# The best ever live performance.



## capnjim (Aug 19, 2011)

I don't know why, but for me, this is the single best ever live performance of a song in the history of the world.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

With respect to all differences in tastes we are different. 

Im open to Convincing though. Why for you is this as you say the single best ......?


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

I like this better


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

I recall friends showing us this clip and my wife and I must have watched it 5 times in a row - at first I thought it was over the top but the singer is just letting it all out.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

I’m Always up for a re-listen


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

For me chills..smiles.. and a tear or two. Man what an artist and in those circumstances!

[video]


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

capnjim said:


> this is the single best ever live performance of a song *in the history of the world*.


That is a lot of listening and comparing!


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

I don't think it's possible to make that statement from my perspective, far too many great performances out there. This one always comes to mind when I think of great though.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

man, that first vid was terrible....is this a joke thread?

+1 for Prince though


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

allright, just watched it again....still not impressed

boring music, boring band

...and if you're going to dance around like a chicken, it works better if you're wearing a CHICKEN SUIT

and what's with all the chest beating?

that guy really puts the crow into cro-magnon...


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Huh?

Really?


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

bolero said:


> man, that first vid was terrible....is this a joke thread?
> +1 for Prince though


Im also in the " I think its a joke" category. Song really sucks and the performance is just as bad.

how about some more Prince....
G.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

??????????????

If I had to choose between:

A) watching the guy in the OP dancing

B) watching this guy \/ dancing










C) having my eyes gouged out by rusty spoons


The choice would be a resounding C), please.

OMFG

But they nailed that guitar solo ........................


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## Business (Jul 30, 2013)

davetcan said:


> I don't think it's possible to make that statement from my perspective, far too many great performances out there. This one always comes to mind when I think of great though.


Imagine if Gary Moore was actually good at playing blues...


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Business said:


> Imagine if Gary Moore was actually good at playing blues...


Good enough for me ......


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

High/Deaf said:


> C) having my eyes gouged out by rusty spoons


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

...


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

This.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

capnjim said:


> I don't know why, but for me, this is the single best ever live performance of a song in the history of the world.


Now that I've actually watched it I don't know why either


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)




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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

If it's true that you really liked it, it shows how there is a lot of diversity in music likes and dislikes. 

I've seen some good ones over the years but this one stands out for me. This is a 1978 version but I think it was actually 1976.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

OK, I've watched the clip that started this thread.... I'm in agreement with the "why do you think it's the single greatest of all time"? 

I didn't hate it. To my ears, the song was average, the front man was certainly animated, but a lot of non-Canadians do not "get" Gord Downie. Music is too wide a scope to cast greatest or worst. Not my cup of tea though. 

A clip I keep coming back to is this:


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

Won't claim that this is the best ever, but I've been digging this one lately


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)




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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

SWLABR said:


> OK, I've watched the clip that started this thread.... I'm in agreement with the "why do you think it's the single greatest of all time"?
> 
> I didn't hate it. To my ears, the song was average, the front man was certainly animated, but a lot of non-Canadians do not "get" Gord Downie. Music is too wide a scope to cast greatest or worst. Not my cup of tea though.
> 
> A clip I keep coming back to is this:


holy crap! Tony Levin, Jan Hammer, and I can't tell who the drummer is? Alex?


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

SWLABR said:


> ... but a lot of non-Canadians do not "get" Gord Downie.


 Not just non-Canadians.


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

I've seen parts of a video with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Billy Cobham called World of Rhythm and sometimes called Hurricaine! that is astounding. I had thought somewhere in there could be the greatest moment in music.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

SWLABR said:


> I didn't hate it. To my ears, the song was average, the front man was certainly animated, but a lot of non-Canadians do not "get" Gord Downie. Music is too wide a scope to cast greatest or worst. Not my cup of tea though.


After years of Hip fans telling me "oh, you have to see them live!" when I'd mention I didn't get the hype over them, I eventually did see them live when my wife got free tix. It had no effect on me. Just a typical concert by an average pro band. I was bored actually. Fans need to understand that they see things differently than non-fans do.

What makes performances memorable for me, is when a band really has fun with the show (never got that feeling from the Hip, they always seemed self important)....or does something different from their recordings, or makes an effort to really relate to the audience. In essence, more than just playing their songs.
Kiss and VH used to really be a fun show.
Foo fighters relate to their audience like no other IMO and really have fun as well, while adding some spontaneity to their shows.
This is the kind of show I'd want to be at.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

BGood said:


> Not just non-Canadians.





Diablo said:


> After years of Hip fans telling me "oh, you have to see them live!" when I'd mention I didn't get the hype over them, I eventually did see them live when my wife got free tix. It had no effect on me. Just a typical concert by an average pro band. Fans need to understand that they see things differently than non-fans do.


