13 Incendiary Concert Clips To Help Get You Through The End of The Quarantine
For rock fans, hip-hop heads, and soul music enthusiasts alike...
It’s finally starting to happen. After more than a year of being locked down at home, pining for a return to some semblance of normalcy, the world, or America at least, is gradually opening back up again. Vaccines are going into arms — I got my first shot about a week back thanks to the VA — restrictions are beginning to lift, and it won’t be much longer before live music returns in some way, shape, or form. Hallelujah!
Signs of hope are popping up every day. Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado for instance recently announced that they’re on the verge of re-opening at a limited capacity. But we aren’t out of the woods yet. [Masks in public folks]. The concert industry at large appears to be taking cautious steps before fully committing to a large-scale return. Coachella won’t be coming back before 2022 at least. Similarly, Pearl Jam is taking a wait and see approach, declining to resume their previously scuttled Summer tour to next year as well. It’s gonna take some time before we’re all crowd-surfing and screaming for encores once again.
In the meantime, like so many others, I’ve been fighting off post-concert melancholy by revisiting recorded live performances from concert tour’s past. Hour’s long Youtube deep-dives through a collection of the finest live rock, rap and soul shows ever recorded aren’t uncommon around these parts. Some, I witnessed personally. Most however, are simply dream gigs that I was either too young, too financially strapped, or too geographically removed to have experienced in the flesh.
This week, I thought I’d share 13 different concert clips that I’ve been especially blown away by lately in the hopes that it’ll remind you of what waits beyond the light at the end of this tunnel. A world in which we can all finally break free to rejoice in face-melting guitar solos while yelling at the dude next to us who somehow still thinks its funny to scream for “Freebird” in between songs.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world…
The White Stripes - From The Basement (November 2005)
I was supposed to see The White Stripes once. 2007. Albuquerque, New Mexico. I had tickets in hand and was geared up to make the four hour drive to the show from El Paso on a Thursday after work, but then they cancelled the entire tour citing Meg’s “acute anxiety.” Definitely a bummer, and the vivid spectacle of this 20-minute performance can feel a little bit like salt in the wound. Nevertheless, it’s absolutely worth watching.
This performance was recorded right around the time the White Stripes released Get Behind Me Satan — though I’m sure Jack White’s facial hair probably already tipped you off to that — and the material is almost exclusively culled from that album. Despite the absence of favorites like “Seven Nation Army,” or “Ball & Biscuit,” it’s an inspired performance that feels at once intimate and disorienting.
“Red Rain,” absolutely rips.
Isaac Hayes — Atlanta (1973)
Over the last few months, I’ve gone through a massive Isaac Hayes kick. As a major proponent of lengthy instrumental jams, albums like Hot Buttered Soul, Black Moses, …To Be Continued, and Joy have proven to be extremely my shit. Naturally, I was curious to hear and see what Ike did to this collection of songs live, and this clip filmed in Atlanta, Georgia at the very height of his powers in 1973 certainly doesn’t disappoint. While it doesn’t have the best audio or visual quality, the passion and the musicianship are simply extraordinary. Especially “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” which stretches out to 22 entire minutes.
After watching this, be sure to pick up a copy of Live At Sahara Tahoe while you’re at it.
Soundgarden — Live in Germany (1990)
While researching my book, Total F*cking Godhead: The Biography of Chris Cornell, I ultimately ended up watching a ton of Soundgarden live footage. Like, a TON. Like, if not all of it, then damn near close. With that in mind, there are several clips I could’ve put into this spot. The 2012 Hyde Park gig. Bremerton in 1992. Hell, even this public access cable clip from ‘86 is damn fascinating!
I decided to slot this performance at Osterrocknacht in Düsseldorf on April 16, 1990 because, frankly…it slaps. In 41-minutes, you get primed-for-the-big time, hungry as hell Soundgarden doing their damndest to shake the German crowd splayed before them to their marrow with epic renditions of “Gun,” “Beyond The Wheel,” and “Loud Love.” Their punk-metal take on “Jesus Is Just Alright” is an especially incendiary inclusion into the setlist.
Kendrick Lamar — Reading Festival (2018)
Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 DAMN tour was so incredible that I went to see it twice. Both times at the United Center in Chicago. Both times ruled. While this performance at the Reading Festival in the U.K. is a truncated form of the full arena show that he toured around the U.S. the year before, but all the most significant elements remain. An intricate, multimedia narrative involving Samurais? Check. Dense, lyrical wordplay? Check. A show-stopping rendition of “M.A.A.D. City?” Check.
What more do you need?
The Yardbirds - Paris (1967)
I was tempted to throw a Led Zeppelin show on to this list, but honestly, nothing online can top the sprawling magnificence of that band’s 2003 live DVD or the over-the-top insanity that is The Song Remains The Same. The Yardbirds meanwhile, rarely get the love or attention they deserve. They forever remain the prelude to the era-defining projects whipped together by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Nevertheless, as this clip that captures the band at the Grand Spectacle De Jeunes on April 30, 1967 shows, they were a force in their own right. Keith Relf is no Robert Plant, but Jimmy Page displays all the chops he’d use to dominate the world in just a few year’s time.
