Do you have to see it to believe it?

MikeUpNorth

Wobbles like a massive pair of tits
Joined
Apr 26, 2007
Messages
20,293
Are there any bands which you never rated until you saw them live?

I've never particularly liked 'The Dead Weather' on record, but I saw them in Camden tonight and they were unexpectedly very good. The crowd were totally into it.

In my opinion, you can never really judge a band until you've been to see them live.
 
I like live concerts, I love watching the people play, the feeling etc. I've appreciated a lot of live stuff I could never like in a record.

In the end, it could also be said that even shitty bands can be entertaining when playing live if they make an effort.
 
I never liked Clinic until I saw them live. Didn't think too much of the records I'd heard, but I now love their "Walking With Thee" album in particular.
 
MikeUpNorth said:
Are there any bands which you never rated until you saw them live?
Click to expand...

I cant think of any off the top of my head - although if I dont rate a band then Im probably not going to go out of my way to see them live.

On the other hand, I can think of several bands I liked until I saw them live.
 
I love being able to go mental and not looking out of place. I can't do that when I'm listening through heaphones.
 
Crystal Castles for me. Just didn't really understand the hype, but they put on a great show. Very much a case of their music growing on me since.

Agree with Arruda though, poor bands can be great live if they have the right amount of energy and charisma on stage. I've seen a handful of bands that I had a great time watching, but still don't rate their music. And of course that's worked the other way around too.
 
Not long after Papa Roach came up with the Infest album, I thought they were an overproduced pile of shite. I saw them at reading festival (in 2001 I think) and I thought they were very good.

Still yet to buy any of their music though.
 
MikeUpNorth said:
Are there any bands which you never rated until you saw them live?

I've never particularly liked 'The Dead Weather' on record, but I saw them in Camden tonight and they were unexpectedly very good. The crowd were totally into it.

In my opinion, you can never really judge a band until you've been to see them live.
Click to expand...

Not as such, but I have found, that hearing new material live that I have already heard on record and have struggled to get into, that this can strengthen my liking for it somewhat.

Saying that, Ellie Goulding blew me away with her Glasto set just gone, thought she was awesome tbh, great voice and great live, may have to revisit her album as I was a little underwhelmed when I listened to it.
 
esmufc10 said:
I've never actually been to a live music concert.
Click to expand...

:eek:

feck, I'd be lost without live music, there'd be a massive hole in my life if there were no gigs to go to.

It's a hard experience to beat when the music, the crowd and the band all come together (not like that), the hairs stand up on your neck and you get lost in it all.

fecking brilliant.
 
GDH said:
Crystal Castles for me. Just didn't really understand the hype, but they put on a great show. Very much a case of their music growing on me since.

Agree with Arruda though, poor bands can be great live if they have the right amount of energy and charisma on stage. I've seen a handful of bands that I had a great time watching, but still don't rate their music. And of course that's worked the other way around too.
Click to expand...

Crystal Castles live is one of the most insane experiences I've had.
 
haha Biscuit. They're shitter than shit. Do they scream better live?

I still don't like the Script, they're awful. But they put on a hell of a show at Oxegen last year.
 
I didn't like Snow Patrol until I was dragged to a gig in 2003. Now I've seen em 19 times.
 
Frank Turner. I'd never heard of him or his music before, but I thought he was fantastic when I saw him.

hth
 
eX-Girl?

MikeUpNorth said:
In my opinion, you can never really judge a band until you've been to see them live.
Click to expand...
At first reading this seems utterly insane to me, but I suppose you mean the band qua band, if that makes sense. If a band releases a terrific album, it really is a terrific album no matter their concerts. But whether the band is good might be another matter I suppose, and one that might be judged partly on their live performances.
 
Incubus, definitely.

It's not that I didn't like them, but I was never really into them until I saw them. There's something a bit different that allows you to chill and rock out to them at the same time, that really is effective live.

Elvis, Nilsson, you need to go to a gig, seriously. Live music, booze, cute dancing women, and being able to "accidentally" elbow and kick people without them giving a feck. Is there any better combination of things than this? They even have pizza tents at festivals. It's amazing
 
It's not that I didn't rate her before it, but when I saw PJ Harvey live I really got into her stuff. I've seen her 4 times in all and she's been amazing every time.
 
De Selby said:
It's not that I didn't rate her before it, but when I saw PJ Harvey live I really got into her stuff. I've seen her 4 times in all and she's been amazing every time.
Click to expand...
Oh, I'm desperate to see her. I actually did not so long ago, but that was with John Parish, and they didn't play any of her solo stuff. (And I was tired and too far away from the scene.) I don't need to see her live to know what a genius she is though.
 
cold-zebra said:
haha Biscuit. They're shitter than shit. Do they scream better live?

I still don't like the Script, they're awful. But they put on a hell of a show at Oxegen last year.
Click to expand...

Don't know about them screaming better, but they are pretty good live.
 
I thought Sunn O))) were merely very good until I saw them live. But I've never had the opportunity to play their records at 140 dB, which is probably the whole point of them.
 
De Selby -- I agree about PJ Harvey.

I'd like to add Ride, Sonic Youth (they're brilliant on record, but they're just absolutely incredible live), Underworld (Sorry! I don't know what I was on - I just know they blew me away live '96) and believe it or not - Oasis.
Never appreciated them on record, but really enjoyed them when I saw them live several times '94. Their subsequent live performances were probably arse, but back then they actually almost approached their own image of themselves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.