The Joy of Live Music

February 5, 2021

As long as I can remember, music has been a big part of my life.  From the early days of buying singles on vinyl, through the cassette and CD days (you can skip to the next track AND play it in the car!) and now to our digital world, music has always been there for me.  Whether I wanted something quiet to relax me while I fall asleep or write (Mank soundtrack filling that job right now), or a loud rocker to scream at the top of my lungs on the way home from a stressful day at work (Foo Fighters filled that void my last year or so in Corporate America), it was always music I turned to in my times of need.  As much as I loved listening to music, it wasn’t until I was 13 that I saw my first live concert (Foreigner with Joe Walsh opening up – thanks to my sister Chris for taking me).  From that day forward, I was hooked and have spent the last three decades (plus) enjoying the live music experience. 

I’ve seen artists in small clubs, amphitheaters, arenas, football stadiums, and large music festivals.  From Fenway Park to Wrigley Field to Dodger Stadium to the New Orleans Fairgrounds (an all-time life experience with my sisters and cousins), I’ve been lucky to see some of the biggest acts in music history.  Missing out on going to concerts in 2020 while watching some of my favorite musicians perform ad hoc benefit concerts on Zoom this year, along with watching the film versions of Hamilton and American Utopia in front of a crowded theater, inspired me to devote this week’s post to my love of live music.

The Goosebumps Moments

As I weaved my way through the concert going experience during my high school days, the artists I saw ranged pretty wide from one end of the spectrum (Hello, .38 Special!) to the other end of the spectrum (like Elton John).  I have fond memories of all of the shows, with each one having a few special moments.  I was fortunate to get into some classic bands, influenced by my older siblings, so I was able to see some of the great ones – Van Halen, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, and Eric Clapton, thanks to my brother for that one. 

While I am sure I had memorable moments at some earlier concerts (probably singing Livin’ On A Prayer at the top of my lungs at a Bon Jovi concert – don’t judge, it was the 80s), the first concert I remember having a true “goosebumps” moment was when I saw Paul McCartney at the old Foxboro Stadium right after I graduated high school in 1990.  First, a little background.  In the late 1980s, I became obsessed with The Beatles.  I stumbled upon a documentary, learned a lot about the band, and rushed out to buy their catalogue when it was released on CD around the same time.  In 1989, Paul McCartney rejuvenated his solo career with the release of Flowers in the Dirt, a wonderful album that he collaborated on with Elvis Costello.  He launched a world tour which included performances of some Beatles classics for the first time in many years. 

I waited in line for a long time for tickets (remember those days?) to see him in Foxboro and was thrilled to go.  The tour was memorialized on an excellent live double CD, Tripping the Live Fantastic, which I have listened to many times over.  But the goosebumps moment for me that night was when he played Hey Jude.  Hearing over 60,000 people sing at the top of their lungs along with a living legend was a moment I will never forget.  I’ve been fortunate to see McCartney two more times – both with my son, who was indoctrinated into The Beatles from the time he could walk – at Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.  It still amazes me that he is still making music, having just released a new album at the age of 78.  We’ll be discussing more about The Beatles later this year – I’ve got something special lined up for that topic.

There have been other goosebumps moments I’ve experienced over the years.  When Pearl Jam plays Alive, a song that I have heard (probably) a thousand times on CD, the energy from the crowd during the live version is incredible.   It takes the emotion of the studio version and brings it to another level.  I recently listened to an interview with Eddie Vedder where he talked about the experience of playing live (in light of the pandemic causing the cancelation of their planned 2020 tour) and he said that they look at the crowd as part of their show.  When the audience brings a high-level of energy, it brings out the best in the band.

In 2013, when my son and I saw Pearl Jam in Hartford, during the encore, Eddie told the crowd that he had reminded his bandmates that the last time they played there, it was the only show where they played “that song” (he didn’t want to spoil it, but some in the crowd knew what he meant).  Now that they were back in Hartford, he wanted to play “that song” again, then he pointed to guitarist Mike McCready and said, “But first, Mike is going to play this.”  McCready launched into a perfect rendition of Eruption, the guitar solo track by Eddie Van Halen.  They then proceeded to play Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, the Van Halen rocker that brought the house down.  It’s that kind of creativity in performing that I admire in musicians like Pearl Jam. 

Artists can deliver all kinds of goosebumps moments, whether it is a rare older song or a cover song from out of nowhere, or when you sense an emotional moment for them.  I haven’t seen too many of these in person, but a few I recall from live concert films I enjoy were when Foo Fighters played Wembley Stadium for the first time and Adele played Royal Albert Hall.  Those were two fantastic concerts, and you can see the genuine emotion they felt playing such historic venues. 

