Rolling Stone asking for Greatest Live Act

Oingo Boingo was a pretty good live act.

 

Worst I've ever witnessed was Days of the New. This was several years after their only hit, but the club it was at had a decent crowd. The singer got through maybe three songs (and not the hit) before yelling at his bandmates. Then he started in on the soundman and that changed into a verbal assault on the crowd. He left the stage after roughly 20 minutes and didn't return.

 

That singer was rooming and working with Mike Starr when he died.

 

Forget the drugs, that explains the death.

 

Only time I saw J. Geils Band was fairly late, in '79 after the Sanctuary album (which was actually a very solid record). Good show, but it didn't have near the energy that just blasts out of every cut on Full House.

By far the most hostile response to an opening act was at the aforementioned Who show in '75. Toots and the Maytals opened, and an audience of 19,000 Who fans in flyover country just weren't ready for any Jamaican riddims. They played about three songs and left the stage to a cascade of boos. Which was a shame, because I suspect they'd have been pretty good in a different environment.

 

I wonder if concerts, or at least the concert experience, was better 30 and 40 years ago?
I've been to big venue shows in the last 10 years and been left cold by the entire experience. The service charges, the wristbands to buy overpriced beer, the videoboards... the music is almost an afterthought. It reminded me of going to a "Vegas-style" show at Tahoe, the dancing girls come out, there's singing, there's dancing and I look up above the stage and see a clock so the various acts know when to vamoose.

 

The Rutles at Che Stadium, 1965.

 

The only thing I would say that's better today is sound quality. Technology has made a big difference in the way live acts sound.

 

That was Great White, you insensitive asshole.

 

Pearl Jam
Belle and Sebastian
Arcade Fire (especially on the Funeral tour)
LCD Soundsystem
Rush
Dinosaur Jr.
Built to Spill
Wolf Parade

 

Yeah, I know, but I still wanna hear My Name is Jonas-->No One Else-->The World Has Turned and Left Me Here.

 

Sure they were. You could smoke mega-tons of dope at concerts back then, and nobody gave a shit.