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Yes, but can they do it live
I like recorded music and all the spectacular sounds that can be achieved in a modern studio with all the high tech recording equipment and the superior instruments that are being built today. It seems anyone with a little talent can produce good music and those with superior talent, well they can produce some of the best recordings in history. It’s all great music for sure. But, I still like the artists that can go out on a live stage and not just play music, but can command the attention of all that are listening and totally immerse them in the song. Sometimes you have to be present to witness it because it can’t be duplicated, but some times it is recorded and many of these performances can be found on YouTube. I’ll share a few that I have found and really like but would like to see/hear others that I haven’t seen yet.
This is one of the three best versions of John Lennon’s Imagine I have ever heard. I just love Mona and Lisa’s recording and I love John’s original recording. This one is Elton John playing it live in Central Park in New York City in October 1980, only a couple blocks from the Dakota apartments where John was living and only 2 months before John’s death. In the video you will notice Elton glance over his shoulder a few times. Their were romors that John might join him on stage but it never happened. I was never a big Elton John fan but this performance is one of my favorites, just an amazing artist and an amazing song.
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50 Replies
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I like this one too. Just a nice relaxing feel to the outside venue. I believe this was done on Martha’s Vineyard. An enormously talented singer and a great song.
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I love The Hollies and I think my favorite song of theirs is Long Cool Woman. It has one of the coolest rock n roll beats ever. Here is a live version from the U.S. television show The Midnight Special. I believe, at least the first few years, the bands that appeared on the show were required to play everything live. I believe singer Allan Clarke left the Hollies not long after this appearance.
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Thanks for those 3 live cuts. Carly Simon was a force back in the day.
Here’s Joni Mitchell live with Jaco Pastorius and Pat Methany!! The entire show is fantastic.
google.com
https://www.google.com/search?q=joni+mitchell+pat+metheny+jaco+pastorius+coyote&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS856US856&oq=j0ni+mitchell+pat&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgCEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEAAYFhgeMggIAhAAGBYYHjIICAMQABgWGB4yCAgEEAAYFhgeMggIBRAAGBYYHjIICAYQABgWGB4yCAgHEAAYFhgeMggICBAAGBYYHjIKCAkQABiGAxiKBdIBCTEzNDE3ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
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Thanks for all the clips Dave, I remember Joni mainly for Big Yellow Taxi but I never listened to her much. She is fun to listen to though and a very good performer. That whole band is talented. Good stuff.
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I actually discovered that one of Joni and friends when I was looking up Jaco for the Bassline thread not long ago.
What a band. A bunch of musical genuises.
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The concert is on CD called Shadows & Twilight,
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Here’s a great performance of the band called The Band. Best name for a band ever. I always liked Levon Helm’s singing and he could certainly do it live.
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Elton doing Imagine is epic. John covering John. That’s such a Lennon anthem, that song. It really talks about his hope for the world. Such a great song, and Elton was playing it just showing love and respect for John. Thanks for posting that, I’d never seen it before.
But here’s one of Elton showing what he can do in a live setting, from his album 11-17-70 (aka 17-11-70). This was also recorded in NYC. Elton is playing with just bass and drums, so he fills the extra space.
Take Me To the Pilot
https://youtu.be/vtik3PLoO_I?list=PLTtyGV7O9803wzcbec4-x8yWtNlNFHW_C
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Thanks for posting that one Chris, Elton is really one of the all time greats and had so many great songs over the years, some of the best in pop/rock history. Crocodile Rock was the first one I remember hearing and I really liked it and a lot of his early stuff like Rocket Man, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Funeral For A Friend is another great song, especially live.
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Here’s a performance I remember watching on TV the night it aired. The Kennedy Center honoring among others the classic rock band Led Zeppelin. Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson from the band Heart were there to play Stairway To Heaven with the US president and first lady in the audience as well as the three living members of Led Zeppelin and deceased member John Bonham’s son Jason playing drums. No pressure at all. Ann Wilson was 62 years old when she delivered this epic performance.
