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Musicians that are awful in their live performances.

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Um no, Skrillex is the bomb live. I've seen him at least 6 times that I can think of. He's fearless on stage, musically. It's pretty awesome. Here he is this summer playing in a dusty old tent for a crowd of ~100 (I was there).

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My vote for worst goes to Lauryn Hill. What a trainwreck. I don't normally have a problem with a performer being drunk/high on stage, but not if it impairs their performance. Lauryn just takes it to the next level, insulting the crowd, long pauses between songs to rant, forgetting lyrics, off key, etc. So awful.

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Don't know if it was just that night, but Queens of the Stone Age had no stage presence at all. They pretty much just played their songs back to back, identically to the studio versions.

Also the crowd was shitty, just standing around.

Really an unfortunate night for you :c I've seen QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures live and every time they were absolutely on fire. Constant banter with the audience, deviation from the studio tracks to improvise solos and duels on the stage, they were all crazy nights.

TCV played two songs that weren't even on the studio album, which drives me crazy because they were the most crazy of the live songs!

I've heard nothing but bad things about Mastodon live, from the sounds of it they utilize studio magic to cover for the lack of stage presence and Brent getting 100% fucking smashed out of his mind before he steps on stage.
 
This thread is pretty much I saw these guys once and they had an off night so they suck live.

Granted there are bands that suck live but there are a lot that are actually pretty awesome live.
 
I saw the Pixies recently and was so disappointed at their lack of enthusiasm and energy. They never once interacted with the crowd - just played song after song then stopped.

I saw them in like 08 or 09 I think. Kim and Frank clearly hated each other which made for a funny/uncomfortable concert.
 
Rush in 2015

Amazing band, but Geddy can't even remotely sing anymore. It's really sad.
Geddy could never sing, it's the hugest weak link in the band. Dude is a terrible, terrible vocalist.

My vote goes to Wu Tang. Saw them in New York City and it was awful. Granted, the crowd sucked as everyone was there to see Rage. But man oh man what a boring and lifeless performance.
 
I have never heard ANYTHING but this about interpol. which sucks. I like their music, but never saw em live. I think I'll continue that so as not to ruin the music I like.

I've seen them twice and thought they were pretty good. If you watch live videos on youtube it sounds sloppy and the singer sounds outright terrible, but there is a different air when you are actually there. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I think its the reverb of a venue or something that gives it the StudioRecording-esque oomf.

This thread is pretty much I saw these guys once and they had an off night so they suck live.

Granted there are bands that suck live but there are a lot that are actually pretty awesome live.

lol yeah. Not to mention the different eras people are seeing these artists. There are so many factors to it.
 
Ice Cube was a pile of shit. Between bringing his son on stage to sing along, showing trailers for Compton, playing music videos in the background, and more. The general lack of excitement and terrible mic work that may work for a high school crowd.
 
Geddy could never sing, it's the hugest weak link in the band. Dude is a terrible, terrible vocalist.

Well obviously with his style they were always a love em or hate em band, but even people that love Rush can agree his vocals are beyond garbage the past 5-10 years.
 
Have not experienced any personally (Motley Crue, 3 Doors Down, Theory of a Deadman, TSO), but I assume from video Britney Spears is probably terrible.
 
maybe they're different these days but mastodon was amazing on their crack the skye tour. played a huge set and killed it throughout.

i probably won't be going to see them again just because i don't like their new stuff but it'd be a shame if their live shows fell off.
 
Rush in 2015

Amazing band, but Geddy can't even remotely sing anymore. It's really sad.

I don't even know what the fuck he's doing anymore...like he doesn't even seem like he's trying to sing the songs as they were written.
 
Oh :( please don't be true, I am seeing them next year

They still put on a good live show. Their light show alone is worth it imo.

Musically, Tame Impala shifted towards Synth heavy/sing along anthem radio stuff. Can't go in expecting what they used to be, sadly. I still enjoy their new stuff.

Seen them twice btw during Innerspeaker-era and this year.
 
They still put on a good live show. Their light show alone is worth it imo.

Musically, Tame Impala shifted towards Synth heavy/sing along anthem radio stuff. Can't go in expecting what they used to be, sadly. I still enjoy their new stuff.

Seen them twice btw during Innerspeaker-era and this year.

Good to know, thanks. Still wish I'd seen them during Lonerism but hey ho
 
The most not-live "live" album of all time:

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But to be fair, it's all Tom that gets corrected. Mark is perfectly fine live and Travis is obviously outstanding.

Such a great album. I'm pretty sure Mark's singing is overdubbed a lot too. It's basically a studio album, it's so good. I would see them now with Matt Skiba playing guitar, in a smaller club.

That Animal Collective post is funny, because that era is pretty goofy, but their live shit is so badass starting around 2005 and up. There are a shitload of bootlegs from the past ten years which are all amazing, in my opinion
 
I've never actually heard their albums, but the worst band I've ever seen live was Wicked Wisdom. (Jada Pinkett Smith's band) I don't remember who they opened for, but they had a "wall of sound" mix so I couldn't even describe what they sounded like and everyone but Jada looked utterly bored. Jada herself was like a walking metalhead stereotype wearing a wife beater and black jeans with chains hanging all over them while she was constantly throwing up devil horns, sticking her tongue out, and mean mugging. She also had her hair deliberately frizzed out for maximum head banging effect. It was some cringey shit.

