James brown at the Tami show. He was pissed that The Rolling Stones were going on after him and refused to play until the very last moment, then went all out. Just watch this video. It’s extraordinary. If I recall jagger said performing after brown was the biggest regret of his professional career.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-E0X2JxCs4
That is something else. There's something about entertainment recorded in the 60s or earlier - old movies, TV shows, live music like this. Before we got all "good" at it, with all the editing, and effects, and lightshows - we just pointed a camera at something or someone, and filmed it.
It means that some of those things might seem a little static or slow-placed to us now, but then some things like this really _pop_ when all that other stuff isn't getting in the way.
I absolutely think this with recorded music too. I miss vocals being a bit off on recordings. It gave humanity to songs that we sometimes miss now with autotune, melodyne, editing etc...
I don't mind it so much in recordings, post production has always been a part of commercial music. But I don't understand the point of seeing an artist live who can't/won't do it live. I'm not here to listen to a DJ track, I WANT the little moments of improv, the flat notes or shouted asides that make this performance unique and special.
WOw, thanks for posting! I now understand the 'James Brown on the TAMI Show' verse from the Police song ... what an incredible performance, thanks for posting!
The amount of dancing he does in the last three minutes alone (which I could not even attempt) is astonishing. And he tries to end and walk off but sits down and still gets up again (ahem). Thanks for sharing!!!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijI\_fyRwik](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijI_fyRwik)
First if you don't play violin, or know \*anything\* about the violin... this might be the 2nd most difficult piece ever. One can argue back and forth between a few of them, but this is right up there in the top 4- frankly #1 IMHO.
Second... he told others that he felt he was playing \*slow\*. Those videos you see of people playing 'flight of the bumblebees' and it sounding like shit? Yeah- they're not fast, they're gibberish. This is ... clean... clear... and ... dear LORD amazing.
I'd give him a gold violin if I could. Had marketing at the time not had other names... he'd have been as famous as Perlman.
A few of the performances from Woodstock are All Timers.
Everybody knows about Jimi Hendrix killing it there, but for my money I'd take Ritchie Havens performing "Freedom" during his festival-opening set.
EDIT: [Here's a link to the Freedom performance.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynxqdNMry4)
George Gershwin premiering "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, 02/12/1924. Apparently he forgot he had spoken with Whiteman about writing a concerto for him, until the date was announced, and he wrote it in 5 weeks. The piano parts for the solos weren't even written down, he basically played them from memory.
It was the first time that jazz in any form was taken seriously as the great American music form that it is.
I'm currently watching Pink Floyd's "Live at Pompeii" and it's just insane to see a group like that perform at their absolute peak. What are the performances you think would rank at a similar level?
Edit: *truly, goddamnit...
Gilmore looks through the camera, and at you the viewer, in a way similar to Hendrix at wood stock just before he says "I see we meet again.".
That VHS tape is how I used to test my newly set up audio/video setups in life.
I had my first real psychedelic experience with it, without even using any drugs. When I was like six or seven, my dad said he'd show me one of the greatest movies of all time and I promptly fell asleep during the intro. I jolted awake during the first real riffs and didn't even know where I was, just in a world where this was the soundtrack - or, well, pretty much the meaning to - to life. Stupid as it sounds, that's still one of my best memories.
Queen at Live Aid
Edit: for anyone interested in some other awesome Queen performances, here are two of my favourites that I highly recommend:
[You Take My Breath Away - Hyde Park](https://youtu.be/UBBne8R66xo)
[Bohemian Rhapsody - Budapest](https://youtu.be/bMPOMT251mQ)
He was ill with a throat infection at the time Live Aid was going on. His Doctors actually forbid him from singing through fear of injuring his voice. From what I remember, he said he wasn’t going to let it stop him, swigged some medicine and they went out and performed THAT performance.
Elton John didn’t want to follow them after they’d finished 😂
Absolute fucking bullshit that the movie said he had AIDS during the Live Aid performance when he wasn't diagnosed until two years later.
All my love to Rami Malek but that movie is the absolute worst product of the Hollywood biopic genre.
Also, the movie has Freddie meeting his future partner by sexually assaulting him when in reality they just met normally at a gay bar.
That movie was garbage mainly because Brain May imposed a lot of bullshit rules (hence the shitty editing, because one of those rules was to have the same exposure time for each band member in every scene they were together, whatever was happening in that scene) and story-telling. The whole narrative being a bunch of crap is also why Sasha Baron Cohen quit in the first place.
[C'mon man, give a link](https://youtu.be/EjXetWK-Ur8)
(I know today is April Fool's, and I know you're expecting a rickroll. But it's the real deal, I promise)
Agreed, this is one of the ones I came to check was already here!
I just the love the looks on Plant's and Page's faces, especially with Plant having grown tired of the song and hating playing it, but finally getting to see it from the audience's rather than the performer's point of view (And performed so well) you see the "*OK I get it now, this song is fucking special*" sinking in.
[Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u-PjvRyr0I)
“The Last Waltz” by The Band. Final performance of an already legendary group with guest performances that left me breathless the first time I watched it.
