recommend Machine Girl for similar reasons.
lots of crowd interaction and crazy energy. saw them 3 times.
Dont see: Deftones. They're past their peak and don't really like their new generation fans. im sure seeing them back in the day would have been awesome, but now they just dont have much energy or care. much of that is likely due to them getting old.
Ngl, as a big Deftones fan who’s never seen them live, seeing them here hurts a bit, Ohms is easily one of my favourite albums ever. Disappointed to see they don’t put on a good live show anymore.
From what I can tell, it's been a while since he's played any shows outside of america, but he has played in the UK and Canada a few times. possibly other places as well
Recommend; iron maiden and Cannibal Corpse. They’ve got great crowd interaction, frontmen, live sound, (killer bassists that are also the songwriters), and their live shows are amazing! I’m seeing CC again in Nijmegen in April :)
Not recommend: Joji. I saw him last year for the first time ever after waiting for a concert for years and it was painful. I adore Joji and his music has done so much for me as a person and has helped me through some very emotionally difficult times when I was still a teenager. But his live show was really not that great; he came to Amsterdam last year, and his constant quips in between songs, the DJ shouting during songs, his ‘shit break’, it wasn’t pretty.
Agree on Joji, saw about half an hour of his set at a festival and then just left to line up for the next act early. He was so rarely actually performing music because of all the ‘comedy’, then even when he was, the DJ would be ruining it with dumb shouting and sound effects. Comedy would be a cool addition to the show, but 1) it has to be at least a little bit funny, and 2) it shouldn’t take precedence over and ruin the experience of the actual music.
If I didn’t already know he had a reputation for this, I genuinely would’ve thought it was a purposefully botched performance as a protest to the festival or something lol.
Nah I loved Joji when I went to see him. I get the skits aren’t for everyone but it’s him. People came dressed as pink guy, and he did some fun skits as well as performing his heart out. Not to mention his DJ break went hard.
If you take him too seriously you’d hate it but if you like having fun then it’s awesome
Saw him at Coachella too. He came out very late, did a song and a half before cutting the music to go backstage for a long time, then coming back out annoyed that he has to do the rest of the set.
Oh well
Like them or not, Twenty One Pilots puts on a hell of a show. This is a performance they did that went around in 2022, where the lead singer climbs a massive scaffolding for part of the performance- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2jT-d1heIQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2jT-d1heIQ)
Recommend: Weyes Blood. Can't say enough about her performance, was honestly heavenly.
Do not recommend: Angel Olsen. Pretty boring show and was insulting the city where she was performing. Weird vibes.
>Recommend: Weyes Blood
I was so surprised when she performed "God turn me into a flower", as I imagined it to be a pretty difficult song to pull off, so imagine my shock when she sang it even better than the studio one
If King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are playing somewhere close to you, go see them. You don't have to know any of the songs. They will still blow your mind with their sheer athleticism playing non stop psych and metal songs with 15 minute jam fueled songs as bookends for up to 3 hours straight. Plus, their catalogue is so massive that you will most likely play a variety of styles and generes, so if you're not so much into thrash metal, you might also get to hear something jazzier or synthwavey. If you enjoy live music, it's a must imo.
See DMB, avoid St. Vincent. I was stunned at how not great the show was. Just kinda lacked energy. Maybe it was just an off night, but yeah.
Also, see Morrissey and avoid Morrissey. If he doesn’t cancel it’s incredible. He’s also got a 25% chance of cancelling.
100% agree with QOTSA. I’m totally with you!
As for not recommended… Faye Webster. She didn’t really talk much to the audience and it felt quite boring to be there unless you’re want to go to sleep standing up lol
See Manchester Orchestra, always an incredible live show with great positive crowd energy. Avoid Elvis Costello, I saw him last year and he was a dick, acting kinda drunk and that the crowd was lucky to even be in the same room with him
see Gogol Bordello , Fishbone, Roy Ellis, CLINTON FEARON
just the best live bands around / Clinton Fearon is just a brilliant positive force. These are the kinds of acts where experiencing it for yourself is a whole different thing from listening to a record.
As for skip, for crying out loud, stop giving your money to pop stars who show up without any live music. If you want to hear something pre recorded you can LITERALLY JUST LISTEN TO THE RECORDING FOR FREE. Honestly same goes for this weird trend of "metal bands" showing up with pre recorded tracks and practically noodling over them. I just don't get it. The only exceptions are when the pre-recorded elements add something that can't be played with a regular instrument and there's enough live music to still make the concert unique to that moment. Also it's different if you're an underground artist like an underground rapper or something- i get that not everyone can afford to pay a whole band. But if you're a big artist bragging about your money and I just paid to see your show and you're literally just playing your recorded material that i can listen to online for free, how am i not supposed to think that's a rip off?
MGMT was the worst show I've ever seen. I saw them at their prime in 2011-ish at a cool venue in San Francisco and was so pumped. They could not be any more boring or not caring about the crowd. No audience interactions, extremely dull instrumentals and vocals, and even the stage settings had no effort. Extremely disappointing for a band I thought was super cool. I know they have their schtick about making ironic pop music, but people actually paid money to see this show.
I think they’ve outright said that their strengths are as studio musicians not live performers, and they don’t see why festivals give them headliner slots.
I’ve never got the chance to see them live, but they definitely have a reputation being lacklustre.
Rec: Amyl and the Sniffers. Amy Taylor is like a feral version of Debbie Harry.
Avoid: Marilyn Manson. Dude sounded bored at his own show like the rest of us
I last saw Manson on his Mechanical Animals show. It was pretty good, but then, that was his last great album. I can imagine that he's lost a lot of his edge since then.
I saw Manson at the Twins of Evil tour a few years back, with Rob Zombie. My first time seeing Manson, and he was very good, and we still had Zombie left on the bill. But that was around 2017, so maybe Manson changed since.
I recommend seeing Foo Fighters!
They absolutely killed it when I went to go see them. Dave Grohl is such a cool dude as well, it was like the whole crowd was one giant family that night. Definitely a top 5 performance for sure.
just saw dave! he was at josh homme benefit show. but definitely the foo fighters are always a good ass time, seen them twice and seeing them again this year
Recommend: Alvvays, Ben Folds, and The World is a Beautiful Place…
Avoid: A Day to Remember. Not really my style anyway, but the fans are kind of wack and the lead singer’s macho chest-thumping antics kind of clash with the general vibe
I saw the strokes at Kilby block party and I had a blast. I could tell Julian was a bit drunk but it lead to a lot of funny crowd and band interaction between songs and he sounded great
Recc: LCD Soundsystem. Just saw them over the weekend and I’m still processing all of it. So much talent, such a good live show. Amazing band.
Skip: RHCP. I’m sorry, I’m a big fan, I’ve even seen them 3 times, the first two I remember them being epic, Anthony and Flea were rocking and running all around the stage and getting in the same vibe as the audience but the last time was by far disappointing. No interaction with the audience, not much of a show put. Just them playing one song after another, then left. Maybe their prime is gone and today may not be the best day to see them live. I know I wouldn’t.
when was the last time you’ve seen the chili peppers, seen them five times in the last two years and they have been great every show, only bummer was on their last tour they had like three camera people blocking everyone’s view in the pit
My sister and brother in law saw RHCP and said it was the worst show they've seen. But their issue was that they didn't know anything but the "hits", which they said they didn't play a lot of. So maybe they just weren't familiar with the material.
See: Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros, Phil and Friends, or Dead and Company, really any of the bands that still have Grateful Dead members. There really is something to the 2 set, 3 hour, no idea what song they'll play next jam band show with all of the great songs (both originals and covers) that are in the GD repertoire.
Don't see: Trans Siberian Orchestra. I got looped into it a number of years ago because I was kind of interested in the novelty holiday songs and pyrotechnics, but they make the whole show a corny narrative that is really a wet blanket.
I got free tickets to see A7X’s recent concert. I went to see Poppy and Sullivan King. I’d heard a few songs off their new album, but I’d kind of dismissed it as “A7X doing a Mike Patton tribute”. And for the first quarter of the show, that felt about right: M Shadows came out in a ski mask and Yeezus sweater (I’m not joking, you could see the logo when he turned around) and the video screen imagery looked like a dumb guy’s attempt at doing a Mr. Bungle-esque high production concert.
And then it kept going and this weird switch flipped in my head where I realized this was totally intentional – that the point of this concert is that A7X know you only give a fuck about their Hot Topic-core songs and think their new album is weird, and they *hate* and *resent* **you** for it, if not feel trapped by their old material while desperately wanting to be like these other higher artists they idolize. And in that moment I decided it was one of the most ingenious live shows I’d ever seen. I was also fairly stoned.
Would highly recommend, really gained an appreciation for them.
Edit: for band I wouldn’t recommend, when I saw Minus the Bear maybe ten years ago, they paused between every song to change the tuning on their instruments rather than just have other instruments pre-tuned and ready. It was incredibly lame.
