That is a nice tribute, and also makes me realize I’ve somehow never seen iron maiden live - uh oh! Probably a real time limit on that one at this point
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I know exactly what you mean, both about seeing Maiden live and how the bands I want to and the bands I can’t see live, the numbers are going into the later category.
It’s not the same, but one thing I love the Internet for is being able to see performances of bands at concerts I couldn’t attend.
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ah, I get absolutely nothing out of videos of live performances! I also don’t understand live albums - whenever I get one (usually by accident) I’m like cool - slightly worse versions of songs I like. Maybe that’s just my weird brain!
Anyway I saw (NWOBHM band) Raven perform the 40th anniversary of their album Wiped Out and it was just a bunch of grandads having the best time on a stage in front of maybe 100 people. It ruled. So yeah if you ever get a chance like that don’t pass it by!
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respectfully, i feel almost the opposite as you do in all cases. i prefer to watch a video of the “big budget” shows like an iron maiden tour would be, since the only ticket i’d ever really buy would be the nosebleeds anyway. i also LOVE live albums, especially for the tiny variations they bring to songs i already know so well.
most of the bands i like and would want to see live are in the grandpa territory, which makes it even harder to justify for me. maiden in particular is a good example. they’re one of my all time favs but i feel like at a concert i’d just be wishing they were all in their thirties again.
i’m more apt to go to a show if a band is contemporary, but even then i tend to pass at the last minute only to regret it later.
definitely a me thing!
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I’m genuinely shocked by that! I can understand if performances were worse, but some live albums are the best versions of those songs, especially with improvisations, mistakes and that thing that makes them unique outside of a studio recording. There are some songs that for me at least have a warmth to them then the studio couldn’t recreate. And maybe the crowd in the background gives me the feeling I was there.
Maybe I’m more jealous than anything that you’re in a position to see bands like Raven live where it’s not as much as an option for me at the moment. The time I get there I’ll be one of the grandads!!
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I’m definitely interested in people’s perspectives on live albums, etc. Obviously folks like them if they keep making them. For me I think I get used to hearing something a certain way, and so if it’s slightly different I have a pretty negative reaction to it. This is why most remix or “arrange” albums, especially in japan, do nothing for me. It’s like someone took the song and just poked it into a worse shape. For me to appreciate it it’s got to be very different. Like all the instruments are acoustic now, or we’ve taken these sounds and made essentially a different song with them.
Live shows are also kinda like… I don’t like LOOKING at these guys, I just want big waves of music to be hitting me. Unless it’s Malice Mizer in which case I will both watch the video and wish I had seen it live. Look at all these draculas.
@MoH you are not alone there - in one month I purchased tickets to and flaked on four shows!! I regret it especially in the case of seeing goofy ole Geoff Tate in a small club but I just didn’t have the energy. I’m hoping maybe in 2025…
Anyway, if anything I’m jealous that folks enjoy live albums. That’s more fun that you all get to have!!
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all live albums are not created equal, this is true. but the really good ones are irreplaceable.
i am tempted to overwhelm the thread with amazing live tracks, but instead let me just compare this:
to this:
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Honest question - don’t you find the live version of a song different to the studio one? A small change in tempo, missed notes, any kind of difference to the original one that xxxx band or artist has been playing for xxxx years for me makes it a bit special - like you’re the only show that’ll hear that version of that song. I’m not trying to sell you them, just curious to know more from the perspective of someone who’s not a fan of them by sharing the reasons I love them.
Also that show wasn’t just a gig, that was a performance! I can’t imagine that album was as good as a whole experience than with the show. I haven’t seen it all but I counted a lot of Draculas!
Please go see Geoff Tate - he’s playing Operation: Mindcrime live and I believe not touring again after this one.
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That’s not fair bringing Motorhead into any musical discussion, especially the album vs live album debate. You win by default!!!
