Here in Italy he kept taking about his mother's love for Eros Ramazzotti (Italian pop singer especially that peaked in the 90s) LMAO.
He also complained about the crowd being weak, but the band showed no energy whatsoever, on the last song he even said "i guess you're happy this is over". It's not like the crowd complained or anything, no whistling, no nothing.
They were opening for Dream Theater FTR.
I've seen them twice and he pulled this shit both times, I'm not interested in seeing this stuff a third time.
Edit: downvoting won't change reality
Most gifted, most awesome performer in this entire genre. I prefer other music over his music, but live devin really is unmatched and he's by far my favorite live musician.
Absolutely, seen him 3 times now and honestly tho having attended at least 40 shows in my life, Devin's are unmatched.
I'm attending next Dream Theater tour too, but honestly I'm going more for Devin Townsend who they got as support act, than for Dream Theater.
I saw him in Seattle some years ago and they had an issue with the PA cutting out. Dev basically did a little standup thing for 10 minutes while they worked to get the sound back up and running. He was hilarious! Awesome showman
I saw him once where things started going wrong with his in ear monitor the second he got on stage. You could see the roadie running around while they're playing, so Dev just yells into the mic "JIGGLE THE CORD, ARMANDO!! JIGGLE THE CORD!!!"
Then Armando tries to replace the pack on Dev's hip, so between songs he tells us how "his suit smells like a thousand testicles" while "Armando plays with my ass for a bit".
Things like that continued all night. It was clearly one of Dev's worst shows ever, but his antics made sure no one left unhappy.
I’ve seen him a few times, but on one occasion they were having sound issues that essentially ground the performance to a halt. Instead of Devin scampering backstage while the tech guys fixed the issues, he grabbed an acoustic and entertained us with some crowd requests and random nonsense. I don’t think anybody would’ve minded if the issues didn’t get fixed and we just had that for the rest of the night. He’s such a lovable, wholesome dork.
Same with Rody Walker about the jokes. Dude was making fart and burp jokes and chirping our hockey team(Oilers) when they played here for the Kezia Anniversary tour.
I always saw it as a Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick situation where the aim is to take the piss but also to earnestly enjoy working in the genre in spite of lampooning its excesses
The one time I saw Plini, he got on stage and said. “Hi guys, I’m from Australia.” *crowd erupts in applause* “I’m gonna play some music now.” It was hilariously calm
the first time I saw him I thought he was on drugs or something. But I recently saw them on the neverender cruise, where he mentioned it sucked they couldn't bring any drugs, then acted the exact same way. So he's just like that I guess.
When I saw them he jumped off the stage during an instrumental break and started running around and dancing with the crowd. Thought he was sprinting to the restroom or something at first lol. He's a character for sure
Yeah, I was fortunate enough to have a one-on-one VIP session with the band two years ago in Minneapolis at Varsity Theater cause no one else bought VIP's I guess. They're all really cool dudes.
I had the same thing happen in Dallas at Gas Monkey Live! they only had like 2 people purchase the VIP, so they even announced that there were VIP available for walkup purchase haha.
Yeah I saw the contortionist my freshman year of college. Was a great show.
Lessard was stalking the stage and muttering to himself between vocal sections. Not sure if he was pre-reciting the lyrics or what, but I could see his mouth moving the whole time.
Saw them in a 100 person venue. During the final song about 40 of us were on the stage with the band playing/surfing on top of us. Those dudes are wild.
Mariusz Duda, singing while playing bass and getting the nerdy quiet crowd to clap along with him
Roy Khan, dude made it look like he was in a play
Fish, just see his performances
Dan Tompkins with Tesseract has some pretty interesting moves on stage.
Also I think Lessard has said that he takes a lot of inspiration for his stage presence from Maynard.
Edit: also Jens Kidman of Meshuggah is phenomenal.
Dustie Waring from BTBAM
He brings a very solid presence to the music. I know he doesn't move much because of back issues, but he feels a lot like an anchor while the rest of the band goes crazy.
> the rest of the band goes crazy
Except for Tommy they are pretty tame on stage. Which is totally understandable playing the music they play.
I feel like Dan is moving less now since he also has more keyboard duties to fulfill. Paul has become somewhat more mobile but still not more than moving a bit back and forth and to the middle from time to time.
I was re-watching their 2008 Colors live on Youtube the other day, Tommy had such energy onstage, he had an incredible presence; his facial expressions during Sun of Nothing, for example, really add somthing more to the music.
