Category Archives: Live

Classic Concert, Concert films, Film, Leonard Cohen, Live

Classic documentary: Leonard Cohen Bird On A Wire (1974)

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Classic Documentary: Leonard Cohen Bird On The Wire  (Documentary, 1974)

On March 18th 1972, Leonard Cohen began a 20-city European tour, beginning in Dublin and ending in Jerusalem on April 21st. Other cities included London at the Royal Albert Hall, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin and Tel Aviv. This film is an impression of what happened during that tour.

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Bird on a Wire is a great documentary of Leonard Cohen in his prime. Tony Palmer was given complete and intimate access to Cohen, filming him on stage, backstage, on the bus and in hotel rooms. The band is incredible. There are songs where Jennifer Warnes and Donna Washburn stand behind Cohen and sing over his shoulder, sharing one microphone. Most of the concert footage is very close on Cohen’s face, giving the movie a strangely intimate feel.

The movie begins a couple of days before the Tel Aviv concert. This is not just a concert film. The live performances are interspersed with insightful interviews in which Cohen talks about a range of topics:  “I don’t have a good voice, everybody knows that” and the difficulties of performing personal songs night after night on stage. Cohen has always been candid but it doesn’t get more personal than this.

The world premiere of this feature film by Tony Palmer was at the Rainbow Theater on July 5, 1974, in London. The original version cost over 120.000 USD to produce, but Cohen was not satisfied. He spent six months in England editing and rearranging the film to show the deeper elements in music, the conditions that produced it, and his interaction with the audiences. It contains songs from albums as well as concerts, including those of Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Israel in March and April 1972. It is a documentary rather than an art film.
– Ira Nadel: Life in Art and Dorman & Rawlins: Prophet of the Heart

The footage from the last show in Jerusalem is amazing.  Halfway through the show, Cohen walks off stage, quoting Kabbalah and saying that he just wasn’t giving a good concert.

A stoned(he seems so) Cohen jokes about being “bombed in Jerusalem” and after smoking some ( a lot of) cigarettes, he goes back on stage to deliver a legendary encore that included Famous Blue Raincoat.

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Classic Concert, