Now, I've really started to notice a reoccuring trend here. It seems that more and more bands nowadays are performing their "signature" albums live in their entirety. For some, this is really great news. For others, its just a cheap gimmick to try to bring more attention to themselves. I'd like to know what people think about this growing trend, and what are some of the bands/albums you have seen live. Also, what are some that you would like to see a band do live.

Myself, being a big thrash metal fan, I loved seeing Slayer do Reign In Blood live. (I would prefer Hell Awaits though ) I'm really looking forward to seeing Anthrax do Among the Living live. Metallica has recently been doing Master of Puppets live, which is pretty cool, but I kind of have some mixed feelings about that.

I think it would be incredible if Dave Mustaine got Marty Friedman, Nick Menza and Dave Ellefson back together with him so Megadeth could do Rust In Peace live. (I know that would never happen though) And I would also really like to see Iced Earth do Night of the Stormrider live. That would be an amazing experience.

I think it's good in a way. For example, I love every song on Dream Theater's Awake and I would do so much to see that album performed in its entirety. There is not a single weak track on it, IMO.

However, in the case of other bands I dislike it because it comprimises the setlist time and so a good number of other tracks from other albums would be dropped to fit in the time limits. I have never witnessed any album being performed from start to finish live though. It would be an experience, I guess.

This really depends on the band and the opinion of each fan. Some bands...um, ok, look at Iced Earth (this is my opinion now) when I go to an IE show i want them to play something from every album, because i luv everything they have done so far, from Iced Earth to Glorius Burden...not just focus on say Something Wicked this Way Comes. Now look at Therion (again this is just my opinion) I am a much bigger fan of Therion's later stuff...from Theli on. If Therion was to play the entire Theli or Secret of the Runes albums i'd be fine with that.

- I hope thats not too confusing

It is a good thing if a band plays it's "signature" album live. But it depends, for what cause it is played? If it is played to please the fans and give them an experience they'll never forget, it's good. But if it is done to earn more money and more fame, it's just sad. But there ain't many bands like that. Most of the bands out there are dedicated more to their fans, than for the fame or the money.

That depends on the album. If it is constantly good, it is ok. But if it has real high points and thus also real low points, it would be pretty boring, me thinks.

Iced Earth is quite a bad example. The consensus doesn't agree on SWtWC being better than NotS. A better example would be Dark Tranquillity playing the entirety of 'The Gallery' live, or Nightwish and 'Oceanborn'. In those cases, I would be fine with it, because those are both killer albums that don't have much material played live by the band these days (as far as I know). However, with a band like Slayer or Megadeth, I'd want them to play a good cross-section of their material. Besides, which is Megadeth's 'signature' album? Peace Sells, or Rust In Peace? Hell, you could say Countdown to Extinction-that was their breakthrough album! And I prefer Ride the Lightning to MoP anyday. :p

I agree with everyone else saying it depends on the band. If there is a band with an obvious album that excells above all others in almost every aspect and most fans agree on that then there's nothing wrong with playing it in its entirety. I think this works best with Melodic bands because most fans like every album as a whole, this is especially the case if it's a concept album. With the more extreme genres I think that it is harder to do this because I personally would rather hear the best songs from every album and not just one album.

Indeed, it's good if the band and album is. Ever heard of a man named Ronnie James Dio? He recently put out 'Holy Diver - Live.' It doesn't get much better than that if you ask me.

Written by Clintagräm on 30.06.2006 at 07:48

Indeed, it's good if the band and album is. Ever heard of a man named Ronnie James Dio? He recently put out 'Holy Diver - Live.' It doesn't get much better than that if you ask me.

Seeing Holy Diver live would be one the best things that you could ever see played live. That album is one of the best ever. Is he doing this at every show on this tour or just the one?

I think it is good for a band to perform their "signature" albums/songs live.. But then they also have to perform some not so well known songs, so that people can really hear what the band is like and what kind of music they play.
for example: uhm.. Sonata Arctica, if you have seen the newest DVD, you know what I am talking about. Because there are a lot songs that many people know like... Wolf And Raven, Gravenimage, San Sebastian. And some songs that are not so well known like: Misplaced, My Land. And especially Vodkaa / Hava Nagila. (Which is really funny:D)

One of the problems with this is that every band out there is going to have it's fans, so you can't blame someone for wanting to hear their favorites live. Now there are plenty of bands that I love, and plenty I think are complete crap. But I guess I can't rag on them if their fans are wanting to hear whatever it is they want to hear. I just feel like this is becoming somewhat of a gimmick. I'm not the biggest Machine Head fan in the world, but all the hooplah that themselves and their record company made over them doing Burn My Eyes live was kind of annoying to me. Now, Burn My Eyes is a cool album, but I don't think it's anything special. (Besides, I'll take Vio-lence over Machine Head any day of the week) But hey, if your favorite band is doing one of its albums in its entirety, go and see it happen because it could be something special.

two edges knife here... lol...

