amazing live videos of Rolling Stones, Mazzy Star, Electrelane & 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 Rolling Stones @ Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ – 12/13/1981
The Rolling Stones would’ve still been gods if they broke up 50 years ago like The Beatles, but they kept going and by 1981, they had reached a new level of superstardom. They already had a 15+ year legacy that most bands wouldn’t achieve in their wildest dreams, and then came 1978’s career-rejuvenating Some Girls, which kickstarted a new era of dominance that peaked once again with 1981’s “Start Me Up.” That’s the year the Stones taped this Tempe, Arizona concert for Hal Ashby’s Let’s Spend the Night Together film, and for a band who had swagger, bravado, and arrogance since day one, this concert showed just how much further they could take it. Mick and Keith almost seem like they’re laughing at how famous they are (and in at least one moment, Bill Wyman seems like he’s laughing at Mick), and they make owning a gigantic stadium crowd look like it’s actually effortless. [Andrew Sacher]
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Electrelane @ La Route Du Rock 2011
UK group Electrelane broke in 2007 after touring for their fantastic fourth album, No Shouts, No Calls, but then reformed briefly in 2011/2012 to play a few festivals, including Saint-Malo, France’s Route Du Rock. It was a really cracking set, featuring such motorik Electrelane jams as “To the East,” “On Parade,” and “Birds,” as well as a terrific cover of Bronski Beat’s “Small Town Boy.” The band say this show was “one of our all-time favourites. The energy of the crowd was on another level.”
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Dag Nasty @ Chevy Chase Community Center, Washington, DC – 3/21/1986
I’ve got Dag Nasty on the brain lately, as a handful of new bands with Dag Nasty members have released new music in the past few weeks: Fake Names (Brian Baker), Dave Smalley & the Bandoleros, and Field Day (1/2 of the Field Day lineup). This video (of a DC show that Salad Days used footage of) has the classic Can I Say lineup (Dave Smalley, Brian Baker, Roger Marbury, Colin Sears) and it apparently features the first known performance of “Values Here.” Smalley and Baker have especially made a ton of great music throughout their careers, but there was a certain magic that happened when they were briefly together, and this classic footage captures it. [Andrew Sacher]
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Mazzy Star @ Shoreline Amphitheatre, CA, 10/2/1994
We’re still mourning the loss of David Roback, which inspired us to seek out this all-too-brief set, which captures Mazzy Star a year after their sophomore album, So Tonight That I Might See, came out. Halfway through they play “Flowers in December” from Among My Swan, which would come out two years later, before closing with “Fade into You.” Hope Sandoval’s voice sounds as gorgeous and haunting as ever throughout, and we wish this video was at least twice as long. [Amanda Hatfield]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Gy-ONQoxw
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Julian Cope @ The Ritz 7/6/1987
Julian Cope is known mostly as an eccentric but he had flashes of real pop success, first with his group The Teardrop Explodes, and then with his 1987 solo album Saint Julian which gave him a minor U.S. hit (and MTV “Buzz Bin” status) with “World Shut Your Mouth.” It’s on the Saint Julian tour that this show at The Ritz (you may know it now as Webster Hall) was shot for MTV, and found him embracing a rock star persona — which he was very good at. Julian also created his unique, climbable mic stand which allowed him to perch high and lean out above the crowd. It’s a pretty killer set, too, with “World Shut Your Mouth,” “Trampolene,” “Sunspots,” The Teardrop Explodes “Bouncing Babies” and a cover of The 13th Floor Elevators’ “I’ve Got Levitation.”
https://youtu.be/oKNWhNGPs9E
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For more of our favorite live videos, head here.