I talked to their bass player after the show and he was a cool dude. Can't blame him for making a paycheck.
 
Saw Queens of the Stone Age twice, Josh was out of breath 4 songs into the performance.
Sounds like an off night. I saw them in Seattle when they did their debut album front to back and then did over an hour long encore where they played whatever fans yelled out for them. It was awesome!
 
Just remembered another band that I didn't enjoy and just seemed like a bunch of dudes screaming and playing random notes.... The Locust, I've never heard their album mixes but holy crap at the live show.
 
You might be inclined to say whoever that was as Ubisoft's 2015 E3 conference, but that guy was blown out of the water by the dude that sings that Cheerleader song. He was a guest act on one of this year's America's Got Talent results show and it was hands down the worst live performance I've ever heard or ever heard tale of.
 
SepticFlesh used to be horrendous live due to the fact that singer called us (audience) 'motherf*****s' at least 25 times during one hour set...
 
Brent Hinds from Mastodon can't sing live. He sounds like a nasally cartoon character.

And Dave Mustaine from Megadeth can't sing for shit, live or on record.

Brent getting more involved vocally is why I hardly like any Mastodon songs after Leviathan. I don't love him in the studio, and live he's one of the worst singers/screamers I have ever heard.

Steven Tyler. This is probably unfair, as I've only seen Aerosmith play the superbowl. But I remember that being a painful performance to watch.
 
Brent Hinds from Mastodon can't sing live. He sounds like a nasally cartoon character.

I agree he is not a great singer, although I kind of enjoy his attempts live. Brent is just fucked on many levels, I fear he will end up dead sooner or later with the lifestyle he is living.
 
I saw Drake live around 2007/2008 before he was really famous and he was awful. I have no idea if he has gotten any better since then but it was so bad that, even though the ticket was free, I left early.

Trey Songz sounds like a bad karaoke singer.

I'll add more as I remember them.
 
I like Talib Kweli for being a socially conscious rapper, but seeing him live was painful. His voice sounds nothing like what's on the track, and sounded really scratchy and unintelligible. Saw him once at his own performance and once at a hip hop music festival, and both times were equally disappointing.
 
Geddy could never sing, it's the hugest weak link in the band. Dude is a terrible, terrible vocalist.

My vote goes to Wu Tang. Saw them in New York City and it was awful. Granted, the crowd sucked as everyone was there to see Rage. But man oh man what a boring and lifeless performance.

I've seen Wu-Tang about 6 times, and I do agree that I had mixed feelings about maybe 4/6 of those performances. The best show I've seen them do live was the last stop on their tour for the year in Orlando and the whole Clan showed up (the stage was basically full of people), but they actually started their performance really late (1am). Although it was late, they definitely killed it with basically a non-stop posse cut of all their Wu-hits, and it was great hearing all of the songs with complete verses, I think they had ODB's kid performing with them too. What clinched the night was when RZA introduced a guy who had been standing onstage the whole time with his hat pulled down low, and it happened to be Quentin Tarantino. I'm guessing they wanted to put on a good show since he was there, but I was glad to have been part of that crowd.
 
Worst I've seen is Fiona Apple.

She starts off trying to sing softly then winds up SCREAMING and YELLING by the end of the concert.

She sounds like she's yelling at an ex-boyfriend for cheating on her or something when she performs.

Probably David Blaine's fault.
 
I saw the Pixies recently and was so disappointed at their lack of enthusiasm and energy. They never once interacted with the crowd - just played song after song then stopped.

They were great when I saw them, but that was a few years ago already, and Kim Deal was still there.

Interpol are sloppy as shit live and they play the songs way too fast

Seeing them play with David Pajo (of Slint) as their bass player was quite great, he played so much better than everybody else in the band it was almost funny how much he stood out.
 
As opposed to the other thread, let's name all the bands/acts that plain suck when they play live.

Let's start with A Day to Remember, it's like the singer is bored/sleepy/doesn't give a shit about his own songs, no power in the singing. Although they have some good acoustic shows.

On the flipside, Muse is da tits of a mind-blowing live act
 
I'm glad you're joking, I could write a book series on how I think Incubus is the best band around. In fact, before I got into Incubus a few years ago I thought that it was not possible for bands to sound just like the album (In a good way). /fanboy

you, a fanboy?

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but for real, I haven't been to many concerts but Incubus is kinda amazing in the context of live performances vs. studio, their live stuff sounds extremely close to the album, especially the vocals.
 
It doesn't help that a bunch of California's venues are kind of crappy, perhaps it's just sound crews, but most shows I see live are pretty meh. The singer almost always gets drowned out. I saw Atreyu live at one of those festivals, and I could barely make out a word either of the singers was saying.

I saw Sevendust in the house of blues, and same deal :/
 
I hope people don't conflate not sounding like the album with being bad.

Not at all, but I'd like to be able to hear the singers. Almost all shows I see somehow manage to wash them out. The best performances are where the singer is extremely capable, and they don't feel the need to "cover up" a possibly shoddy member. I saw Disturbed live, and it was mind blowingly good. Great energy, the lead singer would walk through the crowd, get wrapped up in an embrace with an audience member and harmonize to the best of their ability certain parts of a song. It was dope :D
 
I heard that there was a Dragonforce concert where the guitarist messed up the intro to Through the Fire and Flames really bad. Haven't seen any videos or heard any audio of it though.
 
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