7 Classic Live Performances on YouTube for Your Quarantine Pleasure
So there’s a global pandemic and you’re stuck at home, concerts are postponed indefinitely, but you still need the irreplaceable joy of a live show to warm your quarantined heart.
Believe me, I understand. Luckily for you I’ve been mining the depths of YouTube for classic performances by the world’s most renowned musical acts for many years now. It’s a passion of mine, really, and I’d like to share some of the finest selections I’ve come across with you. Seven to be exact.
Some of these clips are no-brainers that many music lovers can close their eyes and project onto the back of their eyelids off of sheer memory. If that’s you then just let me know what deep cuts I should include on my next list in the comments, you insufferable hipster, you.
If that’s not you, then wash your hands, and kick back. There are no nosebleeds at this show, only front row seats. The beers are dirt cheap and the merch table isn’t a table, it’s the band’s website.
Oh, and smoke ‘em if you got em…
1. Bill Withers – “Use Me” Live In-Studio (1972)
With this soul legend’s recent passing, it was unavoidable that he’d find his way onto this list.
Anyone with Wi-Fi and a soft spot for the golden age of soul music has probably seen this clip of Mr. Withers and his band of the hippest dudes on planet earth laying it down live in-studio back in 1972. Withers had just had his big break with the indisputably perfect “Ain’t No Sunshine” (at age 32!) when he took the stage in that flashy, classy ribbed orange turtleneck and blessed our retinas with some of the most profoundly groovy tunes the world has ever known.
There’s so much to love about this video. High quality production, great sound, incredible performances all around. The drummer, James Gadson, is a YouTube folk legend (and an actual legend, too). Every video of him is loaded with comments about how unspeakably cool he is. Slap those things, James. You’ve got it.
And of course the main factor in this video’s greatness is Bill’s singing. He had a voice that could make an atheist think twice. The clarity, the precision, the sheer power behind it. It elevated his simple and straight forward lyrics so that they hit you in your heart, your bones, your eternal soul.
Thanks for the tunes, Bill. Grandma’s hands are waiting.
2. Talking Heads - “This Must Be the Place” Stop Making Sense (1984)
Stop Making Sense, the 1984 Talking Heads concert film directed by Jonathan Demme, is required viewing for anyone in search of happiness. And anyone who loves the warm and gentle glow of lamplight.
You could honestly watch any of the songs from this incredible movie and it wouldn’t be a waste of your time (let’s be real, you’ve got plenty of time right now, anyway). The dorky choreography, the matching outfits, the sense of theater, the overall art school-iness. It’s one of a kind and so are Talking Heads.
This performance of “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” is my personal favorite of the bunch. It’s one of the most joy-inducing tunes ever created and this video brings that up several notches. If you don’t smile at 4:30 when David Byrne starts dancing with the lamp then we can’t be friends. It’s just that simple.
3. The Beatles - “Don’t Let Me Down” Rooftop Concert (1969)
It was a cold grey day in late January 1969 when the greatest band the world has ever known took to the roof of the Apple building in Savile Row, London for their final live performance.
The band needed a finale for their fifth feature film, Let It Be, and somebody — nobody really knows who — suggested a live show. They hadn’t performed for an audience since August of 1966, but with a bunch of new tunes that shed the studio-centric production of Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour and brought them back to their Cavern Club roots, the Fab Four (along with Billy Preston on keys) decided they were finally ready to take the stage once more. The result was perhaps the coolest live performance footage in the history of rock & roll.
The greatest band ever, playing brand new songs, live and unannounced on a city rooftop as dumbstruck folks on their lunch break listened in awe on the streets below.
Savile Row, January 30, 1969 is a top five time machine stop for me.
The police eventually intervened and cut the cord on the set (how rock & roll is that?) and the band would call it quits for good the following April. With John Lennon’s murder in December 1980, the deal was eternally sealed: The Beatles would never perform live again. Thus, the rooftop concert became The Rooftop Concert.