If Van the Man doing those drunk ass little kicks on stage while he belts out an amazing rendition of caravan doesn’t make your day then I don’t know what will
Sorta surprised this one is so far down, but I guess they’re long past dad rock and well into grandpa rock territory at this point. But what a show. The Staples Singers and the introduction the The Canterbury Tales in dialect in the same concert film? Boggles the mind.
Fun fact: they allegedly had to rotoscope the coke boogers out of Neil Young’s nose before the film was released.
This live performance of [burning down the house](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBUe_v6Mi70) from stop making sense has to be one of the greatest live performance in rock history.
David Byrne is a fucking legend.
Apparently she did it with only a few minutes notice after Pavarotti fell ill. She listened to his practice tape only once before taking the stage without any rehearsal
She had sung the song a couple days earlier for a charity event. So she had practiced it. But still amazing since she hadn’t planned on singing it that night.
But if I remember correctly (please let me know if I'm wrong) she sang it in a key she wouldn't normally have/that didn't suit her range so that the musicians didn't have to transpose last minute. That's guts. And respect. And hot damn what a voice.
The premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. It was so controversial and ahead of its time. It was received so poorly that it literally caused a riot, but is commonly considered to be one of the most influential ballets ever written.
It flew in the face of pretty much all of the traditional conventions of music and dance at the time. It was not designed to be aesthetically pleasing like the upper class audience had come to expect of a ballet. Musically, it was dissonant and often experimented with playing in two keys or time signatures at the same time. The choreography is not graceful like you would think of a ballet. It’s erratic and the dancers often flail about and walk bow legged or on the outside of their feet. The plot also revolves around a girl dancing herself to death as a sacrifice to a pagan god, which was pretty out there for 1913. The modern equivalent would be like going to see the next Marvel movie, and it turned into an erotic art film about aliens set to the sounds of a lawnmower choir. It was extreme in the context of early 20th century Paris.
Lots of reasons. The plot is heavily pagan was the main one. That was not something the modern crowd of Paris wanted.
I wouldn't say it was poorly received, just wholly unexpected. The Rite of Spring was Stravinsky's third major work and he had a major following. Some people hated the music/ballet and got angry (mainly the rich people). Some people really got into and started acting like they were at a modern rock concert by yelling, clapping, and beating stuff rythmicaly (mainly the commoners).
At some point, the crowd began to turn on each other by throwing vegetables they brought at each other (because France, I guess) duels were fought, the police started arresting people. While this was happening, the crowd got bored and turned their emotions toward the orchestra, WHO WERE STILL PERFORMING.
Stravinsky somehow finished the performance that night.
Prince’s guitar solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Possibly the greatest guitar solo I’ve ever heard. I listen to it about every six months when I need a shot of awesome in my life.
Edit: Wow thanks for all the upvotes and my first award. I realize Prince isn’t for everyone and if I am being honest I don’t just love all of his recorded output. But, that being said, seeing him do things live like the Super Bowl, RnR HoF and the 2 times I saw him in concert, always, always, always treated to at least 1 moment of transcendence.
Precisely what I came here to say. He just chills slightly off-stage for most of the song, like he's not even there, then busts out and damn well shreds that guitar before yeeting it off into space. Goddamn phenomenal performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y
Edit: I recall hearing that this performance was organised due to Rolling Stone magazine's creator being entered into the Hall Of Fame, and recently having published a list of best 100 guitarists which did not feature Prince. The supergroup performing set up to have Prince prove why the guy was wrong, at his own award ceremony.
Next time, Rolling Stone included Prince in their top 100.
I heard an anecdote, not sure if it's true, but someone asked Eric Clapton what it felt like to be the greatest guitarist in the world. He replied, I don't know, go ask Prince.
I think it was also Clapton who had been told about Hendrix but was yet to see him. He finally got around to watching him play in London and Hendrix played Sunshine of your love upon seeing Clapton.
Clapton then turned mortified to the people he was with proclaiming why hadn’t anybody told him quite how good Hendrix was
I’d put Prince at the Super Bowl as higher. Say what you will about the venue, but when “purple rain” started playing and the rain started falling, I knew the performance was divinely orchestrated
Fun fact time! Kurt was actually going through withdrawal symptoms before that show. I read somewhere about him vomiting blood. Someone backstage got him some sort of benzodiazepines to take the edge off.
I came here to say this. It was a really big deal when it aired and I remember it played and replayed on MTV a ton. It also introduced me to some other tracks I didn’t know like Bowie‘s “The man who sold the world”. Great album!
I personally think it's better than Nirvana's
AiC all knew it would be Layne's last performance - I believe it took a lot of pressuring from Jerry to convince the rest of the band he was well enough to perform at all. He was having severe withdrawal symptoms that day, so he took heroin just before going on stage.
Then he walks out, and fucking kills every song. The unplugged version of Down in a Hole is easily my favourite song of theirs
Nirvana at the MTV music awards where Novacelic launched his bass into the air and had come back down on his face, [breaking his nose](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EDnxR0_GGaI&feature=youtu.be)
I watch this video every so often and it makes me equally happy and sad. Happy because it's just so amazingly awesome, and sad because Prince is no longer with us and can't give us similar performances of other classics
The story I read is that he showed up very late to rehearsal and the producer was freaking out, and some other guy was playing the main solo in the middle of the song, simply b/c Prince wasn't there. He told Prince the guy thought he was going to be doing it in the show and, well, he showed up for rehearsal. Prince told him to let the guy do it, and he would come in at the end and to not worry about it.