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okay in the interest of fairness, i’ll use another example, also from hammersmith:
studio version:
live version:
ever since i heard dio say “PLACE” (???) before the solo, i could never go back to the original
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No Sleep 'til West Runton Pavilion doesn’t have the same ring to it.
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Iron Maiden playing Hallowed Be Thy Name at Hammersmith is outstanding, I think I prefer it over the studio version.
I think I like the performances on Burning Down The Opera by Edguy more than any of the studio versions.
I agree that bad live albums make one question how and why they exist, but the good ones are a joy to listen to.
I’m happy that in my time I’ve been able to see a bunch of the big old metal bands early enough that they weren’t just warmed up approximations of themselves.
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No, I do!! That’s the problem - it’s different but not different enough to be interesting, just enough for me to find it a poor facsimile of the original. Like the metallica live performance with dave mustaine singing “hit the lights” instead of hetfield - that’s interesting to me because it’s a “what could’ve been” and interesting in the timeline of both metallica and megadeth and etc - but I would not rather listen to it than the recorded version, and this is the most perosnally-interesting example I can think of. I like live music in person, but not recorded live versions of songs I’ve already spent a long time sitting with, because they wind up feeling “wrong” rather than a new exciting spin on the material.
Now if, like Suicide, they record the live version totally differently, then I’m more on board. the version of Harlem I like is the live one because it’s super intense and blasted out and everything. But so few bands do it differently - they try to play the standard live song and then mess with it a very tiny bit.
Jazz is of course an exception but that’s kind of built into the theme of that music.
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i’m going to be charitable and assume this post was lost in the shuffle of the most busy thread on the forum, but this band i found called NECRO SOFT is actually pretty good lol:
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I agree with you there, a band that simply performs a note perfect version of a studio recording live isn’t for me. I like a live album that isn’t the same as the studio album, as it’s as close to being there as sometimes is possile for many people, myself included.
Funny you mention Metallica, as someone who’s been a fan since Justice, I prefer how they play their older material live now, with the change in Hetfield’s voice. Disposable Heroes is probably my favourite 80s Metallica song, but I enjoy it more now with the change in how he sings, so I don’t see that even if the band plays the music the same as the album (cue Lars joke) it’s the same song that I heard many times before. Faith No More get a mention too, as Patton’s voice live is nothing like the studio and those songs are monsters live. They’re one I was going to see but didn’t and then they split up for the first time!
I do think a part of the live experience isn’t just the music, but also being in a place with other fans of what you’re listening to which adds something you cannot recreate unless you’re there. I’ve been to many metal shows, and shows of other music genres and I’ve never felt the same energy I would at a metal show anywhere else. Metal is also a genre that doesn’t lend well to changing the songs that much from the original recording. I’m not saying there isn’t the chance to improvise, but it’s a lost smaller than others.
Jazz gets a pass because you know, it’s jazz!
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Not bad! I definitely missed this, I wonder where they got their name from.
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Jumping in on this discussion late but personally I love finding live versions of songs I love and hearing all the differences. The visual aspect for me also heightens the enjoyment for me too, being able to see the bands technical ability not just hear it. That is also coming from someone who has not really tried playing any instruments so maybe this is an opinion of a non musician?
A recent favorite is Yura Yura Teikoku’s Nai!!. I know not exactly metal but I think it illustrates how different a song can be live.
The version from Yura Yura Teikoku no Shibire is a very mellow jam. Then you have the same song live from Na.ma.shi.bi.re.na.ma.me.ma.i and it’s got a lot of the same parts but builds up to an eruption in the second half that I personally can’t get enough of.
Adding here that I agree with Malice Mizer has to be “seen”. The theatrics and costumes are part of the fun for visual kei imo.
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Maybe a little on the punkier side for this thread, but I’ve been obsessed with this song.
︎ Good Grief | Pest Control | Triple B Records
Sick metal riffs over some crunchy groovy hardcore basslines. Great hitting drums. Dope vocals. Very NYHC.
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