What's the best song you've ever heard performed live?

[Izulde]

For me, without question it's Evanescence's "My Immortal". Amy Lee sitting on the stage playing the piano and singing what was already a fantastic song just made my night. It was a surreal and powerful moment and I fell in love.

Second was during the encore at a Gin Blossoms concert where the lead singer sang this song about a dinosaur that was awesome to listen to, but sadly isn't on any albums and I can't find it on mp3 anywhere. Truly incredible.

[Joe]

U2- Sunday Bloody Sunday was great live

[cthomer5000]

"Bulls On Parade" - Rage Against The Machine

[WSUCougar]

U2, "Pride"

[DeToxRox]

"Barroom Hero" by the Dropkick Murphys.

[CraigSca]

"Hey Dude" - Kula Shaker and "The Only One I Know" - The Charlatans

[Ksyrup]

It's a tie between:

Static - King's X (Tallahassee, 5/03)
Mini-Tobaggan - Last Crack (Ft. Lauderdale, 7/91)

[JW]

"Born to be Wild," Steppenwolf, 1971, Monroe, LA. You have to understand there was a near riot going on, since the police had just escorted the band off the stage and shut the concert down due to a song involving profanity and discussing drug use, i.e., they had just played "The Pusher", i.e., "...goddamn the pusher man..." After a sustained protest and near riot on the part of the audience, the band was allowed back on stage to play their last song, the long version of "Born to be Wild." In those circumstances, best live song I have ever heard.

[Ksyrup]

Best song performed during a riot:

Breadfan - Metallica (Orlando, '92ish) - they kept playing as the lights came up, and 75% of the crowd decided to jump onto the floor and reenact a massive WWF scene with the metal chairs on the O-rena floor. I think Metallica had to pay upwards of $30K in damages.

[Ben E Lou]

We've all seen the "Mama Said Knock You Out" unplugged video, but an even better performance by LL was "I Can't Live Without My Radio" at a show in Columbus, GA.

[KWhit]

We've all seen the "Mama Said Knock You Out" unplugged video...
We have?

[Ksyrup]

"We" haven't. The last time I think I saw LL Cool J on my TV, video or not, was the first 30 minutes of Toys.

[Celeval]

"We" haven't. The last time I think I saw LL Cool J on my TV, video or not, was the first 30 minutes of Toys.
Any Given Sunday

[Rizon]

Tool - the entire concert

[gi]

Nine Inch Nails, Hurt.

[SegRat]

Pantara - Fucking Hostile.

[cthomer5000]

I have never seen the referenced LL Cool J video.

[Radii]

"We" haven't. The last time I think I saw LL Cool J on my TV, video or not, was the first 30 minutes of Toys.


Mama Said Knock You Out on unplugged was by far my favorite Unplugged moment, which is saying an awful lot, as I don't really like LL Cool J and a ton of my favorite artists all did Unplugged.

[Ksyrup]

Pantara - Fucking Hostile.
I was going to mention something from Pantera, but couldn't pinpoint a song. My actual favorite Pantera moment was when Skid Row opened for them and all the teenybopper chicks stayed up front for the beginning of Pantera's set. Thirty seconds into their set, there was a panicked exodus of hairspray, tears, and running mascara. It was fucking great!

[Ksyrup]

Any Given Sunday
Never saw it.

[cthomer5000]

Pantara - Fucking Hostile.
Interesting. You must be a very big fan of the band based on how you spelled their name.

[oliegirl]

R.E.M - Orange Crush, they used to do a yearly show at the Omni around Thanksgiving...this was the last concert before they tore the Omni down. Awesome show, incredible song, amazing band.

[Radii]

I haven't seen a ton of concerts, but I could probably name 10 songs by Barenaked Ladies that I loved live, they put on a great show if you like their music at all. But the best?

One - Metallica.

