amazing live videos of The Clash, The Hold Steady, Spoon & more to watch while every show is cancelled

May 12, 2020

Basically no shows are happening due to the coronavirus outbreak (though some artists are doing livestreams instead), but if you’re already jonesing to see a show, or just need a brief distraction from the insanity of the world right now, thankfully there’s YouTube which has an amazing array of live footage from throughout the history of pop music, from clips from concert films, TV performances and other pro-shot footage, to tons of fan-shot video from shows. If you’re looking for a place to start, we’ve been picking some of our favorites. Here are five more:

The Clash @ Capitol Theatre, NJ 3/08/1980

“I’m not sure, but I think it’s Saturday night in New Jersey,” Joe Strummer ponders to the crowd at Pasaic’s The Capitol Theatre, who were in the palm of his hand immediately before launching into “Clash City Rockers.” The Clash had only just released London Calling in the US a couple months prior when they played this show, and that record looms large here, with the lion’s share of it’s brand new tracks — “Spanish Bombs,” “Lost in the Supermarket,” “Clampdown,” “The Guns of Brixton,” “Train in Vain,” the title track and more — sidling up to “Police and Thieves,” “Stay Free,” “Bank Robber,” Armageddon Time,” “White Man in Hammersmith Palais,” and more. This set is all hits, The Clash sound great (and look pretty cool too). [Bill Pearis]

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Big Audio Dynamite @ Teatro Carlos Gomes, Brazil 1987

A mere seven years later and Mick Jones, having been fired from The Clash in 1983, was touring the second album from his new group Big Audio Dynamite. (A record that was co-produced and co-written by the guy that gave him the axe, Joe Strummer.) A true ’80s pop hybrid, BAD embraced sampling, hip hop, reggae and more, and featured the many talents of Don Letts (still one of the coolest dudes on Planet Earth). They have dated a bit, but there’s no denying spaghetti western opener “Medicine Show,” not to mention “The Bottom Line,” “C’mon Every Beatbox” and “BAD.” Brazil likes to dance and this crowd was no exception. [Bill Pearis]

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The Hold Steady @ Hovefestival in Norway – 6/26/2007

The Hold Steady were on a roll before quarantine, with a great new album and their sporadic weekend runs that are also always great, and since quarantine started, they’ve been releasing recordings from those weekend runs on Bandcamp and donating a portion of the proceeds to the venues they were recorded at. It’s a very cool thing they’re doing, and it reminds you how great of a live band The Hold Steady still are, but for today’s live video roundup we’re going back in time to when The Hold Steady were supporting Boys and Girls in America. The Hold Steady are a band you really need to see live — they and frontman Craig Finn especially display a great deal of showmanship — and this pro-shot video really makes it feel like you’re right there with them, rocking out with all the enthusiastic fans in the crowd. [Andrew Sacher]

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Cream @ Royal Albert Hall – 11/26/1968

Not long before lockdown, Eric Clapton took part in an all-star tribute to his former Cream bandmate Ginger Baker (who passed away in 2019, five years after Jack Bruce), and it’s great that Clapton’s still able to do things like that today, but there’s nothing like Cream in their prime. This was their final concert (before they briefly reunited at the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and for four shows at this same venue in 2005), and this was the only full ’60s concert the band ever released on video. It’s a stunning piece of history that really does a great job of showing just how much Cream put the “power” in “power trio,” and it shows how psychedelic and jammy they could get on stage too (there are some great oil-drop projections used). It’s spliced together with interviews, which are also cool to see, but if you’re just here for live footage, there’s no way you’ll be disappointed. [Andrew Sacher]

https://youtu.be/dHK-G3_RYe4

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Spoon @ Rubber Gloves, Denton, TX – 9/10/2002

This home-state Texas show happened about two weeks after the release of Spoon’s fourth album, Kill the Moonlight. With the excellent (and essential) Girls Can Tell having come out on Merge the previous year, Spoon were still in the midst of one of their most exiting eras in the early 2000s, and it’s a treat to see them playing a killer setlist on a stage far smaller than those they tend to play these days. [Amanda Hatfield]