Your top three

[Carcassian]

Live bands of all time? Please give a reason by each choice.

1) Motorhead - There's a reason why I have been to see Motorhead over 15 times. It has nothing to do with the sexual attractiveness of Lemmy (albeit he is an utter horndog). I have to say that they are consistantly excellent live, very fucking loud, and given the sheer amount of songs they have to mix into their repertoire, they always mix up the set list. Oh, and Mickey fucking Dee might just be the best drummer ever. Really.

2) Orange Goblin - For their first performance at Bloodstock. I was already a huge fan, but when the launched into "Blue Snow", with me very, very drunk and Ben very, very drunk (and clutching 4 cans of 9% vol Special Brew), I knew it was going to be awesome. I was dancing. Yes, actually dancing at the front row. Four songs later, when I looked around, I was the only person moving, aside from Ben. Great concert, shit crowd.

3) Skyclad - Mapperley Social Hall 1999? A rare English performance from Skyclad in a Nottingham miners club. I could hear the bingo from the hall next door, despite in between the songs. Walkyier was in bouyant form. Fans from Denmark, Greece and Italy were there. It was a real feeling of belonging, and Skyclad had just released Vintage Whine, an absolutely untouchable album. It far eclipsed their final with-Walkyier performance, and remains a much treasured memory. Plus: Georgie Biddle: not much of a looker static, but moving ? You fucking would.

 

[Belligerent]

Opeth-Chronology Tour in which I was lucky enough to see them in my hometown of Chicago. The other 2 dates were LA and NY. Such a wicked fucking show. I walked out of that bitch speechless. 3 hours of everything starting from Orchid proceeding up to Ghost Reveries. Nothing has topped it to this day.

Enslaved at Pearl Room(S.suburb of Chicago) The show was free for one...but that still has nothing to do with the intensity that they portrayed. Couldnt believe my ears when they played like a 12 min. version of Return To Yggsdrasil...needless to say it was boner-riffic.

Pantera/Morbid Angel/Soulfly at UIC- Soulfly put on a great show actually with tons of energy, Morbid just slayed the doors off that fucker, and then comes Pantera. It was my 11th time seeing them and one of the last. Couldnt believe they busted out "use my 3rd arm" and "floods" (2 songs I never heard live). Brings back so many memories of getting illegally wasted, sparking up spliffs, and jamming some solid metal. The good ol days(and now im just an old fuck)

 

[Ender Rises]

1) Norma Jean -- The best mosh pit EVER! Decent songs and just fucking FUN to be at. Lots of repetitive parts, that lend themselves to being screamed at the top of one's songs. The band themselves were fucking crazy, jumping around and etc. off of tall ass amps and speakers. Mucho fun and decent songs. You can tell that fun at a concert is more important than how good the band does, however...

2) Lamb of God. PERFECT SOUND. It was as if they had come right off the albums. Great set list, encompassing much of their career and even some Burn the Priest material, which was great. Another great pit, huge and crazy, including a dude in a wheelchair who was fucking INSANE. They put on a great show, played some great music, and were just plain fun.

3) Machine Head. Keep in mind my very limited concert experience here. During set up they were great, the techs started a bunch of fun chants and etc. Fun songs, good pit, mostly mediocre and soon to be replaced on the list.

 

[Fury of the Storm]

Suffocation-Great persona on stage, being the great death metal band they are. Their setlists of songs was the one of the best chosen out of an yband I have seen. Every song was excellent. No screw ups or anything, the crowd was very responsive to them.

Dragonforce-Saw them last year at the NEH&MF06. Great sound, the solos were top notch despite the comments on their more recent live events. The set lists was great, ranging from all three albums, and not single bad one. They are a pretty laid back band, they liked to fool around on stage and ZP was trowing water on the crowd during solos. The crowd itself was freaking nuts. Overall a brilliant performance.

Psyopus-Saw these guys on a small stage but still had the same intensity as if they were on the large stage. These guys are just insane, doing stage diving while play and the nature of their music seems to depend on that. No mistakes or anything, good list of songs including my favorite Psyopus song, Play us some Skynyrd.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

Excluding Queensryche for being my absolute live experience from every single aspect imaginable:

Watchtower

Absolutely shocking experience, so much beyond everything i could expect. Thinking of it even now, after 3 years i can't really de-code their live show. Words like "crazy", "lunatic" or "bizarre" are poor to describe them on stage. They also covered '2112', that alone would be a reason to mention them.

Black Sabbath

30+ years after the peak of their career, they gave my favourite concert of all times and left thousands of people totally astonished and speechless and crying from joy when the concert ended, while singing "Changes" that was being played as an outro for the live. So simple.

