Essential Live Albums

[Captain Termite]

We might need to the thread title from "Essential" to "Every"

This is a compliment!

[liebzz]

Very Many Live Albums

[liebzz]

Eggy - Live From the Peach Music Festival 2021

Another short set from this younger band, and once again the top of the mountain is another long jam, Carry On, which I think revolves around their ability to build a jam over time than immediate fireworks. Granted everything is solid here as well, a band that seems to feel like more than a four-piece in the amount of sounds they are coaxing out of those instruments. Helps that they have a really solid bass player.

The Essential Performance: Carry On

Up Next: Mt. Joy - Live at Red Rocks

[i got bugs]

Bruce Springsteen - The Live Series: Stripped Down

We covered the treacherous MTV Plugged here a while back, so can we please find some redemption in this playlist, a compilation making good on some stripped down goodness. Dancing in the Dark was really a highlight surprisingly. Bobby Jean, Independent Day, and Empty Sky were my favorites after that.

The Essential Performance: Dancing in the Dark

Up Next: Neil Young - Carnegie Hall 1970

Thanks. Didn't even know this mix existed

[liebzz]

Bruce Springsteen - The Live Series: Stripped Down

We covered the treacherous MTV Plugged here a while back, so can we please find some redemption in this playlist, a compilation making good on some stripped down goodness. Dancing in the Dark was really a highlight surprisingly. Bobby Jean, Independent Day, and Empty Sky were my favorites after that.

The Essential Performance: Dancing in the Dark

Up Next: Neil Young - Carnegie Hall 1970

Thanks. Didn't even know this mix existed

Very, very many live albums

[liebzz]

Mt. Joy - Live at Red Rocks

Listened to this one last week and then didn’t get to bringing my notes here. It’s sort of U2 begets Coldplay begets Mt. Joy on initial impression. Big vocals over top easy to digest sonic treatments that provide good atmosphere. Indie but not too self serious. Enjoyable. Astrovan, Let Loose, Acrobats, and Strangers were what I remember being the real highlights here.

The Essential Performance: Let Loose

Up Next: Goose - 2021.11.21 Denver, CO

[VinylGuy]

Mt. Joy - Live at Red Rocks

Listened to this one last week and then didn’t get to bringing my notes here. It’s sort of U2 begets Coldplay begets Mt. Joy on initial impression. Big vocals over top easy to digest sonic treatments that provide good atmosphere. Indie but not too self serious. Enjoyable. Astrovan, Let Loose, Acrobats, and Strangers were what I remember being the real highlights here.

The Essential Performance: Let Loose

Up Next: Goose - 2021.11.21 Denver, CO

I saw Mt.Joy at a very private party in Cannes last year. It was at a small airport, yes. And they were awesome really...i didnt knew who they were and havent checked them out later, but iloved that night.

I was also super drunk.

[liebzz]

Goose - 2021.11.21: Denver, CO

By this point, Goose was already a formidable live band, but it also seems like around this time they sort of turned a corner and could do just about anything, and on this one they pull out quite a few surprises. As if the way they handled the pandemic, continuing to play together, be it through the bingo tour or playing the drive-ins strengthened their chemistry even further, this show features a first set with a strong groove in Indian River and Wysteria Lane, improv chops in Rockdale, All I Need, and Echo of a Rose, and some funk in Earthling or Alien?. Set 2 really opens things up with the jam at the end of Slow Ready into The Old Man’s Boat. Creatures has that psychedelic funk feel into Tumble that resembles more standard jam band fare. Things then get interesting with a solid cover of Nights in White Satin, a really nice White Lights, followed by a jammed out cover of Magic Carpet ride with Jive Lee as the instrumental breakdown before Magic Carpet Ride is reprised to end the show. Really great show here.