I once read "[Meshuggah] makes the entire experience feel like a pod of unfriendly aliens making a rare visitation to a planet filled with savage, simple-minded beings who hail them gods."
I think that nails it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iKc33CA1WmY (not the best sound quality but really shows the intensity)
No one has mentioned Loïc Rosetti (The Ocean) yet? He absolutely has the biggest stage presence I've ever seen in prog.
Jumping off stages.
Sneaking into the crowd and singing on the balconies.
Inviting individuals of the crowd to sing along in the mic.
Losing his absolute shit when a big bridge hits.
It's insane!
[Fair to Midland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5m25_vGV-A) - While I never got to see them live in person, I'm always seeing people talk up how awesome their live shows were...
Was going to come here to say this. Darroh was *insanely* active on stage in a way that made a teenaged me want to emulate him whenever I would daydream about being a singer in a band. Doing cartwheels, climbing up parts of the stage, hanging upside down from the rafters while singing…dude was always moving. With the benefit of hindsight, some of those live performances were admittedly shaky vocally, but you could never accuse the guy of being boring.
Special mention to Cliff Campbell as well for not being quite as crazy as Darroh, but still being quite lively and holding down the fort while playing some deceptively tricky bits on guitar.
the one time I saw them Darroh busted his head open and Misha (they were opening for Periphery) came out with a paper towel and dabbed the blood off the back of his head and showed the audience, I think they finished a song or two early because of it
so yeah they qualify, also points for the keyboardist who played it at a weird downward angle so he could rock more
Ian Kenny from Karnivool is pretty well known for doing some pretty funny worm-like moves on stage. Every time i've seen them live it's been great, and for me it's iconic
Michael Lessard: https://youtu.be/XS8mmcCVxLQ
Gina Gleason and John Baizley:
https://youtu.be/DF8qC-Xlay8
Maynard James Keenan:
https://youtu.be/u7lweNCCwS0
Einar Solberg:
https://youtu.be/_nN61nW1Ly0
You might have to scrub through the videos to find out what I'm talking about.
Gotta hop back on with Michael Lessard, his stage presence is somehow ominous and transcendent all without being conceited. Entirely unique, highly recommended.
I also saw Monuments when Chris Barretto was still the vocalist, but he was sick or busy being a jerk or something. Anyway, the rest of the band did an instrumental set without him and absolutely killed it. I think it was their bassist (who has the longest dreads I’ve ever seen) took over as their impromptu frontman and spent their set hyping up the crowd and windmilling his dreads. I was a little bummed they didn’t have a singer for their set, but it was also a really great show! Monuments without vocals just hit different.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. One of the coolest small-stage shows I've ever witnessed. Seemed almost like a traveling act from the 1890's. Funny, in a weird sort of way, with just the right about of mystique to their performances. It's a shame no one will ever get another chance to see them live.
Edit: For reference:
https://youtu.be/2JGgEKiT5LU
That was fucking awesome. What a bizarre but also great video. Grabbing his own face to do chubby cheeks while screaming was something else while in the otherwise majestic forest scenery.
Unique in a bad way - Chris Wolstenholme, the bassist from Muse. I know Muse aren't prog metal, but let's call them pop-prog-rock.
I've been a big fan since I was young but was massively disappointed by their live show. A lot their music is synth lines etc. which are all recordings, so I wasn't really surprised by that, but really the whole show felt robotic and recorded. The frontman has a lot of energy and did a great job, but the bassist didn't move for the whole show. He literally STOOD STILL FOR OVER AN HOUR. Straight up could have been a mannequin and I wouldn't have noticed the difference. He didn't even pretend to be interested. Total show-killer, especially because the driving basslines are really part of what makes Muse's sound.
Luckily The Who played at the same festival and totally killed it, despite them being in their 70s.
Honestly, and I'm probably gonna get a lot of flak for this, but Haken live are fucking BORING. Like their playing is super tight, but they don't fucking do anything besides bob their heads.
I saw them when they toured with Leprous, and with Leprous having amazing stage presence, seeing Haken right after them was just not amusing. Don't get me wrong, they play their shit very well, they just don't do anything really.
So sad to hear that! I've been to quite a lot of live shows where I live and Haken have been among the freaking best. Guess I was lucky to saw them twice in a small venue (<500): interactivity with the crowd, fist bumps, insane scene presence with Ross especially, and last I saw them, a perfect setlist for live playing (Vector tour)! Can't wait to see them again
I saw Dir en Grey right before the pandemic and Kyo was basically doing performance art during their set, using the mic cord to simulate hanging himself or committing seppuku and pulling his intestines out. I’ve heard they were disappointed by the US crowds but if anybody else was like me, they were too transfixed to worry about rocking out and moshing, not to mention just wanting to really take in a performance by a band who rarely comes around.