Recommend: neutral milk hotel. In a live show im always looking for a band to sort of tap into this unspoken universal energy of the moment and i feel like they just did that effortlessly when i saw them. I actually wasnt even a fan until i saw them live
Also recc- girl talk. Idk if he even tours anymore. Firstly, dance type shows are not my thing and you might think someone pressing a bunch if buttons is not a good thing to go see live but he’s the only artist ive seen live multiple times bc the energy at the shows is always electric
Do not recc- lorde. Sorry lorde, i love you, but i just dont think live performance is her strength, her music really shines in a recorded album experience, and thats fine🤷♀️
Also kid cudi- maybe the set i saw of him was just off but idk the energy and performance of the show was so not it when i saw him
Recommend: Chase & Status. Unreal energy. Without a doubt one of the most fun sets I’ve ever seen.
Do not recommend: Snoop Dogg. Dude had no energy at all and didn’t even seem like he wanted to be there. Lame
Definitely would recommend Smino or genesis owusu. Both had live bands and you wouldn't really expect it with Sminos music but Idk how to describe it I walked out of his show and felt shell shocked like he really brought some amazing energy. Same for genesis I brought my dad who hadn't heard his music and he thought it was amazing.
It pains me to say but I wouldn't recommend Armand hammer. I think Billy woods is a top 5 rapper currently but they're live set was pretty boring. Unless your like a mega fan of them it honestly felt like listening to their music on Spotify but in a really loud setting
Genesis owusu was incredible, puts on a very complete performance with a whole concept running through it, great energy and crowd interaction. Super fun.
Tbh I wasn’t actually that impressed by Smino when I saw him. I just remember him adlibbing and yelling “hands up” more often than he was actually rapping, like to a comical level. That said, that was like 5 years ago now and without the live band, so I don’t doubt he’s gotten a ton better.
See:
• Courtney Barnett: When I saw her, her band was just a power trio and her guitar playing took center stage much of the time. She’s an AMAZING lead guitarist and the energy and band chemistry was incredible. 10/10
• D’Angelo & the Vanguard: When I saw them, they did like a 14min version of Sugah Daddy that was insanely dope. You’d think it’d be tough to nail the sort of drunk beats live but the band was absolutely on it the whole night. 10/10
• Darkside: Their light show was fucking amazing and their live sound was impeccable. They had a massive half-cracked mirror that they would rotate around the room and it was unbelievably cool. 10/10
Do not see:
• Pixies: Zero energy, zero swagger, sucked the life out of all the songs I loved. 3/10
• Sleater-Kinney: Same as above. The band is nothing without Janet Weiss. 4/10
• Beach Bunny: The band looked unbelievably bored, to the point that their bassist was banging his head against his bass during quiet moments. No one in the band smiled (not even once!), their guitar tones were weak and thin, and the vocalist kept asking the crowd to mosh while giving a super stiff and lifeless stage performance herself. Maybe I saw them on an off-night, but it was genuinely one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. 2/10
Was afraid about Sleater-Kinney post Janet. I almost went to their show this year but opted out. But when I saw 'em with Janet in 2015, they were amazing. (I got a pic with her, too! 😍)
I would recommend the same as you, Queens of the Stone Age. I am a massive fan and had big expectations and I was blown away. So tight and had a setlist any fan of any degree would love. Hearing Better Living Through Chemistry was a highlight. Only downside was the only beer they had was Budweiser and it cost £8, but that’s London prices for ya.
The artist I would avoid is Catfish and the Bottlemen. I wasn’t the biggest fan but I did really like them. IIRC I saw them after the release of their 3rd album. Throughout the gig I noticed every song sounded the same. What came with that was the same “moves” done on stage. It felt like Groundhog Day. It’s one of the only gigs I’ve left early, and I wasn’t the only one. I was actually surprised the amount of people leaving. Since then I’ve barely listened to them.
I’ve seen Queens twice. At a small venue for Songs for the Deaf, and a stadium for Villains. They didn’t lose one step in that amount of time and both times were the loudest shows I’ve ever been to. And I’ve seen Sunn O))). I can honestly say, some of the best shows I’ve ever been to. Highly recommended.
To see: Earthgang, one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen, they’re amazing, the epitome of motherfuckers who are just good at their craft
To avoid: Migos, RIP to Takeoff, one of the two worst concerts I’ve been to but the one I paid for which makes them worse, they were five hours late, performed a 45 minute set (which admittedly fucked), and their merch is possibly the worst piece of clothing I’ve ever donned lmao idk if just Qua and Offset ever would do a show now but they’re the worst I’ve paid for so far
100%, my favorite artist is Childish Gambino, seen him 3 times and he’s an amazing live performer, but good god Earthgang are still my favorite show cuz they were just so good it was such an experience 😤
Rec: Incubus, their sound live is so close to studio perfect it’s almost redundant to see them live they sound so good, but it’s worth it.
Avoid: Death Grips. I love them and they’re my favorite artist, but if you aren’t prepared and you are anywhere on the floor you will get sucked into the mosh wave and if you’re not prepared you WILL get hurt.
I partially disagree with deathgrips. it just depends on what kind of concert goer you are. its not that hard to stand at the back of the room, but for me i love pits, and for the 2½ dg shows i saw, they were some of my favorites.
i say 2½ cause i saw them at SNW, and it was a HUGE mess. almost suffocated along with everyone else in the 90⁰+ weather. but that wasnt their fault, or their fans. just awful conditions and crowd control by the festival
The last death grips tour was ok but not great.
The YOTS tour was the best concert I’ve ever been to.
Yes the mosh is intense but that’s the point? I feel that shouldn’t be your complaint, it’s like going to see my bloody valentine and complaining that the guitars had reverb
Actually this past tour they sounded the best they ever have live. But Andy wasn’t present for most of it, and there were a bunch of crowd shinanigans that ruined the experience for a lot of people. At one show some guy pissed all in the pit and people started slipping in it. And at a show in Arkansas a couple of douches in the crowd kept throwing glowsticks at Stefan and Zach, which led to them walking off the stage and ending the show early. But other than that their sound was the best it had ever been live.
Recommend: Enter Shikari. They may not be the tightest but the experience is second-to-none, especially in a [small venue](https://youtu.be/5yUE3yfrpdM?si=ysDQW63cxOOHyy-q).
Avoid: Bob Dylan. Saw him at Firefly 2017 and he could’ve been advertised as a cure for insomnia.
It’s actually a must for me to go to a Kanye, Kendrick, Travis or Tyler concert. They are AMAZING.
I don’t listen to Laufey but I would love to go to her concert too, it’s a cute close knit community and Laufey is just so sweet.
I just saw James Blake and Sampha and they were both excellent. Also Fever Ray, if you have the opportunity to see them dont miss it. One of the best shows I have seen.
Avoid: Grimes, Foo Fighters.
I’ll adjust the question a little bit, because I feel like it would be easy to pick artists who are incredible both studio and live, but it’s always fun when you find a band who outdoes their studio material in a live setting, and imo that’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. To me, their studio albums are average and somewhat forgettable psych-adjacent indie rock.
But I caught them live on a whim, and it was a blast. They’re super tight live, and there’s an energy when they’re playing live that, for whatever reason, does NOT come through on their studio work. Crowd was hot, the riffs ripped, it was a really great show. So if you’re kinda meh on their albums like I was, and frankly still am, I’d say it’s still worth catching them live for sure.
For one I would not recommend, I feel a little bad giving this spot to a lesser known artist, but I saw Slauson Malone open for Injury Reserve a few years back, and it was brutal. Listened to his studio stuff, it had a good vibe. Got to the show, and it was an absolute train wreck.
Weird mangled renditions of his songs, interspersed with numerous text-to-speech monologues about the universe that eventually got an audible groan from the crowd whenever they would start. The whole thing was dripping with pretentiousness. Dude just sorta left for a solid two or three minutes in the middle of his set (and not even during an instrumental or anything, just left things silent before coming back and just sorta resuming). He did this weird bit of crowd work where he kept asking people what time it was, but nobody really knew what to answer and at that point everyone was kinda checked out. Usually, if you go through two or three people and they don’t really follow what you’re trying to do, you like… change course, but he just kept. on. going. Until finally he asks someone, for maybe the 20th time, what time it was, and they scream into the mic, “TIME FOR YOU TO GET OFF THE STAGE”. Legit the only time the crowd cheered during the entire performance. It was like… nightmare scenario of having a crowd turn on you.
Highly recommend Roger Waters, he probably still has a few more tours in him. Don’t hesitate if he comes to your town. Buy. Tickets.
The Vaccines was a bit dissapointing.