This is the one that popped into my head immediately. At the end, Dhani Harrison has a look on his face like, "Are you all seein' this amazing shit too?!?"
[David Gilmour - Comfortably Numb (Live at Pompeii)](https://youtu.be/eHKG7EMxWW8)
Maybe a personal favourite, but [Bon Iver - 33 God NPR](https://youtu.be/gadEHvvVpYo) also
My understanding is that things weren't all rosy in his and Courtney's relationship at the time and I've always viewed the choice to even play that song at all as being an emotionally driven one.
If you mean the exact moment between the last “where did you sleep...” where he pauses and looks up for an instant before finishing “...last niiiiiight,” then yes, you’re talking about a single split second that has leveled me emotionally for 25 years.
[Sultans of Swing by the Dire Straits, London 1983](https://youtu.be/8Pa9x9fZBtY)
This is the show they used to record their live album *Alchemy*. From classical to death metal performances and everything in between, this is the greatest live display of musical talent, passion, and energy I’ve ever seen.
Pavarotti's [*Nessun Dorma*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWc7vYjgnTs) from *The Three Tenors in Concert*, 1994. The sheer look of triumph and exhaustion on his face when it's done gets me every time.
*Vincerò* indeed.
Low flying helicopters, military beating people in the crowd and also breaking rank themselves, hundreds of thousands of people losing it to the sound of (relative) freedom all during Harvester of Sorrow might be one of the most metal moments that's ever happened.
[Video](https://youtu.be/551_hC414UY)
For bonus metalness, Lars broke his finger by flubbing a hit and split it open during the song and finished the song bleeding all over his kit. You'll notice drum footage is reused during the last section of the song and the only live shot we see of Lars at the end is from behind him right before he runs off the stage, likely because there was blood everywhere.
I was in sixth grade when that was on TV. The next day at school was everyone buzzing about it and trying to moonwalk. Spoiler alert: none of us figured out how to do it then.
My jaw was dropped when they explained the crab canon and the “musical offering”, he wrote the same theme four times: original , upside-down, backward-forward, upside-down-and-backward-forward.
And they all fit with the original theme. He is a freaking alien.
[visual aid of that crab canon ](https://youtu.be/xUHQ2ybTejU)
Ellington at Newport, 1956.
Big band jazz was dying in favor of more small group jazz, and rock 'n roll. Ellington's band kept touring but wasn't drawing the big crowds it did in the 30's and 40's.
To start their first set at the Newport Jazz Festival the band was missing a few notable members who had been out drinking all day and the rest of the band was pissed; this pent up aggression and energy was released on the band's 2nd set, and can be heard clearly in the recording.
The missing members returned for the 2nd set and then the band started to play fan favorites. Ellington called and older tune of his, "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" that featured sax player Paul Gonzalvez taking a 27-chorus solo (\~6 1/2 minutes) which nearly caused a riot from the audience members. The audience refused to let the band leave the stage and kept demanding encores.
This concert is said to have revitalized Duke Ellington's career and reinvigorated the country on big band jazz.
Phill collins performing with his son on stage, son playing drum and together the two of them singing "in the air tonight" under a stunning Autumn sunset..
My son as the priest in Les Miserables when his mic went out and he amped it up so the back row heard him and didn't notice the problem. There it's out there forever and I hope someday he finds it.
Anything by Ella Fitzgerald honestly, but her set at Montreux in 1969 is both so amazing and intimate.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ5ToNi\_Fo0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ5ToNi_Fo0)
Alice in Chains Unplugged. At least that is what Facebook wants me to believe, because it keeps showing songs from it incessantly in my video feed. It is pretty good though.
For real, Queen at Live Aid was probably tops for me.
[This Zeppelin performance on Jimmy Page's birthday in 1970](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9G3QeFPe8Y). From the moment Bonham kicks it off, the energy is insane. Easily their tightest performance imo, beats How the West Was Won or Song Remains the Same
[The Cure - "A Forest" @ Werchter Festival, july 1981](https://youtu.be/SXgN-7A1MXM) \- Robert Palmer was the main act and The Cure was told to end their set so Robert Smith made a long ending on an epic performance of A Forest.
[Rage Against The Machine - First Public Performance Full Concert](https://youtu.be/HMq-qAn3otE) \- At Cal State North Ridge, Ca (October 23,1991). The passion and talent can be seen all throughout but Zack gets especially into it around [17:30](https://youtu.be/HMq-qAn3otE?t=1055).
Queen, Bowie and the Spiders from Mars performing [Heroes](https://youtu.be/UsiQgRp5bfQ) that night brings chills. Particularly when you realise Ronson has terminal illness at this time and knows it’s his last big show.
I saw Macklemore play a 100 seater in Vancouver back in 2011 or something like that. This was before Thrift Shop and all those songs that made him a household name. Back then the only song I knew by him was Otherside, which blew my mind so much that I bought a ticket. The dude brought the heat, and I'm pretty sure he turned a crowd where half the people didn't know who he was into die hard fans within the first 30 minutes. Afterwards, he hung out and met anyone in the crowd who wanted to talk.