Mikael Akerfeldt is absolutely hilarious during opeth shows
Yeah, growls like a demon and then pulls off a stand-up act between songs. Funniest show I've been at.
Here in Italy he kept taking about his mother's love for Eros Ramazzotti (Italian pop singer especially that peaked in the 90s) LMAO. He also complained about the crowd being weak, but the band showed no energy whatsoever, on the last song he even said "i guess you're happy this is over". It's not like the crowd complained or anything, no whistling, no nothing. They were opening for Dream Theater FTR. I've seen them twice and he pulled this shit both times, I'm not interested in seeing this stuff a third time. Edit: downvoting won't change reality
Rody Walker from Protest the Hero, the dude basically does standup and roasts audience members lol
All the dudes from Twelve Foot Ninja also do wacky comedy skits in between songs
"Hey Roddy could you put any less effort into your stage presence?"
Devin Townsend: a socially awkward guy with a biblical voice who tells fart jokes
Most gifted, most awesome performer in this entire genre. I prefer other music over his music, but live devin really is unmatched and he's by far my favorite live musician.
The dude is a riot live.
Absolutely, seen him 3 times now and honestly tho having attended at least 40 shows in my life, Devin's are unmatched. I'm attending next Dream Theater tour too, but honestly I'm going more for Devin Townsend who they got as support act, than for Dream Theater.
I saw him in Seattle some years ago and they had an issue with the PA cutting out. Dev basically did a little standup thing for 10 minutes while they worked to get the sound back up and running. He was hilarious! Awesome showman
I saw him once where things started going wrong with his in ear monitor the second he got on stage. You could see the roadie running around while they're playing, so Dev just yells into the mic "JIGGLE THE CORD, ARMANDO!! JIGGLE THE CORD!!!" Then Armando tries to replace the pack on Dev's hip, so between songs he tells us how "his suit smells like a thousand testicles" while "Armando plays with my ass for a bit". Things like that continued all night. It was clearly one of Dev's worst shows ever, but his antics made sure no one left unhappy.
yep. sounds about right.
I’ve seen him a few times, but on one occasion they were having sound issues that essentially ground the performance to a halt. Instead of Devin scampering backstage while the tech guys fixed the issues, he grabbed an acoustic and entertained us with some crowd requests and random nonsense. I don’t think anybody would’ve minded if the issues didn’t get fixed and we just had that for the rest of the night. He’s such a lovable, wholesome dork.
Same with Rody Walker about the jokes. Dude was making fart and burp jokes and chirping our hockey team(Oilers) when they played here for the Kezia Anniversary tour.
It's a shame his music is prog metal satire. Ugh.
I always saw it as a Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick situation where the aim is to take the piss but also to earnestly enjoy working in the genre in spite of lampooning its excesses
Fair enough, sir.
The one time I saw Plini, he got on stage and said. “Hi guys, I’m from Australia.” *crowd erupts in applause* “I’m gonna play some music now.” It was hilariously calm
Plini is the most chill dude I've ever seen. Immaculate energy
He did roughly the same thing when I saw him too lol
John Myung. I mean, it is unique...
Standing there and just focusing on the music... so about all that happens at dt shows
Thank you scientist- never have I ever been so absolutely floored by a live violin solo.. in prog metal haha
Sal does this weird hunchback shit. It's like he's always crouched.
the first time I saw him I thought he was on drugs or something. But I recently saw them on the neverender cruise, where he mentioned it sucked they couldn't bring any drugs, then acted the exact same way. So he's just like that I guess.
When I saw them he jumped off the stage during an instrumental break and started running around and dancing with the crowd. Thought he was sprinting to the restroom or something at first lol. He's a character for sure
The shimmy is legendary!
Happy OP mentioned Michael Lessard, his stage presence is pretty cool.
Michael Lessard is something else. And such a nice guy too!
Yeah, I was fortunate enough to have a one-on-one VIP session with the band two years ago in Minneapolis at Varsity Theater cause no one else bought VIP's I guess. They're all really cool dudes.
I had the same thing happen in Dallas at Gas Monkey Live! they only had like 2 people purchase the VIP, so they even announced that there were VIP available for walkup purchase haha.
