Excellent Classic Rock Concert Footage

[Universal Mind]

The YouTube thread seemed to go flat dead after I posted what I think are four of the best live performance videos ever. Because I want to make sure I share them with at least a few people, I decided to start a thread on them. Check it out... The Beatles at the Let It Be recording sessions in 1969. They performed live on top of a building in downtown London during work hours. You cannot find live Beatles footage that came after these recording sessions. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xra3UKhbG1o Janis Joplin with her band Big Brother and the Holding Company at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967. This is the concert that made Janis Joplin famous. It also made Jimi Hendrix famous. http://youtube.com/watch?v=-gJXC5xkIBg Jefferson Airplane at Woodstock, the real one, 1969. This is the best live performance recording ever of anybody, in my opinion. http://youtube.com/watch?v=sf0n616bchk Led Zeppelin in 1969 on a French variety show before they were famous. The audience didn't know who the Hell they were. The sound system was a bit off, but this is absolutely incredible. Watch this and try to tell me that Jimmy Page is not the greatest guitar player in history. http://youtube.com/watch?v=vVYSvBeAB3w I would love to know what some of you kids today think of this stuff. I don't think what we have today comes even close to comparing to it.

[Universal Mind]

[Burns]

Led Zeppelin in 1969 on a French variety show before they were famous. The audience didn't know who the Hell they were. The sound system was a bit off, but this is absolutely incredible. Watch this and try to tell me that Jimmy Page is not the greatest guitar player in history. http://youtube.com/watch?v=vVYSvBeAB3w[/b] awesome my favorite youtube quote for this video: Could the pathetic audience look any more bored / uninterested? what a bunch of losers... any idea who you're witnessing, stupid dolts?[/b] LOL, seriously - they like never even moved or twitched once.

[Universal Mind]

awesome my favorite youtube quote for this video: LOL, seriously - they like never even moved or twitched once. [/b] The first time I saw it, I thought the audience didn't give a damn. But after watching it a bunch, it looks like some of the audience members were really fascinated by them and thinking they were really good for a hard rock band. When I watch a band that's really good (which doesn't happen much any more), I stay still and concentrate heavily. I'm not the type that starts dancing. I act the way I do when I am watching a great movie. I think some of the people in that studio audience were having that reaction. I bet it was a real trip for them to find out later just how big of a deal that band ended up being. Try this on for size: The White Stripes - Death Letter (Son House Cover) [/b] I must say that they are one of the few good bands around now.

[bradybaker]

I don't think what we have today comes even close to comparing to it. [/b] Try this on for size: The White Stripes - Death Letter (Son House Cover)

[FreshBrains]

Led Zeppelin in 1969 on a French variety show before they were famous. The audience didn't know who the Hell they were. The sound system was a bit off, but this is absolutely incredible. Watch this and try to tell me that Jimmy Page is not the greatest guitar player in history. http://youtube.com/watch?v=vVYSvBeAB3w [/b] Jimmy Page is not the greatest guitar player in history. (He's an amazing guitarist, just not the best ever IMO) Comfortably Numb, performed 1980 w/ updated audio The audio isn't from the same performance as the video, but it is probably my favorite live guitar solo. Ever. EDIT: The SECOND solo. Listen all the way through, you won't be disappointed.

[pj]

Excellent choices, all. Pink Floyd Live in Pompeii And my favorite won't spoil it for you... but worth the click!

[Moonbeam]

And my favorite [/b] I just scared the hell out of my bf with that, I'm sitting behind him, I clicked on it and he jumps up and is all "WTF IS THAT!"

[pj]

I just scared the hell out of my bf with that, I'm sitting behind him, I clicked on it and he jumps up and is all "WTF IS THAT!" [/b] See??? Isn't it GREAT! Now I'm going to bed with a big smile. Thank you!

