Essential Live Albums

[liebzz]

Ozomatli - Live at the Fillmore

This one is from the aughts, but I need a quick change up. Latin-infused rock and hip hop mashup with a deejay and a full horn section, that’ll do it. I feel like these guys had their moment around the same time as Jurassic 5 and Blackalicious, the energy of this show is fantastic, with them banging through every song like it was their last. Saturday Night is always a favorite from this time so that’s the winner here. O-zo-mat-li, ya se fue! Ya se fue!

The Essential Performance: Saturday Night

Up Next: Dopapod - I Saw Live Dopapod Evil Was I

[VinylGuy]

Just Breathe gets far too much undeserved hate around here.

while i agree with you, it was overplayed to hell so thats why i basically cant listen to that one again

[liebzz]

Dopapod - I Saw Live Dopapod Evil Was I

Other than introductions at the start of the first track, this is all instrumental jams blending jams, prog rock, techno, and maybe some other cocktail of influences. It’s even heavy in certain points. All of it is actually quite engaging once you come to terms with not getting any lyrics, but the actual master stroke of genius is a reimagined instrumental Dazed and Confused that finishes this thing off. That was exceptional.

The Essential Performance: Dazed and Confused

Up Next: Dave Matthews Band - Live at Wrigley Field

[liebzz]

Dave Matthews Band - Live at Wrigley Field

This is the last one for these guys for quite a while, and ultimately this might be the least satisfying of their live albums thus far. Moments like breaking into Tripping Billies off #41 are still nice and a bit thrilling. Other highlights from this for me was the opening You Might Die Trying, the long Two Step, and the closer the Last Stop which sounded great, but the guitar focus can drown out of their best aspects as much as enhance them.

The Essential Performance: Tripping Billies

Up Next: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Live. Endings

[oasisfan35]

Dave Matthews Band - Live at Wrigley Field

This is the last one for these guys for quite a while, and ultimately this might be the least satisfying of their live albums thus far. Moments like breaking into Tripping Billies off #41 are still nice and a bit thrilling. Other highlights from this for me was the opening You Might Die Trying, the long Two Step, and the closer the Last Stop which sounded great, but the guitar focus can drown out of their best aspects as much as enhance them.

The Essential Performance: Tripping Billies

Up Next: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Live. Endings

The mix for that release is pretty awful from recollection.

edit: The mix and performance of The Last Stop compared to the LiveTrax 28 bonus is like night and day.

[liebzz]

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Live Endings

I’m not sure why I constantly have some sort of memory loss with this band, but every time I listen to them I remember that they really are a kick ass band. Here, we’re looking at a mix of country and rock that skews a bit more rock. I wouldn’t say they are a jam band by any measure, but they can certainly play together on a level that rivals the best of them. The Joint and Don’t Take Me Back are solid examples of this, as is 2012 the Happy Ending, which is an epic throwdown of bass and percussion one moment and big guitars the next. This was quite the release.

The Essential Performance: 2012 the Happy Ending

Up Next: Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody’s Talkin’

[Captain Termite]

Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Live Endings

I’m not sure why I constantly have some sort of memory loss with this band, but every time I listen to them I remember that they really are a kick ass band. Here, we’re looking at a mix of country and rock that skews a bit more rock. I wouldn’t say they are a jam band by any measure, but they can certainly play together on a level that rivals the best of them. The Joint and Don’t Take Me Back are solid examples of this, as is 2012 the Happy Ending, which is an epic throwdown of bass and percussion one moment and big guitars the next. This was quite the release.

The Essential Performance: 2012 the Happy Ending

Up Next: Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody’s Talkin’

I don't know if you grouped them together intentionally or if it is just coincidence, but Lukas Nelson & POTR were the openers for TTB at a show I went to in the fall.

[liebzz]

Yeah I wanted to go to the show at MSG. They sonically work in transitioning in the various genres and subgenres that I keep meandering in.

[wease]

LOVE TTB.

[oasisfan35]

LOVE TTB.

The main radio station I tune in to plays them often, always great to hear.

[wease]

I admit I haven’t heard any of those from the 4-album release they did last year.

[oasisfan35]

I admit I haven’t heard any of those from the 4-album release they did last year.

I listened through a few times, not real dedicated listens though. I'm about to start building a PC for work so queuing it up sounds like a fine idea.

For thread integrity, I would recommend (if I have not already) Jason Isbell and Friends - Live at the Shoals Theatre.

[liebzz]

I admit I haven’t heard any of those from the 4-album release they did last year.

I listened through a few times, not real dedicated listens though. I'm about to start building a PC for work so queuing it up sounds like a fine idea.

For thread integrity, I would recommend (if I have not already) Jason Isbell and Friends - Live at the Shoals Theatre.

Added

[liebzz]

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody’s Talkin’

I was excited for this one precisely because I have been meaning to get into this band for years, and this was finally my chance to dive in. Somewhere in between rock, blues, and soul lies a large fraction of music tastes, and this band fits that bill like a glove. Susan Tedeschi’s smoky and soulful voice is everything Janis Joplin should have been, and this band certainly has echoes of the Holding Company, but taken many steps higher. Derek Trucks is still pretty young yet already in legend status. Highlights on this one include the opening Everybody’s Talkin’, Bound for Glory, a quick yet killer Rollin’ and Tumblin’, Darlin’ Be Home Soon, That Did It, and a killer cover that went interesting places on Stevie Wonder’s Uptight. Picking a winner here is near impossible.