[marshall881]

Pearl Jam - Oceans

[jeff061]

Tool - the entire concert

I was really trying to pick out a song, from Tool or otherwise, but couldn't. Primus was pretty sweet to.

[colt45]

beastie boys - paul revere
tone loc - funky cold medina

[Ksyrup]

I haven't seen a ton of concerts, but I could probably name 10 songs by Barenaked Ladies that I loved live, they put on a great show if you like their music at all. But the best?

One - Metallica.
That was on my short list, too. At least, the Justice tour version of it, or maybe even the Grammy performance. They've done it so many times since then, it's kinda lost its uniqueness. Except for the one where James got burned - I guess that would have been a memorable version.

[Ksyrup]

I was really trying to pick out a song, from Tool or otherwise, but couldn't. Primus was pretty sweet to.
Primus doing Master of Puppets, with Les playing the rhythm guitar part on bass, was mind-blowing.

[Hammer755]

I can't think of the best performance of a song I've ever seen live, but the worst one is a no-brainer. I attended RockFest at FW Motor Speedway in 1997, and the Wallflowers played their big hit One Headlight, and I'm using the term 'played' loosely. The band sounded awful, and Jakob Dylan was just terrible.

[Ksyrup]

I'm trying to think of a band I liked where I thought they were bad, and I can't do it. Anyone who I thought sucked in concert I probably didn't want to see anyway (i.e., AC/DC when King's X opened for them).

[gstelmack]

Tangerine Dream, entire concert. They came out, played for 90 minutes straight with a BEAUTIFULLY orchestrated light show. Finished, left the stage, standing ovation from audience, they came back out, played for another FANTASTIC 20 minutes, and left. Never said a word, just played fantastic music with an awesome visual component. Best concert ever, hands down.

[Fidatelo]

It would have to be a tragically hip song, but I can't think of a specific one that shone above the others live. They are pretty much awesome live the whole way through.

[SegRat]

Interesting. You must be a very big fan of the band based on how you spelled their name.
Didnt relize you had to be a huge fan to think a song was the best you have ever seen or heard at a concert? So I misspelled Pantera, big fucking deal.

[SegRat]

I'm trying to think of a band I liked where I thought they were bad, and I can't do it. Anyone who I thought sucked in concert I probably didn't want to see anyway (i.e., AC/DC when King's X opened for them).
Easy for me. Marilyn Manson. Playing at Ozzfest in alpine valley. They came on after Pantera. They were horrible. People were pulling chunks of grass up and throwing it at the band. Easily the worst show I have seen.

[Warhammer]

This is a tie, both from the Billy Joel concert (I'm a piano player so be gentle!):

Prelude/Angry Young Man
Piano Man

[Ksyrup]

This is a tie, both from the Billy Joel concert (I'm a piano player so be gentle!):

Prelude/Angry Young Man
Piano Man
Paging QS!

[CamEdwards]

"Baby's Coming Back" by Jellyfish in Dallas, Spring 1993 is right up there, but They Might Be Giants doing "She's an Angel" in 1991 was the best.

[Sublime 2]

"Fields of Athenry" Dropkick Murphys

[Ksyrup]

"Baby's Coming Back" by Jellyfish in Dallas, Spring 1993 is right up there, but They Might Be Giants doing "She's an Angel" in 1991 was the best.
Screw you for having seen Jellyfish live! ;)

[QuikSand]

*glaring*

[QuikSand]

For me, now that I have composed myself a bit... it was "Here Comes the Flood" by Peter Gabriel. On the So tour, he did a piano-only version of this song, which (as is often the case with the least-accompanied number in the show) was unusually powerful. I saw it a few times, and they included a version similar to the live performance on the collection Shaking the Tree. Pretty good.

[FrogMan]

I'd have to go with a fairly recent memory: Lightning Crashes by Live at The Agora in Quebec City.

