Mostly I would say that old bands are generally in this category, and out of those I've witnessed I would mention Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Manowar, but the best example I can think of is Motley Crue. Now regardless of how much you hate them (and they are a pretty despised group around here) their studio songs have a certain quality to them, but live it completely falls apart, with the drunk driver asshole Vince Neil being the most appalling. Just judge for yourself:

"Wild Side" studio version..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hihge6FFVw

sounds pretty good right? well, just wait until you hear this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op3tFWN8crM

what the hell is he saying? it seems like he can't articulate one proper word anymore, Sixx's bass is turned way too high up, and Mars' guitar is all over the place. the only one who seems to be doing a good job is Tommy Lee but even he is not doing anything extraordinary as this song is extremely easy on all instruments.

thoughts? other bands to be added to the black list?

I saw Metallica live in 2010, and it was great. Jamez may not be as good as he was back in the day, but very few vocalists can maintain their voice for 30+ years.
The obvious answer to this thread is Guns N' Roses.


And while it's not horrible, King Diamond really can't hit those high notes live, and just seems to be out of tune a lot.


And lastly, I saw Judas Priest live last year, and while for the most part it was really good, Rob kind of butchered The Sentinel.


Oddly enough, I thought that the Motley Crue video you posted was decent enough...

Metallica is definitely on that list. You'd think that after 3 decades, lars could manage a 4/4 beat in time. James' voice wasn't too shabby though apart from the odd missed notes here and there. Dragonforce(i hear they're better now). Fear Factory also, well, just the vocals during the clean bits. They sound AWEFUL!

Apparently he was sick during this performance, but I've seen so many videos where he was just horrible for me to believe that.

Same here, I find Metallica is somewhat disappointing in concert, their vocal is somewhat loosing the power in studio version.

King Diamond took a break from touring for about the past 6 years, and I saw them live about a month ago. King's vocals were surprisingly on-spot, and "Welcome Home" was stunning, as was the whole show aside from the insanely high parts on the ending of "Halloween". The whole band was great too.

I would also disagree about Guns 'n Roses.. I just saw them last sunday and Rose's vocals, while not really something to shout about, were actually pretty decent, and the rest of the band was just superb.

One could argue the were never good in the studio, but...

Megadeth take it for me. Dav'es voice is just not a live voice. Granted, their musical ability remains rather nice.

I'm not really an expert on live stuff, as I don't generally pay attention to it, but I remember reading somewhere that Dragonforce don't know how to play their solos live.

Written by Oaken on 06.07.2012 at 17:56
Dragonforce don't know how to play their instruments live.

Fixed.

Guys, please take into account not just the vocals but also the instruments, for example it's a bit too much to say Priest is a horrible live band because Rob doesn't hit the high notes like he used to, or better put, as cleanly as he used to, when the rest of the band is 100% on spot the whole night.

A good chunk of the issue with a lot of the bands listed, particularly vocals, is age. you're looking at bands that have been touring for longer than anyone who posted prior to this has been walking the earth. it takes a bit of a toll.

having seen Slayer recently, they tore it up, but were still maybe 70% of what they were when i saw them in the early 90s. i imagine most bands have a similar fall off after decades of hitting the road.

the worst live bands are generally the ones that use the most studio magic to cut an album.

Saw Metallica last year, my beef is with Hammet he fucked up A LOT. I didn't notice any mistakes from Hetfield, but I'm thinking Hammet might have been wasted.

He totally botched the harmonised section of Nothing Else Matters (2:55 of the actual video below) you can't really hear the fuck up as much on this video compared to live but you can see Hammet look over towards Hetfield as to go the fuck?



But basically there were a lot of instances like this on the night.

Battlelore should be mentioned here. The overall band is good but kaisa's vocals are pretty drab.

Angra comes to mind. Everyone complained about their concert at Rock In Rio last year, but it was nothing more than I've seen other times...

I haven't really seen any bands that were just bad live, but I hear Dragonforce is really disappointing in concert.

Written by Guest on 06.07.2012 at 11:20

The obvious answer to this thread is Guns N' Roses.

I mean, I understand getting older and losing your vocal range but, wow, that was just plain bad. Axl sounds way out of shape as a vocalist, as he kept cutting the lyrics short or omitting ones he was too out of breath to sing. This definitely takes the cake for me as the worst.

The Faceless.

Written by Boxcar Willy on 06.07.2012 at 17:27

One could argue the were never good in the studio, but...