[FreshBrains]

Okay, maybe David Gilmour isn't the best guitarist ever. Pete Townshend is either damned close or equal. Not so much classic footage, but a classic band. The Who (Well, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend) playing Eminence Front in 2006. Townshend seems to take the "The hair thins" line a bit too seriously... Heh. Eminence Front live 2006

[3FLryan]

Watch this and try to tell me that Jimmy Page is not the greatest guitar player in history. [/b] Jimmy Page is not the greatest guitar player in history. Sorry, you asked for it. EDIT: Haha, didn't read the rest of the thread before I posted. But seriously, it's just impossible to say the "greatest." What do you mean? It isn't even definable. David Gilmour? Jimmy Page? Ron Thal? Jimmi Hendrix? Shawn Lane? John Petrucci? Buckethead? The list goes on and on and on and on. Who's to say? I suspect you have bias towards guys like Jimmy Page and David Gilmour. That's fine, I have bias towards guys like Ron Thal and John Petrucci. No one is right! It's all great. Obviously, "greatest classic rock guitarist" would exclude my guys, though. BTW, good vids. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I still appreciate it. "I don't think what we have today even comes close to comparing to it." What does that even mean? Great music is gone forever? Because that would be a sorely mistaken statement. Yes, maybe that exact type of music is gone forever, and it happens to be the type of music you identify with most because of your preferences, your upbringing, the social history you were a part of, etc. Music is constantly evolving. There's a bunch of crap out there today, but there's a bunch of really powerful and beautiful stuff (just like at any time in history). I'd wager someone from 300 years ago might not care for or even be appalled by "Stairway to Heaven."

[Universal Mind]

Sorry, Ryan, but I don't know who some of those guys are. Today's rock sounds like shit to me in most cases. They might be good, but I get too disgusted by today's rock to listen to the stations for very long at a time. Maybe you could post some videos? I'd love to give them a look. I have a ton of Hendrix on video, and I have a lot of Page. I have a lot of Townshend also. My favorite stuff to watch on DVD is live classic rock footage. I know a lot about rock history, but I dont' claim to be an expert musical analyst. I just think I know great art when I come across it. I realize that there is a major subjectivity factor in such a stance. I think artistic greatness is partly subjective and partly objective. It is an objective fact that most people, even most guitarists, do not have the ability to play a great deal of what Jimmy Page has played when you consider timing, smoothness, grace, etc. That is the factual aspect of the situation. The subjective aspect is where it comes down to how it sounds to people. So based on my objective assessment and my subjective taste, it is my opinion that Page is the greatest. I thought it was Hendrix for a while. I have all of Hendrix's biggest performances on video, and I have watched them obsessively. But recently, I started getting much more into watching Page play, and he is the one guitarist that impresses me more than Hendrix, objectively and subjectively. There is a lot of truth to the claim that rock music got wrecked at the end of the 70's. In The History of Rock and Roll (ten documentary set from Time-Life), which I highly recommend, the documentary about 70's rock talks about how Peter Frampton's album Frampton Comes Alive became the biggest selling album in history. That same year, Fleetwood Mac's album Rumours reached outrageous sales numbers. The ability to sell on that level got corporations into rock music, where before it was smaller companies that were run by people who had a lot of interest in the artistic aspect of the music. The record producers would get great bands in their studios and say, "You're the artists. You know what to do. Play your stuff, and I'll record it and sell it." So the artists, the people who understood the art the best, were in charge of the music. When the corporations got so interested, they bought out the smaller companies, the ones that had been producing the legends, and ruined everything. They started saying, "Hey, according to our marketing research, you will sell more if you do this crap and that crap. Our goal is not to make people love this music. Our goal is to make people like it just enought to buy it." And everything went down the drain from there. Okay, maybe David Gilmour isn't the best guitarist ever. Pete Townshend is either damned close or equal. Not so much classic footage, but a classic band. The Who (Well, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend) playing Eminence Front in 2006. Townshend seems to take the "The hair thins" line a bit too seriously... Heh. Eminence Front live 2006 [/b] In that same History of Rock and Roll documentary I was just talking to Ryan about, Townshend had the nerve to claim that he doesn't like a "single thing" Led Zeppelin has ever done. There is no way he really feels that way. I think he is a jealous bitch who knows that Page is out of his league. That's my opinion. Roger Daltrey said he thinks Hendrix is the best guitarist ever, and I am not sure if I believe them. And Led Zeppelin got their name from Who drummer Keith Moon's comment that the band was going to "go over like a lead balloon." My personal opinion is that they knew they were about to get their asses whipped, and it is my opinion that they did.