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This is not one of the Seekers’ best-known songs, but if the studio version had had anywhere near the energy of this live performance, it might have been. Plus there’s the intriguing choreography of having an insect fly past Judith’s head at 1:21.
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Thanks David, that’s a great performance. Looks like they were having fun too. I don’t know a lot about the Seekers. I only remember Georgie Girl off the top of my head, I think they sang that one. I’m sure I’ve heard others, I definitely remember the name. It would have been fun to be there in the audience. And, it didn’t look like the fly bothered her at all, that’s a pro.
Speaking of distractions while performing. I don’t know if you remember the hit record of Billy Swan called I Can Help. At the end of the recording you can hear people clapping. The story goes that Billy was recording barefoot and his dog was also in the studio. While he was recording the song, his dog kept licking his bare feet and Billy kept trying to brush him away while not missing a beat. The studio musicians were so impressed they gave him a round of applause. Here’s a video of the song which I believe are live vocals layered on top of the original recording. I’ve heard that was common practice for TV and it sounds like the original music with the clapping at the end.
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I may have mentioned this (or not) in the Sad Songs post, but this was one he did in the 2007 tour that was for me the most memorable and (if there is such a thing) perfect concerts Elton John ever played. It was a triple header birthday that fall; Elton had just turned 60, I was turning 50 and a long time dear friend that was with us was turning 40. Elton and crew nailed absolutely everything that night and the crowd was mesmerized from the opening notes to when the final encore died away. Kathy never sat down all night, she danced the whole way through; and I sang every song. Couldn’t have been too terrible either, the lady next to me was very complimentary. “Do you actually know all the words?” she asked about 2/3 of the way through. “Yep, every one of them.” The only thing missing was Empty Garden which I did speak on in the other post.
But this one literally gave me chills and when it was done I had tears running down my cheeks. In this video, you can see how animated the children were in their accompaniment, I hope they will remember that night, and how incredibly fortunate they were to play a part in an unforgettable night with a music superstar. Sometimes “live” is so much more than the recorded version… -
That sounds amazing, I never seen him live but I believe you. I’ve watched a lot of Elton’s live performances on You Tube and I do like them more than his studio recordings even though he’s had a lot of great records. Just a major talent. It’s fun to be at a show like that when it’s so good it affects you emotionally. I’ve been at a few that were more than just a band playing on stage, they were events. Willie Nelson and Family played our county fair one year and there about 8,000 people there. Families, kids, teenagers, farmers , bikers and old hippies like me. Everyone singing and little groups dancing together. Everyone just having a great time. It was easy to see Willie and the band was enjoying it too. They were passing a jug around onstage and played for over 2 hours, just so much fun.
John Fogerty played at Freedom Fest in La Crosse one year. It’s an outdoor venue at the airport and part of an annual airshow and raises money for the Freedom Flight program that pays for veterans to fly to D.C. to visit the war memorials. Anyway when John played that night it seemed the whole crowd was singing every word to every song, especially the old CCR songs. Many times he would start a song and never sing a word, the crowd was singing them for him. He just played and smiled and you could tell how proud he was and how moved he was that his songs meant that much to us. One of those special feelings you can only experience at a live show.
My wife was a fan of the country singer Martina McBride. We bought tickets to see her at our county fair opening for Merle Haggard. It so happened Merle had a heart attack and had to cancel. They moved Martina to the top billing and the Bellamy Brothers opened for her. Martina is a tiny lady with a powerful voice and icy blue eyes that can burn a hole in your heart. She only had a couple minor hits at the time but she sang some classic songs everyone knew and sang a few great Merle Haggard tunes in tribute to Merle. Not a real big crowd either as a lot of people turned in there tickets after Merle cancelled. We had great seats but I had a camera and wanted to get closer so ended up in front of the stage standing 10 feet directly in front of her, mesmerized by those gorgeous eyes and that golden voice. I was so in awe I forgot to take any pictures. Here’s a video of a new song she introduced that night. Her signature song Independence Day. Imagine her standing 10 feet in front of you singing this song and looking directly at you. I still get chills thinking about it.