first it would have to be a good album, and for the ones who dont know the setlist, if they chose to play the whole album you wouldnt have any surprises about the setlist :|

Well, its not a good idea to play all song off the same album, but its better then what bands usually do now a days to promote their new CD, they play most of the songs off the new one, and what i have heard recently the new releases arnt the releases that you would want to play live, like when i went to go see Dying Fetus, i absolutly LOVE THEM and their my favorite band, but they didint play anything off of Grotesque Impalement, they played only one song off of Destroy The Opposition and two off of KIlling ON Adrenaline, and i love all their sold stuff, they played most of their stuff of of Stop at Nothing it was very dispointing, i usually like bands more when i see them live, their performance made me like them less, so i think its better to play for best album, oppose to your "worst" or close to the worst, but its not always good to play the same songs all the time. So i would think that it is a good idea for bands to play their signature album.

Well it really depends with the album and the band. With certain bands, particularly if I have never seen them live before I would prefer to see a range of songs in their setlist rather than be dominated by one whole album. Quick example, Slayer and Megadeth. I do have my favourite album by each band, and despite that I would love to hear the whole of Rust In Peace played live and Hell Awaits or South Of Heaven played live, I'd still like to hear many songs of other albums as well. Now, I'll be getting a bit off topic here with Iron Maiden as an example. I know you've said "signature album" although Iron Maiden played their whole new album live and I think that was a bit of a shame, particularly for fans that had been waiting so long to see them live and hear some classics. Personally, when I go to concerts I like to hear a range of songs from different albums played live. I mean, with Iced Earth, I wouldn't want to hear a full album played live because I absolutely adore almost every album, so I'd rather hear 3-4 songs played from each album.

As some of you guys have said, I think it depends on 2 main factors: which is this signature album, and how the band sounds live. There are great "studio" bands that have disappointing live performances, or maybe the production and/or the venue is bad. The album the band is going to remake live is also important, the band should take care of not "destroying" the original album. It's good for some bands, for example Iron Maiden, that have much more strenght and power live than in studio albums.

I really, really dislike the concept of bands playing entire albums live. Blind Guardian are my favourite band, and I'd be disappointed if they just played all of Nightfall in Middle-Earth. As great an album as it is, I'd prefer to hear songs from all eras, and to get the associated variety.

At a whole other level, I find Iron Maiden's decision to play all of A Matter of Life and Death live absolutely ridiculous. It's simply not strong enough for it to be NEARLY worth playing in its entireity. Sure, the band might get tired of playing the classics night after night, but surely there's a better way to mix up the setlist...

I think its really good, that way more than one generation can experience the band in its true-est form. like slayer for example.

If Dream Theater played Awake, I would die a little. Or if Riverside played "Out of Myself" in its entirety. Or if Opeth played "Still Life" in its entirety.

I have plenty of wishes. Hopefully one day they'll come true.

Written by Irritable Ted on 15.01.2010 at 20:41

Would have liked to have seen Queensryche at their peak playing Operation Mindcrime.

Saw them do that on the Empire tour. They had Pamela Moore with them on stage as well.
And it was incredibly awesome.
Queensryche were at their top at the time. Current Queensryche live is a disgrace compared to that Queensryche.

Written by BloodTears on 16.01.2010 at 12:28

If Dream Theater played Awake, I would die a little.

If they played and closed with Space Dye Vest, I WOULD die. Probably cry first, but definitely die eventually.

On the topic, I would KILL to see Arcturus play The Sham Mirrors live. :O

I saw Slayer play Reign in Blood in its entirety in 2003. What sucked about that was at this point, I didn't know ANY of those songs, not even Reign in Blood (at this point I had only their first album)! I saw one of my friends there (didn't know he liked Slayer ha) and when the intro to Reign in Blood came on, he was all like "it's about to get crazy!" and I didn't know why Well, now I've seen Slayer a gillion times since then and it's been awesome every time especially since I know all the songs now lol

anyways, I think it's cool when bands play an entire album live (well, a good album haha). It's really not that common anyways...I guess it was for a minute but not anymore.

City by Strapping Young Lad or Halmstad by Shining

Written by Evil Chip on 29.09.2012 at 02:49

City by Strapping Young Lad

Good luck. Devin never plays anything by SYL anymore.

Written by Guest on 29.09.2012 at 06:08

Written by Evil Chip on 29.09.2012 at 02:49

City by Strapping Young Lad

Good luck. Devin never plays anything by SYL anymore.

I know, the sadness factor is great for yearning it to happen.

Written by Guest on 29.09.2012 at 06:08

Written by Evil Chip on 29.09.2012 at 02:49

City by Strapping Young Lad

Good luck. Devin never plays anything by SYL anymore.

actutally Devin as Devin Townsend or DTP never, as far as I can remember, played anything by SYL.. When SYL stuff was played it was done by SYL.

What did happen quite often was that First DTP or DT played and then SYL played the same night.

I really would have liked to have seen Megadeth play their whole album Rust In Peace live a cpl years ago. That would have been awesome.