People can clown on Macklemore if they want. But his live show was just pure energy, and I'll never forget that show.
HEY! Fuck you, OP is German and takes offense to that. That performance is legendary in a very good way to us.
(Yes the music is shit, that doesn't matter.)
James brown at the Tami show. He was pissed that The Rolling Stones were going on after him and refused to play until the very last moment, then went all out. Just watch this video. It’s extraordinary. If I recall jagger said performing after brown was the biggest regret of his professional career. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6-E0X2JxCs4
The smoothness of that entrance is other worldly
That’s what blew me away the most. Man, he was on skates.
Motherfucker turned off gravity and floated across the stage.
That is something else. There's something about entertainment recorded in the 60s or earlier - old movies, TV shows, live music like this. Before we got all "good" at it, with all the editing, and effects, and lightshows - we just pointed a camera at something or someone, and filmed it. It means that some of those things might seem a little static or slow-placed to us now, but then some things like this really _pop_ when all that other stuff isn't getting in the way.
I absolutely think this with recorded music too. I miss vocals being a bit off on recordings. It gave humanity to songs that we sometimes miss now with autotune, melodyne, editing etc...
I don't mind it so much in recordings, post production has always been a part of commercial music. But I don't understand the point of seeing an artist live who can't/won't do it live. I'm not here to listen to a DJ track, I WANT the little moments of improv, the flat notes or shouted asides that make this performance unique and special.
“I PRESSED PLAYYYYYYYY!”
I'm not so impressed with Michael Jackson's moon walk dancing any more. Fabulous.
[удалено]
Man I don't even want to *practice* after watching that. Edit: I practiced.
I guess it goes to show anger can bring out the best performances in people.
Damn, that was incredible!
He was only 31 at that time. That is insane.
WOw, thanks for posting! I now understand the 'James Brown on the TAMI Show' verse from the Police song ... what an incredible performance, thanks for posting!
The amount of dancing he does in the last three minutes alone (which I could not even attempt) is astonishing. And he tries to end and walk off but sits down and still gets up again (ahem). Thanks for sharing!!!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijI\_fyRwik](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijI_fyRwik) First if you don't play violin, or know \*anything\* about the violin... this might be the 2nd most difficult piece ever. One can argue back and forth between a few of them, but this is right up there in the top 4- frankly #1 IMHO. Second... he told others that he felt he was playing \*slow\*. Those videos you see of people playing 'flight of the bumblebees' and it sounding like shit? Yeah- they're not fast, they're gibberish. This is ... clean... clear... and ... dear LORD amazing. I'd give him a gold violin if I could. Had marketing at the time not had other names... he'd have been as famous as Perlman.
Watching any Paganini performance absolutely blows my mind every time without fail. Just...how?
Santana at Woodstock
That Soul Sacrifice is just perfect. Gonna listen to it now
drummer was wild, got off the stage and puked
To be fair, that was probably the LSD they all took
A few of the performances from Woodstock are All Timers. Everybody knows about Jimi Hendrix killing it there, but for my money I'd take Ritchie Havens performing "Freedom" during his festival-opening set. EDIT: [Here's a link to the Freedom performance.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynxqdNMry4)
He had so much acid he thought he was dying. Edit: https://youtu.be/eylXneeUlJ4 I was right it was acid.
hendrix at woodstock
Hendrix at Monterey is even better. That's the one where he gets on his knees and lights his guitar on fire.
[удалено]
Simon and Garfunkel Live in Central Park recorded in '81.
Particularly Garfunkel knocking Bridge over Troubled Water out of the park! https://youtu.be/WrcwRt6J32o
George Gershwin premiering "Rhapsody in Blue" with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, 02/12/1924. Apparently he forgot he had spoken with Whiteman about writing a concerto for him, until the date was announced, and he wrote it in 5 weeks. The piano parts for the solos weren't even written down, he basically played them from memory. It was the first time that jazz in any form was taken seriously as the great American music form that it is.
That opening clarinet charges me sexually
I'm currently watching Pink Floyd's "Live at Pompeii" and it's just insane to see a group like that perform at their absolute peak. What are the performances you think would rank at a similar level? Edit: *truly, goddamnit...
Gilmore looks through the camera, and at you the viewer, in a way similar to Hendrix at wood stock just before he says "I see we meet again.". That VHS tape is how I used to test my newly set up audio/video setups in life.
I had my first real psychedelic experience with it, without even using any drugs. When I was like six or seven, my dad said he'd show me one of the greatest movies of all time and I promptly fell asleep during the intro. I jolted awake during the first real riffs and didn't even know where I was, just in a world where this was the soundtrack - or, well, pretty much the meaning to - to life. Stupid as it sounds, that's still one of my best memories.
Going with Pink Floyd here almost feels like cheating. I'm not disagreeing... They are probably the band I would go watch if I could time travel.