The Essential Performance: Rockdale, Nights in White Satin, Magic Carpet Ride > Jive Lee > Magic Carpet Ride

Up Next: Grateful Shred - Live at Belly Up, Solana Beach, CA 12/30/21

[liebzz]

Grateful Shred - Live at Belly Up, Solana Beach, CA 12/30/21

Really more than any other band I can think of, the music of the Grateful Dead lives on, not just in their live recordings, studio albums, or endless permutations of Dead survivor bands like Phil Lesh & Friends, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros., Dead & Co., Billy and the Kids, etc., but also through a tremendous number of cover bands that provide their own interpretations of their songbook. We’ve had some time here to spend with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, perhaps the best of the lot, but here we have Grateful Shred putting their own stamp on these works. Their focus seems more on improving off keys rather than a lead guitar, which makes things endlessly interesting - moments where it sounds like someone playing a Casio keyboard from the 80s overtop a Dead soundtrack almost, but by and large this is a very good band. The Scarlet/Fire here is demonstrative of all that at once and takes the prize, though don’t sleep on a really well jammed out Bertha as well.

The Essential Performance: Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain

Up Next: My Morning Jacket - MMJ Live, Vol. 2: Chicago 2021

[liebzz]

My Morning Jacket - MMJ Live Vol. 2: Chicago 2021

This band’s trajectory as a live band seems to only ever gone up in its 25 year history. They were already a great live band and sort of announced their live presence in many ways at Bonnaroo so many years ago, but the shows seem to have only gotten better. For years, the only document of this was the exceptional Okonokos, but even that seems slightly short of their live shows, especially once they got their groove in the first part of the 2010s. Nothing seemed to suffer taking a few years off and post-pandemic these guys are still killing it. This serves as a fine exhibit of that, with Masterplan, I Think I’m Going to Hell, Easy Morning Rebel, a massive Dondante, Never in the Real World, and Mahgeetah leading the way.

The Essential Performances: Masterplan, Dondante

Up Next: Trey Anastasio Band - The Beacon Jams

[liebzz]

Trey Anastasio Band - The Beacon Jams

We’ve talked a bit in this space about bands adjusting to the pandemic, and Trey was no different, playing a series of shows over a month live-streamed from the Beacon Theatre. This release encompasses some great performances that don’t try to necessarily replicate the energy of a live show in front of a huge crowd but instead reinterpret songs in a quieter setting. No song seems to benefit more than Pebbles and Marbles, though You Enjoy Myself is pretty exceptional as well. The blast of Money Love and Change rounds out the hugest highlights here on a more than solid set of songs reimagining Trey’s expansive catalogue.

The Essential Performance: Pebbles and Marbles

Up Next: Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. - Live in Colorado

[liebzz]

Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. - Live in Colorado

There are two of these, so we start with Vol. 1. The tempo of the songs is a bit slowed, but not nearly as much as a Dead & Co. What’s nice here is a sort of loose spaghetti western style almost recreation, with strings and horns flavoring the mix in the absence of massive guitar noodling. It gives a sense of not being in a hurry, pastoral maybe. New Speedway Boogie provides the best balance here between original energy and these weird comments, so it wins the day, but Lost Sailor/Saint of Circumstance gets really good in its spots too.

The Essential Performance: New Speedway Boogie

Up Next: Bob Weir & Wolf Bros. - Live in Colorado Vol. 2

[liebzz]

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros. - Live in Colorado Vol. 2

The first edition was good. This is really touching the greatness the Dead’s catalogue reaches. It again feels orchestral with a touch of spaghetti western, but there’s a beauty in the presentation of these songs that surpasses the first volume. Eyes of the World > What’s Going On is weirdly a natural fit here. The strings and horns are made for the Terrapin Station Suite, and The Other One. Brokedown Palace and Ripple are just stunning. Days Between perfectly moody. Love this release.