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I’ve never heard that song by Martina, but I know who she is, and she’s a great singer.
She was probably staring at you wondering what you were planning to do next. 🙂
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Yeah she is amazing, she came back a few years later as the headliner and everybody knew who she was. It was a huge crowd and we had the grandstands rocking and it was a great show but something about that first show and being that close to an incredible vocalist singing at the top her lungs, I swear she didn’t need a microphone. I’m sure she wondered why I was just standing there, I was in a trance. Every time her eyes met mine it was like a laser burning into my brain. It was an experience I could never get listening to a record, even a live one.
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Tim, I do remember that song! I didn’t recognize the name of the artist or the title, but as soon as I heard it I identified it. Funny story about the dog. Maybe he was inspired by the song and thought what he was doing was helping.
The Seekers had a lot of hits in the U.K., but here in the U.S. it was mostly just Georgy Girl and I’ll Never Find Another You. If you enjoy multi-part vocal harmonies done in a folk style, they’re a very worthwhile investment of your time.
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Thanks David,
I never heard that song before, but I like it and you’re right, they were really belting it out.
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I came across this clip quite a long time ago, and it still amazes me. This is possibly the earliest known film of an Osmond brothers performance (pre-Donny):
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David that’s pretty awesome, I think everyone in America fell in love with the Osmonds, so much talent. I remember seeing them on just about every variety show on TV. Yeah, these four boys are very young in this clip and to think there were a few more talented siblings to follow including a sister, little Marie.
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Its an interesting challenge for musicians. Live performances hone the music to what a live audience appreciates. Studio performances hone the music to what the performers appreciate. Both approaches have their advantages. But even the Beatles lost something by giving up on their concerts (albeit for good reasons). Would be nice to see some live Mona Lisa gigs again. Maybe start with a summer picnic performance for the Club?
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Hi Nicholas, That’s an interesting way to look at it and it makes a lot of sense. When an artist is recording in the studio they are trying to put their best interpretation of their song on to the tape, and can make changes and try different mixes to see what sounds the best. Maybe that’s why they call the finished disc a record. If I’m listening to music at home or in the car I’d rather listen to studio music. A lot of live records just aren’t that great sound wise. There are a few exceptions of course like the Twins Live at the Cavern Club, and it’s mostly because of the outstanding sound recording by Papa Rudi. When I go see a live show, the sound doesn’t have to be perfect nor do the songs have to be perfect. I go to watch and listen to human beings playing music and I expect mistakes. But there is a connection between me and the artists that I can’t get from a record. It’s hard to explain but I’m sure most music fans can relate to it.
Here’s a live video of The MonaLisa Twins at the Half Moon Putney probably recorded with a phone or laptop. The sound isn’t real good but the feeling is there, along with the obvious talent of the performers. I love the vocals of Mona and James, I love the sound of Jake’s drums and Mona’s harmonica and I love watching Lisa play her guitar, changing tone settings while singing lead. I love hearing Nothing Is In Vain played live. I hope I don’t get in trouble for sharing a MLT video that was made by someone else.
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I think you’re okay posting that video, Tim. A couple of years ago I found an amateur video from 2015 of MLT performing I Want You Back by the Jackson 5. I e-mailed them to ask if was okay for me to post it, and I didn’t hear back.
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A big stand out live performance I watched I won’t forget is the 4th of July 1980 Beach Boys concert in front of nearly half a million people in front of the Washington Monument. It was right in the middle of the hostage crisis in Iran, and there was a lot of patriotism in the air on that 4th of July, and the Beach Boys were perfection to bring the country together. Something the USA needed to celebrate freedom and joy in a tough period.
This was before internet and youtube, so to see a full live concert like this played on TV was an amazing moment. I was thrilled was to put it mildly.
A decade later at work a good friend of mine to this day, talked about how he came upon a Beach Boys concert in Washington DC while he was doing a year long road trip through the USA, and it turned out he was at that concert. What a small world.