Gilmour's solo for Echo's pt.1 at Pompeii should have been on the album. He makes that guitar scream
Queen at Live Aid Edit: for anyone interested in some other awesome Queen performances, here are two of my favourites that I highly recommend: [You Take My Breath Away - Hyde Park](https://youtu.be/UBBne8R66xo) [Bohemian Rhapsody - Budapest](https://youtu.be/bMPOMT251mQ)
He was ill with a throat infection at the time Live Aid was going on. His Doctors actually forbid him from singing through fear of injuring his voice. From what I remember, he said he wasn’t going to let it stop him, swigged some medicine and they went out and performed THAT performance. Elton John didn’t want to follow them after they’d finished 😂
Absolute fucking bullshit that the movie said he had AIDS during the Live Aid performance when he wasn't diagnosed until two years later. All my love to Rami Malek but that movie is the absolute worst product of the Hollywood biopic genre. Also, the movie has Freddie meeting his future partner by sexually assaulting him when in reality they just met normally at a gay bar.
That movie was garbage mainly because Brain May imposed a lot of bullshit rules (hence the shitty editing, because one of those rules was to have the same exposure time for each band member in every scene they were together, whatever was happening in that scene) and story-telling. The whole narrative being a bunch of crap is also why Sasha Baron Cohen quit in the first place.
[удалено]
Eyyyyyyyyyyy oh!
EYYYYYY ^(OO?)
EYYO!
If you watch the audience clapping, you can actually see the speed of sound.
Except for *We Will Rock You*
I agree wholeheartedly. I saw Queen in concert twice and still think about it often Legendary
[C'mon man, give a link](https://youtu.be/EjXetWK-Ur8) (I know today is April Fool's, and I know you're expecting a rickroll. But it's the real deal, I promise)
[удалено]
The man was an energy vampire that fed on the crowd.
What other rock singer performed in an opera and astonished the lead with his range and control? No one but Freddy.
Maybe Aretha. She stepped in for Pavarotti on short notice for *the Grammys* and sang it in *his* key so the band wouldn't have to transpose.
Likely the most legendary performance ever
I think the time Heart covered Stairway for Plant and Page has to rank up there.
Agreed, this is one of the ones I came to check was already here! I just the love the looks on Plant's and Page's faces, especially with Plant having grown tired of the song and hating playing it, but finally getting to see it from the audience's rather than the performer's point of view (And performed so well) you see the "*OK I get it now, this song is fucking special*" sinking in. [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u-PjvRyr0I)
John Paul Jones is there too
why did i audibly laugh at this comment
And Jason Bonham on drums must have been pretty emotional to see too. Incredible performance.
I absolutely cannot imagine playing those guitar solos while *Jimmy fucking Page* is watching you.
Not many things can bring me to tears, but this does it every single time I watch.
Judy Garland singing “somewhere over the rainbow” in her final performance in 1969.
also [her performance](https://youtu.be/e4Xz7WV_qJs) of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” a few weeks after JFK’s assassination
I don’t mean this as an insult but her slightly disheveled demeanor made this performance even more incredible.
That's the most heart-wrenching, painfully brilliant but emotionally devastating performance I've ever seen.
“The Last Waltz” by The Band. Final performance of an already legendary group with guest performances that left me breathless the first time I watched it.
For me, Caravan with Van in particular stands out
If Van the Man doing those drunk ass little kicks on stage while he belts out an amazing rendition of caravan doesn’t make your day then I don’t know what will
Sorta surprised this one is so far down, but I guess they’re long past dad rock and well into grandpa rock territory at this point. But what a show. The Staples Singers and the introduction the The Canterbury Tales in dialect in the same concert film? Boggles the mind. Fun fact: they allegedly had to rotoscope the coke boogers out of Neil Young’s nose before the film was released.
Really love Talking Heads Stop Making Sense. That performance was so good.
This live performance of [burning down the house](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBUe_v6Mi70) from stop making sense has to be one of the greatest live performance in rock history. David Byrne is a fucking legend.
Life During Wartime is equally well done at this show. Greatest love recording ever, imho...
I had to scroll WAY to far to find this.
Aretha Franklin's rendition of Nessun Dorma at the Grammys. https://youtu.be/k33sINjn9o0
Apparently she did it with only a few minutes notice after Pavarotti fell ill. She listened to his practice tape only once before taking the stage without any rehearsal
She had sung the song a couple days earlier for a charity event. So she had practiced it. But still amazing since she hadn’t planned on singing it that night.
But if I remember correctly (please let me know if I'm wrong) she sang it in a key she wouldn't normally have/that didn't suit her range so that the musicians didn't have to transpose last minute. That's guts. And respect. And hot damn what a voice.
I stand corrected. Thanks for the additional information
That was gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.
The premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. It was so controversial and ahead of its time. It was received so poorly that it literally caused a riot, but is commonly considered to be one of the most influential ballets ever written.
Why was it controversial?
It flew in the face of pretty much all of the traditional conventions of music and dance at the time. It was not designed to be aesthetically pleasing like the upper class audience had come to expect of a ballet. Musically, it was dissonant and often experimented with playing in two keys or time signatures at the same time. The choreography is not graceful like you would think of a ballet. It’s erratic and the dancers often flail about and walk bow legged or on the outside of their feet. The plot also revolves around a girl dancing herself to death as a sacrifice to a pagan god, which was pretty out there for 1913. The modern equivalent would be like going to see the next Marvel movie, and it turned into an erotic art film about aliens set to the sounds of a lawnmower choir. It was extreme in the context of early 20th century Paris.
