There's something to say about putting on show a! SRV was definitely one of them. Check out Dene's new lesson, "SRV Tips and Tricks: 2" and then post your answer to the following question:

Who puts on an entertaining yet well played performance? who definitely doesn't? This will help everyone who is buying tickets to up and coming shows!

The best show I've ever seen was Green Day when they were touring last year. This year, Blind Guardian and Kamelot blew me away, Heaven Shall Burn and Sum 41 were also really awesome and knew how to entertain a crowd.
A few years back, I was kinda disappointed when I saw Offspring live. The music was great and well played, but it all seemed really, well, professional without a real connection to the crowd.
There are also quite a few german bands (apart from BG) I would recommend, but most of you won't know them (yet, as I already have a plan how to introduce them to you )
Come to think of german bands, Rammstein put on a magnificent show with all the pyro stuff, but there is absolutely no interaction with the crowd. It's just their philosophy.
Christian

Well, I've seen Rammstein live this summer at Sonisphere and they totally blew me off!

I don't quite find their music so appealing, as it is too rough on the edges somehow. Pantera is much more brutal for instance, but they have that finesse, that something which makes them sound incredible.

The whole idea is that at the end of their show, they came really close to the public, by letting their keyboard player (Flake) "navigate" through the crowd in his little rubber boat! That seemed really nice to me, somehow opposed with their cold mechanical-like nature.

Anyways, I have a more definite perspective on them now, and yes, they are really really good at what they do! All due respect!

cheers guys

Right Cosmin, I personally think that is the coolest thing they do! If I'm not mistaken, Flake always does that when they play their beautiful song "Seemann".

Rammstein definitely have an amazing live show.. they obviously work incredibly hard on this aspect and it's hard to imagine any other band matching their live visuals. They used to put Flacke in the rubber dinghy but on the last tour it was the bassist, Ollie. Awesome show.. and the flames nearly melted my face off... and I was about about 5 people's lengths back from the stage.. imagine being right at the front !!

Iron Maiden were awesome live, as they always are.

Megadeth were very tight and heavy but not so much going on visually, still an awesome gig though if you go to one of their own shows and not a festival thing.

I'd imagine Metallica to be an incredible show, however I don't think they maintain their tightness when it comes to the guitar playing.. a lot of notes are missed or just lost.. but the overall energy is amazing.. and I get that just from watching the dvd's.

I honestly believe Rammstein and Maiden are the 2 bands who set the highest level for live shows !!

Saw a lot of groups in the late 70s and most could connect. I think this was partly because most had learnt how to play live by playing small venues for a long time before moving on to medium sized ones.

I also saw Nirvana quite a few times both whilst they were with Sub Pop and later when they were with Geffen Records. One of their best ones was before they made it and were a support to Sonic Youth. Small, intimate gig. great rapport with the audience and they played like they meant it. One of the worst was when they were headlining a major festival after they had made it and were selling millions. No connection and just came across to me as disinterested.

I would say that John Frusciante from RHCP definitely doesn't keep well played/showmanship performance. His show,moves and attitude are awesome but sometimes he just can't keep up with it playing wise.

For instance, a concert in which the visuals were almost missing, but the feeling was so intense that it kept me pinpointed and eventually made me burst to tears (I am not ashamed to say this) was my encounter with a band called Dredg. They are pretty well known, and very very deep. I think they are definitely worth to be checked out!

Dredg - Bug Eyes

Dredg - Same Ol' Road

I agree with Ben, Metallica's energy is almost magical. I don't know how they do it since they are "ok" players

Definitely Rammstein is up there show wise.

I liked Therion on that Gothic Kabbalah DVD

ACDC is always fun to see, Kamelot always manages to be amazing live and even better then their studio versions live, can't mention live performances without Kiss too.

Nile live, is impossible. Because everything is perfect, no note is missed, even when they are playing 285+ BPM, The sound is always, always, always perfect. Have seen them 3 times.

Trivium is damn near perfect live as well, seen them for each tour they have had, which is about 5 now I think.

Iron Maiden, is the greatest performance I have ever seen, the reaction from the crowd is otherworldly.

Blind Guardian, being with 20,000 people singing the Bards Song is a life changing experience. The performance, is ace.

Unexpect, just because the impeccable performance mixed with the strong crowd interaction is great.

Steve Vai, well...because its Steve Vai.


Many, many more, the only real bad performance I saw was due to a malfunction with the PA system (it exploded), and that was with The Faceless. saw them again 2 times after that though, and they made up for it, spot on performance.

what about dragonforce live i always hear people hates them because of their live performances

Warrant and Poison - New Years eve party- at long beach arena
back in the day
man could they get the girls in the crowd going , which of course made it fun for me

It's definitely about the energy a guitar player can translate. Hendrix was falling apart live, detuned, missing notes, bad vocals, but still he is considered the greatest, rarely someone will say he wasn't (most often ones that didn't listen to him at all). This proves what is important. It's not about showmanship it's the energy and honesty, people can feel that. I've listened Angus Yound playing really really bad on a concert, but the audience went wild, he was just too good to be booed at, he can do whatever he wants I guess. He has lots of energy, and what he plays is honest, even if he makes a mistake. This is why people like him!