Steerpike

Showing my age, I found this recording on YT the other day and was blown away! I grew up with this music (Genesis, primarily from the Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot albums, which were my favorites), but back in those days, you only ever got to see such a performance live, if you were very lucky, or perhaps on something like 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' (who here remembers that?!) - no YouTube, no MTV, no VH1. Peter Gabriel's voice was quite remarkable; very few vocalists have that 'raspy yet musical' characteristic! And he's in full costume form on this one!

Starts out with 'Watcher of the skies' from Foxtrot, then at 8:00 they do 'Dancing with the moonlit knight', and 'I know what I like ...' from 'Selling England by the Pound'. At 23:00 we get 'Musical Box' from 'Nursery Cryme' (a brilliant performance, with Peter's voice working wonders), and then - at 37:00 we get my all-time favorite Genesis song, 'Supper's Ready' from Foxtrot . I loved this video because it was the first time I got to see Peter Gabriel do his multi-costume performance. I was lucky enough to see them perform "The Lamb Lies Down" in 1975 but ... in my view that was 2 hours of just one long theme, and it left little time for them to perform any of their other material (there are some great 'interview' YouTubes with the band about how that didn't go down well with most of the band)


I really liked Peter Gabriel's later material also, but it's almost impossible for me to see the two people as the same performer - what a versatile guy he was!

And while I was on my quest to find good videos of older performances, I found this performance by Jethro Tull of another of my favorite albums of the time - "Thick as a Brick":


What a performer! He's a fascinating guy also.

macliam

I never got into Genesis, I was more into the Strawbs and others.... but Tull was always a favourite!

I was into "theme" albums - "Grave New World" by the Strawbs

and then on to SF Sorrow by the Pretty Things

Steerpike

I need to explore 'Jethro Tull' more; I totally fell in love with 'Thick as a Brick', but for some reason couldn't find any other album to enjoy back in the day. Ian Anderson is a fantastic performer.

I also need to explore more 'King Crimson'; another band I just never got enough exposure to.

How about this for a great blast from the past - it's a performance of "Comfortably Numb" from 2005, by the original Pink Floyd members. I didn't even know that such a reunion had taken place, knowing that Gilmour and Waters were not on speaking terms for decades. Apparently they overcame their differences just for this one live performance, and that was it, so this is quite special.


I saw them perform 'The Wall' at Earls Court in 1981 (ticket - 8.50 GBP!!!!), which was to be their last ever live performance with the original lineup (until this Live 8 gig). They built an actual wall across the stage during the performance, which they then knocked down at the very end. It was all very symbolic, but for the finale, when the concert was at it's peak, the band is actually behind the wall for quite some time, which was really annoying for the audience members ... we didn't pay to see a big white wall

Here's a photo I took at that 1981 concert, from the early part, before the wall was built:


And this is later in the show, after the wall was completed; the band somehow magically relocated all their equipment to a second stage in front of the wall (I don't remember how they achieved that!):



And this is when they knocked down the wall; by this time the band were back behind the wall, which was the annoying part!



Reminds me of just how awesome it was to be living in London at that time! I was a poor university student, but somehow we managed to afford things like Pink Floyd concerts!

PS - these were incredibly difficult pictures to get! This was 1981, and low-light photography wasn't as easy as it is today! I had an Olympus OM-1 SLR, with an 85-210 zoom. I was shitting bricks taking all that gear into a live concert as they often had signs up saying 'no cameras'! I used Ektachrome slide film, which was either 800 or 1600 ASA, and took these pictures without a tripod, from quite a long way from the stage. 'Auto-exposure' wasn't what it is today, either - you pretty much had to 'guess' at what settings to use, and you wouldn't know if you were successful or not until you mailed in your film and got your slides back several weeks later! So I was very pleased when they turned out well!

kimilseung

I just got tickets for the summer for The Hu, a Mongolian band, perhaps best described as Folk-metal. They are third on the bill to Megadeath and then Five Finger Death Punch. I am not sure what I will do when Megadeth come on, no interest at all. Not since I bought tickets to see Joy Division supporting the Buzzcocks, in 1979, have I paid to see a support band.

macliam

Later Floyd, with help from a guest, singing one of my favourites from the early days

and then the latest from Nick Mason and David Gilmour to protest the Ukrainian crisis

BristolUK

I remember that being quite regular.
Lynyrd Skynyrd as support to Golden Earring. From the numbers who left after the drummer did his leap over the drumkit on Radar Love, we weren't the only ones.

Beach Boys, Eagles and Joe Walsh at Wembley Stadium and leaving when Elton was on stage.

Montrose as support to Quo...although I did enjoy quo too.

I remember going to a few gigs around 2000 and being blown away by supports especially one night where every act was brilliant. And people from the previous band joining the next. But it was kind of a themed tour for the record label.

kimilseung

"Lynyrd Skynyrd as support to Golden Earring" wow! that just seems messed up (I was going to say Godden Earing were a one hit wonder, but Lynyrd Skynyrd are only know for Freebird by many too). That Wembley show was quite the line up, I am surprised that many walked out on Elton, I dont know Montrose (other than a football team)
There was a club by the name of Eric's were i saw a lot of bands, on Saturday they used to have the support band on after the main band. It was good for me as I was able to get away and get the last bus, but it also meant I missed a few bands that I would have stayed for if I could have avoided the taxi fare.

BristolUK

£3.50 for a ticket. I still have the programme. I don't think that many left, I was meaning me and my mate, whereas quite a few left the Golden Earring show.

We usually had just enough time to leave Bristol's Colston (yes, him) Hall at the end to beat last orders and get the bus.

But there was one night at the Rainbow in 1974 where things were later than in Bristol (or they were just late starting) and we had to leave at the 'encore' to make sure we were back to Paddington for the last train.

In 76 I saw Little Feat, Alex Harvey and The Who at Charlton and that finished really late. We slept on the platform at Paddington - Night Buses

Steerpike

They look interesting! Here's a video of them on stage, much more fun than glitzy 'music videos'

Even better - found this studio piece - love that voice!

kimilseung

Throat singing, - there was a time , that I never expected to hear it in rock.music.

Steerpike

Reminded me of this, which I used to listen to from time to time (when I really wanted something harsh!). This is not the best example, but it's the only 'live performance' I can find.


This is from a studio album, and perhaps a better example of the voice I was thinking of; not sure if this is 'throat singing' or not, but it's what came to mind ... The opening 'Kyrie ...' is rather strong ... !

There was a time when I went crazy seeking out ancient music like this ...

macliam

... and I bring you "Sean Nós" (old style) singing

BuckinghamshireBoy

With a huge nod to Uncle Neil ...


I almost got to see DMB at Jones Beach in the mid-90's, but work got in the way

+++

Rabbit holing, a bit more Dave Matthews