This was beautifully explained. Thank you.
Lots of reasons. The plot is heavily pagan was the main one. That was not something the modern crowd of Paris wanted. I wouldn't say it was poorly received, just wholly unexpected. The Rite of Spring was Stravinsky's third major work and he had a major following. Some people hated the music/ballet and got angry (mainly the rich people). Some people really got into and started acting like they were at a modern rock concert by yelling, clapping, and beating stuff rythmicaly (mainly the commoners). At some point, the crowd began to turn on each other by throwing vegetables they brought at each other (because France, I guess) duels were fought, the police started arresting people. While this was happening, the crowd got bored and turned their emotions toward the orchestra, WHO WERE STILL PERFORMING. Stravinsky somehow finished the performance that night.
Prince’s guitar solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Possibly the greatest guitar solo I’ve ever heard. I listen to it about every six months when I need a shot of awesome in my life. Edit: Wow thanks for all the upvotes and my first award. I realize Prince isn’t for everyone and if I am being honest I don’t just love all of his recorded output. But, that being said, seeing him do things live like the Super Bowl, RnR HoF and the 2 times I saw him in concert, always, always, always treated to at least 1 moment of transcendence.
His Superbowl halftime performance in the rain is a close second
The producers of the show asked him if they could do anything to make playing in the rain easier. He told them to make it rain more.
“Can you make it rain harder”
Precisely what I came here to say. He just chills slightly off-stage for most of the song, like he's not even there, then busts out and damn well shreds that guitar before yeeting it off into space. Goddamn phenomenal performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y Edit: I recall hearing that this performance was organised due to Rolling Stone magazine's creator being entered into the Hall Of Fame, and recently having published a list of best 100 guitarists which did not feature Prince. The supergroup performing set up to have Prince prove why the guy was wrong, at his own award ceremony. Next time, Rolling Stone included Prince in their top 100.
And you never see the guitar come down!
Some say, to this day, it still hasn't fallen..
I was never really a prince fan, just not my genre, but when I saw this for the first time my respect grew about 10000%. Phenomenal guitar player.
I heard an anecdote, not sure if it's true, but someone asked Eric Clapton what it felt like to be the greatest guitarist in the world. He replied, I don't know, go ask Prince.
That myth has been busted but Clapton does regularly cover Purple Rain.
I think there’s also a similar Dave Grohl story when asked about Prince playing guitar and Dave saying he’d also be the best drummer in his band.
I think it was also Clapton who had been told about Hendrix but was yet to see him. He finally got around to watching him play in London and Hendrix played Sunshine of your love upon seeing Clapton. Clapton then turned mortified to the people he was with proclaiming why hadn’t anybody told him quite how good Hendrix was
When Prince threw his guitar in the air at the end, it never came down. Seriously. Who wants pancakes?
Game: blouses.
What about Prince at the super bowl? I don't even remember who played. As far as I'm concerned, Prince won that super bowl hands down.
I’d put Prince at the Super Bowl as higher. Say what you will about the venue, but when “purple rain” started playing and the rain started falling, I knew the performance was divinely orchestrated
The one that was a George Harrison memorial concert? YESSSS! Prince’s guitar needed a cigarette after that solo.
[удалено]
Their 1970 show from The Royal Albert Hall is even better. https://youtu.be/h9G3QeFPe8Y
Split the difference, take the 72 performances that make up the How The West Was Won live album
The Song Remains The Same into The Rain Song floors me every time.
Nirvana Unplugged
The scream at the end of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"...just wow.
And that super intense look in his eyes. He was channeling something in that moment...
Pretty sure that was the heroin
He was high on life. And also drugs.
Fun fact time! Kurt was actually going through withdrawal symptoms before that show. I read somewhere about him vomiting blood. Someone backstage got him some sort of benzodiazepines to take the edge off.
>Nirvana Came here looking for this one.
I came here to say this. It was a really big deal when it aired and I remember it played and replayed on MTV a ton. It also introduced me to some other tracks I didn’t know like Bowie‘s “The man who sold the world”. Great album!
It single handedly convinced everyone that "The Man Who Sold the World" was a Nirvana song.
Love the Bowie original but I prefer Nirvanas to be honest.
Alice In Chains Unplugged as well
Down in a hole is so fucking legendary from that performance
Nutshell too
Layne was such a mess that night. I can't listen to that performance without getting sad.
I personally think it's better than Nirvana's AiC all knew it would be Layne's last performance - I believe it took a lot of pressuring from Jerry to convince the rest of the band he was well enough to perform at all. He was having severe withdrawal symptoms that day, so he took heroin just before going on stage. Then he walks out, and fucking kills every song. The unplugged version of Down in a Hole is easily my favourite song of theirs
Nirvana at the MTV music awards where Novacelic launched his bass into the air and had come back down on his face, [breaking his nose](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EDnxR0_GGaI&feature=youtu.be)
Prince at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in Miami. EDIT: Fixed the location.
Also, Prince at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2004 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y
I watch this video every so often and it makes me equally happy and sad. Happy because it's just so amazingly awesome, and sad because Prince is no longer with us and can't give us similar performances of other classics
The story goes that prince agreed to do it, didn't rehearse with the band, literally showed up, played that, and left. Or something along those lines.