Nine Inch Nails — Woodstock (1994)
A performance so iconic, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave it its own exhibit.
Nina Simone - Juan-Les-Pins, France (1969)
Throughout her life, Nina Simone was referred to by her most ardent admirers as “The High Priestess of Soul.” She was a spell-binding, one of a kind type of performer, who’s world-class acumen behind a piano was only matched by the power of her singular voice. If Simone’s rendition of the Bee Gees “To Love Somebody” included at around the 18-minute mark doesn’t at least give you goosebumps, congratulations! You’re officially dead inside.
Van Halen — Oakland (1981)
Of all the massive, classic rock bands of decade’s past, I can’t think of any group that has done less with their back catalog than Van Halen. There is no deluxe edition of their iconic debut album, stuffed with outtakes. There’s no comprehensive box set of any kind whatsoever. Live albums? They’ve released just two. One, recorded in 1992 during the twilight of the Hagar years. The other, a gig recorded at the Tokyo Dome after reuniting with David Lee Roth in 2013. It’s maddening!
If you want to experience what Van Halen was like at their height of their hedonistic powers, this clip recorded at in Oakland during their Fair Warning tour in 1981 is currently as good as it gets. Fortunately, that’s pretty damn incredible. What this 14-minute piece of footage lacks in length, it more than makes up in intensity, especially during “Unchained.”
Michael Anthony’s high harmonies. Alex van Halen’s chest-caving kick drum. David Lee Roth swigging from a bottle of something and doing high kicks. Eddie Van Halen doing Eddie Van Halen things in the way that only Eddie Van Halen could; every element that made this group of Pasadena-based misfits into one of the biggest bands on the Planet is right there on tape.
Courteney Barnett — Pitchfork Festival (2018)
This is the only show included on this list that I personally witnessed. I interviewed Courtney Barnett a short while before she hit the stage this day and while she was kind and forthright during our chat, she gave no indication that she was moments away from ripping into one of the most incredible festival sets I can recall. It comes through on the tape, but the thing about this show that stands out to me is the sheer, unabashed intensity.
I never got to witness Nirvana first-hand. This felt something like the next best thing.
Neil Young With Booker T & The MGs — Belgium (1993)
I don't know about you, but in a lot of ways, 2021 has felt like the Year of Neil. The dude just keeps rolling out new releases from his vast back catalog seemingly every month, and pretty much all of them are incredible. Way Down in the Rust Bucket smokes. Young Shakespeare simmers. The legendary, long-awaited Archives Vol. II box is as mind-blowing as advertised.
You might think I’d get burned out by it all by now, but no…no I haven't. In fact, I’m really hoping he gets around to unleashing some kind of cleaned up edition of this show recorded in Belgium back in ‘93. Maybe for Archives Vol. IV? It’s simply one of the best live performances of his 50-plus year career.
Let’s be real here for a second. The album Are You Passionate that he recorded with Booker T. and the MGs isn’t quite his finest hour. And yet, when he hit the stage backed by Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Booker T. Jones and Jim Keltner on drums, Neil practically levitates. “Mr. Soul” into “The Loner” at the top of the show is particularly twisted as Dunn’s bass grinds in time with Cropper’s rhythm guitar, allowing Neil to shoot off into the Stratosphere with Old Black in hand.
David Bowie — Montreal (1987)
Simply one of the most spell-binding, theatric performers in the history of rock and roll putting it all out there at the apex of ‘80s extra-ness. The shiny outfits. The jerky dance moves. The surprising appearance of Peter Frampton. All of it is bonkers. All of it is extremely well-worth your time. The one-two punch of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” into “White Light / White Heat” near the end of the show is essential.
Stevie Wonder — Live at Musikladen (1974)
Jason Isbell recently declared on Twitter that Stevie Wonder’s run between 1972 and 1976, that included the release of Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life, was the greatest stretch by a musician ever. “Stevie actually made us believe humans were capable of more than we had previously thought,” he said. “An enlightener.”
Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of live footage circling around out there of Wonder performing at his apex, but this 40-minute clip recorded at the Beat Club in Germany provides an indispensable glimpse at his genius in action. The otherworldly inclusion of “Contusion” alone stamps this clip as required viewing, and the rendition of “Living For the City” might just be definitive.
Father John Misty — Live At The Capitol Theater (2017)
For my money, the artist formerly known as Josh Tillman remains one of the best songwriters going. He’s also a live performer with hardly any parallel. Shaman-esque, but in a good way…
I think I’ve seen him on five separate occasions by this point and whether he’s cracking wise about condom companies in between songs like during his mid-day set at Lollapalooza in 2016, or performing a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” at the Riv, I’ve always walked away from his performances feeling as though I’d seen something entirely unique.
This two-hour plus show recorded in 2017 captures FJM at his best. At more than two-hours long, it a time commitment for sure — I wouldn’t blame you for skipping past all 13-minutes of “Leaving L.A.” during the encore — but the entire band (including the string section) is so on-point. Misty himself is at his sardonic best as he waxes poetic about love, the human condition, and the hazards of submitting to the oculus rift. I sincerely can’t recommend this one enough.