Friday, July 22, 2011

Top 5 songs I've seen live

Live, "White, Discussion"
2007, Boston
"White, Discussion" is the forgotten hit from Live's breakout album, Throwing Copper. You still hear "Lightning Crashes," "Selling the Drama," "I Alone" and "All Over You" on rock radio these days, but never this one. Before the band broke up, Live regularly used the song as an encore closer, featuring blinding strobe lights and Ed Kowalczyk screaming, "Look where all this talking got us, baby!" This performance at the Bank of America Pavilion (or whatever that place was called at the time) was particularly intense, but it's not on YouTube, so here's a version from the year before in Germany:



Chris Cornell, "Black Hole Sun"
Oct. 31, 2005, Lowell, Massachusetts
Audioslave played a Halloween night show at Tsongas Arena, and to start the encore, Chris Cornell came out   wearing a Jason mask and carrying an acoustic guitar. He performed a mix of Audioslave and Temple of the Dog songs, but the highlight of this mini-set was the Soundgarden classic "Black Hole Sun," which turned into a giant lighter-waving sing-along.



Stone Temple Pilots, "Plush"
2000, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Scott Weiland is one of the great front men in rock history, and if you don't believe that, you haven't seen him running around an arena floor, shirtless with an American flag draped over his shoulders, as thousands of fans howled every word to his band's biggest hit. This version isn't on YouTube either, so here's a 2008 performance:



The Roots, medley
June 15, 2007, Bonnaroo
It was in the high 90s with nearly 100 percent humidity during The Roots' midday performance at Bonnaroo -- weather not exactly conducive to moving, let alone dancing. But this eclectic medley got everyone shaking and waving their hands in the air like they just didn't care. Here's a clip, but not the whole thing:



Dave Matthews Band, James Brown and the Soul Generals and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, "Sex Machine"
Dec. 21, 2002, New York
Dave Matthews Band was jamming out the end of "Too Much" a little longer than usual, and a sound tech was on stage setting up another mic stand. I just assumed there was a technical glitch and the band was wasting time while it was fixed. Wrong! Dave stepped to his original microphone and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the godfather of soul, James Brown!" The next 15 minutes featured a hilarious dance-off between Dave and James Brown and confetti falling from the Madison Square Garden roof. Here are two very brief clips:



2 comments:

Pax Arcana said...

1. "My Morning Song," the Black Crowes, SPAC, 1997.
2. "Sabotage," Beastie Boys, Lollapalooza 1994 (Philadelphia).
3. "The Modern Leper," Frightened Rabbit, TT the Bear's (Boston) 2008.
4. "The Rake's Song," The Decemberists, BOA Pavilion, 2009.
5. "January Wedding" The Avett Brothers, House of Blues (Boston) 2010.

Matty Stevenson said...

Cornell did Black Hole Sun acoustic while playing with Audioslave. Definitely in my top five as well.