The National

amazing live videos of The National, Odd Future & Ian Dury 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 National @ El Castell Embruixat, France – 2006

The National have been in the air lately. Matt Berninger’s been doing cool quarantine stuff, Aaron Dessner just did a livestream and debuted a ton of new Big Red Machine material, the band has been putting out a new live video from their archives every week, and their breakthrough album Alligator just celebrated its 15th anniversary this month. To help celebrate that anniversary, here’s The National in France on the Alligator tour. The National are probably an even better live band today than they were in ’06, but it’s very cool to see them as a young, hungry band, back when they were regularly playing smaller clubs, they were screaming more on stage, and “Mr. November” was just a normal song that got played in the middle of the set. [Andrew Sacher]

Odd Future @ Fader Fort – 3/18/2011

Earl Sweatshirt has a great new song out today, and it’s yet another reminder of how drastically Odd Future evolved since their early days as a rowdy collective. It’s still kind of amazing how far they’ve come, but for whatever reason (maybe because I just watched the Coachella documentary), I’ve been getting nostalgic for the group’s breakthrough era. About a month before their infamous Coachella appearance, they played an instantly-legendary set at Fader Fort during SXSW 2011. Earl of course wasn’t there, because he was away at boarding school (fans were holding up “FREE EARL” signs), but Tyler, Syd, Hodgy, Domo Genesis, Mike G, and others were in the house, and this video captures how totally wild the whole thing was. [Andrew Sacher]

Ian Dury & The Blockheads at Dominion Theatre, 12/24/1980

A died in the wool Cockney, Ian Dury spent years on the pub rock circuit before punk and new wave created an in for his boozy brand of rock and unique, funny and often touching lyrical style. He found himself in good company with Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Wreckless Eric on Stiff Records who helped him become an unlikely hitmaker with classic singles “What a Waste,” “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll,” “Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick” and “Reasons to Be Cheerful.” He was aided in no small part by his band The Blockheads which included co-conspirator Chaz Jankel. At this show, filmed for the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test, The Blockheads include trumpeter and jazz legend Don Cherry and Dr Feelgood’s Wilko Johnson. [Bill Pearis]

https://youtu.be/nweUVKj4mjE

Let’s Active – “Live on Stage” 1989

Mitch Easter is best known as a producer, having worked REM’s Chronic Town, Murmur and Reckoning, not to mention records by Pavement, Game Theory, Helius, and more. But he’s also a killer guitarist and songwriter, having played in The Sneakers in the ’70s with Chris Stamey (dB’s), before starting his own band, Let’s Active, who made four terrific records in the ’80s. Here they are touring for thier final album, 1989’s Every Dog Has It’s Day, playing UK Channel 4 series Live on Stage. This hour-long set has pretty much everything you’d want to hear, including college radio hits “Every Word Means No,” “Fell,” “In Little Ways” and Dog’s title track. [Bill Pearis]

Bat for Lashes at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London – 4/2009

Natasha Khan did two shows at London’s Shepherd Bush Empire days after the release of her sophomore album, Two Suns, and those performances are the basis of this recording. The material from Two Suns and her debut album Fur and Gold is still among her strongest, and that’s entirely on display here, including two versions of “Daniel”: one spare and slightly eerie, another more fully orchestrated. [Amanda Hatfield]

And here’s a gallery of photos of The National in Prospect Park last year:

For more of our favorite live videos, head here.