Alright, here we go. Now, let's make it perfectly clear that I really think that COB is a great live band but nobody's perfect and this thread is about the bad days. If you don't have anything else to say than "Alexi sucks, he's always sloppy and has never performed sober" then do everyone a favour and don't post. This thread was inspired by some posts in the biggest fuck up -thread and I by no means want to start any pointless bashing which this will probably lead to but let's give it a shot anyway.
I think this Nosturi 2005 show is probably my candidate for the worst COB show I've witnessed live or seen a bootleg of. The band had just played a few AYDY shows before this one and often commented that they haven't quite got the new songs down properly yet and I think you can hear that. However, the main reason for why the performance is one of the least solid ones the band has given is not this. As you can see from the video that's floating around the net and Necro also mentioned, the band is sweating like Finns usually do in saunas, not on stage. Nosturi has had a ridiculously bad air condition for ages and this show seemed to be packed beyond the venues capacity. Jaska said he threw up twice during this gig because of the heat and had a fan [not a fanboy or a fangirl but a fan!] and a crew member next to him trying to cool him down.
Here's Punch Me I Bleed from the gig. Alexi has absolutely no clue or interest in the lyrics and looks to be passing out any second. It's pretty funny to watch but I'm still wondering how he could pull it off, I could hardly even stand up in the audience myself.
In general I think the least energetic COB performances are timed sometime in the middle/end of their longest touring streaks. Routine is good to some extent but you just gotta be a superhuman so you can really give 100% every night when you play 180 shows in 13 months like COB did after AYDY.
I never minded too much about Alexi not playing every solo note for note on every show, I still think he does an awesome job most of the time. However, from what I've noticed the excessive touring has taken its toll and he's sometimes a bit lazy and doesn't even try to hit every note but for instance on this summer's festival gigs I think he was on the top of his game again!
What bothers me, however, is that he's sometimes concentrating a bit too much on the guitar on the expense of the vocals. Good example is the end of the In Your Face chorus, right where the solo starts. He hardly ever sings it completely and I perfectly understand why but it sometimes kills the momentum a bit for a perceptive nerd like me. He's improving, however. Just compare the verse vocals in Living Dead Beat from the early AYDY shows (Nosturi for example) to any of the latter ones. On the first shows most screams were cut off half way through but these days he even extends them longer than they are on the album. Speaking of screams, I always missed the long one in the beginning of AYDY. Now that'd wake some lazy crowds up!
Oh yeah, the Milan guitar spin.. I don't think it's so bad, just look at the end closely, he backs it up pretty well by grabbing the guitar and spinning it to his hands from the other side
In the Somnium memorial gig show he did the spin - also in the Hate Me breakdown - which goes just fine BUT in the process he drops his guitar pick on the floor. The show was just 25min so it looks like he didn't have an extra pick ready as he dives to the floor to look for it and doesn't find it until a few secs before the solo.
Your turn! I'll probably post more later.
Necro said:
some other dude said:
I think this Nosturi 2005 show is probably my candidate for the worst COB show I've witnessed live or seen a bootleg of. The band had just played a few AYDY shows before this one and often commented that they haven't quite got the new songs down properly yet and I think you can hear that. However, the main reason for why the performance is one of the least solid ones the band has given is not this. As you can see from the video that's floating around the net and Necro also mentioned, the band is sweating like Finns usually do in saunas, not on stage. Nosturi has had a ridiculously bad air condition for ages and this show seemed to be packed beyond the venues capacity. Jaska said he threw up twice during this gig because of the heat and had a fan [not a fanboy or a fangirl but a fan!] and a crew member next to him trying to cool him down.
Here's Punch Me I Bleed from the gig. Alexi has absolutely no clue or interest in the lyrics and looks to be passing out any second. It's pretty funny to watch but I'm still wondering how he could pull it off, I could hardly even stand up in the audience myself.
In general I think the least energetic COB performances are timed sometime in the middle/end of their longest touring streaks. Routine is good to some extent but you just gotta be a superhuman so you can really give 100% every night when you play 180 shows in 13 months like COB did after AYDY.
I never minded too much about Alexi not playing every solo note for note on every show, I still think he does an awesome job most of the time. However, from what I've noticed the excessive touring has taken its toll and he's sometimes a bit lazy and doesn't even try to hit every note but for instance on this summer's festival gigs I think he was on the top of his game again!
What bothers me, however, is that he's sometimes concentrating a bit too much on the guitar on the expense of the vocals. Good example is the end of the In Your Face chorus, right where the solo starts. He hardly ever sings it completely and I perfectly understand why but it sometimes kills the momentum a bit for a perceptive nerd like me. He's improving, however. Just compare the verse vocals in Living Dead Beat from the early AYDY shows (Nosturi for example) to any of the latter ones. On the first shows most screams were cut off half way through but these days he even extends them longer than they are on the album. Speaking of screams, I always missed the long one in the beginning of AYDY. Now that'd wake some lazy crowds up!
Oh yeah, the Milan guitar spin.. I don't think it's so bad, just look at the end closely, he backs it up pretty well by grabbing the guitar and spinning it to his hands from the other side
In the Somnium memorial gig show he did the spin - also in the Hate Me breakdown - which goes just fine BUT in the process he drops his guitar pick on the floor. The show was just 25min so it looks like he didn't have an extra pick ready as he dives to the floor to look for it and doesn't find it until a few secs before the solo.
Your turn! I'll probably post more later.
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