amazing live videos of IDLES, Belle & Sebastian, Minus the Bear & 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:
IDLES @ Le Bataclan 12/8/2018
IDLES released a live album last year that was recorded at their December 8, 2018 show at Paris club Le Bataclan and the band have now released full video from that show. It includes a then seasonal cover of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” a post-show interview with frontman Joe Talbot, and the general good-spirited mayhem you’d expect from an IDLES show. [Bill Pearis]
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House of Love @ The Lexington 11/13/2013
Before coronavirus canceled all the shows, House of Love were to have started their first North American tour in nearly 30 years tonight (5/4) in Boston. Hopefully that gets rescheduled but in the meantime, here’s House of Love live in London back in 2013 which is around the time they released She Paints Words in Red which was their first album in eight years (and most recent to date). In addition to songs from that record, there are no shortage of classics — “Christine,” “Shine On,” “I Don’t Know Why I Love You,” “Love in a Car,” “The Beatles and the Stones,” “Destroy the Heart” — and the interplay between founding members Guy Chadwick and Terry Bickers still crackles. [Bill Pearis]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx5-lmnzNtk&t=236s
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Quicksilver Messenger Service in Sonoma County – 1970
It’s finally starting to get consistently warm here in New York, and the warm weather always makes me want to listen to some West Coast psychedelic rock — it’s music that sounds built for the outdoors, hard-hitting but relaxing too, and you can just feel the warmth coming through. Quicksilver Messenger Service hailed from the same Bay Area scene as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, though they never get as much credit as those bands, which is a total shame. This video (which is labeled as 1969 but which commenters seem to agree is actually from early 1970) shows they could be just about as captivating on stage as their more famous friends, especially thanks to the dual guitar attack of the late John Cipollina and Gary Duncan, who had one of the most distinct sounds in the whole Bay Area scene. This lineup of the band is also with Dino Valenti on vocals and Nicky Hopkins (who also played with Jefferson Airplane, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, and more) on keyboards, and the video is great quality, complete with plenty of footage of the hippie crowd dancing that really transports you right back to this era. [Andrew Sacher]
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Minus the Bear @ Metro Theatre in Sydney – 2/9/2008
We miss all concerts right now, but we also miss Minus the Bear, who broke up in 2018 after 17 great years. Their math-emo-indie-dance-prog sound wasn’t much like any other band, and they were as great live as they were on record. All eras of their career are good for one reason or another, but here’s high-quality, multi-cam, full-concert footage of them in early 2008, when they were supporting Planet of Ice, the album that most fans agree sort of completed the band’s “classic” era. They were in great form at this show as they ran through favorites from all throughout their early days, like “Burying Luck,” “Drilling,” “Spritz!!! Spritz!!!,” “Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo,” “The Fix,” “Knights,” and more. [Andrew Sacher]
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Belle and Sebastian @ Masion De La Radio, Paris – 10/5/1998
This October 1998 Paris set was released as a bootleg called “The Black Sessions” in 2003, and it’s a great look at the band’s earlier days. Stuart David and Isobel Campbell are on hand, and the setlist is a mix of tracks from their early EPs, If You’re Feeling Sinister, and The Boy With the Arab Strap. I’ve loved watching B&S become an energetic, buoyant live band but this look back at their more gentle, twee times feels very special indeed. Amanda Hatfield
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And here’s a gallery of photos of IDLES at Brooklyn Steel:
For more of our favorite live videos, head here.