Cathedral

I mention Cathedral, to include a band that i have seen many many times. Apart from the fact that they ALWAYS seem so fresh, energetic with a rare alchemy on stage, the key point of their live shows is Lee Dorrian who i consider to be the absolute doom figure/persona of the 90s, and he is exactly like that on stage. Whether pretending to be a zombie on "Night Of The Seagulls", in total ecstasy on "Ebony Tears" or "hanging himself" on "Hopkins...." the guy is a rare frontman and always refreshing his moves/abilities and peculiar moments of his singing/performance.

 

[MetalAges]

I'm going to list mine based on specific shows/points in time.

Twisted Sister - Come Out and Play tour
WOW! They had a killer stage, old junkyard cars, beat up house, street scene, was awesome. Dee came flying up out of a manhole at the beginning and it was all on from there . They played great, high energy, just a killer all around show.

ARK - ProgPower USA appearance.
I had heard of them before the event, listened to a few clips from their debut. When I saw them live and they were playing Burn the Sun material, they blew me away. The energy, musicianship, tightness, just a high caliber experience.

Primal Fear - New Jersey Metalfest appearance (their first USA show).
Blistering full metal assault. No stage gimmicks, just straight up metal. I think this was in support of Nuclear Fire which added to it for me as well (for me that's their Painkiller equivalent). It made suffering through the rest of those bands worth it. I am really anxious to see them this year at ProgPower USA to see how they are now, since they do not have the same lineup.

 

[Astrum]

Iron Maiden, Coldread, and With Daggers Drawn. I don't go to a lot of shows by huge bands.

 

[Dazed and Brutal]

Dark Tranquility -
So fucking intense and passionate not to mention the tight musicianship. I never liked them untill I saw them live and now they are one of my favorite bands.

Slayer -
The pits and the people in them are just fucking fun. Not to mention that when I saw them they decided to play a lot of shit off of Hell Awaits. Slayer define the metal live setting.

Counterview-
Local band that left me utterly speechless.

edit: and Iron Maiden for rocking my sox off <3

 

[Satanstoenail]

Coroner
Saw them live on their last ever tour in London in '93. Their set was cut horribly short because of some technical difficulties, and Annihilator (headliners) wouldn't shorten their set at all to accommodate them (CUNTS!) but what they did get to play was truly mindblowing. They had the best live sound I've ever heard, combined with their sheer technical brilliance and excellent stage presence. Ron Royce looked like a serial killer with his shaved head and ugly sneer.

Slayer
Saw them the other night, the first arena show I've been to in many years, and the first time I've managed to see Slayer. They exceeded my expectations totally. They were tighter than they were 15 years ago on the live album, they played everything I wanted to hear and the sound was perfect.

Cynic
Saw them at the Marquee club in '93, they were supposed to play with Pestilence but Pestilence had just imploded and split up, so Cynic headlined by themselves. Their set was amazing, it sounded better than the album, my mate and I were standing there with looks of astonishment on our faces for pretty much the whole thing. It's the only gig I've been to where people were being told to stop moshing so we could concentrate on watching them play.

 

[cookiecutter]

Suffocation - As mentioned earlier great personality, great sound, crushing songs. It was just awesome.

Slayer - What can I say that hasn't already been said.

Behemoth - I've mellowed on them recently, but they put on a great show. Good musicianship and I like the whole corpsepaint/costume thing theyve got going.

 

[Susperia]

I don't understand how "Slayer" and "tight" can even be used in the same sentence as synonymous by any cognitive being. :|

 

[Hatebreeder]

I'm interested to see Dave's response to this.

My top 3:

Blind Guardian - they have proven time and time again to be terrific songwriters no matter what type of song they're doing (from the early speed/thrash of their first few albums to the full-on power metal of their later works) and all the instrumentalists are immensely gifted with talent. I also have a slight weakness for medieval/renaissance-style tunes, and Blind Guardian's entire discography is chock full of them.

Satyricon - not only have they written some of the best black metal songs/albums to emerge from the second-wave, they also helped spawn viking metal with their perfect balance of all the black metal elements. They are also great songwriters and never fail to keep my attention even in their less prolific latter-day material. Satyr's voice is great as well.

Death - Chuck Schuldiner is one of the greatest songwriters to ever grace death metal and was a true innovator, proven many a time in Death's early material and in their transition into a more progressive influence. He was also very good at communicating ideas through his lyrics and kept my attention even through constant lineup changes.

 

[Hell Awaits Us All]

I'm interested to see Dave's response to this.

My top 3:

Blind Guardian - they have proven time and time again to be terrific songwriters no matter what type of song they're doing (from the early speed/thrash of their first few albums to the full-on power metal of their later works) and all the instrumentalists are immensely gifted with talent. I also have a slight weakness for medieval/renaissance-style tunes, and Blind Guardian's entire discography is chock full of them.

Satyricon - not only have they written some of the best black metal songs/albums to emerge from the second-wave, they also helped spawn viking metal with their perfect balance of all the black metal elements. They are also great songwriters and never fail to keep my attention even in their less prolific latter-day material. Satyr's voice is great as well.

