I'll start with the B52s .
I used to love Children of Bodom, and went to see them live a few years back. Utterly pants live. Don't know if it's down to the lead guitarist also being the singer and he can't quite pull off both at the same time, or if they're just a bit crap without the polish that can be put on in the studio.
Yo La Tengo - got so bored I went back to the pre-gig pub (possibly they're just better suited for me to be in comfy chair with a good book)
Conversely, The 80s Matchbox B-line Disaster and The Computers are/were brilliant live, but just can't seem to capture it on record.
The Prodigy (Leeds Fest 2002ish) - to this day, half of us swear blind they were brilliant whilst the other half (me included) remember a ramshackle mess featuring Maxim making chicken noises. for the entire bloody set.
Come to think of it, Nofx were there too (maybe a different year) and whilst I was never wild about them, they were massively disappointing.
Same for the Lightning Seeds. I'm no fan, but thought they'd be okay as a support act - utterly awful. The only thing that saved the Brody lad from a bottle of wee was that kind of thing being frowned upon at the symphony hall.
Blink 182 spring to mind!
Red Hot Chilli Peppers...
Lacklustre live, occasionally brilliant on record...
Stone Roses. Ian Brown is very weak live.
STONE ROSES
Weak Weak ?
He hits every single possible note and key but for the right one.
Beyond dire - not sure of second time round when he was no doubt auto tuned.
heard him start once with I wanna be adored...I laughed and laughed and laughed till some student threatened me for being disrespectful 😯
I laughed at him for a bit then went and got more stoned
Worst band I've ever seen live, Primal Scream... I've seen them three times, twice they were beyond shit, once they were beyond incredible - hard to believe it was the same band.
oh yes good call them as well Gillespie was so pissed he could not stand up- he walked in and up to the mike grabbing it like it was a lampost and promptly fell over,
The lead guitarist, throbert, was so out of it he could not keep time - they started each song with the drummer hitting the bass and waving his drum stick down to show time but it was still beyond him to play in time....he could not play, not even close, so the sound crew actually turned him off , he then tried to fight the other , rhythm, guitarist for his guitar who refused. Entertaining but not musically.
Hanoi Rocks brilliant live but pretty poor on vinyl.
Junkyard - lazarus
oh yes good call them as well Gillespie was so pissed he could not stand up- he walked in and up to the mike grabbing it like it was a lampost and promptly fell over,The lead guitarist, throbert, was so out of it he could not keep time - they started each song with the drummer hitting the bass and waving his drum stick down to show time but it was still beyond him to play in time....he could not play, not even close, so the sound crew actually turned him off , he then tried to fight the other , rhythm, guitarist for his guitar who refused. Entertaining but not musically.
Odd how artists cope, I saw Sparklehorse in Bristol, and Mark Linkous came on stage and took a bottle of JD out of his jacket pocket that he was already a quarter way into, and which he proceeded to swig from through the set.
At the end, as he got to the edge of the stage a roadie actually had to catch him as he basically toppled off the stage!
For all that, it was a compelling, electrifying performance, even though Mark completely forgot how to perform a song, despite one of the band showing him the chords, which was rather sweet, he just started another song.
A brilliant performance, under the circumstances.
Which isn't what the spirit of the thread is about, I know.
Actually, I'm struggling to think of anyone I've seen who failed to live up to the album, but I've seen one or two who were better live, and more enjoyable than their albums, which might be another thread...
Blink 182 spring to mind!
I saw em live last year and they were awesome, one of the best gigs I've been to!
Deftones for me, the singing style doesn't really work well live from what I've heard.
I used to like Gene Loves Jezebel on record but live they were awful
Always enjoyed Hanoi Rocks on vinyl, seeing them live veered between absolute musical mayhem where everyone was on fire and the whole became greater than the sum of the parts - and conversely they could be a complete cocaine-fuelled mess with Mike Monroe shooting off after every song to 'powder his nose' & Mssrs McCoy & Suicide staggered around the stage in their own worlds!
Eric Clapton. All the charisma and stage presence of a cabbage.
Count were you pissed as well 😉
Smashing Pumpkins. Rubbish
Junkyard - lazarus
Count were you pissed as well
No, although I did make grab for what was left of the JD after the main set, only for a roadie take it back. 😐
They really were very good, despite Mark being shitfaced!
He apologised profusely for it in a later NME, though I did enjoy it just to see how well someone could perform under the circumstances.
I also saw John Martyn a number of times, but on one occasion he was utterly pissed, a shambling, incoherent mess, and a major disappointment, about the only time I've ever left a gig wishing I'd never bothered.
an Ex took me to see Terravision, I was ambivalent about them but having been I definitely did not like them
BoardinBob - Member
Eric Clapton. All the charisma and stage presence of a cabbage.
Ha! Never really much of a fan of his music, I did see him once, I went to see Sheryl Crow, and EC came on after a couple of songs and stood at the back, just playing guitar.
Best place for him, TBH. 😀
I ended up leaving early from a Primal Scream gig. Bored.
Saw Massive Attack once in Birmingham. One of the most amazing gigs I've ever been to. Saw them again in Brixton and it was one of the worst.
I guess we can all have bad days...
I enjoyed the albums of Counting Crows a few years back - went to see them live, bored off my face for the entire time
Seeing U2 on the Zoo TV tour made me hate them from then on
We can all have off days indeed .
All of them, I always prefer CD for some reason.
*runs away*