We’ve all been trapped inside for 2 years, largely unable to take in live performance. This has obviously impacted artists and the network of workers that support their craft. The rest of us sinners have lost something too. We’ve been living out the studio version of our lives (apologies for the strained metaphor!).
Live performance can often present as a rote, staid repetition of something produced in a studio – think of a Sunday afternoon concert where the complaint is that the band is just “going through the motions.” Or, it can create a kind of spectacle largely autonomous from the studio expression – think of Alice Cooper biting the head off a chicken.
In this post I’m interested in something completely different. Below are 11 live performances that completely surpass the studio version of song. In each case, the studio version is well known by the band’s fans. They are good songs. The studio versions are good versions. However, in each case below, the band found a way to push the song in a new, more explosive direction.
The video and audio quality is rarely perfect (some of these are in desperate need of a restoration), but idea of the live version comes through clearly all the same and leaves the studio version – great as they may be – wanting.
1. R.E.M.’s famous 1983 appearance on David Letterman. This was their first big TV appearance and brought the jangly energy of the band to the forefront. It’s hard to listen to the – albeit great – studio version, from 1983’s Murmur, again in the same light. As bursting with power pop as it is, it just doesn’t punch in the same way as this incredible live version.
2. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band live in London in 1975 performing “Lost in the Flood” from his first album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (1973). Bruce and Co. were obviously lionized for their live performances, but what I think this performance captures more than anything isn’t just the energy of the band, but Bruce’s storytelling which comes through to a much greater degree in this context.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band ~ Lost in the Flood (1975)
3. The Durutti Column, guitarist Vini Reilly’s brainchild is noted in his studio albums for a sparse, post-punk sound that at times falls flat, particularly in tracks with vocals (he has a soft, dronelike voice). This live version of “Jacqueline,” from 1981’s LC,(accompanied by long-time collaborator Bruce Mitchell on the drums) from 1988 is something else altogether. In this setting, the two performers bring the studio version to life. It’s brimming over with joy.
4. King Crimson made 3 albums in the early 80s with guitarist/vocalist Adrian Belew fronting the band. They are all unique, fantastic albums, but they pale in comparison to the live performances of the era. The song that improves the most from a live rendering is “The Waiting Man” from 1982’s Beat. The song is nearly doubled in length and greatly improves through the expansion as each piece of the song is dwelled upon and the band relaxes into the groove as band members join the stage.
5. The post-punk art-rock band Pere Ubu had their biggest hit with the song “Waiting for Mary” from 1989’s Cloudland. The album retains their jangly, odd essence, but it’s really not until you see a live version of these songs that you comprehend the power of David Thomas as a frontman. Here’s “Breath” performed live on the saxophonist David Sanborn’s TV show in 1989. Stick around to see Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Sanborn help perform “Waiting for Mary.”
6. The Standards-era Keith Jarrett Trio (with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette) dominated the jazz scene in the early 80s. The albums are rightly beloved. Avid improvisationalists, the trio always found a way to deviate from the path live (which isn’t to say the studio versions lack for improvisation). This particular performance of “Prism” from 1984’s Changes breaks entirely from the studio version of the song into an extended jam not found elsewhere in the group’s studio recordings. It’s a completely unique expression of the song, in truth a new composition in its own right (starting around the 109:10 mark below). It’s an incredible melody and groove and the joy you find in the players’ faces as they discover it happening to them is incredible.
7. 1980’s Remain in Light is a top five album for me. It’s hard to imagine Talking Heads improving on the studio magic of that album. And yet, the rightly adored Rome concert of that year does just that. Touring with a host of exceptional musicians, the band brought the chaos of the album to its full flourishing here. One of the few times I’ve ever enjoyed slap bass (check around the 6:00 mark).
8. Studio darlings Pink Floyd performed the unique anti-performance feat of recording an exceptional live performance of “Echoes,” from 1971’s Meddle, without an audience in the ancient amphitheater in Pompeii. It’s extraordinary.
9. At the time of 1980’s self-titled album, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, OMD were still a raw new wave band trying to find their footing. The synths were extremely primitive, they played with a full band, and the energy of these early live performances is extraordinary. Here’s a 1981 performance of “Electricity” (the band’s homage/rip-off of Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity” (1975)).
10. There are a lot of things about the 90s that folks who didn’t live it likely wouldn’t believe if you told them about it. One of them is that no band was more successful on the college circuit that the funky jazz trio of Medeski, Martin & Wood. In 1998 they teamed up with guitarist John Scofield for his album A Go Go that serves as a kind of pinnacle of the sound/vibe of the era. While it’s a great album… this kind of music really isn’t served by the studio experience. Here they are live playing “Chank” in 1997. These guys are a joy to watch.
ps. yes, these kinds of shirts that MMW are wearing were extraordinarily popular at the time. It’s hard to explain.
11. This one’s a bit of cheater. There’s no video. Here’s Coltrane live in 1963 at the Newport Jazz Festival alongside McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Roy Haynes with a much freer version of “My Favorite Things,” from Coltrane’s 1961 album of the same name. Coltrane’s studio version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein standard is justly lauded and remained in his repertoire for years, but this live version from 1963 is explosive. The propulsive energy of the tune is dragged through some incredible runs of free expression. Just exceptional.
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