Slowed it down so much, makes it lame.

Written by Timmeh on 07.07.2012 at 03:59

Saw Metallica last year.

Book a ticket only if Kirk Hammet will take the center stage and I suppose that always happens.

Metallica is a band who talks to much to fans on a LIVE shows rather than sticking to their tracklisting and playing it properly. Worse. Now, the guys who come back from their concert thinks that they just coming from "an old stupid bar who serves,plays and everything are same and boring" experience. Not their fault.

Cannibal Corpse is a stuff that are really good n studio and worst in concert. Reason? you only see half naked fat ass guys or girls participating in brutal pits negating what they fuck they're playing and apart from the Wesbter( who is little bit interesting onstage) all are boring. They always go for wind mill headbanging and that's it, they just wrap it up.

That Megadeth video was very disturbing...

The first time I seen Slayer (circa 08), they were pretty bad.
They started a song and it was all off-beat and weird.
So they stopped the song and started over, it was totally fucked. And Tom hit almost no high notes the whole show.
One of Kerry's strings broke midsong (forgivable though)

The second time i seen them, they were much better and Tom hit the highs- it was a kick ass show overall.

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 08.07.2012 at 17:12

Written by Timmeh on 07.07.2012 at 03:59

Saw Metallica last year.

Book a ticket only if Kirk Hammet will take the center stage and I suppose that always happens.

Metallica is a band who talks to much to fans on a LIVE shows rather than sticking to their tracklisting and playing it properly. Worse. Now, the guys who come back from their concert thinks that they just coming from "an old stupid bar who serves,plays and everything are same and boring" experience. Not their fault.

I disagree completely. Metallica has been nothing short of spectacular every time I've seen them. To be fair, though, the tours I've seen encompassed Master Of Puppets, And Justice For All, and the Black Album many years ago but also one show of the Death Magnetic tour. All those shows were among the best I've seen. Even the performance and overall concert of the Death Magnetic tour was awesome. The sound was otherworldly (Portland Rose Garden), the set excellent, and absolutely no complaints. I particularly noticed the clean guitars from the And Justice tracks sounded exactly like the studio albums which can be difficult to replicate live. I was thoroughly impressed with every aspect of the shows past and recent.

Nobody mentioned Mastodon? I've never heard them live, but from what I've seen from their concert video clips, their live vocals are horrendous.

Deicide, at least solo-wise. Nobody knows how to play the Homage For Satan solo live correctly, especially that new fuckhead guitarist they got after they gave Ralph the boot.

Written by Guest on 06.07.2012 at 11:20

I saw Metallica live in 2010, and it was great. Jamez may not be as good as he was back in the day, but very few vocalists can maintain their voice for 30+ years.
The obvious answer to this thread is Guns N' Roses.

Oddly enough, I thought that the Motley Crue video you posted was decent enough...

I think that the MC video speaks for itself. I even have serious doubts that the backing vocals on that video are live or lip-synched. Those guys aren't really known for their singing abilities, and I think they would have kicked Neil out of the band a dozen times now if they could find a better vocalist and still have the "original Crue" selling point.

and I've seen Axl nail whole concerts, that imo was just him on one of his worse days, I won't argue that he sounds like shit.

Symphony X - Great in the studio, but boring live!

Written by Drahcir on 23.07.2012 at 04:58

Symphony X - Great in the studio, but boring live!

No idea what you're talking about amigo, Symphony X tear it up so good when they play live, and they're spot on to boot. Maybe you caught a bad show?

I've never seen Deicide put on a good show. Granted, I don't care for them whatsoever, but I at least know when a band puts on a good show regardless of how I feel about them. Also Leaves Eyes. Bleh.

Written by Drahcir on 23.07.2012 at 04:58

Symphony X - Great in the studio, but boring live!

totally agreed. The seven times I saw them live they were immensely boring and played loads of mistakes.

Written by Butters49 on 10.07.2012 at 02:30

So they stopped the song and started over, it was totally fucked.

Seriously?

That's like Music no-no #1 :/

Written by MesiasDesmorphus on 12.07.2012 at 08:37

Deicide, at least solo-wise. Nobody knows how to play the Homage For Satan solo live correctly, especially that new fuckhead guitarist they got after they gave Ralph the boot.

you mean Jack Owen, ex-Cannibal Corpse?
I enjoyed them live, but was too drunk to notice any solo mistakes