Category Archives: Live

Allman Brothers Band, Great albums, Live, Sound

30 best live albums countdown: 18 – At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band

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ABB fillmore color

“Okay, The Allman Brothers Band…”
– the announcer

At Fillmore East – The Allman Brothers Band (1971)

At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band is my number 18 on the countdown of the 30 best live albums in the world. It was the band’s breakthrough success, it was released in July 1971. It ranks Number 49 among Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was one of 50 recordings chosen in 2004 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. The song “Whipping Post” is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list

I love the way it presents all these different aspects of the blues, chicago- blues, Mississippi delta- blues, Texas-blues, Jazzy blues and monumental blues jams. It includes cover songs and original composition and the album is put together in a way that feels natural.

It was recorded at the Fillmore East concert hall on Friday and Saturday March 12, 1971 and March 13, 1971.

ABB greg and duane

2003 saw the release of a two-disc edition entitled At Fillmore East Deluxe Edition. It compiled all the released versions of the Fillmore material, some material from the collection Duane Allman: An Anthology and the Dreams box set, and remixed the material with a better soundstage than the 1992 release. That’s the one to get.

“The Allman Brothers had many fine moments at the Fillmores, and this live double album (recorded March 12th and 13th of this year) must surely epitomize all of them.”

– George Kimball (Review, Rolling Stone Magazine)

I need to include One Way Out from the rlease, The Fillmore Concerts. Just because it is so damn good, and would be a great addition to the original album.

It gives us Duane Allman’s tight slide guitar up against and weaving into Richard Betts’ round and loose lead guitar, it also has Dicky Betts’ best recorded guitar solo.

Whipping Post (Live Fillmore, 9/23/70):

The connection between the two lead guitarists and the two drummers is extraordinary! Also, listen to Barry’s bass lines, incredible, and Greg’s vocals (and jazzy organ) and you have band for the ages.

This album is for me, the crowning achievement of the ultimate southern-rock band.

We’ve posted this documentary before, but t is so good and give us such insight that everyone should see it again.

Sweet Home Alabama – The Story of southern Rock:

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Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springsteen concert, Live, Music Calendar

Today: Bruce Springsteen played Roxy LA in 1978

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“…all them bootleggers out there in radio-land, roll your tapes!”
– Bruce Springsteen (Roxy, 1978)

One of the best concerts in the history of rock took place at the Roxy 7 July in 1978.

Some of you may already be familiar with one of the many bootlegs from this show, but for those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure. I would strongly recommend you to seek it out, they are fairly easy to find on the web.

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When I first got a copy of “Roxy Night” I played it constantly for four days. In the house, on my discman (google it, young folks) and in the car, I couldn’t get enough. It was and still is the best bootleg I have ever heard.

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It’s a radio broadcast of a show Bruce Springsteen did at the Roxy Theater in Los Angeles in July of 1978, 8 songs from this concert were used on Bruce’s official Live 1975-85 album, albeit in an edited form (and too extensive editing in a song or two, a 5 and a half minute long “Sad Eyes” interlude was cut out of the version of this performance included on the Live 1975-85 release). Once a person hears the unedited version of “Backstreets,” they realize how much that is missing in the released/edited version. This show must be heard in its unedited entirety.

Full Concert at The Roxy 1978:

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I have more than 300 hundred Bruce Springsteen shows/bootlegs on CD/Vinyl or Hard-disk (and I’ve heard a lot more!) and this is one of my all time favorite shows.

roxy78 crowd

It’s from the so called Darkness Tour. The atmosphere is electric throughout due to the intimacy of the venue (The Roxy only held 500 people) and the fact that those who did get in are really big fans (he apologizes at the start of the concert to those poor unfortunates who had queued up all day in the heat and were still unable to get in).

Roxy 7 vinyl

The performance is incredible, and though it is true that there are bootlegs from later on in the tour that collectors often prefer because the songs from the Darkness on the edge of town album are more full, more fleshed out (such as the radio broadcast of the Winterlands show in San Francisco from 15-12-78 or the Passaic shows), but they don’t have the electric energy that runs through this set, it is a perfect Bruce Springsteen concert.

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Blues, Country, Festival, Live, Rock

Vikedal Roots Music Festival 11-14 July

plakat

Next week I’m visiting a local festival, Vikedal Roots Music Festival. It is the 15th year anniversary for this gem of a festival and they have some really great acts on their program.

It is located in Vikedal a beautiful little place here in the western part of Norway. They are setting up several stages and have concerts in the church, the harbour and in a big festival tent.

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We are talking about 23 concerts in 3 days, all of them firmly placed in the roots oriented music scene. Sometimes it’s roots-rock other times more folksy stuff.

The festival has given us some very good concerts through the years, and we have a long and loving relationship with this little, but great festival.