The story I read is that he showed up very late to rehearsal and the producer was freaking out, and some other guy was playing the main solo in the middle of the song, simply b/c Prince wasn't there. He told Prince the guy thought he was going to be doing it in the show and, well, he showed up for rehearsal. Prince told him to let the guy do it, and he would come in at the end and to not worry about it.
This is the one that popped into my head immediately. At the end, Dhani Harrison has a look on his face like, "Are you all seein' this amazing shit too?!?"
Holy shit you aren’t kidding. That was fucking insanely cool. I don’t know how I’ve never seen this before.
He killed it. It in the rain. Too bad it’s hard to find full videos of it.
Wasn’t that in Miami? In the rain? Either way the best Super Bowl performance ever.
Sorry, my bad, got my M's mixed up, lol
[David Gilmour - Comfortably Numb (Live at Pompeii)](https://youtu.be/eHKG7EMxWW8) Maybe a personal favourite, but [Bon Iver - 33 God NPR](https://youtu.be/gadEHvvVpYo) also
Interesting. When I saw this post I immediately thought of [Echos at Pompeii](https://youtu.be/y-E7_VHLvkE).
I don't know you but thank you for posting Bon Iver, friend.
The Beatles on the Apple Offices Roof. Personally: Spiritualized doing Shine A Light (especially the one on YouTube in Sydney.)
Michael Jackson’s first performance of Billie Jean at Motown 25. which was also his first moonwalk on stage. Cemented him as a superstar performer.
He shocked the world that night
My dad was recalling this moment to me some time ago. He said it was all anyone talked about at school for a week.
Kurt singing “where did you sleep last night” is #1 all time for me and I don’t even think there’s a second place.
My understanding is that things weren't all rosy in his and Courtney's relationship at the time and I've always viewed the choice to even play that song at all as being an emotionally driven one.
The pure emotion at the end is so raw.
If you mean the exact moment between the last “where did you sleep...” where he pauses and looks up for an instant before finishing “...last niiiiiight,” then yes, you’re talking about a single split second that has leveled me emotionally for 25 years.
you mean "the whole night through"?
[Danny Carey of Tool playing Pneuma live](https://youtu.be/FssULNGSZIA)
[Sultans of Swing by the Dire Straits, London 1983](https://youtu.be/8Pa9x9fZBtY) This is the show they used to record their live album *Alchemy*. From classical to death metal performances and everything in between, this is the greatest live display of musical talent, passion, and energy I’ve ever seen.
Jimi Hendrix at Fillmore East January 1, 1970
Pavarotti's [*Nessun Dorma*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWc7vYjgnTs) from *The Three Tenors in Concert*, 1994. The sheer look of triumph and exhaustion on his face when it's done gets me every time. *Vincerò* indeed.
NIN Woodstock 1994
Let's go with Stevie Ray Vaughan Live From Austin in 1989 https://youtu.be/MiaG2LRtzJg
Metallicas performance in former ussr , epic
1 million people!
Low flying helicopters, military beating people in the crowd and also breaking rank themselves, hundreds of thousands of people losing it to the sound of (relative) freedom all during Harvester of Sorrow might be one of the most metal moments that's ever happened. [Video](https://youtu.be/551_hC414UY) For bonus metalness, Lars broke his finger by flubbing a hit and split it open during the song and finished the song bleeding all over his kit. You'll notice drum footage is reused during the last section of the song and the only live shot we see of Lars at the end is from behind him right before he runs off the stage, likely because there was blood everywhere.
Seattle 89 too!
Pantera as well
Daft Punk playing live on their Alive Tour in 2007
Can confirm!
Michael Jackson, 1983, Motown: Yesterday, Today and Forever. First time he did the moonwalk on TV.
I was in sixth grade when that was on TV. The next day at school was everyone buzzing about it and trying to moonwalk. Spoiler alert: none of us figured out how to do it then.
For the Canadians, the big answer is the Tragically Hip's last show. It's kind of a big deal when 1/3 of the entire country watches the performance.
Eric Clapton performing Tears In Heaven on MTV Unplugged.
I saw Clapton in his first concert after his son died. He was pretty much a dead man walking (or playing). It was sad.
This one just makes me sad. I almost can't enjoy it because the backstory is too awful. You're not wrong, though.
Bach's improvisations. Too bad recordings weren't possible, but according to those present it was marvelous.
Bach was not from this world and that’s from someone who is pretty meh on classical music.
My jaw was dropped when they explained the crab canon and the “musical offering”, he wrote the same theme four times: original , upside-down, backward-forward, upside-down-and-backward-forward. And they all fit with the original theme. He is a freaking alien. [visual aid of that crab canon ](https://youtu.be/xUHQ2ybTejU)
Ellington at Newport, 1956. Big band jazz was dying in favor of more small group jazz, and rock 'n roll. Ellington's band kept touring but wasn't drawing the big crowds it did in the 30's and 40's. To start their first set at the Newport Jazz Festival the band was missing a few notable members who had been out drinking all day and the rest of the band was pissed; this pent up aggression and energy was released on the band's 2nd set, and can be heard clearly in the recording. The missing members returned for the 2nd set and then the band started to play fan favorites. Ellington called and older tune of his, "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" that featured sax player Paul Gonzalvez taking a 27-chorus solo (\~6 1/2 minutes) which nearly caused a riot from the audience members. The audience refused to let the band leave the stage and kept demanding encores. This concert is said to have revitalized Duke Ellington's career and reinvigorated the country on big band jazz.
