Continue shaman or play bard?

[Khorza]

Hard to say, the shaman would probably have a slightly easier time finding a group but that's mostly because people don't quite realize how subpar shamans are pre-Kunark.

Bards are in pretty good shape right now. It might be hard to find CC since less people are playing Enchanters due to some of the changes, and it can be hard to find a puller since a lot of those classes are unpopular atm (people waiting for Iksar to roll Monks, etc).

Of course the main drawback of bards is the exp penalty, and it'll be up to the group to decide if you're going to contribute enough to be worth that penalty. So the group will need to be in a pretty obvious need of a puller and/or CC.

People are a lot more likely to add a shaman "for the hell of it" since they'll only come with a 10-20% exp penalty depending on their race, and people feel safer with the extra buffs and heals. But honestly you just want a cleric in vanilla EQ.

-Are bards annoying to play at later levels?

This is a super preference thing that no one can answer for you. Song twisting has always been annoying to me and I've never been able to get into it. However, shamans have a very similar thing going on at 60 once you get your spells, since you're always losing efficiency any time you're not casting something. Bard is pretty much always a super active class, but Shamans become just about as active at the high end.