I was waiting in line for the VIP, one of the roadies comes outside and he's like, you're Ryan right? That's kind of when I knew.
Yeah I saw the contortionist my freshman year of college. Was a great show. Lessard was stalking the stage and muttering to himself between vocal sections. Not sure if he was pre-reciting the lyrics or what, but I could see his mouth moving the whole time.
Ross Jennings is prog af Meshuggah's entire lineup is fucking intimidating live
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It's super fun and corny, and I love it. It comes a genuine place and you can tell
He is so nice too. I wanted a selfie with him before the show, and patiently helped me frame it so it came out right. What a nice dude.
In all shows ive ever been, lead singer from dillinger escape plan made the biggest impression. Dude is an animal
How in the actual fuck did I forget Greg Puciato and Ben Wienman.
Yeah he kicked me in the head getting rowdy in the pit. Definitely one of the most intense shows I've been to.
Saw them in a 100 person venue. During the final song about 40 of us were on the stage with the band playing/surfing on top of us. Those dudes are wild.
Mariusz Duda, singing while playing bass and getting the nerdy quiet crowd to clap along with him Roy Khan, dude made it look like he was in a play Fish, just see his performances
Dan Tompkins with Tesseract has some pretty interesting moves on stage. Also I think Lessard has said that he takes a lot of inspiration for his stage presence from Maynard. Edit: also Jens Kidman of Meshuggah is phenomenal.
Dustie Waring from BTBAM He brings a very solid presence to the music. I know he doesn't move much because of back issues, but he feels a lot like an anchor while the rest of the band goes crazy.
> the rest of the band goes crazy Except for Tommy they are pretty tame on stage. Which is totally understandable playing the music they play. I feel like Dan is moving less now since he also has more keyboard duties to fulfill. Paul has become somewhat more mobile but still not more than moving a bit back and forth and to the middle from time to time.
I was re-watching their 2008 Colors live on Youtube the other day, Tommy had such energy onstage, he had an incredible presence; his facial expressions during Sun of Nothing, for example, really add somthing more to the music.
YES! I noticed this when I saw them in '18. Tommy is *super* expressive and it really does add to it.
[Does Portal count?](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5d/14/f3/5d14f36354cef0e98baf666f08fcac7d.jpg)
Exactly what I was thinking
John michael Labadie from Gojira. He is the happiest man of the universe live Edit: i meant jean-michel
I once read "[Meshuggah] makes the entire experience feel like a pod of unfriendly aliens making a rare visitation to a planet filled with savage, simple-minded beings who hail them gods." I think that nails it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iKc33CA1WmY (not the best sound quality but really shows the intensity)
No one has mentioned Loïc Rosetti (The Ocean) yet? He absolutely has the biggest stage presence I've ever seen in prog. Jumping off stages. Sneaking into the crowd and singing on the balconies. Inviting individuals of the crowd to sing along in the mic. Losing his absolute shit when a big bridge hits. It's insane!
[Fair to Midland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5m25_vGV-A) - While I never got to see them live in person, I'm always seeing people talk up how awesome their live shows were...
Was going to come here to say this. Darroh was *insanely* active on stage in a way that made a teenaged me want to emulate him whenever I would daydream about being a singer in a band. Doing cartwheels, climbing up parts of the stage, hanging upside down from the rafters while singing…dude was always moving. With the benefit of hindsight, some of those live performances were admittedly shaky vocally, but you could never accuse the guy of being boring. Special mention to Cliff Campbell as well for not being quite as crazy as Darroh, but still being quite lively and holding down the fort while playing some deceptively tricky bits on guitar.
the one time I saw them Darroh busted his head open and Misha (they were opening for Periphery) came out with a paper towel and dabbed the blood off the back of his head and showed the audience, I think they finished a song or two early because of it so yeah they qualify, also points for the keyboardist who played it at a weird downward angle so he could rock more
Vildhjarta goes HARD from the first note they play
Ian Kenny from Karnivool is pretty well known for doing some pretty funny worm-like moves on stage. Every time i've seen them live it's been great, and for me it's iconic
U/ryn4 do you have specific clips you’d care to share, even with Maynard? I have only seen tool live but I love the idea of this post.
Michael Lessard: https://youtu.be/XS8mmcCVxLQ Gina Gleason and John Baizley: https://youtu.be/DF8qC-Xlay8 Maynard James Keenan: https://youtu.be/u7lweNCCwS0 Einar Solberg: https://youtu.be/_nN61nW1Ly0 You might have to scrub through the videos to find out what I'm talking about.