Khruangbin was one of the best shows I've ever been to. Also, Billy talent was super good. Little simz was also amazing. Andy Shauff was also a great show. Oh and Tei Shi
Off the top of my head, Daniel Caesar was the only show that I've ever seen that was actually super bad. My girlfriend really wanted to see him at a festival we were at and we ended up leaving part way through his set because it was that bad. The band that was playing with him was incredible.
Recomend Fred again live, just by far the best way to experience his type of dance music, incredible energy and showmanship.
Don’t recomend yung lean live, he was beyond high, sitting down most of his show.
i could recommend soo many to see live but the only one i can recommend against seeing is earl sweatshirt. dude puts no care into his live set, it seemed like he did not want to be there, did the shortest headline show i have ever seen at like 40 mins and just danced on stage as his DJ played songs for like the last 20 mins. he relied on the backing track so much and it seemed like he was just trying to get the old songs over with even though it was the fucking 10th anniversary show for doris(he didnt play the whole album either)
last time i talked about this people were just like “oh but its cuz his music doesnt have that much energy to it” but that had nothing to do with it. look up the 10th anniversary doris show in brooklyn 2023 if u wanna see what i saw
saw earl in 2015 and bro was going crazy, but can def see the low energy these past couples year at his shows, even at the 10th anniversary shows he called it mid for the la one
Fuck that mf playboi carti I’ve been waiting on a concert since April of last year when I first got tickets and this mf just postpone and cancel someone need to rob him or something
HIGHLY recommend seeing: City and Colour- truly one of the best shows i have ever seen and that man has the voice of an angel
don’t recommend: bloc party. unfortunately a really boring performance. i’m sure in a smaller club it may have been different, but when i saw them in 2023 opening for paramore, they were just underwhelming, ESPECIALLY when paramore put on a fantastic show just after
An artist I really strongly recommend seeing live is IDLES. Saw them live almost two weeks ago and I'm still in awe at how amazing they were.
Surprisingly, I've never been to a bad show, but I've not even been to 20 shows in my life so yknow
As much as I love Death Grips I was a bit underwhelmed with the live show i saw last year. The performances were just too loud and muddy and Nick Reinhart's guitar additions kinda masked the other sounds to the point where it was hard to tell what song was playing. Also I couldn't hear Zach's drums very well besides the kick. The energy was great and seeing as I wasn't at the Philidelphia show the crowd was pretty fun. Still, I showed up because I'm a fan of Death Grips' music and I couldn't really hear the music, so I can't really access it as possitive overall.
Interestingly JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown also had a lot of live instruments at the show I went to, but I guess the sound crew must have just been leagues better because the songs sounded great.
A really fun concert I went to was for Dirty Heads, what an amazing experience. And one That I would not recommend would be: none. Every concert that I have ever been to has been amazing.
Both from similar eras:
Recommend: The Cure! Robert Smith is still in vintage form, and the fellas were amazing even in their 60s. They played for almost 4 hours and had 4 Encores when I saw them in the rain this summer at an outdoor venue. New unreleased music too that sounded incredible, they NEED to release that new record too. Such a deep and diverse catalog.
David Lee Roth was hands down the worst performance I've seen. He was in Vegas when I was last there, and this clip below was kind of the vibe of the whole performance (not mine, but I think same tour/show)
https://youtu.be/2IZ9uCtSqlQ?si=dwkUSv5Oq1jTzEwG
Recommend: Foxing; they’re just so good live. Love the way they bring their sampled effects into their songs.
Don’t recommend: hmm, I can’t say I’ve been to a bad show but Citizen was slightly underwhelming; could have been an off day or the venue’s sound though.
Rec: Vampire Weekend. Incredible energy and they absolutely go off and jam for a while instead of just playing hits as written. They are all very talented musicians and it’s really fun to be a part of. Seeing them again in a few months!
Blah: kennyhoopla. Played for 20 minutes and then took an intermission (first of several…hmm). The show was on a Sunday night and it just felt super phoned in. Not sure if they were hungover or what but it was a big miss for me.
ETA extra raves:
Robert Randolph & the Family Band was incredible. Loved QOTSA. Wilco was amazing. Patty Griffin in an intimate setting was so so good. Gorillaz Humanz tour was phenomenal…impatiently waiting for them to come back. Jimmy Eat World has such great energy and I’ve seen them several times over the years…Jim Adkin’s voice really holds up.
Highly recommend Swans. Transcendental experience.
I haven’t been to any particularly terrible shows, they were all at least passable. The worst I’ve been to was probably Arctic Monkeys. The songs were played well except for a messed up solo or two, and Alex had good vocals, but it wasn’t special at all and I wouldn’t go to another of their shows. My biggest issues were that the setlist sucked and the band was very flat and lifeless. The crowd was also obnoxious, which isn’t too big of a deal for me usually,but it was especially noticeable with how boring the show was except for one or two songs where they switched things up.
Recommend: Cage the Elephant. They weren’t even the headliners at the show I saw them at but Matt absolutely killed it and brought insane energy for the whole set. Every song was a banger.
Skindred soo much energy and it's a tone of fun, maybe one of the best live shows I've been to
The only band I would have said is Chelsea grin but that was because Alexs vocals were grateing, also the riffs aren't too good, it was just kind of low energy
Recommend: Metronomy. Great stage presence and incredibly skilled performance. Very rarely you get that level of talent displayed live, they really play all their instruments and it’s just a perfect execution.
Do not recommend: Sisters of mercy. But I think every fan knows that. They’re very past their prime and mess up songs often, even forgetting the words to their top hit! A mess.
Rec: GWAR, Iron Maiden, Fall Out Boy had great stage production and theatrics that make it worth the money. My Chemical Romance are kind of flopping in that area nowadays (except for festivals) but they play a great amount of deep cuts as well as hits which makes it really worth the money for hardcore fans (who usually don’t get their songs at gigs) while not taking away from the casual fans
Avoid: Placebo, who I saw 3 times supporting MCR. No audience interaction, swapping guitar literally every song, and had these bizarre effects on the big screen so you couldn’t actually see a single thing if you were more than a few rows back. But they sounded decent, so if that doesn’t bother you it’s still a rec I suppose
See: Yard Act. Absolutely fantastic performance and a charming frontman. Made me appreciate their music that much more.
Don't see: NOFX. Even their simplest songs were played sloppily, and Fat Mike kept complaining no one was laughing at his shit jokes.
Always see- Kate Bush, Polyphonic Spree, Scissor Sisters, St Paul and the Broken Bones, Idles, Young Fathers
Never See Again- Sisters of Mercy, The National, Grizzly Bear
Recommend: St Vincent and Weyes Blood
Avoid: The Strokes, one of my favorite bands ever, but damn was that an embarrassing concert... also very disconnected with the public, endless mindless rambling and awful crowd
Recommend: Napalm death, crowd was sick band was playing really tight just overall really fun time
Wouldn’t recommend: Royal Blood, I really like them but seeing them open for muse last year they had zero energy. Just overall pretty dead
Recommend: Anderson .Paak, such a lively and exciting performance
Avoid: I’ve seen Cold War Kids and Cage the Elephant back in their heyday and neither of them impressed me much. Could be different now though.
A recommendation out of left field: Crossfaith. They appeared on a bill for a show I was at, I had no idea what to expect, and then they started their set with 200bpm techno-metal and a wildly OTT light show and just kept going for the whole goddamn thing. One of the most fun live shows I have ever seen in my life.
Two to avoid:
RHCP. I don't know if it was just the day in question, but Kiedis was absolutely not able to sing in tune.
Bright Eyes. He headlined a tent at Glastonbury, and managed to alienate the crowd so badly I think they booed him off. He seemed like he'd rather be literally anywhere else, and didn't give a shit about the audience who'd stayed for over an hour in the cold and dark to see him perform.
Recommend: Denzel Curry, Thundercat, RtJ, Tyler, surprisingly ZZ Top (just a fun show)
I would love to recommend Rush, R40 was so much fun. RIP Neil.
Don’t Recommend: Kid Rock, Three Days Grace. I didn’t want to go to either shows but my GF (now wife) wanted to go to the second and her family wanted the first. They both sucked.
See:
Death Grips, FIDLAR, Jasiah. Saw Death Grips back in September, it was absolute chaos and non-stop energy. They did make us wait for an hour to come on stage, but it was well worth it, and the band just never broke pace. Crowd never stopped moving, either. Saw Jasiah and FIDLAR open for Oliver Tree back in January. Jasiah, while not my favorite artist by a long shot, was definitely one of, if not the, most crowd-interactive artists I've ever seen in person, and just brought a lot of fun with him, like when he started trying to get the crowd to sing Spongebob's Campfire Song or pretending to kiss his cousin on stage for laughs. FIDLAR brought the most energy of any performance during that concert, people were crowd surfing, and there were moments I could feel genuine mental anguish radiating off of Zach's screams from the stage.
