One of my favorite groups, The Clash. Here's a live performance of 'London Calling' in Paris from 1980.
Those of us who remember the great show Midnight Special (specifically Wolfman Jack) also know that strength of the show was the incredible performances. It took years for those shows to get released on DVD but they did back in 2006. I was but a wee lad but my mother let me stay up on Friday nights to watch. Before there were videos there was Midnight Special.
Here's the great George Benson with the classic, 'This Masquerade'
How could I have gone three months with this blog and not ever posted a Radiohead clip? Geez! They are the standard barriers for challenging the status quo for what passes as the music industry ... risk taking at its best and most raw. People who don't like Radiohead misunderstand those of us who do. We don't like them because they are perfect or even accessible, because they aren't. In fact, they are at there best when they are imperfect, flawed ... sonically rough. With them its really about the journey. Radiohead doesn't reinvent themselves to meet what others feel is excellent, they more or less reinvent the standard for what excellence should be. Flaws and all. Creativity in its most honest form is fearlessness. They are fearless.
A live performance of 'Idioteque'. I love this song.
Scotty Moorhead was just a kid who loved music yet never wanted live in his famous father's shadow. Fate being what it tends to be from time to time, he would ultimately meet his prematurely ... like his father. You may not know him by that name but perhaps if I told you that his father was Tim Buckley then maybe a light in your brain might flicker...no? You know him as the guy who sang (and made famous) the Leonard Cohen classic 'Hallelujah', but to many he was so much more than this ... Jeff Buckley. Jeff is my Elvis. I really can't explain it except to say the void that appeared since his death in '97 has yet to be filled. He was truly a genius. One of Jeff's greatest recordings in his limited catalogue is from his live performance at Sin-e. This was the performance that essentially broke him into the big time. The following performances are from the aforementioned Sin-e (The Nina Simone classic 'If You Knew') performance and the great Chicago (Eternal Life) recording from 95.
A little band from York, PA has been making music together for over two decades. Live is a band that many people know, however, those same people are hard pressed to admit they like this band. I've seen these guys in concert many times and they have always delivered. Now, you can certainly argue with the obtuse writing of Ed Kowalczyk or the strength of their recent offerings but what you can't argue is their energy. As excellent and impactful as the album Throwing Copper was, its near inconceivable that it would be the peak of their success. That said, they are performers ... Ed certainly loves the stage (favorite song from Throwing Copper).
Here is my second favorite song from TC ... 'I Alone'
Last, but not least is a band who arguably is so much better live than they are in the studio. My like for them has wavered over the years as I felt they tended to be more commercial than sticking to their college circuit roots. I understand that bands do evolve, but why do they have to make such a pronounced shift from a formula that works? Now, I know I can't knock them for the very thing I celebrate in others, like Radiohead ... perhaps its the execution that bugs me. Before These Crowded Streets (Everyday was aight) was the turning point as was the much boot-legged Lillywhite Sessions which would be re-recorded and become Busted Stuff. You could easily see the evolution and the experimentation but a lot of it just didn't work. Seriously, go back to Under the Table and Dreaming or Crash and compare, lyrically and musically these were not on par with the early work. That said, I was encouraged by Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King as it seemed to get the band back on track (albeit without LeRoi Moore...RIP).
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