Let the music speak itself... As Shanka said it depends on the band. For example Fear of the dark from maiden sounds much better than the studio version. Also, Iced Earth in Alive in Athens sound much better than the studio alboums-IMO. Also, Ektomorf-if you know them- is a band that can only wim you as a fan on stage..On the other hand there are many bands whose songs are not meant to be played live.. Such bands are Opeth and Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride..

Written by Anathemani@c on 24.03.2007 at 14:01

On the other hand there are many bands whose songs are not meant to be played live.. Such bands are Opeth and Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride..

Totally agree here...Opeth already have (too?) long songs, but on stage..don't know, I can't listen to them for more than 5 minutes. And yet, not only that it depends on the band, but on the song also-not a big fan of Children of Bodom, but they do have some songs, that are way better live, than on the album, when for some other Alexi itself says that they just suck live. And on other cases the instruments rock live, but vocals.. (I'm gonna name Trivium here-I'm not their fan by far, but just when it seems that its actually not gonna suck, Matt opens his mouth...sadly, vocals just don't hold. And not only in their case). Shortly-it depends on the band and the song.

it depends...i take just one concert - End of an Era by Nightwish - and i will claim, that some of the songs from this concert are better than studio versions (Ghost Love Score, Creek Mary's Blood) because of it's atmosphere, but some are vice versa worse (eg Wishmaster)...so for me - it depends on each song

tehre are a lot of bands that sounds bette in stage, like apocalyptica, stratovarius, sonata arctica and iron maiden. that depends of the band, there are bands that doesnt sound so good live

It's nice to listen favourite song loud at home but for me nothing better then listening that band live,just imagine iron maiden's fear of the dark at home then with 20000 people who singing with you ,that feeling can't be described

It depend on the musicians, the song and the crowd. Sometimes live songs can produce something special.
One good example of this is Travel in Stygian (Iced Earth) on their alive in athens DVD. It produces that perfect atmosphere and sound. Iron Maiden are great exponents, Megadeth have a few, Metallica when they try can be very good live.
Studio song are good as well and generally are much better to listen too, you aren't sitting there picking out errors or anything like that, or at least you shouldn't be. Live can be brilliant, but most often the performance isn't as good and it doesn't generate the energy needed to make it special.

Written by Razorback on 27.10.2009 at 23:49

just imagine iron maiden's fear of the dark at home then with 20000 people who singing with you:yes:

dont have to imagine it, i have experienced it...and it was almost 30K people

Sometimes i prefer live songs because it is a real energy and quality of sound. Not every Studio Cd have a nice quality and reality of instrument sounds and realistic atmosphere of vocals.

I very rarely listen to live albums, I don't really see the point in them. However I do like to watch DVDs of live shows. Nothing beats the studio version when it comes to listening to music at home, however I love live shows, that's music at it's when you're there in front of a stage, soaking up the atmosphere.

Well it depends, many bands add stuff too their songs when they play em live, but some dont at all. Some dont even have too. Led Zeppelin was a band who added so much more to their stuff when played live, and although they were oftin a little sloppy live, the shows were great. Jimmy Page would add guitar solos to songs that the studio versions didnt have, and would extend solos of songs that already had them. He would even add new riffs to songs at times. Sometimes He would make them even better then the studio versions. Iron Maiden kick ass live and dont even have to change much, sometimes the solos are changed a bit because of slightly sloppy playing but it deos not matter because they know how to improvise a little if somthing goes wrong, just like any great metal guitarist can.

Although some live albums (like 12:5 by Pain of Salvation) are really able to blow me away and bring the songs to a whole new level, I tend to prefer the studio versions of songs myself. In some albums (like A Night At The Opera by Blind Guardian for example), the musicians will add a lot of layers to the album, and make it full of little subtleties and surprises you wouldn't find in a live show. In the album I mentioned, the vocalist Hansi Kürsch adds MANY vocal tracks (over a hundred I believe for the song "And Then There Was Silence"), and there are a lot of cool symphonic sounds as well, but when played live, many of those elements are stripped down for convenience's sake. Those are just my thoughts on the matter.

I do only prefer live when I'm attending the concert in person, if I'm listening to music at home, I do prefer studio albums

If I have the choice between listening to the band's album or seeing them live, I'll always take live. The live experience is probably the single most magical aspect of heavy music, in my opinion.

Varies extremely with the band/genre. Pretty sure Darkspace can't do live as well as Minor Threat.

Same musicwise. Ac/Dc Sounds like shit live, but their records sound decent (I don't care if you don't like them, deal the fuck with it)

It is impossible to pick between the two, some songs are better live and some in the studio. It all depends on the recording style, the bands performance, and the overall feel of the song.