Bands That Only Shine In The Studio

flyswatter

Thought this might be a decent idea for a thread.

Trying to think of bands/singers that only sound good in the context of piecing together every good take in the studio but don't deliver live.

Try to keep it from being a list thread without any explanations.

nyarlothothep

Dragonforce, well apparently they had loads of technical problems on the tour which made them seem crappy live and they were drunk most of the time. Interpol sound very crap live too.

flyswatter

I've heard several times over the years that Bob Dylan is notoriously bad live.

Yet he has some of the most famous albums of all time.

NIMAN

Seen Mark Knopfler live on TV once, and he was dreadful. Could hardly hear his voice, mumbling away to himself. But great on the guitar all the same.

Snow Patrol disappointing live too.

ItAintMeBabe

The script...Danny O'Donoghues voice really hasnt been up to scratch in any of the live performances I've seen, yet they sound great on their records.

Mance Rayder

Meatloaf!

Thefirestarter

I only rate their first 2 albums, but Kings of Leon live are...underwhelming.

A total lack of charisma and a sense of "We don't really wanna be here" vibe coming off them.

Temaz

flyswatter wrote: »

I've heard several times over the years that Bob Dylan is notoriously bad live.

Yet he has some of the most famous albums of all time.

Seen him 5 times and loved every gig!!

Irish Aris

The Sisters of Mercy.
The music they have written in the 80's/early 90's is absolutely superb.

Seen them live is a torturing experience. . .come to think about it, you don't actually see them anyway, you just see some shadows moving behind a curtain of smoke. . .
Last November at their concert at Olympia, the smoke was practically chasing us until the road. . .

johnROSS

kerbdog. great recordings, dodgy live. also roger waters can be hit and miss live

seachto7

TV on the Radio

Studio rats I reckon, not so great live.

The Cranberries

Always appear ropey live (regardless of what you actually think of their music)

x Purple Pawprints x

Paramore. I wasn't really a massive fan to begin with but they have some good songs. Very disappointing live though. Saw them when they supported Green Day in Marlay Park.

duckworth

Pretty much all of Hip-Hop.

Great in the studio, awful on the stage.

Herb Powell

seachto7 wrote: »

TV on the Radio

Studio rats I reckon, not so great live.

The Cranberries

Always appear ropey live (regardless of what you actually think of their music)

This seems pretty damn good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZJHZLFCwjE

karaokeman

Jane_LS_88 wrote: »

Paramore. I wasn't really a massive fan to begin with but they have some good songs. Very disappointing live though. Saw them when they supported Green Day in Marlay Park.

I was at that gig and thought Paramore were good, each to their own I suppose.

I was the one who yelled "no bother" when Hayley thanked the crowd for their support and for being at the show.

Temaz

Elvis Costello was a big let down when I saw him.

Sappa

Saw the wu tang clan live and they were horrendous,been to a few rap concerts and they've been all bad.

martinedwards

depends on the gig of course.....

I've seen Dylan twice and he was excellent both times.....

saw Meatloaf once (1st leg of bat 2 tour) and he was excellent.

LOVE the Stranglers on disc but they were..... OK ... live......

BB king I'm not wowed about on record but he was magnificent live so it works both ways!!

going by the jubilee concert Cheryl cole is awful live!!

vader65

I don't think coldplay are good live..

ItAintMeBabe

I was surprised by Coldplay when I saw them live, wasnt expecting much but thought Chris Martin was fantastic as a frontman.

mike65

Steely Dan - such was the pursuit of sonic perfection they gave up touring in their 70s period, when they've got back together for live work since the 90s the gap was/is clear enough for all to hear. And the always rather slight vocals of Donald Fagen sound thin indeed now.

seachto7

Herb Powell wrote: »

This seems pretty damn good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZJHZLFCwjE

That is good actually. Is it true that lots of live dvds have touch ups, overdubs etc, rerecorded sloppy parts so you get the bum notes filtered out.........

EyesClosed

The Killers for me, where terrible live, singer was horrible

ricero

darryn wrote: »

The Killers for me, where terrible live, singer was horrible

where did you see them ?

i saw them at oxegen and marley park. both times they were very good live

vader65

I thought The killers were pretty good live, I seen them Belfast at their own concert a couple of years ago now.

EyesClosed

ricero wrote: »

where did you see them ?

i saw them at oxegen and marley park. both times they were very good live

Yea it was oxegen, just thought his voice was crap and they didn't seem to be bothered.

hypermuse

Some of the worst live bands I have witnessed are:

The Killers
Franz Ferdinand
The Streets


I have have been to gigs where I have seen a band I previously thought were amazing live (queens of the stone age) but upon seeing them a 2nd time they were dreadful (was at Oxegen but in all fairness, festivels are not the best place to prove your worth as a live performance act). I did them them again at the Olypima recently enough and they were incredible.

So I guess I am saying every band can have a bad performance and its a bit harsh to judge a bad set if its a at festival..

x Purple Pawprints x

karaokeman wrote: »

I was at that gig and thought Paramore were good, each to their own I suppose.

I was the one who yelled "no bother" when Hayley thanked the crowd for their support and for being at the show.

They were okay. I'm not sure why I wasn't impressed tbh. Maybe I was just expecting them to be better than they were.

Kold

You know what? Most hip hop gigs I've been to (a fair few) have been disappointing in some way or form. Some were excellent (notably Shabazz Palaces recently) but overall I think it's a genre that doesn't translate particularly well to the stage.

Sacred_git

Kold wrote: »

You know what? Most hip hop gigs I've been to (a fair few) have been disappointing in some way or form. Some were excellent (notably Shabazz Palaces recently) but overall I think it's a genre that doesn't translate particularly well to the stage.

Beastie boys were/are epic live!!

Stavro Mueller

Ash. Though whether they ever shone in the studio is debatable

DEFTLEFTHAND

Stone Roses.

flyswatter

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Stone Roses.

Agreed. Brown is a pretty awful singer really.

Stavro Mueller

Simple Minds. Jim Kerr's live performances are quite the curate's egg.

+1 on the Stone Roses. Ian Brown can be ear-splittingly awful. Another one from that era is New Order. Again, they could be very much hit or miss.

flyswatter

On the New Order point, I've heard Peter Hook is actually a decent enough singer, seen a video of him doing Ceremony with his band in Dublin, sounded good enough.

cometogether

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Stone Roses.

If you've seen videos of their recent gigs you may retract that statement I think

walshb

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Stone Roses.

Spot on. Supposedly weak in concert!

flyswatter

flyswatter wrote: »

Agreed. Brown is a pretty awful singer really.

He wasn't that bad last night, was at the gig.

tomasrojo

XTC. But only because Andy Partridge has debilitating stage fright, and can no longer play live.

eviltimeban

Smashing Pumpkins. Musically good, but the vocals have always been awful live.

Oasis - back in the early days they were good but they got pretty plodding and boring towards the end. And Liam's vocals were just deplorable.

rock whore

+1 for Ash!

in the studio you can lay down 15 guitar tracks and do the vocal til you get it right but on stage there's only 1 guitar and Tim can't hit the right notes with his weedy voice, awful, just awful.

ThatsAWrap

I think The Beach Boys. You just can't replicate that complex sound live no matter how good a musician/singer you are.