20 Awesome Live Music Performances

If there's one thing I love more than anything, it's music. And one facet of music that I enjoy most is a great live performance, one that blows away the album version or somebody else's rendition of the same song. Since I watch a lot of live music footage online, I thought it would be fun to share a list of my current favorite performances captured on video, counting down from #20 to #1 (jealous much, Casey Kasem?)

For certain videos in the list, I will add a short description of why I like the performance so much if I feel it's necessary, but other videos speak for themselves. Anyway, enjoy!

20. Gnarls Barkley - Transformer (Live @ Abbey Road)

I was surprised with this video, because I find the original version of the song to be a bit irritating, while the version you see here is smooth as hell and lets Cee-Lo show off a little.

19. Ian Moore - Angelyne

18. James Morrison (Live @ Later...with Jools Holland)

17. The Morning Benders - Virgins

I like small-space performances like this, where the audience simply sits around the "stage" area while the artist performs. I also just really like this song a lot, which had apparently never been recorded in any way before this video.

16. My Brightest Diamond - Feelin' Good

This song has been covered in a million ways by a million artists (such as Michael Buble and Muse), and most of them are great. This one is no different.

15. Lightning Bolt - Assassins

The sheer energy of the drummer is what I like about this band. It's exactly the type of thing you should play when you want to break shit.

14. Timothy Gregory - Fall of Troy (Tom Waits cover)

This is just some guy I found on Youtube who does an amazing, heartfelt cover of a great Tom Waits song. Such great lyrics.

13. Eisley - Silverspring

12. Ebrahim - Paris2Dangelo

Another guy whose video I happened to come across one day. This video combines elements of D'Angelo's "Lady", Lupe Fiasco's "Paris", and Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" into one great uber-cover. I thought this guy was so talented that I bought his actual album Gold Rush a while back, and I would recommend it to anyone.

11. Kevin Olusola - Julie-O (Mark Summer cover)

Another entry in the people-beatboxing-while-playing-an-instrument category, I expected this to be really gimmicky but I was pleasantly surprised to find that this guy is a VERY good cellist and he has come up with a fantastic arrangment of the original song. His beatboxing isn't bad either.

10. Yeasayer - No Need to Worry / Redcave

You have to give the video a minute to warm up, but I love the idea of a group of friends having a few drinks and then going out on the town singing songs together and having a blast doing it.

9. Joe Cocker - The Letter

This is definitely Joe in his prime, while he still had that amazing voice.

8. The Civil Wars - Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover)

Not a song I would have expected a folk duo to cover, but they do an admirable job and the guy is just such an incredible singer. I also like the chemistry these two have together.

7. Amy Winehouse - Teach Me Tonight (Gene De Paul cover, Live @ Later...with Jools Holland)

Sigh, Amy Winehouse. If only she had stayed sober, she could have done more performances like this. Very sad that her career had to go in a different direction.

6. Alice Russell - Lights Went Out

Just discovered this the other day, and it's already a favorite. Fantastic voice and presence.

5. Patrick Watson - Man Under the Sea

I find this a very relaxing video to listen to, but the part I enjoy most is when Patrick walks over to the accordion player (who seems to be a stranger that the band had just met) and takes it over for a minute for an awesome solo.

4. Maria Callas - Carmen Overture

Easily the best performance of this overture I have ever seen.

3. Jamie Lidell feat. Gonzales - Green Light

2. Stevie Wonder - Heaven Help Us All

1. St. Vincent feat. Andrew Bird - What Me Worry

Two artists that I enjoy independently, but sound even better together. With this last video, it's better to know the backstory of the scene to understand why I love it so much. I'll just let the video description do the explaining:

"It was an evening in which there was one of those moments when the situation escapes us, where the artists take the wheel, and give more than what we would have dared to ask. We had tried to push St Vincent and Andrew Bird to play a piece together, they had spoken vaguely about a rendition of Dylan. Then Annie arrived and Andrew, who was supposed to leave, remained. He sat down at the other end of the piano, his violin in hand, and improvised on each of Annie's compositions. At that moment, we were not organizing a concert within a special framework, we assisted.. jellyfishes..of pure creation.. in charming duel.

Some weeks later, Andrew Bird announced that St Vincent would [be opening act for his United States tour]. In Paris, some lucky devils knew where they had met"

Well, there you have it! Hopefully this exercise has brought some new music to your attention, and if any of you out there have your own blog(s), I encourage you to post your own list. With the exception of a friend who is currently in the midst of a month-long country music challenge, of course; she may have to wait a while before posting haha