The Essential Performance: Uptight

Up Next: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - The Daptone Super Soul Revue: Live at the Apollo

[liebzz]

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - The Dap-Kings Super Soul Revue: Live at the Apollo

This audible was called based on the soul foundation under TTB’s sound. The intro to this not only recalls the late great James Brown, but Sharon Jones similarly seems shot out of a cannon full of energy that she and her band just blow through songs also similar to the James Brown live album of a similar name. There’s even the shout out finale to James Brown that matches his showmanship and full blown energy. And just like that, in 29 minutes, this tornado has passed, leaving only a short album of all highlights. This is some great stuff.

The Essential Performance: Calamity, There Was a Time

Up Next: Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood, and Jason Isbell - Live at Shoals Theatre

[oasisfan35]

Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody’s Talkin’

I was excited for this one precisely because I have been meaning to get into this band for years, and this was finally my chance to dive in. Somewhere in between rock, blues, and soul lies a large fraction of music tastes, and this band fits that bill like a glove. Susan Tedeschi’s smoky and soulful voice is everything Janis Joplin should have been, and this band certainly has echoes of the Holding Company, but taken many steps higher. Derek Trucks is still pretty young yet already in legend status. Highlights on this one include the opening Everybody’s Talkin’, Bound for Glory, a quick yet killer Rollin’ and Tumblin’, Darlin’ Be Home Soon, That Did It, and a killer cover that went interesting places on Stevie Wonder’s Uptight. Picking a winner here is near impossible.

The Essential Performance: Uptight

Up Next: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - The Daptone Super Soul Revue: Live at the Apollo

Yeah, this hit me

[oasisfan35]

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - The Dap-Kings Super Soul Revue: Live at the Apollo

This audible was called based on the soul foundation under TTB’s sound. The intro to this not only recalls the late great James Brown, but Sharon Jones similarly seems shot out of a cannon full of energy that she and her band just blow through songs also similar to the James Brown live album of a similar name. There’s even the shout out finale to James Brown that matches his showmanship and full blown energy. And just like that, in 29 minutes, this tornado has passed, leaving only a short album of all highlights. This is some great stuff.

The Essential Performance: Calamity, There Was a Time

Up Next: Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood, and Jason Isbell - Live at Shoals Theatre

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings were the last opening band I ever saw for DMB, they opened all three nights in Berkeley '08 and they were a great time.

[liebzz]

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - The Dap-Kings Super Soul Revue: Live at the Apollo

This audible was called based on the soul foundation under TTB’s sound. The intro to this not only recalls the late great James Brown, but Sharon Jones similarly seems shot out of a cannon full of energy that she and her band just blow through songs also similar to the James Brown live album of a similar name. There’s even the shout out finale to James Brown that matches his showmanship and full blown energy. And just like that, in 29 minutes, this tornado has passed, leaving only a short album of all highlights. This is some great stuff.

The Essential Performance: Calamity, There Was a Time

Up Next: Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood, and Jason Isbell - Live at Shoals Theatre

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings were the last opening band I ever saw for DMB, they opened all three nights in Berkeley '08 and they were a great time.

Yeah, they were pretty fantastic.

[liebzz]

Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood, and Jason Isbell - Live at the Shoals Theatre

In full, this acoustic live album is a wonderful masterclass in storytelling, weaving personal stories in and through a pretty fair number of songs that connect back to the theater, to the artists, and to the audience. There’s a danger in an over 2 hour acoustic show in getting stale, but I think in part to the rotating vocalists and the beautiful guitar interplay that this never becomes an issue here. It’s a nice blend of country and rock here that is charming and fun, sincere and stunning. Heathens, Putin’ People on the Moon, Women Without Whiskey, Outfit, Daddy Needs a Drink, The Living Bubba, Danko/Manuel, Grand Canyon, Alabama Pines, Zip City and Never Gonna Change are all worth checking out here, but the finale Let There Be Rock is just that perfect balance that sends you home feeling great. Nice recommendation!

The Essential Performance: Let There Be Rock

Up Next: Spafford - Live at Firefly 2013

[liebzz]

Spafford - Live at firefly 2013

This release is really the start of a new generation of jam bands beginning to transition from decades of mainstays like Phish, Widespread Panic, and String Cheese Incident, through bands at this point hitting their prime, like Umphree’s McGee, and now into the next set of young bands. These guys on this one concentrate on the funkier aspects of the subgenre, but then plow into some big rock shredding, the bigger rock focus perhaps coming in later live releases. Walls, Electric Taco Stand, Leave the Light On (which gets into some trippy electronic elements), Backdoor Funk, In the Eyes of Thieves, and Salamander Song are all strong here, but the 18 minute banger turned shred-fest by the end in Weasel wins the day. A band to watch for sure.

The Essential Performance: Weasel

Up Next: Umphree’s McGee - Live From the Beacon Theatre, New York, NY 01/18/2013