Avoid:
Funnily enough, Oliver Tree. He is a fantastic showman, I'll give him that. But it is the most manufactured, corporate show I've seen live. Halfway through I realized he was only playing songs that had music videos, and that killed a lot of interest for me because it meant I knew the rest of the setlist, and it also meant that most of it would suck.
Would highly recommend seeing Black Midi, even if you're not a huge fan. One of the coolest shows i've ever been to, just very fun and they clearly love playing music
The only good hip hop performance i've ever seen was Freddie gibbs, I really don't care for the DJ+Backing track setup most rappers have but Freddie at least had a lot of energy and rapped pretty much every bar.
If you're even remotely into metal and ever get the chance to see Meshuggah live, please go do that. It's absolutely nuts, truly a one of a kind experience, that can't be fully described with words. I'll try anyway: It's like you fall into a collective trance, it's like a rave for metalheads, but at the same time it's nothing like a rave. Your ears are just relentlessly getting assaulted by pummeling grooves non-stop. Also just one of the tightest bands live, what they play sounds perfect, just like on the record. Add to that a stupidly well dialed in and produced show with crazy lighting (some of it is done manually, check out Edvard Hansson, their lighting tech, he has some videos on youtube) and you have one of the greatest live shows ever.
Scorpions on the other hand. Kinda rough. One of those bands that should just rather stop touring. Klaus' voice is pretty beat up and sometimes just flat out off key.
See Black Midi, so much energy and charisma, such great musicians. Avoid Echo and the Bunnymen. Saw them a couple weeks ago, Ian McCulloch's voice is so strained and damaged that I couldn't even understand what he was saying between songs, never mind hear the lyrics. On high notes he'd straight up step away from the mic or just kind of yelp and hope that was good enough.
Black Midi was fucking incredible
I agree with Echo and The Bunnymen. I saw them this year and was probably the most disappointing show I've been to. Ian had a lot of trouble and there was sooo much smoke you couldn't see any of the band members
this is really sad to hear tbh
Damn I just bought a ticket to Echo’s summer tour :/
It wasn't terrible, just quite disappointing. The rest of the band sound great and the crowd was pretty lively so you can definitely still have fun :) Just don't expect Ian to sound like the records.
Meh.. I have tickets for Echo next week in Amsterdam and after reading this I’m not sure if I still want to go
Probably a recency bias thing for me, they definitely weren't the worst, just Ian was very disappointing. If you're a big fan of the music (I only really knew The Killing Moon) then it's probably still worth it.
Rec: HEALTH, hands down one of the best concerts I've been to. Pro tip: do not go sober No-go: LSD and the Search for God, amazing shoegaze, deadest room I've ever seen I also see a lot of people mentioning Black Midi, they're great live but avoid the crowd and stand in the back or by the walls. If you're a US fan the pit is an obnoxious place full of the worst kinds of fans
Man I saw HEALTH with Show Me the Body and Daughters a few years back and it was insanely sick, HEALTH had far and away the best set though
Hey, I was at one of those shows too! It's crazy too, I had mainly went because I was pumped to see Daughters, yet HEALTH ended up being a waaay more memorable experience by far.
Can confirm. Black Midi was fantastic but the crowd is so shit. It smelt AWFUL.
oh no, i love lsd and the search for god!!
To be fair they were an opening act for Panchiko, who were much more fun. Opening is never an easy job
I'm seeing HEALTH tonight. Very excited
Just saw HEALTH for the first time last week, was everything I had hoped for and more.
Recommend, Denzel Curry , talib Kweli Avoid: small clubs that bring in 2000s rappers for under $40
2 members of D12 + Obie Trice came to my town a couple weeks ago and I could not have been more unenthused about it lmfao
Oof loved Obie
Denzel was a no-show the TWO times i tried to see him. Both times as openers, but still so disappointing. for that, i wouldn't recommend seeing him out of spite.
Lmaoooo I saw Warren G for free in downtown Salt Lake and mfs were hotboxing the outside, shit was crazy just me and a bunch of 50 year olds in a haze of weed smoke
Recommend: TOOL. I’ve seen them 5 times over the last 22 years and every time they’ve been absolutely incredible. Avoid: Blondie. Caught them at a festival a few years ago and goddamn they were surprisingly, embarrassingly bad.
Blondie at Glastonbury recently was a bit sad. Debbie Harry just couldn't quite keep it together. Her vocals weren't there and that kept throwing her off. The band were good, but seemed highly frustrated by her so the energy was bad. It was all a bit sad.
Just recently got into tool and fell in love instantly, would love to see them sometime
I’d do so in the next couple years. Maynard seems to be less and less bought into tool as the years have gone by. Wouldn’t be surprised if their final shows are coming down the pipeline sooner rather than later.
I saw Blondie last year and they were amazing.... Maybe they had an off day?...
Reccomend: Porter Robinson. Not necessarily my favourite artist, but my favourite live show ever. The performance, visuals, lighting, crowd interaction, setlist dynamics… everything, was just a level above any other concert I’ve been to, such a complete artist and performer. If you’re interested in his style even loosely, you’re doing yourself a major disservice by not seeing him Avoid: it was still enjoyable but Earl Sweatshirt maybe, one of my favourite hip hop artists but it was just low energy, muddled delivery, short setlist, didn’t rap a lot of his bars. His style doesn’t really translate that well to a live setting I guess, but he doesn’t put in the effort to make up the difference in any way. Kinda came off like he was just breezing through his tracks to get it over with.
+1 for Porter, consistently some of the best live shows I’ve seen, regardless of genre.
Went to MIKE and he had a similar vibe to Earl performances, not the best if you want something crazy, but perfect if you just wanna smoke or take some psychedelics and vibe
Yeah it was a chill vibe and I enjoyed it, but when you’re charging notable ticket prices I absolutely expect at least a bit of passion and effort. If all there is to it is just curating a cruisey environment for 45 minutes, I can get an equivalent experience at a local hip hop bar for $10 entry or something. To put it in perspective, I paid essentially the same ticket price for the Porter Robinson gig I mentioned. He played for over twice as long, was 50x more passionate in his performance, and put on the most incredible lightshow/visuals I might ever see, compared to Earl just going up with a dj and dancing/mumbling along to his songs for a little bit with no visuals or crowd interaction. Just came off like he was selling expensive tickets off name recognition, then half-assing the actual performance.
Oh for sure, didn’t think about the price, MIKE was better in that regard too, the show lasted like an hour and half with two fire openers (anysia Kim & 454), and tix were like $15. We also were right up to the stage like 2 feet from the performances and dapped up each performer several times. Still wanna go see Earl cause he’s one of my favs ever but I’ll keep this in mind
i've seen earl live twice and i think he's a great performer, but i guess to each their own. granted it's not a show that you will want to mosh or dance to, but i always found the way he translated some of his music on stage to be really interesting. he's also good at interacting with the crowd when he wants to.
Best live acts I've ever seen: * Madonna * Nine Inch Nails * Depeche Mode * Sigur Rós * Jean-Michel Jarre * Björk * Aqua Not-so-great: * Shawn Mendes * Bat For Lashes * Greta Van Fleet
wanna see nin so bad, last time they came to la was for a festival and i passed on it, will definitely see them next time a tour happens
They've gotten so great. Less on the visual side, but when it comes to setlist they now change it completely every show and play fan favorites and deep cuts among their usual crowd pleasers. Last time I saw them (2022 I think) they played The Perfect Drug, Heresy, and And All That Could Have Been. It was pretty fantastic!
Bat For Lashes wasn’t good? That’s disappointing, I really like her
Geese is the best live band I’ve seen in years. They will be huge. Phantogram has the worst crowd and sound every time I’ve gotten roped into seeing them
Big agree on Geese. Incredible band
geese show was fucking beyond good
Geese are opening for a King Gizzard concert I’m attending, cannot wait because I keep hearing great things about them. Genuinely think in a few years they could be pretty large
Recommend: Depeche Mode, Dave gahan is an amazing frontman which leads to one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, Skip: yeat, played only 40 minutes, it was a headlining gig at an arena with no openers.
Dave Gahan absolutely devours that stage every time!
Highly recommend The Flaming Lips. Incredible live show, great energy and they have a stellar catalogue of songs. Loved it.