I also recalled a different kind of goosebumps moment when I saw Guns ‘N Roses, Metallica, and Faith No More at the old Foxboro Stadium while I was in college.  This was not long after Axl Rose had a few run-ins with police and crowds during their tour.  My friends and I were on the field, about 15 rows from the stage.  All of the chairs were clipped together with plastic bands so that the field didn’t turn into a mosh pit.  Not long after the show started, a few fans started walking around cutting the clips, folding up the chairs and throwing them on the ground.  Let’s just say that I got a little closer to a lot of people that night (physically, not emotionally), but that was a hell of a show.

The Unique Experience

Another reason why I am a big fan of live music is the unique experience you might see, especially with a band that mixes it up every night.  When most bands go out on tour to support an album, they have a setlist that is pretty much the same every night.  They might swap out a couple songs per show to change things up, but the skeleton of the concert is the same for each performance.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing.  I’ve seen a few artists (Prince, Coldplay and U2, for instance), who put on amazing performances with a perfect combination of music, lights, and special effects to deliver an immersive experience.  Other bands, including some of my all-time favorites, change the setlist up every night.  Even if you read a review of the band’s recent show, you will arrive at the arena having no idea what they might have in store.  If you are a frequent reader of my blog, then you know that three of my favorite bands are Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen.  All of these artists change their set every night of their tour.  Springsteen’s have some structure with a few common tunes (you can count on getting Thunder Road and Born to Run), but other than that, it’s a wildcard. 

I love the suspense of seeing these bands, because you could really be surprised.  In 2003, Pearl Jam decided to try to play all of the songs they had rehearsed for their tour over three nights in Mansfield, MA.  When they realized how many songs were on that list, and that they had a tight curfew with the town, they decided to play an acoustic set BEFORE the opening act, then a full electric set after the opening act on their last night in Mansfield.  They played over 40 songs that night and over 90 songs over the three shows.  Sometimes Springsteen gets inspired by signs in the crowd to pull out the rare cover song or a song he may have written decades earlier, and call an audible to the printed setlist.  And Matthews often experiments with new jams as part of songs he has played for years.

Springsteen, Matthews and Eddie Vedder all put a lot of time into planning out the set before each show.  They will take into account what they played the night before (so diehard fans won’t see any repeats if they came to that show too), what they have historically played in this city (knowing that they have fans who come every year), or one or two gems as an honor to a person or an occasion.  When I saw Dave Matthews Band in Hartford in 2019, they opened the show with one of their most popular songs (#41) because it was their 41^st show at that venue.  Springsteen opened his 2016 Chicago show with an acoustic version of Take It Easy to honor Glenn Frey, who had just passed away.  And later that tour, he played a blistering version of Purple Rain, shortly after Prince died.  Springsteen’s live shows are legendary, which I covered at length here.

One band that constantly takes risk in their performances and brings unique experiences to their fans is Phish, the jam band from Vermont.  Despite strong encouragement from my friends Anthony and Carol over the years to listen to them, I just haven’t been able to get into their music but I think what they do to create unique experiences for their fans is amazing.  They have a tradition of playing “costume” shows on Halloween, where during their set they will cover another artist’s album in its entirety.  They started this trend with The Beatles (White Album), and other shows have included albums by The Who, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones.  In 2017, they played thirteen shows at Madison Square Garden (The Baker’s Dozen Shows), where each night had a theme named after a kind of donut.  For instance, Strawberry Fields Forever opened the Strawberry show.  On the Boston Cream night, they played Sunshine of Your Love (by Cream), transitioning into More Than A Feeling (by Boston), back into Sunshine of Your Love.  Over the course of the thirteen shows, they played 237 songs without repeating one.  Talk about going the extra mile for your fans.  Who knows, maybe I’ll give them another try.

The One-Off Idea That Created An Industry – “Unplugged”

Speaking of a unique experience, an entire industry of this concept was inspired (or so the legend goes) by an acoustic performance of Wanted Dead or Alive by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.  Two Bon Jovi references in one blog post – can you tell I was a child of the 1980s?  Shortly after the overwhelming success of that one song, MTV premiered the Unplugged series featuring one of my favorite bands from that era, Squeeze.  After a handful of shows, the popularity started to increase and MTV was able to attract some pretty legendary artists, including Elton John, Aerosmith, and Crosby, Stills & Nash.  One of my early favorites was a performance by Paul McCartney, featuring songs he wrote with The Beatles, ones from his solo career, and even the first song he wrote when he was a teenager.  The recording of that show was released in limited supply, and I remember being thrilled when I found it at a local record store. 

