Two of the HOTTEST bands out now.

An easy one...The Raveonettes. Noy just because they are good (or that their new album is terrific) but also because of their influence on many newer bands (Dum Dum Girls, etc. etc)

never heard of that one is it good?

Honestly Smashing Pumpkins and Jane's Addiction have dropped two of my favorites records in a long time.

Imelda May
(Rockabilly FTW!)

Pink Martini

/thread

Phish...........best live band right now IMHO......easily. I have seen more concerts and bands then I can count over the years and I honestly cant think of a show I have been more blown away by as the 9-1-12 Phish show I witnessed 3 weeks ago here in Denver. I started seeing Phish in the early 90s and overall this 9-1 show has to be right at the top.......mind blower all around. While the night consisted of mostly originals played to absolute perfection, they also sprinkled in covers from Ween, Stevie Wonder and even broke out Led Zeppelin's No Quarter deep in the second set that was a jaw dropper. This band is the full package. Tight and technical when the music calls for it and they are in a class of their own as far as improvisation. I dont think there is anyone even close at all as far as their song bag is concerned as they have a nearly endless well of tunes they can draw from both originals and covers. These guys are like musical scientists. The 8-31 show Phish spelled out F-U-C-K-Y-O-U-R-F-A-C-E if you take the first letter from each song in order going from first song first set to 2nd to last song 2nd set and then played the song FYF.............this is the the type of crazy creative $hit this band does and it never ceases to amaze.

Cold Play and Incubus are great bands no doubt, but from a pure musical perspective it is not even close...at all. Phish is in a class of their own from a pure musical standpoint. They weave in and out of so many different styles of music and so fluidly at that it is amazing. If any Phish fans are reading this, I would strongly suggest downloading 9-1-12 from livephish.com and checking it out for yourself if you have not done so. The Fri and Sun shows are very good as well, but Sat is one of THOSE shows and should not be missed. First Run Like an Antelope opener since 1990 and the entire show is played exceptionally well with a killer setlist to boot.
Edited by Toe - 9/21/12 at 4:59pm

Phish are basically the modern Greatful Dead.

Anyone very familiar with the 3 bands in question would not put either of the other 2 above Phish from a pure musical perspective. Neither Coldplay or Incubus can do what Phish does from an improv perspective and Phish is a better band from a technical perspective as well. It is not even close. Coldplay and Incubus are great bands, but neither has anywhere near the depth musically and from a song catalog perspective as Phish. Again, I like all 3 bands, but from a pure music perspective it is not even close.

Phish has NEVER played the exact same set 2 times in a row and considering they have played ~1500 shows in their career, that is amazing. Phish has played more than 1000 different songs live at any given point over their career. If you think about that, it is pretty mind blowing.

Having said all that, I also love Metallica and they are another awesome live band.
Edited by Toe - 9/22/12 at 1:21pm

There are bands who write and perform 'songs', and there are bands that 'play music'. Phish is the later type, and it does take considerably greater skill to do so. That doesn't always mean the former type aren't good musicians. Sometimes they take the former approach because, well, it pays a lot more potentially, and most likely the groupies are a lot younger and hotter on average. And there are (or were) bands that do both together. Bands like Rush and Yes are examples of a band who composed songs and performed them for the most part as composed, but doing so required enormous musicianship. But I don't think there's anything like them close to the mainstream today? For that matter is there any non-song oriented band close to the mainstream at all today? The last decade has been about an ever shrinking level of musicianship, in favor of hacking and editing in the computer generally, at least in the mainstream. Bands like Coldplay are now pretty old school in comparison.

I agree with that, except Phish can and does do both. A perfect example is a song like "You Enjoy Myself" which is incredibly technical and always played very precisely for the first few minutes or so of the song, but later opens up for exploring improv wise.

Both Rush and Yes are amazing examples of great technical bands as you mention and the musicianship in both cases is amazing. I would put both of these bands from a pure musical perspective above both Coldplay and Incubus as well. Coldplay like you say perform songs which is fine, but you can only stay so interested for so long with a band like that. A band like Phish, the Dead, etc.....they can be vastly different from one night to the next.

Just watched most of that. Great band and great live band. My point is this though.............go see 3 nights straight of Incubus, 3 nights straight of Coldplay and 3 nights straight of Phish and tell me who is the more diverse and talented band from a pure musical perspective. It is not even close. Incubus mainly writes and performs songs and they cant improv anywhere close to Phish. Coldplay is the same, but has even less improv potential from what I have seen from them live. Phish can and does do both, and not only that , they are incredible at both. It would rank like this........

1. Phish







2. Incubus


3. Coldplay

A great example is the 9-1-12 Phish show I mentioned above. The opening 3 songs of the second set were nearly as long as that Incubus set you just linked (~49 minutes). We are not talking about uninspired endless noodling either, but patient long and expressive music that really captured you and had something to say. Could either Incubus or Coldplay do that and actually keep it musically interesting for that long? No. This is typical of what Phish can do. 3 nights straight and not a single song repeat. I could go on.
Edited by Toe - 9/22/12 at 2:34pm

Man, that is a trip! Thanks for linking it as I am not familiar with these guys at all. I would love to watch this down in the HT..........do they have any blu rays out?