the kinks 1973 koncert

amazing live videos of The Kinks, Slint, Hop Along & more to watch while every show is cancelled

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 Kinks “In Koncert” 1973

Taped around the time of Preservation Act 1, this Kinks “koncert” features a lot of klassics — “Victoria,” “Dedicated Follower of Fashion,” “Waterloo Sunset,” “You Really Got Me,” “Lola,” “Village Green Preservation Society” — which are refitted with the swampy, brassy arrangements of that early ’70s era of the band. [Bill Pearis]

The Jam on ‘Follies,’ 1980

Ray Davies was a hero to Paul Weller and The Jam’s cover of The Kinks’ “David Watts” is a classic. They play that one here at this 1980 concert filmed for Belgian television that includes one of the longest announce intros ever for a short interview segment. You can skip straight to the 5 minute mark to get to the good stuff, including such Jam jams (sorry) as “Going Underground,” “Start” and “Down in the Tube Station at Midnight.” The band are tight as their trousers and while Weller gets most of the attention, bassist Bruce Foxton could be a real maniac on stage, as seen here. [Bill Pearis]

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Slint @ Paradise in Boston, MA – 4/29/14

Slint broke up before they could tour in support of their groundbreaking, final album — 1991’s Spiderland — but the post-rock/post-hardcore legends have reunited a few times since then and proved the Spiderland songs can sound as mesmerizing live as they do on album. The last time they toured was in 2014, and here’s a very well-shot, black-and-white video from their Boston show on that tour. (This show was actually exactly six years ago, yesterday.) They played all but one song from Spiderland (“Don, Aman”) and “Ron” from their also-great 1989 debut Tweez, and they sounded fantastic doing so. [Andrew Sacher]

Weezer @ Bizarre Festival in Cologne, Germany – 8/17/1996

Before Rivers Cuomo became disillusioned with Pinkerton, before Matt Sharp left, and before they became a band whose biggest current hit was a cover of Toto’s “Africa,” Weezer were an energetic, hungry band armed with an arsenal of great songs, and this video from 1996’s Bizarre Festival brings you right back to that moment. The setlist is split between Blue Album and Pinkerton, and the band sound incredible and they really look like they’ve got something to prove. It’s easy to get tired of the stuff they do these days, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of a video like this. [Andrew Sacher]

Hop Along @ Saint Vitus – 2/24/2014

Hop Along have gotten better and better as they go, but it’s a treat to revisit this 2014 show at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus — a far smaller room than they typically play now — where they previewed material from 2015’s great Painted Shut. They also ripped through plenty of favorites from their 2012 breakthrough Get Disowned, with the crowd singing along to ever word of Frances Quinlan’s unmistakable howl on the set ending “Tibetan Pop Stars.” We were proud to co-present this show, and we posted pictures from it too. [Amanda Hatfield]

And here’s a gallery of photos of Slint at Music Hall of Williamsburg in 2014:

For more of our favorite live videos, head here.