Hey, we may not have a time machine, but we do have this footage. A precious time capsule of one of rock & roll’s high water marks.
4. Elton John - “Levon” Live at the BBC (1971)
The BBC has played host to a vast quantity of popular music’s greatest heroes over the years. Sir Elton, of course, stands tall among them.
Sporting a Brooklyn babydoll haircut and sunglasses in a dimly lit room, Rocket Man looks a bit like a casino grandma who smokes indoors here, but he sounds like a damned English angel boy.
With just Elton on keys and vocals, Nigel Olsson on drums, and Dee Murray on bass, this tune could easily sound thin and skimpy compared to the recording, which has a lush orchestral section. Thing is, they have Elton on keys and vocals, Nigel Olsson on drums, and Dee Murray on bass. You don’t miss the strings at all. I may even like this version better than the recording.
Speaking of the recording, “Levon” is one of my favorite Elton John tunes ever. Easily top five. It needs more credit. That’s why I put it on this list. Now appreciate it, please.
Bonus points for the zombified audience behind the stage who are dressed for church, and extra bonus points for the psychedelic aluminum foil background. They look like they’re playing inside a tremendous birthday balloon.
5. Queen - “Don’t Stop Me Now” Live at the Hammersmith Odeon (1979)
I’m just going to say it: “Don’t Stop Me Now” is Queen’s best song.
The obvious choice is always going to be “Bohemian Rhapsody”, an operatic rock epic in a category of its own, but for my money nothing embodies the band’s finest trait -- their sweaty flamboyant electricity -- than this breakneck ripper does. It still maintains the sense of drama and pure theater that elevates Queen into something other than a mere rock band, but it also slaps you upside the head and incinerates your nether regions like all great rock is supposed to do.
Now go watch Freddie shake his bony, red leather-clad ass.
6. The Righteous Brothers - “Unchained Melody” (1965)
This one sort of sticks out a little bit in comparison to the rest of the list. One, for the fact that the musical stylings of The Righteous Brothers are a little less…dangerous…than most of the other artists I chose, and two, for the fact that none of the other videos on this list contain the greatest live vocal performance in the history of the infinite and eternal universe itself.
Okay, okay, maybe that’s a (mild) exaggeration, but I challenge you to show me a significantly more powerful and precise singing performance than this one. There are not many in the library of divine sounds. Just turn this one on if you’re brokenhearted (and feeling bold) and tell me it doesn’t reduce you into a salty puddle of emotional vulnerability.
I think the video’s heartbreaking beauty is perfectly summed up in one of the comments.
It reads, “When I hear this I can feel my wife sitting next to me again.”
“Unchained Melody”, one of the all-time greatest love songs. Bobby Hadfield’s voice, one of the all-time divine gifts.
7. Santana - “Soul Sacrifice” Woodstock (1969)
There just had to be a Woodstock video on this list.
One of the defining moments in 20th century pop culture, Woodstock was just loaded to the teeth with legendary performances by legendary artists. You could comb through the clips and find dozens of worthy musical moments.
For me, Santana performing “Soul Sacrifice” is the cream of the crop. Not just because the song is glorious and the musicianship is top shelf and the band is stacked with the coolest looking dudes you’ve ever seen. It’s more that my friends and I would always throw this one on together and marvel at the stupendous groove, the percussive power, the endless crowd, and that t-t-t-TONE on Santana’s guitar.
We would get lost in imagining what it must have been like to be on that stage. What it must have been like to be drummer Michael Shrieve, who was slapping the life out of those skins in front of half a million human beings at the tender age of 20.
Santana hadn’t even released their first album at that point. Most of those folks probably didn’t even know who these dudes were. They let ‘em know that day.
So, yeah, the performance is divine, but for me the memories are the precious thing.
So there. You’ve been blessed with a social-distancing serenade. What great performances did I miss? What does your list look like? What information did I get completely and utterly wrong and how ashamed of myself should I be for it?
Let me know in the comments and stay tuned for more quarantine entertainment.