As the years went on, we saw bigger acts perform, including Pearl Jam (early on in their career), Springsteen (who cheated the rules by playing one song acoustic, then plugging in his instruments to play an electric set), R.E.M. (who did Unplugged two times, ten years apart.  My friend Jean was lucky to be there for the second show), Mariah Carey (remember her version of I’ll Be There?), and many others.  MTV quickly saw the financial opportunity with the increased popularity, releasing some of the shows for sale, including Nirvana, 10,000 Maniacs, and Eric Clapton, whose version would go on to win Album of the Year at the Grammys. 

While I was never fortunate enough to see an MTV Unplugged session, I have had the opportunity to see Dave Matthews play a few acoustic concerts, with his bandmate Tim Reynolds.  Hearing the stripped down version of songs you know by heart with just two acoustic guitars brings a rawness and emotion that otherwise feels masked by loud drums or horns during a full-band performance.  It’s also nice when the crowd is very quiet during the songs, so you can hear every note.  I love that acoustic shows are still popular these days, over thirty years after a one-off idea at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Reliving The Show – The Live Recording

My earliest experience with listening to a live recording was probably the release of Springsteen’s Live 1975 – 1985, which I covered in my post about Springsteen last Fall.  I was drawn to the experience of hearing songs I loved in a different setup, whether it featured an extended solo, a thoughtful introduction, or a mid-song story.  Listening to the same studio songs over and over again gets kind of boring to me, so I gravitated to hearing something different.  Some of my favorite live recordings are those truly unique shows, like Elton John’s Live in Australia, or Metallica’s S&M, both of which were recorded with an orchestra, bringing a completely different take on their iconic songs to their fans.

In college, my music taste expanded to newer bands that were emerging in the early 1990s, but my love of live music never faded.  I remember how excited I was when a friend hooked me up with a cassette recording of a phenomenal acoustic show by R.E.M. during their Out of Time phase, which featured a very funny cover of Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner by Michael Stipe on piano.  Finding live recordings was a big challenge back then.  Occasionally, you could find the bootleg CDs in record stores, but the cost was usually pretty high and you never knew what the quality would be.  That didn’t stop me from forking out some cash at Al-Bum’s in Amherst, MA for a recording of The Beatles rooftop concert that was featured in the film Let It Be.  I’m sure you’ve seen the video clips.

I was fortunate that Dave Matthews Band and Pearl Jam allowed fans to record their concerts and I plugged myself into the network to get my hands on some great shows.  Because the bands allowed recording, it could be done with professional equipment with high sound quality.  The fans who recorded them would distribute them either online or through the mail with one golden rule:  Never pay for a bootleg show.  It was about sharing music with the community, not making a profit.  Both of these bands have also released professional recordings of countless numbers of their concerts, which fans have scooped up to relive their favorite concerts.  In fact, Pearl Jam decided to take the bold step of combatting bootleggers who were selling recordings of their shows by releasing every one of their 72 concerts from their 2000 world tour on CD.  The strategy was very successful (they set records for most albums in the Billboard 200 chart) and they have continued to release official bootlegs for most of their tours since.  As Vedder put it in a recent interview noting the band’s feeling about the bootlegs, it gives fans the ability to relive a show and keep the memories alive. 

I have no idea how many live recordings I have accumulated over the years and to those who don’t have the same passion about a band or their music, I understand their confusion about my interest.  How many versions of a song do you need?  Well, you see, back in this era, they played the song differently, and later on it evolved to include an interpolation of another song that they weaved into the solo section.  Or at this show, they performed an acoustic set during the encore.  Or at this show, a special guest played on a few songs, including one the band hadn’t played in a long time.  It goes on and on.  Despite my embarrassing collection, I do have a handful of shows that are my favorites, my go-to shows, depending on the mood I’m in.  Some of them are ones that I’ve seen (like Pearl Jam in 2013) and some are ones that hit the right spot with the vibe the band is bringing that night, capturing a moment in time forever.  And that’s precisely why I can’t get enough of the live music experience and I can’t wait to get back to a live concert.

That’s all for this week.  I hope you enjoyed some reflections on why I love live music so much and would love to hear about any of your experiences with your favorite bands in the comments section.  Next week, I’m going to give you a taste of some movies to look out for this year, with my favorites from the Sundance Film Festival.  There were a number of really good films that I saw, including one that I can almost guarantee will be on my top 10 list when the year is done.  Thanks again for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe here.