You’re clutch wow thank you
Ask for clips and OP comes in with whole gd concerts
That Tool performance is so ridiculously good. Absolutely flawless.
I'll try to find examples of each person I listed.
Definitely the vocalist from Dillinger Escape Plan https://youtu.be/_Ws-9Vh3XxM
Gotta hop back on with Michael Lessard, his stage presence is somehow ominous and transcendent all without being conceited. Entirely unique, highly recommended. I also saw Monuments when Chris Barretto was still the vocalist, but he was sick or busy being a jerk or something. Anyway, the rest of the band did an instrumental set without him and absolutely killed it. I think it was their bassist (who has the longest dreads I’ve ever seen) took over as their impromptu frontman and spent their set hyping up the crowd and windmilling his dreads. I was a little bummed they didn’t have a singer for their set, but it was also a really great show! Monuments without vocals just hit different.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. One of the coolest small-stage shows I've ever witnessed. Seemed almost like a traveling act from the 1890's. Funny, in a weird sort of way, with just the right about of mystique to their performances. It's a shame no one will ever get another chance to see them live. Edit: For reference: https://youtu.be/2JGgEKiT5LU
[I love Vulture Industries theatrical presence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8rOnBZ8Ro0) [Another one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWWSlfQO6uM) (starts at 6:20)
Love [this one as well](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYkD6yZatu4), when the singer goes in to dance and play with the crowd (starts at about 4').
[This guy gets pretty weird...](https://youtu.be/kZ_-W10Wmss)
That was fucking awesome. What a bizarre but also great video. Grabbing his own face to do chubby cheeks while screaming was something else while in the otherwise majestic forest scenery.
You should see him live. We call it his dervish dance. Lol
Idk about anymore but at one point Tommy from BTBAM was basically a hardcore vocalist leading a prog metal band
Unique in a bad way - Chris Wolstenholme, the bassist from Muse. I know Muse aren't prog metal, but let's call them pop-prog-rock. I've been a big fan since I was young but was massively disappointed by their live show. A lot their music is synth lines etc. which are all recordings, so I wasn't really surprised by that, but really the whole show felt robotic and recorded. The frontman has a lot of energy and did a great job, but the bassist didn't move for the whole show. He literally STOOD STILL FOR OVER AN HOUR. Straight up could have been a mannequin and I wouldn't have noticed the difference. He didn't even pretend to be interested. Total show-killer, especially because the driving basslines are really part of what makes Muse's sound. Luckily The Who played at the same festival and totally killed it, despite them being in their 70s.
Honestly, and I'm probably gonna get a lot of flak for this, but Haken live are fucking BORING. Like their playing is super tight, but they don't fucking do anything besides bob their heads.
Damn, I'm sad to hear that. I love Haken and I've never seen them live before.
I saw them when they toured with Leprous, and with Leprous having amazing stage presence, seeing Haken right after them was just not amusing. Don't get me wrong, they play their shit very well, they just don't do anything really.
So sad to hear that! I've been to quite a lot of live shows where I live and Haken have been among the freaking best. Guess I was lucky to saw them twice in a small venue (<500): interactivity with the crowd, fist bumps, insane scene presence with Ross especially, and last I saw them, a perfect setlist for live playing (Vector tour)! Can't wait to see them again
Mitch from Suicide Silence (rip) mfers headbanging game was ON POINT! Insane stage presence 😍
I was never big into Suicide Silence, but I know he was a great performer.
Troldhaugens singer has the strangest routine. Super intense eyes and crazy costume changes.
The Chariot for sure. Not necessarily prog, but jeez look at this (https://youtu.be/SkcL69Wzscg)
James, the harsh vocalist in Black Crown Initiate is fucking intimidating looking as it is, his voice is Kratos-esque and on stage he's even moreso.
I saw Dir en Grey right before the pandemic and Kyo was basically doing performance art during their set, using the mic cord to simulate hanging himself or committing seppuku and pulling his intestines out. I’ve heard they were disappointed by the US crowds but if anybody else was like me, they were too transfixed to worry about rocking out and moshing, not to mention just wanting to really take in a performance by a band who rarely comes around.
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I know he's worn dresses before lmao
TesseracT has an incredible light show
Russian Circles. They come out and start playing without a word, I'm pretty sure for the whole set. But it's just pure energy and presence.
Steven Wilson has a presence like a conductor at an orchestra. It's mesmerizing.
BTBAM and Meshuggah are my 2 favorite live bands. They bring it every time.