Is it "Līve are" or "Līve is"? Is it "Līve were" or "Līve was"?

[Chrīs]

This is a grammatical thing that has always bugged the hell out of me. Often in articles I see the following phrase:

Live have announced a few festival dates for 2017

Live Members Talk Unlikely Reunion, Moving Past Mudslinging

Singer Ed Kowalczyk, guitarist Chad Taylor on high-flying Nineties, band split that threatened their friendship and prospects for a new album

www.rollingstone.com

Instead of "Live has announced"

Or

The alt-rock group Live are suing vocalist Ed Kowalczyk

Live Sue Former Frontman Ed Kowalczyk

Band seeks $2 million in damages for trademark infringement and dilution

www.rollingstone.com

The grammar bugs the hell out of me. I would write "Live is suing". But maybe that's grammatically wrong? It just sounds strange the other way.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers are playing in Boston makes sense as Peppers is pural.... but Live are playing in Boston sounds off to me.

Thoughts?

 

[Heropsychodreamer]

Is/was sounds better with singular band names.
Live IS currectly on tour.
Our Lady Peace IS from Canada.
Unified Theory WAS led by Chris Shinn.
Blind Melon WAS an underrated band.

Are/were sounds better with plural sounding band names:
The Beatles ARE the greatest band of all-time.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers ARE overrated.
The Cranberries WERE recently featured in a documentary.

But of course they are oddballs:
Wings WERE led by Paul McCartney. I would say WAS sounds better lol.
Alice in Chains WERE a 90's band. Again, was sounds better to me.

I could go on. Stupid English language.

 

[Chrīs]

I totally agree. But publications seem to say (or used to say) Līve are.

Always seems wrong to me.

 

[Vandres]

Well if you think of Live as a band unit, grammatically it would be Live is or Live was. If you think of them as four individual people, then it would be Live are or were. Like …Ed, Patrick, Chad and Chad are …

 

[Calamity]

Is/was sounds better with singular band names.
Live IS currectly on tour.
Our Lady Peace IS from Canada.
Unified Theory WAS led by Chris Shinn.
Blind Melon WAS an underrated band.

Are/were sounds better with plural sounding band names:
The Beatles ARE the greatest band of all-time.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers ARE overrated.
The Cranberries WERE recently featured in a documentary.

But of course they are oddballs:
Wings WERE led by Paul McCartney. I would say WAS sounds better lol.
Alice in Chains WERE a 90's band. Again, was sounds better to me.

I could go on. Stupid English language.

I agree with this take, if the name is plural I use IS and if the name is singular like Live then I use ARE.