Guide To The Best Bands To See Live

There's nothing quite like going to see a live concert; you've bought your concert tickets, you've waited a while for the day to come round, and finally it arrives. All the excitement has built up and you are ready to explode. But the gig turns out a flop, and never quite meets with your high expectations.

So how can you ensure that no matter where you go, a top-class concert will always be delivered? What bands exist that no matter where or when they play, your concert ticket will deliver a memorable gig, packed with memories and experiences you can tell to your grandchildren?

There are five UK bands that deliver legendary performances to their audiences time and time again. Buy a concert ticket for one of these acts, and you will never come away disappointed.

Alice Cooper

An Alice Cooper concert transcends a mere musical concert. It's a show, an actual performance of not just top quality rock and roll music, but a horror, a stage play, and a human experience of immense proportions all rolled into one.

Alice Cooper will take you to the depths of the human soul, twist you round and drop you on your head, then sail you close to the dark side before delivering you redeemed, and free to live another day.

Cooper is a legend, which is why his concert tickets cost so much. Each show is as carefully crafted as a Cuban cigar, so you can be sure that any ticket for one of his concerts is the promise of a night to remember. www.alicecooper.com

The Rolling Stones

Legends in their own time with a back catalogue to pull from that most other modern bands can only envy, The Rolling Stones, despite being grandfathers most of them, are still rocking hard and leading the way in quality live musical entertainment.

Rumor has it they have a team of doctors watching various monitors backstage to ensure they stay fit (alive?) enough to perform - while performing! But even so, the lifestyle that made them so famous means that even the people hired to keep their hearts pumping are banned from the after-show party.

A Rolling Stones gig will either take you back down memory lane, or expose you to a time when rock and roll really was rock 'n' roll and it stood for something more than just a marketing angle. These guys really mean it. www.rollingstones.com

Madness

Still on the go after 28 years, this North London band never did much to change their act in any huge way, other than let it mature into a solid and skanking master showpiece. From playing in back street London pubs to 100,000 in London's Hyde Park, these guys will make every section of society move it's feet whether they want to or not.

Their legendary Madstock concerts sold out every time, and the first one in 1992 went down in history as the only concert ever to ever register on the Richter Scale. And it's all done with a backdrop of humorous cockney banter and a clear love for the music.

Madness never liked rehearsing, but their stage presence comes over with no pretension - just a simple rock-stomping beat, it is no wonder they still have followers of all ages, colours, creeds and sexes up and dancing madly on their feet. www.madness.co.uk

Jean Michel Jarre

Ever since his famous gig in London's Docklands, the UK public has been fascinated by Jarre's surreal and exciting on-stage wizardry. With some spectacular and confounding visual performances with light and sound, that have to be witnessed to be believed, Jarre now only plays to massive crowds at one-off events, yet his music is such that it works anywhere.

A Jarre concert is more than just a concert, it is a chance to witness a modern-day musical genius at work, with a selection of timeless tracks some of which you will recognise, but never knew were his. www.jeanmicheljarre.com

Queen

No list of top live bands would be complete without mentioning Queen.

So legendary were their concerts, people from all walks of life would go to see them even if hey disliked their music. The appeal and magnetic allure of Freddie Mercury is something more people should have had the pleasure of seeing, and as such tickets for his concerts sold like gold dust.

Mercury can never be replaced, and Queens' performances, pinnacled with their Live Aid concert at Wembley in 1985, gave them a new audience and fondness within the British psyche, that can never be matched.

It's one of the tragedies in life that people like Mercury leave us so young, but the rest of the band live on, and the music will never die. www.queenonline.com