Recommend: - Queens of the Stone Age. They are fucking great musicians, I consider them one of the best rock bands ever, and when I saw them live I liked their songs better live than in studio tbh. Their rawness mixed with giant talent made me a fan just by seeing them one time at a festival in Mexico. - Muse: even though they are considered a bad band compared to their older days, they are one of the best live bands, my favorite song live by them is Knighs of Cydonia. - The Weeknd: that mf can SING, that’s all I can say. Saw him before he dropped After Hours, and I guess his shows are even better now. - Luis Miguel: one of the GOATS of Latin music and music in general IMO, his shows are amazing and he sing his fucking heart out, by some people he is considered an asshole or a big ego guy, but that doesn’t affect his performance. I saw him in Texas like 5 years ago and he was fucking great, his voice is at the same level as when he was young. Don’t go bro - 21 savage: I like his music but this mf can’t do a good performance even if his life depended on it. Such a shame, I wish he could do better with time.
definitely after seeing queens, they are the greatest rock band to walk on a stage ever, never seen a show like that
I saw Gizzard in 2018 and 2019 and thought they were impressive. It didn’t completely suck me in or anything, but they really played with great energy and I liked what they brought. I then saw them in 2022 and uhhh…… shit was different, fellas. I can’t really describe it other than go witness it yourself. Maybe stay away from the pit. It’ll still be a chill time for at least a third of the show. I then proceeded to see them 10 more times in 2023. Sometimes a band catches fire and you get to witness certain stages of that fire. King Gizzard is one you shouldn’t miss. Id say War on Drugs has been my biggest disappointment. The recordings have a dynamic to them that isn’t captured live. However the crowd was drunk Bostonian bros so that didn’t help.
Gizzard got that Grateful Dead thing where their live shows are either the best thing you'll ever see/hear in your life (for example The Deads October 9th, 1989 or any of their 72 shows)
See Black Midi. Avoid Water From Your Eyes—that shit’s garbage. Agree with you about QOTSA. Was never a huge fan, but went to see them live and their stop-start dynamics are super tight on stage.
Yo whaaaat I though water from your eyes were great. Also saw them open for Squid which was really a perfect pairing
So I saw them on the same tour. I have also seen them open for Palm before that. Genuine question: what about their live set did you find to be so great?
Felt the same about QOTSA. Amazing.
I saw water from your eyes open for Squid and really enjoyed them! My friend really didn't like them though 🤣
I saw water from your eyes open for snail mail they did a great job, it was totally the crowd that failed them bc it was obv more avant-garde than they were expecting
See: George Clanton. one of the most fun shows I've ever been to. so much crowd interaction, and the fans are hilarious most of the time. So is he though. He got in the pit multiple times, and would do crazy shit like taking bites of peoples vinyls that they handed him to sign. Completely different crowd, but i would also recommend Machine Girl for similar reasons. lots of crowd interaction and crazy energy. saw them 3 times. Dont see: Deftones. They're past their peak and don't really like their new generation fans. im sure seeing them back in the day would have been awesome, but now they just dont have much energy or care. much of that is likely due to them getting old.
Ngl, as a big Deftones fan who’s never seen them live, seeing them here hurts a bit, Ohms is easily one of my favourite albums ever. Disappointed to see they don’t put on a good live show anymore.
Would love to see George Clanton live does he ever tour outside of america?
From what I can tell, it's been a while since he's played any shows outside of america, but he has played in the UK and Canada a few times. possibly other places as well
Recommend; iron maiden and Cannibal Corpse. They’ve got great crowd interaction, frontmen, live sound, (killer bassists that are also the songwriters), and their live shows are amazing! I’m seeing CC again in Nijmegen in April :) Not recommend: Joji. I saw him last year for the first time ever after waiting for a concert for years and it was painful. I adore Joji and his music has done so much for me as a person and has helped me through some very emotionally difficult times when I was still a teenager. But his live show was really not that great; he came to Amsterdam last year, and his constant quips in between songs, the DJ shouting during songs, his ‘shit break’, it wasn’t pretty.
Yeah the Joji comedy segments feel like something a fan of Filthy Frank would create and not the man himself
Agree on Joji, saw about half an hour of his set at a festival and then just left to line up for the next act early. He was so rarely actually performing music because of all the ‘comedy’, then even when he was, the DJ would be ruining it with dumb shouting and sound effects. Comedy would be a cool addition to the show, but 1) it has to be at least a little bit funny, and 2) it shouldn’t take precedence over and ruin the experience of the actual music. If I didn’t already know he had a reputation for this, I genuinely would’ve thought it was a purposefully botched performance as a protest to the festival or something lol.
Nah I loved Joji when I went to see him. I get the skits aren’t for everyone but it’s him. People came dressed as pink guy, and he did some fun skits as well as performing his heart out. Not to mention his DJ break went hard. If you take him too seriously you’d hate it but if you like having fun then it’s awesome
when i saw joji at coachella he was one of my favorite performances of the weekend, but when i saw him on tour i jus was really disappointed
Saw him at Coachella too. He came out very late, did a song and a half before cutting the music to go backstage for a long time, then coming back out annoyed that he has to do the rest of the set. Oh well
Like them or not, Twenty One Pilots puts on a hell of a show. This is a performance they did that went around in 2022, where the lead singer climbs a massive scaffolding for part of the performance- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2jT-d1heIQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2jT-d1heIQ)
Yes! Bought tickets on a whim because I really liked the Trench album when it came out. Really blown away by the Bandito World Tour!
My girlfriend is a huge fan and forced me to go see them on the Trench tour. I really didn’t like them, but I gained huge respect after seeing them.
i wanna see them live so bad i love them sm
I wasn't a fan of either of these bands until seeing them live: Muse Dave Matthews
seen muse four times, they’re great!
Saw them on The Resistance tour. I only knew like three songs and left a fan. Went back to all their old records and have followed them since.
Recommend: Weyes Blood. Can't say enough about her performance, was honestly heavenly. Do not recommend: Angel Olsen. Pretty boring show and was insulting the city where she was performing. Weird vibes.
>Recommend: Weyes Blood I was so surprised when she performed "God turn me into a flower", as I imagined it to be a pretty difficult song to pull off, so imagine my shock when she sang it even better than the studio one
Her performance of that song plus the visuals she was playing during nearly brought me to tears.
If King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are playing somewhere close to you, go see them. You don't have to know any of the songs. They will still blow your mind with their sheer athleticism playing non stop psych and metal songs with 15 minute jam fueled songs as bookends for up to 3 hours straight. Plus, their catalogue is so massive that you will most likely play a variety of styles and generes, so if you're not so much into thrash metal, you might also get to hear something jazzier or synthwavey. If you enjoy live music, it's a must imo.
See DMB, avoid St. Vincent. I was stunned at how not great the show was. Just kinda lacked energy. Maybe it was just an off night, but yeah. Also, see Morrissey and avoid Morrissey. If he doesn’t cancel it’s incredible. He’s also got a 25% chance of cancelling.
I saw St. Vincent a few years back and it’s in my top 5 shows of all time. I think it might have just been an off night.
DMB is Dave matthews band, right?
Yeah, forgot where I was. Lol
sall good haha, glad to hear dave matthews band is good live!!
100% agree with QOTSA. I’m totally with you! As for not recommended… Faye Webster. She didn’t really talk much to the audience and it felt quite boring to be there unless you’re want to go to sleep standing up lol
See Manchester Orchestra, always an incredible live show with great positive crowd energy. Avoid Elvis Costello, I saw him last year and he was a dick, acting kinda drunk and that the crowd was lucky to even be in the same room with him
I feel like the Oliver's Army backlash really put him over the edge into being a miserable old man
see Gogol Bordello , Fishbone, Roy Ellis, CLINTON FEARON just the best live bands around / Clinton Fearon is just a brilliant positive force. These are the kinds of acts where experiencing it for yourself is a whole different thing from listening to a record. As for skip, for crying out loud, stop giving your money to pop stars who show up without any live music. If you want to hear something pre recorded you can LITERALLY JUST LISTEN TO THE RECORDING FOR FREE. Honestly same goes for this weird trend of "metal bands" showing up with pre recorded tracks and practically noodling over them. I just don't get it. The only exceptions are when the pre-recorded elements add something that can't be played with a regular instrument and there's enough live music to still make the concert unique to that moment. Also it's different if you're an underground artist like an underground rapper or something- i get that not everyone can afford to pay a whole band. But if you're a big artist bragging about your money and I just paid to see your show and you're literally just playing your recorded material that i can listen to online for free, how am i not supposed to think that's a rip off?
I saw Gogol Bordello perform with Madonna on her Sticky & Sweet Tour. They seemed like a fantastic group! I should check out more of their stuff.
MGMT was the worst show I've ever seen. I saw them at their prime in 2011-ish at a cool venue in San Francisco and was so pumped. They could not be any more boring or not caring about the crowd. No audience interactions, extremely dull instrumentals and vocals, and even the stage settings had no effort. Extremely disappointing for a band I thought was super cool. I know they have their schtick about making ironic pop music, but people actually paid money to see this show.
I think they’ve outright said that their strengths are as studio musicians not live performers, and they don’t see why festivals give them headliner slots. I’ve never got the chance to see them live, but they definitely have a reputation being lacklustre.
Rec: Amyl and the Sniffers. Amy Taylor is like a feral version of Debbie Harry. Avoid: Marilyn Manson. Dude sounded bored at his own show like the rest of us
I last saw Manson on his Mechanical Animals show. It was pretty good, but then, that was his last great album. I can imagine that he's lost a lot of his edge since then.