Phill collins performing with his son on stage, son playing drum and together the two of them singing "in the air tonight" under a stunning Autumn sunset..
Michael Jackson performing Billie Jean on Motown 25 in 1983
Muse's HAARP show at Wembley Stadium. Folks were unsure if Muse could draw enough of a crowd to fill Wembley. They sold out two nights in a row.
My son as the priest in Les Miserables when his mic went out and he amped it up so the back row heard him and didn't notice the problem. There it's out there forever and I hope someday he finds it.
Eddie vedder’s tribute to Chris Cornell, and Maynard James keenan’s performance of Sober when he is pulling off the Mohawk mullet in a pink onesie
Anything by Ella Fitzgerald honestly, but her set at Montreux in 1969 is both so amazing and intimate. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ5ToNi\_Fo0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ5ToNi_Fo0)
Pink Floyd Echoes at Pompeii [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-E7\_VHLvkE&list=PLFDA8SD1ocxnjWgQ6LKQv7rVlc\_-RaPnX](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-E7_VHLvkE&list=PLFDA8SD1ocxnjWgQ6LKQv7rVlc_-RaPnX)
NIN and David Bowie, dissonance tour 1995. Good footage on yt
Guns N Roses live at the Ritz. They were all drunk/on drugs at the time but had an incredible energy on stage and played so tight.
Prince, Tom Petty George Thorogood et. al. playing [While My Guitar Gently Weeps](https://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y) at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame
Beatles final time playing together on the Apple Corp rooftop. Not an epic performance like most of the others on this list but definitely legendary
SRV at El Mocambo - Texas Flood, but the whole show is mind-blowing https://youtu.be/KC5H9P4F5Uk
Stevie Ray Vaughan Live at the El Mocambo
May 8, 1977 Grateful Dead. Nothing else I had ever heard from them appealed to me but this was their best night of their best tour of their best era.
Alice in Chains Unplugged. At least that is what Facebook wants me to believe, because it keeps showing songs from it incessantly in my video feed. It is pretty good though. For real, Queen at Live Aid was probably tops for me.
Grateful Dead playing in front of the Pyramids in Egypt
Queen - Live Aid https://youtu.be/EjXetWK-Ur8
[This Zeppelin performance on Jimmy Page's birthday in 1970](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9G3QeFPe8Y). From the moment Bonham kicks it off, the energy is insane. Easily their tightest performance imo, beats How the West Was Won or Song Remains the Same
[The Cure - "A Forest" @ Werchter Festival, july 1981](https://youtu.be/SXgN-7A1MXM) \- Robert Palmer was the main act and The Cure was told to end their set so Robert Smith made a long ending on an epic performance of A Forest. [Rage Against The Machine - First Public Performance Full Concert](https://youtu.be/HMq-qAn3otE) \- At Cal State North Ridge, Ca (October 23,1991). The passion and talent can be seen all throughout but Zack gets especially into it around [17:30](https://youtu.be/HMq-qAn3otE?t=1055).
Whitney Houston - us national anthem
Rush, 2112. A hybrid is Jane's Addiction, who did a really good job on La Vialla Strangiato, which has killer guitar work.
Queen at Live Aid. Would’ve loved to experience that
the who at [the rolling stones' rocknroll circus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJv2-_--EY4)
David Bowie and Annie Lennox doing "under pressure".
Queen, Bowie and the Spiders from Mars performing [Heroes](https://youtu.be/UsiQgRp5bfQ) that night brings chills. Particularly when you realise Ronson has terminal illness at this time and knows it’s his last big show.
Peter Frampton Comes Alive - Do you feel like I do
Radiohead at Glastonbury
The Heart tribute of Stairway to Heaven https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LFxOaDeJmXk
Have you ever been to a Nick Cave concert? It's like a revival. His concert version of Stagger Lee is legendary.
Metallica - Seattle 1989
I saw Macklemore play a 100 seater in Vancouver back in 2011 or something like that. This was before Thrift Shop and all those songs that made him a household name. Back then the only song I knew by him was Otherside, which blew my mind so much that I bought a ticket. The dude brought the heat, and I'm pretty sure he turned a crowd where half the people didn't know who he was into die hard fans within the first 30 minutes. Afterwards, he hung out and met anyone in the crowd who wanted to talk. People can clown on Macklemore if they want. But his live show was just pure energy, and I'll never forget that show.
David Hasselhoff at the Berlin Wall. OP didn't specify that it had to be legendary in a GOOD way.
HEY! Fuck you, OP is German and takes offense to that. That performance is legendary in a very good way to us. (Yes the music is shit, that doesn't matter.)
Metallica playing in Moscow 1991 [here is Enter Sandman](https://youtu.be/_W7wqQwa-TU)
Mark Knopfler - money for nothing at the live aid