5 bands you've seen live that blew you away

[floating opera]

Sunburned Hand of the Man
Make Believe
Grupo Fantasma
Shannon Wright
Plate Six

[HereticPride]

Manic Street Preachers
Radiohead
Grizzly Bear
LCD Soundsystem
The National

[gruizmuller]

I only can think of three,

Pearl Jam, The closing concert of the 2003 Tour was in Mexico City, they played more than three hours (The bootleg is on three CD). It was amazing!
Café Tacvba, It´s weird that being from Mexico, they didn't come to my city in 14 years, but it was worth the wait.
Rachid Taha, I never heard of him before he came to a festival, it was free, I was in the front row, and the next day I started looking for his CDs.

[Nychthemeron]

I haven't seen that many bands live, but when I have... it was amazing (except for the current Allman Bros. Band. They're AWFUL).

So far...

-Tortoise (why are they 100x better live than on their records?)
-The Mercury Program (seriously polished and know how to keep going if something goes wrong in the setup)
-Beard (some local band here in MD and they are fucking great!)
-Jason Urick (think cloudscapes except more glitchy and less pedals)
-Time Columns (serious loop/multitasking wizardry)

[ohsojayadeva]

Still Life Decay - not a band I actively listen to, but these dudes had their shit *down.* they did a hard-rock/metal/industrial/space... thing. fucking incredible. They broke up shortly after I saw them/ran sound.

The Last Dance - every time I see these guys, it's like watching giants. I had the pleasure of filling in on bass for 2 shows once. Awesome group, highly recommended if you're into goff.

Gary Numan - seen him twice.

Billy Corgan (TheFutureEmbrace tour) - this show really knocked my socks off. I loved TFE, and I loved the way he brought that sound out on tour. This was right after he announced that he was reforming the pumpkins, but he still kept it real to the TFE sound on the tour. I loved the music, I loved the presentation (no speakers on stage at all, not even monitors, let alone a guitar amp), and I loved the way he didn't give in to the haters.

NIN - caught them on the tour after Ghosts/The Slip but before Wave Goodbye. Absolutely solid lineup, great musicians, and unmatched production. This is the way Arena shows should be done!

[masked elwood]

frank zappa on the zoot allures tour 76.
bow wow wow see jungle tour 80.
mother's finest on the iron age tour 82.
skinny puppy everytime
killing joke extremities tour 92

there's a lot more coming to mind....

fuk....iggy and the stooges last month....

[theavondon]

Torche
The Sword
The Atom Age
New Science Projects
Football Etc.

The worst part is that, except for the first two, my band had to follow these bands. FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

[tuffteef]

nine inch nails

when the power got cut

then trent told everyone to steal music, steal as much as u want

[Mudfuzz]

Fu Manchu
Boris
Motorhead
Ray Brown trio
Ministry

[deadbeatriot]

rob zombie, believe it or not.
mastodon
lamb of god
cat power
nomo (afro-beat band. these guys kick ass)

[Mudfuzz]

rob zombie, believe it or not.

I believe it, I saw him ozzfest 99, he opened for Black Sabbath and he did a great job and would have been the best act of the day if not for Black Sabbath

[thelonelyweeblo]

cat power

Worst stage presence of any professional musician I've ever seen.

Who knows though? Maybe I just saw her on an off day.

[theshoegazer]

Under Byen
Mono
The Album Leaf

I haven't really been blown away by anyone else.

[floating opera]

the show i saw her play was pretty awesome. not blown away. more like timeless. she played 'Names' & it was awesome. it was a great show. same nite the US invade Iraq.

[deadbeatriot]

cat power

Worst stage presence of any professional musician I've ever seen.

Who knows though? Maybe I just saw her on an off day.

isn't she notorious for hit-and-miss shows? she was phenomenal when i saw her. she seemed super comfortable and assertive.