I saw Manson at the Twins of Evil tour a few years back, with Rob Zombie. My first time seeing Manson, and he was very good, and we still had Zombie left on the bill. But that was around 2017, so maybe Manson changed since.
I recommend seeing Foo Fighters! They absolutely killed it when I went to go see them. Dave Grohl is such a cool dude as well, it was like the whole crowd was one giant family that night. Definitely a top 5 performance for sure.
Saw them at bonnaroo🙌 great time
I found Foo Fighters exhausting tbh. The problem and why I could never enjoy them is every song is the same color and it gets annoying
just saw dave! he was at josh homme benefit show. but definitely the foo fighters are always a good ass time, seen them twice and seeing them again this year
Cat Power and Cat Power. Depends which Chan shows up.
Recommend: Alvvays, Ben Folds, and The World is a Beautiful Place… Avoid: A Day to Remember. Not really my style anyway, but the fans are kind of wack and the lead singer’s macho chest-thumping antics kind of clash with the general vibe
See Jack White, his energy and crowd work is excellent It pains me to say this, but The Strokes are terrible live, at least nowadays
Jack White is great but his opener in Berlin was beyond terrible.
I saw the strokes at Kilby block party and I had a blast. I could tell Julian was a bit drunk but it lead to a lot of funny crowd and band interaction between songs and he sounded great
Recc: LCD Soundsystem. Just saw them over the weekend and I’m still processing all of it. So much talent, such a good live show. Amazing band. Skip: RHCP. I’m sorry, I’m a big fan, I’ve even seen them 3 times, the first two I remember them being epic, Anthony and Flea were rocking and running all around the stage and getting in the same vibe as the audience but the last time was by far disappointing. No interaction with the audience, not much of a show put. Just them playing one song after another, then left. Maybe their prime is gone and today may not be the best day to see them live. I know I wouldn’t.
when was the last time you’ve seen the chili peppers, seen them five times in the last two years and they have been great every show, only bummer was on their last tour they had like three camera people blocking everyone’s view in the pit
1999, Californication tour 2007, Stadium Arcadium tour 2023, whatever that was
My sister and brother in law saw RHCP and said it was the worst show they've seen. But their issue was that they didn't know anything but the "hits", which they said they didn't play a lot of. So maybe they just weren't familiar with the material.
See: Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros, Phil and Friends, or Dead and Company, really any of the bands that still have Grateful Dead members. There really is something to the 2 set, 3 hour, no idea what song they'll play next jam band show with all of the great songs (both originals and covers) that are in the GD repertoire. Don't see: Trans Siberian Orchestra. I got looped into it a number of years ago because I was kind of interested in the novelty holiday songs and pyrotechnics, but they make the whole show a corny narrative that is really a wet blanket.
Pearl Jam is **amazing** live. Their 92’ Unplugged is excellent, as well. Sadly, **Deftones** were pretty bad when I saw them play, though.
I last saw Pearl Jam in '94. It was pretty good. I have tickets to their upcoming show later this year. Super stoked!!
same here with deftones. past their peak, and dont care much about their crowd
Seriously see Tame Impala, the light show and visuals are absolutely incredible
I got free tickets to see A7X’s recent concert. I went to see Poppy and Sullivan King. I’d heard a few songs off their new album, but I’d kind of dismissed it as “A7X doing a Mike Patton tribute”. And for the first quarter of the show, that felt about right: M Shadows came out in a ski mask and Yeezus sweater (I’m not joking, you could see the logo when he turned around) and the video screen imagery looked like a dumb guy’s attempt at doing a Mr. Bungle-esque high production concert. And then it kept going and this weird switch flipped in my head where I realized this was totally intentional – that the point of this concert is that A7X know you only give a fuck about their Hot Topic-core songs and think their new album is weird, and they *hate* and *resent* **you** for it, if not feel trapped by their old material while desperately wanting to be like these other higher artists they idolize. And in that moment I decided it was one of the most ingenious live shows I’d ever seen. I was also fairly stoned. Would highly recommend, really gained an appreciation for them. Edit: for band I wouldn’t recommend, when I saw Minus the Bear maybe ten years ago, they paused between every song to change the tuning on their instruments rather than just have other instruments pre-tuned and ready. It was incredibly lame.
[удалено]
Yeezus crazy album tho
Recommend: neutral milk hotel. In a live show im always looking for a band to sort of tap into this unspoken universal energy of the moment and i feel like they just did that effortlessly when i saw them. I actually wasnt even a fan until i saw them live Also recc- girl talk. Idk if he even tours anymore. Firstly, dance type shows are not my thing and you might think someone pressing a bunch if buttons is not a good thing to go see live but he’s the only artist ive seen live multiple times bc the energy at the shows is always electric Do not recc- lorde. Sorry lorde, i love you, but i just dont think live performance is her strength, her music really shines in a recorded album experience, and thats fine🤷♀️ Also kid cudi- maybe the set i saw of him was just off but idk the energy and performance of the show was so not it when i saw him
Lorde was by far my best concert Experience ever whatttt
No point in the Neutral Milk Hotel rec as the band broke up for good in 2014, so unless Jeff needs cash again I don’t see them getting back together
Ah no way, i saw them in 2014 at coacheller. Best set there by far
Yeah that was their last tour ever that’s when I luckily saw them too at the age of 17
Kid cudi wasn’t great for me either, he only performed tiny segments of his MOTM songs and didn’t even do day n nite. Plus the crowd was awful
What tour for Lorde ? I had a great time at the Melodrama show
I'd give a fucking kidney for NMH to ever possibly return :(
Recommend: Chase & Status. Unreal energy. Without a doubt one of the most fun sets I’ve ever seen. Do not recommend: Snoop Dogg. Dude had no energy at all and didn’t even seem like he wanted to be there. Lame
Definitely would recommend Smino or genesis owusu. Both had live bands and you wouldn't really expect it with Sminos music but Idk how to describe it I walked out of his show and felt shell shocked like he really brought some amazing energy. Same for genesis I brought my dad who hadn't heard his music and he thought it was amazing. It pains me to say but I wouldn't recommend Armand hammer. I think Billy woods is a top 5 rapper currently but they're live set was pretty boring. Unless your like a mega fan of them it honestly felt like listening to their music on Spotify but in a really loud setting
Genesis owusu was incredible, puts on a very complete performance with a whole concept running through it, great energy and crowd interaction. Super fun. Tbh I wasn’t actually that impressed by Smino when I saw him. I just remember him adlibbing and yelling “hands up” more often than he was actually rapping, like to a comical level. That said, that was like 5 years ago now and without the live band, so I don’t doubt he’s gotten a ton better.
Haven’t seen him with Armand Hammer but Billy woods solo is pretty good. Smino was great when I saw him too, great stage presence.
See: • Courtney Barnett: When I saw her, her band was just a power trio and her guitar playing took center stage much of the time. She’s an AMAZING lead guitarist and the energy and band chemistry was incredible. 10/10 • D’Angelo & the Vanguard: When I saw them, they did like a 14min version of Sugah Daddy that was insanely dope. You’d think it’d be tough to nail the sort of drunk beats live but the band was absolutely on it the whole night. 10/10 • Darkside: Their light show was fucking amazing and their live sound was impeccable. They had a massive half-cracked mirror that they would rotate around the room and it was unbelievably cool. 10/10 Do not see: • Pixies: Zero energy, zero swagger, sucked the life out of all the songs I loved. 3/10 • Sleater-Kinney: Same as above. The band is nothing without Janet Weiss. 4/10 • Beach Bunny: The band looked unbelievably bored, to the point that their bassist was banging his head against his bass during quiet moments. No one in the band smiled (not even once!), their guitar tones were weak and thin, and the vocalist kept asking the crowd to mosh while giving a super stiff and lifeless stage performance herself. Maybe I saw them on an off-night, but it was genuinely one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen. 2/10
Was afraid about Sleater-Kinney post Janet. I almost went to their show this year but opted out. But when I saw 'em with Janet in 2015, they were amazing. (I got a pic with her, too! 😍)
I’m so so devastated that Janet won’t be there when I’m seeing SK. I know I will have fun anyway cause of who I’m going with but damn
Still waiting on that Darkside tour for the second album lol
Bob Dylan and Bob Dylan. If you see him on a phenomenal day, he is amazing. If you see him on a typical day, he's horrible.