True, should have said "non-fans". I guess in my experience, most of the people who don't know, or don't like the Hip are from other parts of the world.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

SWLABR said:


> True, should have said "non-fans". I guess in my experience, most of the people who don't know, or don't like the Hip are from other parts of the world.


likely because they haven't been indoctrinated by forced Canadian content as much as we have 
I've said it before, if the Hip had come from LA instead of Canada, they'd have never got beyond the college scene.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Diablo said:


> likely because they haven't been indoctrinated by forced Canadian content as much as we have


Ahhhh.... Can-Con. Keeping Bryan Adams, Trooper, and April Wine from declaring bankruptcy.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

CRTC rules that 20% of illegal torrents must be CanCon


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2017)

I smelled Beaverton before opening the link. lol.
Tnx Mark.


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2017)

High/Deaf said:


>


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

To be serious.........

Johnny Winter. February 1970. London, Ontario, at a hockey arena. With original band, Tommy Shannon, Uncle John Turner and special guest Edgar Winter. Absolutely mind-blowing and flawless performance!

Runner up, Frank Zappa and the Mothers, University of Waterloo, November 18, 1973. The tightest and most professional band I've ever seen. (I could see the live performance influence in Dweezil's Zappa Plays Zappa ~Nov. 2013?).


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Robert1950 said:


> To be serious.........
> 
> Johnny Winter. February 1970. London, Ontario, at a hockey arena. With original band, Tommy Shannon, Uncle John Turner and special guest Edgar Winter. Absolutely mind-blowing and flawless performance!.


I would have liked to see Johnny and Edgar live. That is one of the ones I missed.


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

1973 September 28th, King Crimson at Capitol Theatre, Montreal. 900 leather seats.

In the middle of Lark's Tongues In Aspic - Part one, Fripp fuzz starts to emit a taxi CB. It's almost louder than his guitar. He stops the tune right there, while techs take a few minutes to figure it out. Tune starts right up where it left. Everybody shakes their head, wondering if they were the only one that heard the glitch or something.

That album they played, has many soft sections in it. The whole show was acoustically really close to the original recording, so much so you would have felt uncomfortable even whispering to your neighbour.

That was 44 years ago, I can still close my eyes and see myself sitting there.

There were so many other good shows, but this one stands out.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)




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## Guest (Nov 19, 2017)

Why no tv show will ask Iron Maiden to lip-sync their songs.


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2017)

Thinking back to as many concerts that I can remember that I seen in my earlier days, the one that still sticks in my mind is Boston, MLG 1978.
Tom Scholz starts playing the keys to 'Foreplay/Long Time' and the back of the stage opens up with a green glow.
Over the span of Tom's playing, pipes rise up to about twenty feet with that green glow of lights creating an awesome experience.
And the sound! 
If you ever heard a pipe organ in person, imagine what it would be like with the low note pipes having a diameter the size of tree trunks.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

What the hell was that, a Cookie Monster vocal at 3:28?

The instrumentation was boring and repetitive, though recorded well for a TV appearance viewed on YouTube. Virtually no dynamics, especially from the keys, and not even an instrumental break never mind a guitar (this is a guitar forum, after all), though a wee solo or some fills from some other instrument would have sufficed. Had a little trouble making out some of the vocals. I didn't get the dancing, it seemed contrived, not spontaneous. Maybe he was trying to make up for the inhibitions of the rest of the band.

Good for them getting a major TV appearance. What was their name again?

There's no such thing as best ever anything, but here goes for me (until I think of something else)...

Best ever live performance I've seen? Some pretty good acoustic players would qualify for me, John Renbourn (and I got to drink with him after), Don Ross, Tony McManus et al. Roy Buchanan was a huge early influence for me because he was the best I'd ever seen up to that point in my life. Oscar Peterson, solo piano.

Best I've heard? I listened to Get Yer Ya-Yas Out (The Rolling Stones) every day in high school, but The Who's Live At Leeds would also qualify, Roy Buchanan's Livestock, Led Zeppelin BBC Sessions, Joscho Stephan...I could go on and on...


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2017)

Dance lessons would help the OP's video.


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

I liked the OP. Enough that I added the album 'Singles' to my Spotify and listened to it while I cooked supper last night. If a singer puts enough into their performance that I think they are really _feeling it_, then they usually win me over. That's essentially the blues to me, you either have it or you don't.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

as far as pure feeling & emotion, I'll take CONSTIPATION BLUES by Screaming Jay Hawkins, over the OP anyday:


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)




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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Mooh said:


> What the hell was that, a Cookie Monster vocal at 3:28?
> 
> The instrumentation was boring and repetitive, though recorded well for a TV appearance viewed on YouTube. Virtually no dynamics, especially from the keys, and not even an instrumental break never mind a guitar (this is a guitar forum, after all), though a wee solo or some fills from some other instrument would have sufficed. Had a little trouble making out some of the vocals. I didn't get the dancing, it seemed contrived, not spontaneous. Maybe he was trying to make up for the inhibitions of the rest of the band.
> 
> ...


I'm really late in finding this thread, but here's a funny one. I was looking for something and came upon that Maiden live in Germany. I initially thought you were talking about that one, which made me scratch my head. Then I watched Chicken Man Cookie Monster Growler in the OP. Laughed my ass off


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

I just happened across this....I think it's right up there as "best ever live performance"


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## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

Probably the Last Waltz if i was going for a safe bet. But for me, this guy crushes it...


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