Death - Chuck Schuldiner is one of the greatest songwriters to ever grace death metal and was a true innovator, proven many a time in Death's early material and in their transition into a more progressive influence. He was also very good at communicating ideas through his lyrics and kept my attention even through constant lineup changes.

wow you are a fucking idiot

I would suggest you read the first post in this thread

 

[Slayed Necros]

Seeing as I live in New Zealand, the amount of well-known/decent bands I've seen is extremely limited, but I'll join in anyway.

Pungent Stench. Surprisingly they've visited my small city twice in a the past few years (both times playing in seedy strip clubs) saying that they absolutely love playing for small, appreciative crowds. Anyway, they played songs from Been Caught Buttering and even a few from For God Your Soul... For Me Your Flesh which left me fucking stoked. All around the best live show I've experienced.

Dawn of Azazel. Seen them a number of times and the sheer ferocity of their performance never wears thin. Not a huge fan of their studio material, but live they are savage beyond description.

Anno Domini Mortus. Local Black Metal band and personal friends of mine who were pretty impressive live. The crowd was mostly made up of newbies and punks confused, so everyone but a few were confused and afraid. At the end of their set, some punk started running his mouth and my friend and I removed him from the premises as he bled profusely.

 

[Hatebreeder]

wow you are a fucking idiot

I would suggest you read the first post in this thread

What are you talking about?

 

[Hell Awaits Us All]

Live bands of all time? Please give a reason by each choice.

1) Motorhead - There's a reason why I have been to see Motorhead over 15 times. It has nothing to do with the sexual attractiveness of Lemmy (albeit he is an utter horndog). I have to say that they are consistantly excellent live, very fucking loud, and given the sheer amount of songs they have to mix into their repertoire, they always mix up the set list. Oh, and Mickey fucking Dee might just be the best drummer ever. Really.

2) Orange Goblin - For their first performance at Bloodstock. I was already a huge fan, but when the launched into "Blue Snow", with me very, very drunk and Ben very, very drunk (and clutching 4 cans of 9&#37; vol Special Brew), I knew it was going to be awesome. I was dancing. Yes, actually dancing at the front row. Four songs later, when I looked around, I was the only person moving, aside from Ben. Great concert, shit crowd.

3) Skyclad - Mapperley Social Hall 1999? A rare English performance from Skyclad in a Nottingham miners club. I could hear the bingo from the hall next door, despite in between the songs. Walkyier was in bouyant form. Fans from Denmark, Greece and Italy were there. It was a real feeling of belonging, and Skyclad had just released Vintage Whine, an absolutely untouchable album. It far eclipsed their final with-Walkyier performance, and remains a much treasured memory. Plus: Georgie Biddle: not much of a looker static, but moving ? You fucking would.

this thread is not about your favorite bands you idiot

@ hatebreeder

 

[MetalAges]

What are you talking about?

The question was top three live bands, not just bands.

 

[Hatebreeder]

The question was top three live bands, not just bands.

Sorry for the mix-up.

I still stand by what I said.

 

[thisisaformicatable]

Putrescence - The music isn't much beyond your usual goregrind affair, but the banter makes up for it. Imagine a fat, drunk lead vocalist staring into space with a sailor hat on opening the set over guitar feedback by saying "If you've ever thought about killing yourself... tonight is the night" in total deadpan. Also introducing songs with things like "we are called Drowning Pool... this next song pertains to bodies hitting the floor." Other antics I have witnessed include throwing a half full bottle of beer into the crowd in the middle of a song (to get people to stop moshing? who knows, it was funny).

HCE - Local noise/punk/hardcore/etc. band. Song introductions are interesting, as many of their songs seem to have meaningless grunts and shouts for titles. Also, they once had a roadie come on stage with a chocolate cake. He then proceeded to throw handfuls of it at the band members while they played. The lead vocalist/guitarist later vomited before the final songs. The best part is that there were about eight people (myself included) at the show, all of us at a few tables at the opposite end of the club from the stage. Polite applause followed their set.

Other picks would be Slayer, Celtic Frost and Cannibal Corpse, but I'm sure you all know what that's about. So I'll stick with my local picks.

 

[byrne]

Kreator
Saw them on their first tour of Aus only late last year. Was crammed up against the front fence, I was so close to Mille, the sweat from his face was almost dripping on me. Killer setlist and his vocals for a guy 23 years or so down the track, were absolutely amazing. Was AWESOME!

Danzig
First time he'd been here since '93 or so. Played an awesome setlist again (quite a bit of stuff of the first 3 albums) and about 15 Misfits songs WITH Doyle. Was as close as I was ever going to get to seeing the Misfits and Danzig is the greatest. Plus he chopped some idiot from the crowd, in half, with a side-kick when the guy ran up on stage.

Megadeth
Pretty much the same reasons as the above. Killer setlist, well played, energetic for a bunch of relatively old guys and a ton of fun.