I’ve been to 4 of their concerts and they put on an incredible Fun, Fun, Fun show, from the moment they come on stage to the 3 or 4 encores at the end, it is absolutely delirious.
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Thanks Jung, What an amazing performance. I couldn’t imagine being in a crowd that big listening to the Beach Boys and singing and bopping along to the music. What a great time. As I recall, initially the White House had cancelled the show saying the Beach Boys weren’t the image of America that they wanted to project. Almost instantly they got so much backlash from the public that they were forced to reschedule it and apologize to both the American public and the band. Geez, if the Beach Boys don’t represent America then you might as well make the Grand Canyon a garbage dump and shoot all the bald eagles. Politicians should keep their noses out of music and sports, sorry about the rant. I’ve never been in a crowd that size at a concert, maybe 10,000 at some of the outdoor concerts on the Ft. McCoy military base. Motley Crue had a big crowd there as well as Brooks & Dunn/ Lynyrd Skynyrd show.
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Hi Tim
Yeah I remember that, and it was the Interior Secretary who said that, and even President Ronald Reagan and the First Lady Nancy chimed in saying they liked the Beach Boys, and the 4th of July concert with the Beach Boys went on. That may have been a subsequent 4th of July concert the year after, but I think the biggest American Rock Band was the most fitting to do that show. The whole band was there including all 3 Wilson brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis. It was their biggest concert they ever did.
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Yeah Jung, there isn’t a band that’s more American than the Beach Boys. They pretty much defined the California sound in the 60’s and beyond and set the standard for Rock n Roll harmonies. Yeah, I love seeing Brian on stage and Dennis back there pounding the Drums. I think they really lost something when he passed away. I know first hand you really can’t replace a brother.
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Actually that incident with the interior secretary (James Watt) was in 1983. In 1980 Jimmy Carter was still president.
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Yeah I wasn’t sure of the dates or who was president. I think It had been an annual event to have the Beach Boys there but somebody was trying to cancel it until the fans spoke up.
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I had forgotten about Melanie until the Twins released their cover of Look What They’ve Done To My Song. I remember that song and Brand New Key from when I was young. Since the Twins release I have went down the Melanie rabbit hole on YouTube several times. What a talented and uniquely gifted singer and songwriter. It’s hard to describe what makes her special, she is just that, special. And she would have been so fun to hear live.
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For most of music history, live was the only option. I’m sure over 99% of people living near Bach or Beethoven never heard their tunes, since they weren’t invited to the rich people’s concerts.
I saw Stevie Wonder live in 2001 on the 300th anniversary of the founding of Detroit. At the river downtown, where I’ve seen as many as 4 stages going simultaneously before. That day there was only 1.
They said there were a million people there. Stevie almost fell over when he heard that. It was packed. You couldn’t move. I was 200+ feet from the stage, so it was easier to just watch the big closed circuit tv. The feed was sent across the river to Windsor. Later we heard the “million people” was for multiple days, and that day was 250k. Rolling Stone said it was 500k.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/stevie-wonder-goes-home-249645/
I couldn’t find a vid of that day, but here’s Wonderlove in Germany. Michael Sembello is on guitar in the back, Deniece Williams is singing backup with the red hair.
https://youtu.be/gm3-hRgUEXc?list=PLQSFwAoVrj-0AxjUl-6crruQMisG34QlW
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Chris, yeah Stevie was one of the greatest. That would have been a great experience to listen to him play to a huge crowd like that. Like I said in another comment, I think the biggest concert crowd I was in was for Motley Crue at Ft. McCoy, I think it was around 10,000. I was at a Packers-Bears game of 78,000+ and we had to empty the stands because of lightning. 78,000 people trying to get to the bathrooms at the same time, that was fun (not). It took me 45 minutes to get to the bathroom and back to my seat and the game was re-starting.
Here’s a clip with a massive crowd. The original Lynyrd Skynyrd band playing in Knebworth in 1976. They were a great Southern country-rock band but in all fairness here, they were opening for the Rolling Stones.https://youtu.be/NAbxZrzEvJQ?feature=shared
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Hi Tim,
Lynard Skynard is one of the great musician rockers for sure. A lot of brilliant guitar work.