It's an outdoor setup in the Quebec City Old Port, not very big maybe 3000-4000, with the stage mostly covered by a roof except at the very front of it. It rained during most of that show with a good downpoor that started as the first notes of Lightning Crashes started. Ed Kowalczyk started singing coolly and came to the front of the stage, where rain was hitting him and in the middle of the song, when the song picks up in intensity, he was singing kind of bent backward like he often does, his left arm outstretched, kind of looking at the sky above. No there was no lightning in the sky, but the song felt kind of surreal...

Kinda sad they'll be tearing The Agora down next year :(

FM

[Chas in Cinti]

Hmmm... you guys are going to laugh, but:

"How do you know when it's love" - Van Hagar at the height of their popolarity (90, 91?)
"Country Boy can Survive" - Hank Jr with only a 10-string guitar and bottle of Jack

[VPI97]

"The Only One I Know" - The CharlatansSigh...I'd give my left testicle to have seen them live in the 90's.

For me, seeing Sting sing 'A Day in the Life' in '93 was awesome because I'm such a huge Beatles fan, but the #1 on the list is the 12 minute version of 'Round Here' at the Halloween '02 Counting Crows concert.

[Johnny93g]

u2- "Where the Streets have no name"

[Bea-Arthurs Hip]

The Who "Wont Get Fooled Again".

Entwistles base pounding in your chest.

Daltrey's Scream making your hair stand up on your arms.

Townshends guitar riffs making your ears bleed.

[John Galt]

For me, the best songs performed were cases where they were just so different than I expected. One was "Cop-Killer" performed by Ministry (not Ice-T and Body Count). It is hard to imagine an angrier, more intense performance. I think a performance by Lords of Acid doing "I Sit on Acid" was truly amazing because it was very different than any of their other renditions of the song.

Generally, though, like Cam, I have enjoyed every TMBG performance I have seen.

[cody8200]

Radiohead-Paranoid Android. Simply amazing sound live. I've seen them twice Chicago in 2001 and Cleveland in 2003 and the Chicago one was better. It was AWESOME!

[Ryche]

I don't know if it was necessarily the best song I've seen performed live but the most memorable for me was Type O Negative's, Black No. 1 when they were opening for Pantera. Type O sang most of the song, then when it came to the 'loving you was like loving the dead' part, Anselmo came out to sing. There was at least a foot height difference between Type O's lead singer and Anselmo, so Phil was practically leaping to sing into the microphone, but he did one hell of a job with it.

[gi]

I don't know if it was necessarily the best song I've seen performed live but the most memorable for me was Type O Negative's, Black No. 1 when they were opening for Pantera. Type O sang most of the song, then when it came to the 'loving you was like loving the dead' part, Anselmo came out to sing. There was at least a foot height difference between Type O's lead singer and Anselmo, so Phil was practically leaping to sing into the microphone, but he did one hell of a job with it.
hmm...perfect weather here for Type O....

Great song, been meaning to check them out live.

[Ksyrup]

I saw them (Type O Negative) open for Queensryche and they were OK live. Peter sang so low that he couldn't keep himself in tune and missed badly a few times.

[DanGarion]

Never saw it.
Lucky you... I wish I could take back those 2 hours.

[Gallifrey]

"Here Today" by Paul McCartney...the first time he performed the poem live as a song.

This is a hard one, as I have seen more concerts than I can ever remember, starting in the 70's when my older brother went into the music business full time.

[DanGarion]

"Baby's Coming Back" by Jellyfish in Dallas, Spring 1993 is right up there, but They Might Be Giants doing "She's an Angel" in 1991 was the best.
Jellyfish kicked ass!

[NoMyths]

Ooh...good question. Sadly (or happily, as the case may be), I can't choose just one. Here's some of my favorites:

Radiohead: "Like Spinning Plates" and "Idioteque" (Cuyahoga Falls, 2001). First time they'd performed LSP live, and it was unbelievable. If you were a bad person and searched for this song on Kazaa or something, this is almost always the live version that shows up.