We here at Johannasvisions will try to see as many shows as we can, and we have chosen some favorites from this years

Here are our three must see artists at Vikedal Roots Music Festival 2013:

1. Ida Jenshus (with band)

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Ida Jenshus is always a safe bet, she and her band delivers on all shows, and she has a terrific band. Her latest release is less straight country and more into the Daniel Lanois /Emmylou Harris sound scape. We love it!

Here’s a concert taped for the Norwegian Broadcast Company (NRK). 22 minutes of great music with Ida Jenshus and her band:

 Place/Time: The Harbour, Thursday 11th July at 21:30

Our next choice is the up and coming “prairie-rock”-band, Yuma Sun.

2. Yuma Sun

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We have seen Yuma Sun in concert a few times, and they’re getting better with each show. They’ve toured extensively the last year and we are really looking forward to hear an even tighter band. As I write this they are playing at The Hove Festival, one of Norway’s biggest festivals.

Yuma Sun – Another Day:

In between all the gigs they are recording their second album. Hopefully we will get a release this fall.

Place/Time: The Harbour, Thursday 11th July at 23:30
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Live, Nick Cave

Video of the day – Nick Cave at Glastonbury 2013

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Photos from Bergenfest 2013 by Johannasvisions

The Guardian:

“…slowly the set takes focus; Deanna roars along with a savage edge but Tupelo introduces a hint of Cave’s inherent grandeur, allowing him to slip from there to the piano to croon a moving People Ain’t No Good. At which point restraint becomes as powerful as the Seeds’ ravenous beer-hall bluster; a ten-minute Stagger Lee is a masterclass in tension and drama, Cave balancing precariously on the crowd barrier with audience members holding him up by the boot-heel as he leans out to sing his tale of a deviant killer directly into the eyes of a hypnotised girl in white hoisted on someone’s shoulders.”

This set (Glastonbury 2013) is well worth seeing, but they were a lot better in Bergen, Norway (Bergenfest), there they were fantastic!

Here is the set from Glastonbury 2013:

Setlist:
Jubilee Street
From Her to Eternity
Deanna
Jack the Ripper
Tupelo
People Ain’t No Good
The Mercy Seat
Stagger Lee
Push the Sky Away
Encore: Red Right Hand

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– Hallgeir

Classic Concert, Concert films, Live

30 Best live albums countdown: 19 – Live at Carnegie Hall by Bill Withers

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bill withers-live carnegie hall

Bill Withers is not underrated by people who know about him and who recognizes his music, but he is unknown and criminally overlooked by the general public. He is in fact one of the greatest singer/songwriters in music history. He is soulful, but his music is not constrained to the soul genre. He writes good songs and he is a marvelous performer.

bill withers live

Bill Withers became a part of the L.A. music scene in the late 60s after a period in the Navy. While he was assembling airplane toilets for Boeing he was signed to the Sussex music label (in 1970) and had instant success with his first album, Just As I Am, and the acoustic ballad, Ain’t No Sunshine. Bill Withers had more in common with the singer/songwriters than with the rising disco/soul, even though there’s a strong groove in his songs, sometimes even a funky rhythm. His second release, 1972’s Still Bill, became a career high point, it contained songs like Use Me and Lean On Me, big hits both of them. The album cemented his position in music history.

In 1972 he also recorded the fantastic live album, Live at Carnegie Hall (released 1973). Nowhere is his narrative prowess and powerful vocal style more clear. This is number 19 on my list of the best live albums of all time.

The opener is a slow version of Use Me that Bill Withers turns into a seductive almost nine minute jam.

Use Me (Soul Train, 197?), not nearly as good as the Carnegie Hall version, but very good anyway:

The album also has the definitive version of Ain’t no Sunshine, a faster more jazzy interpretation than usual.

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There are many great songs on the album, but the real masterpiece is Grandma’s Hands and especially Bill Wither’s long intro, he is reminiscing about his grandmother playing tambourine in the church. We hear him describe the dancing and preaching at the church, his grandmother banging on the tambourine in joy, it’s an incredible story. He then launches into a heartfelt version of the song which, again, bests the original by miles. After hearing this version and his strong introduction, you will experience the song in new and deeper way.

Grandma’s Hands (audio with slide show):

“Grandma them had one a them churches where they sung “If you wanna help me Jesus, it’s alright. If you wanna help me Jesus, it’s alright”. And at the funeral they used to have to tie the caskets down! Yeah. Yeah.” – Bill Withers from the introduction

Allmusic (Steven McDonald):
A wonderful live album that capitalizes on Withers’ trademark melancholy soul sound while expanding the music to fit the room granted by a live show. Lovely versions of “Grandma’s Hands” and “Lean on Me” are balanced by heartfelt downbeat numbers like “Better Off Dead” and “I Can’t Write Left-Handed,” the latter being an anti-war song with a chilling message. The set finishes off with the lengthy “Harlem/Cold Baloney,” with lots of audience-pleased call-and-response going on. One of the best live releases from the ’70s.
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