I thought Corsano/Flaherty/Yeh were pretty good but Brotzmann/Bennink utterly blew them away shortly afterwards for me.

You have no idea what yr talking about. Pavement is unevern, but are in no way "suckass" as you so elequently remarked.

i actually really liked them at Volksbühne, probably more than at ATP, it was some sort of revelation... then again, perhaps it was only because it was the first time i saw them and it really worked for me this time (i wasn't so enamoured with what i had heard from them before)...

but yes, i wished it wasn't in a seated thing...

Man, none of you know what yr talking about. I saw Pixies twice in one year and they rocked every single time. The sound was incredible: guitar tones, bass, drums, vocals all screamed and I could feel it in all my bones. YOu either went to a show where they just diodnt do a good job (inconceivable in my opinion) or you just dont know good music.

Also, I've seen Dinosaur Jr 4 times since they reunited and they sounded brilliant every time.

Sonic Youth last year in Sydney. It seemed way too nice or soemthing. I was pretty bored.

Isis. Didn't have high hopes as i only liked their first two albums but this was far more boring and Tool like than I could have imagined. At least I didn't pay to get in.

Bizzarely,i've enjoyed Pavement live before they split up more than their records.I hope this makes sense but once they went into this really cool instrumental Grateful Deadish jam at a gig that was the shit.

Sounds good.

Placebo (2005), The Strokes (2005), Red Hot Chili Peppers (2002), Kings Of Leon (2005) - I wasn't expecting much from them. It's just that they played the same day as The Strokes so I had to see them...unfortunately.-

Sloppy performance doesnt neccessarily constitute poor in my book, im not a musician so when i hear live music i like to be at the front just moshing or headbanging or whathaveyou so the odd slipped note doesnt bother me.
I found The Fall last year to be one of the best gigs ive ever been to, the crowd was into it, Mark E Smith seemed to be having a good time, and you never get the sense he's cruising, he's always looking you in the eye and trying to take you away somewhere. albeit in a very aloof way.

I think you can enjoy yourself at a crap gig if theres a communal atmosphere about it. Having said that some of the most striking performances ive ever seen have been by supporting acts who have screamed at the audience and generally made them go "eh?.... wheres the bar"

In terms of dissappointing, in terms of expectation The Manic Street Preachers on their greatest hits tour was awful mainly cos of the lack of material from The Holy bible and the general awfulness of Wembley Arena

Public Enemy sucked when I saw them. Flavor Flav was a sexist, old bald, embarrassment, and Terminator X didn't do shit with the turntables - it was all DAT.

When I saw the Fall, it was horrible, but this was in 93 or 94, so who knows if Mark has done better since. He was certainly as drunk as he's famous for, but you couldn't hear a word of his vocals to tell what he was slurring. The band was incredibly loud, but otherwise completely boring. I think he fired them shortly thereafter.

Autechre wore all black, played in the dark, and produced a mix that didn't measure up to the records at all. Talk about dull. I still listen to them constantly, but I don't think I'd ever pay to see them "live" again.

I can believe that's possible, but with no details, I think maybe you were just trying to stir shit up?

I've seen them well over 20 times since 1985, and while maybe a couple of those shows didn't measure up to the rest, overall I'd say they are the most dependably great live band I've ever experienced.

I saw Interpol a couple years ago and they were pretty borring. It was basically just like being at home and listening to their cds, except I had to stand up the whole time. I can appreciate the fact that they're tight enough as a band to be able to play that well live, but it sort of dimished the whole idea of the live, spontaneous experience. That's kinda the fun of seeing a band play, to see how they interpret the songs in a live setting.

On the plus side, Q and not U opened and they were fucking awesome.

Also, Tool. $45 for 45 minutes of music. Fuck you, Tool.

Earth at Arthurfest Sept 05, that was horrid

supposedly Merzbow had a bad set later that day in the same hall, but the line getting into the hall was really bad so i couldn't make it in

Sonic Youth were a slight disappointment for me and i blame the board. quotes like, "OH MY GOD SY IS THE GREATEST CONCERT YOU WILL EVER ATTEND" filled me with hope and anticipation. while it was certainly a good concert, it wasn't the aural revelation that it had been hyped up to be.

plus, i just don't like the songs on Rather Ripped that much.

oh fucking hell...earth were the worst thing at that festival by far.

sy have dissapointed me a few times actually.

yeah, it's ok. but the gig tomutonttu played last november at avanto festival was possibly the best thing i've ever seen...

and talking of finnish scene, i think paavoharju were slightly disappointing live compared to their excellent album.

yeah double leopards at atp wasnt as great as i expected it and not as good as i saw them before. they didnt really seem very interested but its always difficult to live upto expectations when you love a band and then see them live.

I really liked them there as well, don't get me wrong. They were fantastic then as well but I think the other times I have seen them, I liked them even more. That was the first time I'd seen them live as well but I was pretty familiar and enamoured (obsessed maybe) with their records. Did you see them when they played the evening after that? (can't remember the name of the venue but it was some sort of squat type thing)

Find it odd that you were a bit dissapointed by MCIAA Nefeli. I had heard a few things by them and thought they were ok but never really got into them...but really loved them at ATP