Dirty Three: "Sue's Last Ride" (Chicago, 2003). If you don't know the Dirty Three and are a fan of post-rock, be sure to pick up both Ocean Songs and Whatever You Love, You Are. This song comes from neither, but was one of the many highlights of another of the best shows I've seen.

Yo La Tengo: "You Can Have It All" (Chicago, 2003). Actually, I was blissed out for the whole show, and can't really pick a favorite. This one sticks out a bit, I suppose.

White Stripes & Flaming Lips: "Seven Nation Army" (Chicago, New Year's Eve 2003, straight up midnight). Ye gods.

...and finally...

Nirvana: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Endless Nameless" (Kansas City, 1993). First show I ever saw. First time moshing and crowd surfing. First contact high I ever had. SLTS is the obvious highlight in some ways, but watching Dave Grohl smash together a sculpture from his drum kit at the front of the stage while the sounds were going nuts around him...good times. Also Kurt came out before the show and said hey to some folks next to me, which to my teenaged self was like being in the presence of Yahweh.

[AgustusM]

Tim McGraw - "Live like you were dying"

[Passacaglia]

"Hey Joe" performed by Buckwheat Zydeco.

[Ryche]

I saw them (Type O Negative) open for Queensryche and they were OK live. Peter sang so low that he couldn't keep himself in tune and missed badly a few times.

Yeah, Type O themselves were not that spectacular when I saw them, still enjoyed it though.

Actually just saw Queensryche last weekend. Pretty damn cool seeing Mindcrime performed live. Tate is still has a great voice.

[condors]

Queensryche - Revolution Calling (was blown away)

Blue Oyster Cult - Godzilla (wasn't a big fan until i saw them live)

Metallica - Harvester of Sorrow (outdoor show and was totally blown away)

[Glengoyne]

Melissa Etheridge doing Janis Joplin's "Piece of my Heart" she opened a show that included Simon and Garfunkel performing together, and that song is the memory I took away from the evening.

Paul McCartney doing "Live and Let Die". It was an impressive display pyrotechnics and all. Again the thing I remember most about a great concert.

I can't think of any particular song, but Garth Brooks honestly does a pretty amazing job in concert. He did Don MacLean's "Vincent" at the Hollywood Bowl, and that was very cool. Of his stuff...I actually like "Calling Baton Rouge"

Again too many concerts to pick through.

[braves31074]

Bruce Springsteen: Jungleland

[Ksyrup]

Actually just saw Queensryche last weekend. Pretty damn cool seeing Mindcrime performed live. Tate is still has a great voice.
I saw this show about a year ago, with the actors and Pamela Moore involved. Great show.

[duckman]

Ozzy Osbourne singing Paranoid during his "Retirement Sucks" tour in 1996.

[Esquared1]

Bob Dylan - "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"

[Bad-example]

The Tubes - "White Punks On Dope"

[HomerJSimpson]

Backstreet Boys- "Quit Playing Games With My Heart"


but they did. They so did.

[Tom E]

Oasis used to end show's with a 10 minute version of Champagne Supernova that was amazing

[pennywisesb]

"Bro Hymn" by Pennywise was great live.

"Flake" by Jack Johnson was also good live. I went to see him play about 10 times before he was popular and he was great when watching him play with like 15 other people. Now when he plays its more like thousands.

[Karlifornia]

Muse-Time Is Running Out

Radiohead-Creep

Both at Coachella 2004

[DaddyTorgo]

It'd either be like "Bell Bottom Blues" by Clapton or maybe Neil Young doing "Down by the River" or his version of the Star Spangled Banner electrically.

[Wasabiak]

Norah Jones--What am I to you

[AZSpeechCoach]

Paul McCartney - Yesterday
Weird Al - Amish Paradise

[Buccaneer]

U2 "Pride" at Mile High.

[yabanci]

Rage Against the Machine's performance of "Testify" in the protest pit outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention while Bill Clinton was speaking inside.