[bradybaker]

There is a lot of truth to the claim that rock music got wrecked at the end of the 70's. In The History of Rock and Roll (ten documentary set from Time-Life), which I highly recommend, the documentary about 70's rock talks about how Peter Frampton's album Frampton Comes Alive became the biggest selling album in history. That same year, Fleetwood Mac's album Rumours reached outrageous sales numbers. The ability to sell on that level got corporations into rock music, where before it was smaller companies that were run by people who had a lot of interest in the artistic aspect of the music. The record producers would get great bands in their studios and say, "You're the artists. You know what to do. Play your stuff, and I'll record it and sell it." So the artists, the people who understood the art the best, were in charge of the music. When the corporations got so interested, they bought out the smaller companies, the ones that had been producing the legends, and ruined everything. They started saying, "Hey, according to our marketing research, you will sell more if you do this crap and that crap. Our goal is not to make people love this music. Our goal is to make people like it just enought to buy it." And everything went down the drain from there. [/b] Turn off the radio man. There is a TON of great music out there to be found. But MTV and the Top 40 Countdowns are not the place you'll find it. A short list of extremely talented, and currently active, 'rock' artists that you've (probably) never heard of: The Black Keys Blues Rock Tracks: "Your Touch", "The Girl Is On My Mind" Comets On Fire Rock Tracks: "Dogwood Rust", "Jaybird" Deerhoof Experimental/Psychedelic Rock Tracks: "The Perfect Me", "Wrong Time Capsule" Eagles Of Death Metal Desert Garage Rock Tracks: "Already Died", "San Berdoo Sunburn" The Evens Post Punk (ex-Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye's project) Tracks: "Everybody Knows", "Around The Corner" The Hold Steady Rock (America's #1 bar band) Tracks: "Massive Nights", "Multitude of Casualties" Kings Of Leon Rock Tracks: "Joe's Head", "Taper Jean Girl" Lightning Bolt Noise Rock Tracks: "Mohawkwindmill", "Crown of Storms" Man Man Experimental/Avant Rock Tracks: "Engwish Bwudd", "Van Helsing Boombox" Mastodon Heavy Metal Tracks: "The Wolf Is Loose", "Megalodon" Menomena Rock Tracks: "Muscle n' Flo", "The Pelican" Sleater-Kinney (ok, not currently active....but they just broke up) Rock Tracks: "What's Mine Is Yours", "Little Babies" Tapes 'n Tapes Rock Tracks: "Insistor", "Cowbell" The Thermals Punk Rock (the most intelligent punk rock band you'll ever hear) Tracks: "Here's Your Future", "Pillar Of Salt" Tokyo Police Club Rock (Toronto represent&#33 Tracks: "Nature of the Experiment", "Shoulders & Arms" TV On The Radio Rock Tracks: "Wolf Like Me", "I Was A Lover"

[Universal Mind]

I have heard of Mastodon and Eagles of Death Metal, but I don't think I have heard their music. I'll definitely look into it. I would love to find some new stuff that I like. Thank you. The only modern rock bands I presently like are White Stripes, Iron and Wine, and a few heavy metal bands, like Slipknot, Kitty, Slayer (been great since the 80's), and Pig Destroyer. There is also music from the 80's that I like, but not much. R.E.M and the Pretenders were phenomenal. I also absolutely love some of the metal from then, like Iron Maiden and Metallica. When I was in college in the early 90's, alternative rock was really big, and I thought most of it sucked. But there was a band called The Breeders that was incredible. That was a band formed by Kim Deal, the bass player for The Pixies. I think they were the masters of the genre. And there is a whole world of jazz and space music that I love. I like a whole lot of stuff, but as far as rock rock goes, it pretty much died at the end of the 70's. The rock scene from the British Invasion of the mid-60's all the way to The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac in the late 70's was a renaissance. I mean that literally. There was ssssssssooooooooooooo much superphenomenal music that came out in the wake of The Beatles. It will be really hard for that era to be outdone. I hope it will. Just imagine the possibilities.