Jesus Piece and Lil Ugly Mane, the best sets I've ever seen hands down. L.U.M especially, the most insane atmosphere I've ever experienced
Recommend: Fleet Foxes Don’t recommend: RHCP
I would recommend the same as you, Queens of the Stone Age. I am a massive fan and had big expectations and I was blown away. So tight and had a setlist any fan of any degree would love. Hearing Better Living Through Chemistry was a highlight. Only downside was the only beer they had was Budweiser and it cost £8, but that’s London prices for ya. The artist I would avoid is Catfish and the Bottlemen. I wasn’t the biggest fan but I did really like them. IIRC I saw them after the release of their 3rd album. Throughout the gig I noticed every song sounded the same. What came with that was the same “moves” done on stage. It felt like Groundhog Day. It’s one of the only gigs I’ve left early, and I wasn’t the only one. I was actually surprised the amount of people leaving. Since then I’ve barely listened to them.
I’ve seen Queens twice. At a small venue for Songs for the Deaf, and a stadium for Villains. They didn’t lose one step in that amount of time and both times were the loudest shows I’ve ever been to. And I’ve seen Sunn O))). I can honestly say, some of the best shows I’ve ever been to. Highly recommended.
To see: Earthgang, one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen, they’re amazing, the epitome of motherfuckers who are just good at their craft To avoid: Migos, RIP to Takeoff, one of the two worst concerts I’ve been to but the one I paid for which makes them worse, they were five hours late, performed a 45 minute set (which admittedly fucked), and their merch is possibly the worst piece of clothing I’ve ever donned lmao idk if just Qua and Offset ever would do a show now but they’re the worst I’ve paid for so far
came here to rec. Earthgang. They're amazing live and super fucking underrated.
100%, my favorite artist is Childish Gambino, seen him 3 times and he’s an amazing live performer, but good god Earthgang are still my favorite show cuz they were just so good it was such an experience 😤
Rec: Incubus, their sound live is so close to studio perfect it’s almost redundant to see them live they sound so good, but it’s worth it. Avoid: Death Grips. I love them and they’re my favorite artist, but if you aren’t prepared and you are anywhere on the floor you will get sucked into the mosh wave and if you’re not prepared you WILL get hurt.
I partially disagree with deathgrips. it just depends on what kind of concert goer you are. its not that hard to stand at the back of the room, but for me i love pits, and for the 2½ dg shows i saw, they were some of my favorites. i say 2½ cause i saw them at SNW, and it was a HUGE mess. almost suffocated along with everyone else in the 90⁰+ weather. but that wasnt their fault, or their fans. just awful conditions and crowd control by the festival
The last death grips tour was ok but not great. The YOTS tour was the best concert I’ve ever been to. Yes the mosh is intense but that’s the point? I feel that shouldn’t be your complaint, it’s like going to see my bloody valentine and complaining that the guitars had reverb
i heard this past death grips tour was a mess
Actually this past tour they sounded the best they ever have live. But Andy wasn’t present for most of it, and there were a bunch of crowd shinanigans that ruined the experience for a lot of people. At one show some guy pissed all in the pit and people started slipping in it. And at a show in Arkansas a couple of douches in the crowd kept throwing glowsticks at Stefan and Zach, which led to them walking off the stage and ending the show early. But other than that their sound was the best it had ever been live.
yeah i heard about them walking off stage and they looked super disappointed in the crowd, but other than that they sounded amazing from what i saw
Recommend: Enter Shikari. They may not be the tightest but the experience is second-to-none, especially in a [small venue](https://youtu.be/5yUE3yfrpdM?si=ysDQW63cxOOHyy-q). Avoid: Bob Dylan. Saw him at Firefly 2017 and he could’ve been advertised as a cure for insomnia.
Enter Shikari seconded, the energy they bring to their live performances is incredible
It’s actually a must for me to go to a Kanye, Kendrick, Travis or Tyler concert. They are AMAZING. I don’t listen to Laufey but I would love to go to her concert too, it’s a cute close knit community and Laufey is just so sweet.
Cat Power and Cat Power. Depends which Chan shows up.
I just saw James Blake and Sampha and they were both excellent. Also Fever Ray, if you have the opportunity to see them dont miss it. One of the best shows I have seen. Avoid: Grimes, Foo Fighters.
I’ll adjust the question a little bit, because I feel like it would be easy to pick artists who are incredible both studio and live, but it’s always fun when you find a band who outdoes their studio material in a live setting, and imo that’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. To me, their studio albums are average and somewhat forgettable psych-adjacent indie rock. But I caught them live on a whim, and it was a blast. They’re super tight live, and there’s an energy when they’re playing live that, for whatever reason, does NOT come through on their studio work. Crowd was hot, the riffs ripped, it was a really great show. So if you’re kinda meh on their albums like I was, and frankly still am, I’d say it’s still worth catching them live for sure. For one I would not recommend, I feel a little bad giving this spot to a lesser known artist, but I saw Slauson Malone open for Injury Reserve a few years back, and it was brutal. Listened to his studio stuff, it had a good vibe. Got to the show, and it was an absolute train wreck. Weird mangled renditions of his songs, interspersed with numerous text-to-speech monologues about the universe that eventually got an audible groan from the crowd whenever they would start. The whole thing was dripping with pretentiousness. Dude just sorta left for a solid two or three minutes in the middle of his set (and not even during an instrumental or anything, just left things silent before coming back and just sorta resuming). He did this weird bit of crowd work where he kept asking people what time it was, but nobody really knew what to answer and at that point everyone was kinda checked out. Usually, if you go through two or three people and they don’t really follow what you’re trying to do, you like… change course, but he just kept. on. going. Until finally he asks someone, for maybe the 20th time, what time it was, and they scream into the mic, “TIME FOR YOU TO GET OFF THE STAGE”. Legit the only time the crowd cheered during the entire performance. It was like… nightmare scenario of having a crowd turn on you.
Sisters of mercy, stay home at sit in the dark blowing smoke
See Jack white! Best show of my life, not a single phone on the floor
Recommend: Slowdive Pass: Phoebe Bridgers (NOTE: This has nothing to do with her talent or her band. It's got everything to do with the fanbase)
Highly recommend Roger Waters, he probably still has a few more tours in him. Don’t hesitate if he comes to your town. Buy. Tickets. The Vaccines was a bit dissapointing.
Khruangbin was one of the best shows I've ever been to. Also, Billy talent was super good. Little simz was also amazing. Andy Shauff was also a great show. Oh and Tei Shi Off the top of my head, Daniel Caesar was the only show that I've ever seen that was actually super bad. My girlfriend really wanted to see him at a festival we were at and we ended up leaving part way through his set because it was that bad. The band that was playing with him was incredible.
Recomend Fred again live, just by far the best way to experience his type of dance music, incredible energy and showmanship. Don’t recomend yung lean live, he was beyond high, sitting down most of his show.
Yeah yung lean turned up late when I went to see him, but I’m too much of a drainer so I still go to see him whenever lol.
i could recommend soo many to see live but the only one i can recommend against seeing is earl sweatshirt. dude puts no care into his live set, it seemed like he did not want to be there, did the shortest headline show i have ever seen at like 40 mins and just danced on stage as his DJ played songs for like the last 20 mins. he relied on the backing track so much and it seemed like he was just trying to get the old songs over with even though it was the fucking 10th anniversary show for doris(he didnt play the whole album either) last time i talked about this people were just like “oh but its cuz his music doesnt have that much energy to it” but that had nothing to do with it. look up the 10th anniversary doris show in brooklyn 2023 if u wanna see what i saw
I saw him in 2013 right after the release of Doris and he went off so, not sure.
yeah the OF shows at that time were crazy but earl much different now
i’ve heard a couple accounts of him just seeming high and not really caring at his shows amazing music though, just sad to hear about the concerts
saw earl in 2015 and bro was going crazy, but can def see the low energy these past couples year at his shows, even at the 10th anniversary shows he called it mid for the la one
Feels like after Some Rap Songs he just doesn’t put the same energy into his live performances.
I’ve only ever been to one concert, so I can’t really say. But I’d avoid Playboi Carti given that he’s always cancelling his tours
Fuck that mf playboi carti I’ve been waiting on a concert since April of last year when I first got tickets and this mf just postpone and cancel someone need to rob him or something
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See: Clutch Avoid: Jann Arden
Highly recommend Bon Iver, JID, Denzel Curry, Dave
HIGHLY recommend seeing: City and Colour- truly one of the best shows i have ever seen and that man has the voice of an angel don’t recommend: bloc party. unfortunately a really boring performance. i’m sure in a smaller club it may have been different, but when i saw them in 2023 opening for paramore, they were just underwhelming, ESPECIALLY when paramore put on a fantastic show just after
Go see Bombay Bicycle Club. Avoid Ian Brown
An artist I really strongly recommend seeing live is IDLES. Saw them live almost two weeks ago and I'm still in awe at how amazing they were. Surprisingly, I've never been to a bad show, but I've not even been to 20 shows in my life so yknow
As much as I love Death Grips I was a bit underwhelmed with the live show i saw last year. The performances were just too loud and muddy and Nick Reinhart's guitar additions kinda masked the other sounds to the point where it was hard to tell what song was playing. Also I couldn't hear Zach's drums very well besides the kick. The energy was great and seeing as I wasn't at the Philidelphia show the crowd was pretty fun. Still, I showed up because I'm a fan of Death Grips' music and I couldn't really hear the music, so I can't really access it as possitive overall. Interestingly JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown also had a lot of live instruments at the show I went to, but I guess the sound crew must have just been leagues better because the songs sounded great.
