Favourite Live Performance 'oh you guys rock gimme some chicken feet please'

What is your favourite live performance? A performance of a song that really moves, excites or invigorates you? Or something else? Another feeling?

I have two videos, and they are very different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGJoE-H0Raw

Sigur Ros are basically one of my favourite bands of all time; their music is the soundtrack to my life. This track is one of my favourite compositions in general I have ever heard from anyone. This live version can bring me to tears, it's incredible.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12veSNXIfos

At The Drive In were my favourite band growing up. I got into music through Punk and it's original ideologies and philosophy. When I heard this band for the first time it was everything - they had everything. Emotion, that raw punk energy, talent, all rolled into one. This performance sounds dramatically different (and rougher) compared to the actual song and other performances, but for me, this epitomizes what Punk is, and what passion for music is in general. I think it's incredible to this day.

My favourite live gig I ever attended was F'ed Up at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London. It was one of the best nights of my life. So much energy and vibes. The singer right in mine and my brother's faces, holding the mic at us to sing every other verse, crowd surfing on us, hugging us, it was the greatest.

So what about you?

Pretty much any Garth Brook song because the crowd will sing most of the words 90% of the time.

D'espairsRay has long been one of my favorite bands, so to see a Japanese group play at a show largely comprised of Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu fans who have never heard of them was really awesome.

Aaaah don't make me choose :( Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alkaline Trio, Jenny Lewis, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gogol Bordello, Handsome Furs! All freaking fab!

If I had had had to choose, Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is my best pick, hands down. She just has so much smurfing energy, she is constantly dancing and squirming around. Brian Chase is so damn good about keeping rhythm for the crowd and Nick Zinner is great striking his chords between songs just at the right time to give the crowd a little taste of his skills. Their entire show is just one acid trip.

Ah, second might be Nate Ruess from fun. His presence on stage is just unlike anything I've ever seen before. He's magnificent.

Honorable mention to Panic! at the Disco. Brendon Urie just sat there and banter with the crowd like he was having a one-on one conversation with you between songs, it was fantastic.

One of my favorite live performances I've discovered on YouTube, though, goes to The Black Belles and their song Honky Tonk Horror. I just love love love this version, and there is such a clear influence of the White Stripes in their music. Love it.

Its probably Saxon for me. I've seen a lot of bands from the 70's and 80's golden age of Heavy Rock/Heavy Metal and the only one who feels as if they haven't lost any energy or quality over time, is Saxon. In fact I prefer their more recent material to their old. Their live shows are just incredible, a blend of their hits from the early 80s that fit hand in hand with their more recent material and all songs are performed with the same intensity!



I've got tickets to see them again in Newcastle in December and one thing I have to say I'm ALSO looking forward is the support who I haven't seen live but their live performances are highly reputed.
Hell.



See, sometimes when I've seen Saxon they've had some younger more modern bands like Fury UK who are absolutely cringeworthy and an example of why I really don't feel I can connect to many of the more, "Up to date" sounds and images in bands today but these, Hell. They're technically a blend of both, a band from the 80s who failed to break through due to their then record label going bust and split up til just a few years ago to give it another shot and they've brought in modern technology and stage antics, props to enhance their music.

Alive-Man you have fantastic taste in music.

Greg Puciato and the rest of The Dillinger Escape Plan are incredible performers. Greg puts his life on the line night after night, blowing fire, climbing onto the side of the stage and on the ceiling, the guy is an animal. Ben Weinman and Liam Wilson flail around so much I'm surprised they can still manage to any notes, let alone just about all of them. I was supposed to see them in 2005 but they had to cancel.

St. Vincent is the polar opposite, but another great performer. Whereas The Dillinger Escape Plan are an explosion of chaotic, visceral energy, St. Vincent's movements are very calculated and subtle. I'm going to see her next month.

Unfortunately I haven't seen many acts that are known for their live shows. Most of the shows I have been to have either been huge arena rock/metal bands or local groups (some of which are incredible, though). I am thinking of going to a Dropkick Murphys show in August when they're in town. The perks of music journalism.

YouTube links for all below.