The Essential Performances: Terrapin Station Suite, The Other One, Brokedown Palace, Ripple

Up Next: The Black Crowes - Shake Your Moneymaker Live

[liebzz]

The Black Crowes - Shake Your Moneymaker Live

The reformation of the Black Crowes with a very altered lineup of the Robinson brothers and a cast of fill-ins certainly was a moment of controversy on this board. This release commemorates the anniversary of Shake Your Moneymaker and the shows that they played to tour that album once again with this lineup. The result is a resounding good enough. Certainly not as punched up as their prior lineup - feels much more by the numbers - and the Robinson brothers now quite a few years older, they don’t embarrass themselves, but this is not quite the stuff of their legend. They did manage to get a great Struttin Blues, along with a trio of great covers here (Papa Was a Rolling Stone, It’s Only Rock & Roll, and the Velvet Underground’s Rock & Roll).

The Essential Performance: Struttin’ Blues

Up Next: Bruce Springsteen - The Live Series: Songs of Location

[liebzz]

Bruce Springsteen - The Live Series: Songs of Location

One of the nice things with this playlist is that it seems to largely go in chronological order, making the transition of early Springsteen of Lost in the Flood ultimately blend nicely through to Meet Me in the City, which didn’t really see the light of day until 2016 even though it has its roots in the late 70s. This one also benefits from all the songs sounding great. In addition to the noted already, the full band Atlantic City and the rousing American Land here are the big highlights in a more than solid comp.

The Essential Performances: Atlantic City, American Land, Lost in the Flood, Meet Me in the City

Up Next: Grateful Dead - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 3/9/81

[liebzz]

Grateful Dead - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 3/9/81

The breadth of quality recordings of the Dead seems limitless. The band hasn’t performed with Jerry Garcia since almost exactly 29 years, and yet still archival releases keep coming. This one came in ‘22, a Grateful Dead I have always felt was in a state of transition from the more jazz inflected era of the Godcheaux’s to Brent Mydland, who had a soulful approach yet could really hang with the long psychedelic breaks. Sometimes as I complain in this era, the keys are too prominent in the performance, but in this night the band sounded good. The first set really featured a killer Althea, one extended jam in Bird Song, and a spirited New Minglewood Blues. The second set pulled a full range of Dead stack in the return to Earth from Space with ther raw The Other One, the beautiful Stella Blue, and the fun Good Lovin. A very solid show here.

The Essential Performances: Althea, New Minglewood Blues, The Other One

Up Next: Rolling Stones - Live 1965: Music From Charlie Is My Darling

[liebzz]

Rolling Stones - Live 1965: Music From Charlie Is My Darling

As if by antidote, we turn to the Stones - this is going to be like the eras tour blasting through quite a few of these in a row starting with the 60s moving forward. This first one is a quick blast of energy. Much like the Beatles recordings of the era, the crowd energy is like a wave of screaming teenagers. With the Stones, they seem to lean into that energy, blowing through one song after the next at a frenetic pace. Here, Down the Road Apiece explodes, and The Last Time sounds really great. It’s fascinating to hear The Stones in their original energy given how long we’ve experienced them as the legacy band with massive stadium shows. They could burn a club down even harder.

The Essential Performances: Down the Road Apiece, The Last Time

Up Next: Rolling Stones - Got LIVE If You Want It

[liebzz]

Rolling Stones - Got LIVE If You Want It

So the transitions are weird on this, but that has more to do with trying to loosely compile various performances than the band itself, which sounds good. The energy seems really ratcheted up for 19th Nervous Breakdown and Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows. Under My Thumb and Not Fade Away are also legitimate highlights.

The Essential Performance: 19th Nervous Breakdown

Up Next: Rolling Stones - On Air

[Jorge]

What's been your favorite live album so far solely based on on-stage banter?

[liebzz]

Pearl Jam - Philly 2009 probably for all. The stage banter is pretty good on that. The best stage banter folks on memory are Eddie Vedder, Pete Townshend, Bob Weir…there’s a moment where Trey Anastasio is bantering about his concept Gamehenge in 1995 on NYE where he talks about getting stuck in time in 1995 and the same song gets stuck on repeat and then they break into a short verse of Collective Soul’s Shine that is downright hilarious. Les Claypool similarly says weird things on stage.