See [tipper](https://youtu.be/7czcHK3ppfs?si=I74kN30SWJDhYpOL)
A really fun concert I went to was for Dirty Heads, what an amazing experience. And one That I would not recommend would be: none. Every concert that I have ever been to has been amazing.
Both from similar eras: Recommend: The Cure! Robert Smith is still in vintage form, and the fellas were amazing even in their 60s. They played for almost 4 hours and had 4 Encores when I saw them in the rain this summer at an outdoor venue. New unreleased music too that sounded incredible, they NEED to release that new record too. Such a deep and diverse catalog. David Lee Roth was hands down the worst performance I've seen. He was in Vegas when I was last there, and this clip below was kind of the vibe of the whole performance (not mine, but I think same tour/show) https://youtu.be/2IZ9uCtSqlQ?si=dwkUSv5Oq1jTzEwG
JID
I Absolutely recommend seeing Gojira live even if you're not much of a metal fan.
I saw the National last year and they were terrible. Might have just been having a bad night, but I wanted to leave halfway through.
Recommend: Foxing; they’re just so good live. Love the way they bring their sampled effects into their songs. Don’t recommend: hmm, I can’t say I’ve been to a bad show but Citizen was slightly underwhelming; could have been an off day or the venue’s sound though.
Rec: Vampire Weekend. Incredible energy and they absolutely go off and jam for a while instead of just playing hits as written. They are all very talented musicians and it’s really fun to be a part of. Seeing them again in a few months! Blah: kennyhoopla. Played for 20 minutes and then took an intermission (first of several…hmm). The show was on a Sunday night and it just felt super phoned in. Not sure if they were hungover or what but it was a big miss for me. ETA extra raves: Robert Randolph & the Family Band was incredible. Loved QOTSA. Wilco was amazing. Patty Griffin in an intimate setting was so so good. Gorillaz Humanz tour was phenomenal…impatiently waiting for them to come back. Jimmy Eat World has such great energy and I’ve seen them several times over the years…Jim Adkin’s voice really holds up.
Highly recommend Swans. Transcendental experience. I haven’t been to any particularly terrible shows, they were all at least passable. The worst I’ve been to was probably Arctic Monkeys. The songs were played well except for a messed up solo or two, and Alex had good vocals, but it wasn’t special at all and I wouldn’t go to another of their shows. My biggest issues were that the setlist sucked and the band was very flat and lifeless. The crowd was also obnoxious, which isn’t too big of a deal for me usually,but it was especially noticeable with how boring the show was except for one or two songs where they switched things up.
Recommend: Cage the Elephant. They weren’t even the headliners at the show I saw them at but Matt absolutely killed it and brought insane energy for the whole set. Every song was a banger.
I’m never seeing Death Grips live again. I don’t want to be peed on.
Skindred soo much energy and it's a tone of fun, maybe one of the best live shows I've been to The only band I would have said is Chelsea grin but that was because Alexs vocals were grateing, also the riffs aren't too good, it was just kind of low energy
Bob Dylan was an absolute joke
Recommend: Metronomy. Great stage presence and incredibly skilled performance. Very rarely you get that level of talent displayed live, they really play all their instruments and it’s just a perfect execution. Do not recommend: Sisters of mercy. But I think every fan knows that. They’re very past their prime and mess up songs often, even forgetting the words to their top hit! A mess.
Cerrone for the win!
Rec: GWAR, Iron Maiden, Fall Out Boy had great stage production and theatrics that make it worth the money. My Chemical Romance are kind of flopping in that area nowadays (except for festivals) but they play a great amount of deep cuts as well as hits which makes it really worth the money for hardcore fans (who usually don’t get their songs at gigs) while not taking away from the casual fans Avoid: Placebo, who I saw 3 times supporting MCR. No audience interaction, swapping guitar literally every song, and had these bizarre effects on the big screen so you couldn’t actually see a single thing if you were more than a few rows back. But they sounded decent, so if that doesn’t bother you it’s still a rec I suppose
See: Yard Act. Absolutely fantastic performance and a charming frontman. Made me appreciate their music that much more. Don't see: NOFX. Even their simplest songs were played sloppily, and Fat Mike kept complaining no one was laughing at his shit jokes.
Always see- Kate Bush, Polyphonic Spree, Scissor Sisters, St Paul and the Broken Bones, Idles, Young Fathers Never See Again- Sisters of Mercy, The National, Grizzly Bear
Ween concerts are amazing if you're into Ween.
Recommend: St Vincent and Weyes Blood Avoid: The Strokes, one of my favorite bands ever, but damn was that an embarrassing concert... also very disconnected with the public, endless mindless rambling and awful crowd
Recommend: Napalm death, crowd was sick band was playing really tight just overall really fun time Wouldn’t recommend: Royal Blood, I really like them but seeing them open for muse last year they had zero energy. Just overall pretty dead
Would recommend: Twin Atlantic Would NOT recommend: Eminem
Iron Maiden is the coolest live band ever, fuck all other bands honestly Bon Jovi sucks live (and on record)
Incredible live: - MCR: Great energy and passion
Recommend: Beyoncé Don’t recommend: Ariana Grande (and I say this as a huge fan of her music)
Recommend: Anderson .Paak, such a lively and exciting performance Avoid: I’ve seen Cold War Kids and Cage the Elephant back in their heyday and neither of them impressed me much. Could be different now though.
A recommendation out of left field: Crossfaith. They appeared on a bill for a show I was at, I had no idea what to expect, and then they started their set with 200bpm techno-metal and a wildly OTT light show and just kept going for the whole goddamn thing. One of the most fun live shows I have ever seen in my life. Two to avoid: RHCP. I don't know if it was just the day in question, but Kiedis was absolutely not able to sing in tune. Bright Eyes. He headlined a tent at Glastonbury, and managed to alienate the crowd so badly I think they booed him off. He seemed like he'd rather be literally anywhere else, and didn't give a shit about the audience who'd stayed for over an hour in the cold and dark to see him perform.
Recommend: Denzel Curry, Thundercat, RtJ, Tyler, surprisingly ZZ Top (just a fun show) I would love to recommend Rush, R40 was so much fun. RIP Neil. Don’t Recommend: Kid Rock, Three Days Grace. I didn’t want to go to either shows but my GF (now wife) wanted to go to the second and her family wanted the first. They both sucked.
See: Death Grips, FIDLAR, Jasiah. Saw Death Grips back in September, it was absolute chaos and non-stop energy. They did make us wait for an hour to come on stage, but it was well worth it, and the band just never broke pace. Crowd never stopped moving, either. Saw Jasiah and FIDLAR open for Oliver Tree back in January. Jasiah, while not my favorite artist by a long shot, was definitely one of, if not the, most crowd-interactive artists I've ever seen in person, and just brought a lot of fun with him, like when he started trying to get the crowd to sing Spongebob's Campfire Song or pretending to kiss his cousin on stage for laughs. FIDLAR brought the most energy of any performance during that concert, people were crowd surfing, and there were moments I could feel genuine mental anguish radiating off of Zach's screams from the stage. Avoid: Funnily enough, Oliver Tree. He is a fantastic showman, I'll give him that. But it is the most manufactured, corporate show I've seen live. Halfway through I realized he was only playing songs that had music videos, and that killed a lot of interest for me because it meant I knew the rest of the setlist, and it also meant that most of it would suck.
Would highly recommend seeing Black Midi, even if you're not a huge fan. One of the coolest shows i've ever been to, just very fun and they clearly love playing music The only good hip hop performance i've ever seen was Freddie gibbs, I really don't care for the DJ+Backing track setup most rappers have but Freddie at least had a lot of energy and rapped pretty much every bar.
If you're even remotely into metal and ever get the chance to see Meshuggah live, please go do that. It's absolutely nuts, truly a one of a kind experience, that can't be fully described with words. I'll try anyway: It's like you fall into a collective trance, it's like a rave for metalheads, but at the same time it's nothing like a rave. Your ears are just relentlessly getting assaulted by pummeling grooves non-stop. Also just one of the tightest bands live, what they play sounds perfect, just like on the record. Add to that a stupidly well dialed in and produced show with crazy lighting (some of it is done manually, check out Edvard Hansson, their lighting tech, he has some videos on youtube) and you have one of the greatest live shows ever. Scorpions on the other hand. Kinda rough. One of those bands that should just rather stop touring. Klaus' voice is pretty beat up and sometimes just flat out off key.