[FreshBrains]

In that same History of Rock and Roll documentary I was just talking to Ryan about, Townshend had the nerve to claim that he doesn't like a "single thing" Led Zeppelin has ever done. There is no way he really feels that way. I think he is a jealous bitch who knows that Page is out of his league. That's my opinion. Roger Daltrey said he thinks Hendrix is the best guitarist ever, and I am not sure if I believe them. And Led Zeppelin got their name from Who drummer Keith Moon's comment that the band was going to "go over like a lead balloon." My personal opinion is that they knew they were about to get their asses whipped, and it is my opinion that they did. [/b] Wait what? The Who were enormously successful. And still are. It seems like they admitted they were wrong about that in the song Mirror Door, the line "Golden stairway to a zeppelin heaven." And either way, maybe he doesn't like Led Zeppelin! No wait, I forgot, he isn't allowed to have an opinion. And how did they 'get their asses kicked?' The Who are a successful band. VERY successful. And they have made some of the best songs in Rock's history. Just because they didn't like Led Zeppelin doesn't mean they suck.

[Universal Mind]

Wait what? The Who were enormously successful. And still are. It seems like they admitted they were wrong about that in the song Mirror Door, the line "Golden stairway to a zeppelin heaven." And either way, maybe he doesn't like Led Zeppelin! No wait, I forgot, he isn't allowed to have an opinion. And how did they 'get their asses kicked?' The Who are a successful band. VERY successful. And they have made some of the best songs in Rock's history. Just because they didn't like Led Zeppelin doesn't mean they suck. [/b] Yeah, nice job. I was saying Townshend isn't allowed to have an opinion. Am I allowed to have one? The Who sucks compared to Led Zeppelin, and their success was nothing compared to the success of Led Zeppelin. And of course The Who had to admit they were wrong about the future of Led Zeppelin. They were as wrong as they possibly could have been, the name of the band made fun of it, and so did the rest of the world. I like the Who, but let's not compare mice to mammoths. Led Zeppelin and The Who were same era hard rock bands that were a whole lot alike, but The Who was not anywhere near as successful or respected as Zeppelin. With that in mind, do you think Pete Townshend actually doesn't like EVEN ONE song Zeppelin EVER did OR that Townshend has sour grapes about a band that kicked their asses? I can't say for sure, but I see more probability in one than the other.

[27]

The rooftop concert was the Beatles last. They hadn't played live for years before that. And Keith Moon was a friend to the guys in Zeppelin, he was making a joke with them when he said "With that line-up you'll go down like a lead zeppelin," not critizing them. Both the Who and Led Zeppelin are very influencial bands but i think the Who are kind of sell outs. When Jon Bonham Died, so did Led Zeppelin. When Jimmy page and Robert plant got together a few years ago they called themselves just that, "Page and Plant". Now with only two original members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend countinue to tour and record as the Who. How would you feel about Paul and Ringo getting together, making a new album and calling themselves the Beatles?

[Universal Mind]

And Keith Moon was a friend to the guys in Zeppelin, he was making a joke with them when he said "With that line-up you'll go down like a lead zeppelin," not critizing them. [/b] I don't mean to make it sound like I hate The Who. They had some really good songs. I have a lot of footage of them on video. They were especially good at the 1970 Isle of Wight. I just think they act like they were defeated, despite the fact that the two bands were friends. If they didn't act that way, I probably wouldn't notice so much.

[pj]

Hate to change the subject back to the subject, but I've found one that has completely taken my breath away: Jeff Buckley... playing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" No... this doesn't really qualify as "classic rock," but it is an amazing performance of an amazing song.

[Neruo]

Man I love led zeppelin. =) Silly frenches.

[3FLryan]

I reccomend listening to "A Change of Seasons" by Dream Theater (John Petrucci is their guitarist). It is a 23 minute long musical masterpiece. This is a band that is about music. Purely, solely about music and the art they create. One of their releases had a CD that was entirely one song made up of like 9 different movements. A string of 8 albums were part of a "meta-album," starting with the same note that the last album ended with. It's beautiful and moving stuff. I don't listen to the radio. Like, at all. That's not where you find music. I agree that a lot of music today just totally sucks from the very core of its being. But there is also so much out there to be appreciated. As guitarists go, I say nothing profound when I state that there are many guitarists that could eat Jimmy Page alive in terms of technical proficiency. But they could not touch him in terms of the beauty of the music that he produces. I forget what my point was. Anyway, everyone should listen to "Love Soup" by Bumblefoot (aka Ron Thal). And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Music "then" was perhaps better in the fact that it wasn't molested by large corporations, but not all music today is so tainted. EDIT: Sorry for going off topic.