I always enjoyed the Moody Blues, some of their songs like Nights In White Satin are so timeless, and I also liked this one since I first heard it. Another favourite 60s songs. They sound great live.
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Thanks Jung, yeah the Moody Blues are one of those bands that are great to listen to through a good pair of headphones and just relax and drift away with the music, beautiful stuff. I like the way this song goes into almost a boogie beat between the verses, almost like two different songs.
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Chris, even the recordings done for TV, Movies, radio and records were recorded live until Les Paul developed multi track recording in the 40’s and 50’s. Being able to play and sing along side recorded tracks and layer sounds and vocals really changed the game in recorded music.
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My favourite Motown song is Locomotion, and Grand Funk Railroad covered a wild rock version of it, and love their live performance of it that I think is hard to beat.
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Jung, thanks for that one, I love it. Grand Funk was a great Rock n Roll band that I loved as a teenager in the 70’s. I don’t think any white boy had more rhythm than Mark Farner. Must be a Motown thing. Not too many bands liked to follow them at a live show, ask Led Zeppelin.
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I loved Grand Funk back in the day! Still enjoy hearing the Locomotion cover, and of course their big one We’re An American Band. Sure they also had some others, but that one always resonated with me.
One of Procol Harem’s most famous (possibly forgotten famous) live recordings was recorded in the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton back in 1971. It was on their “Live” album (released in 1972) and if I’m not mistaken was the first time ever that a rock band was recorded live with a full symphony orchestra (the Edmonton Symphony). A very classic and notable recording. I still have the LP, and a couple of my friends were fortunate enough to be at that live performance. I wanted so much to be there, but it didn’t work out.
Not sure how many (if any) of you have ever been to the Jubilee, but it is an amazing venue. It is very nearly “acoustically perfect” and it was designed and built for the purpose of live theater and concert sound acuity without the aid of mics, PA’s, and amplifiers. Of course the electronic aids only add to the sound when used. In my high school years I was fortunate enough to play on that stage in concert band and stage band competitions, and it is amazing. We never won anything in the festivals, but we did place a couple times. Being under the flood lights and the footlights is quite the experience. I totally understand why performers are often so drenched in sweat when they play live, it’s bloody hot up there!
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Daryl, thanks for that clip. I hope everyone following this thread listens to that one. I like Procol Harem’s music and for their music to be surrounded or engulfed within the symphony is a beautiful sound. It would have been amazing to be there but that is a great recording too. I bet it was a great feeling playing on that stage too. I was in a natural amphitheater once in the Rockies outside of Colorado Springs. No one was playing there, we were just exploring the area and it was just a natural area in the mountain where they built the stage. Me and my nephew went to the top of the seating area and my brother and sister stood on the stage singing and we could hear every note. It’s true that sometimes the venue makes a difference in how the music sounds and feels.
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One of my favorite bands was the Canadian prog-rock band Rush, Arguably the best three rock musicians to be in the same band together. There’s actually a lot of great 3 piece bands but I don’t know any others that could make that much sound. I never seen them live but their first live album All The Worlds A Stage made me a fan for life and they continued to always get better. This is a clip from their 30th anniversary tour. A song called The Spirit of Radio which they do start playing after a 7 minute intro made up of guitar riffs and melodies from 30 years of classic songs. Always a great performance from this band.
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Daryl,
That Procul Harum song sounds like the version I’ve heard many, many times on the classic rock radio. I never knew where it got recorded before.
Good stuff.
Tim,
I saw Rush in 1975 at a bar at college. I had stayed to work over Christmas. $4 to get in. Not crowded, because the students were gone. 20 feet from the stage. This was after they’d released 3 albums already. Great show.
You’re right about Rush playing enough to fill the space. Not everybody can do that with just 3 guys. B.B. King couldn’t do it, so he brought extra help. In that live Elton John song I posted above, Elton is busier than usual; he didn’t have a guitarist that night, so more room to fill.
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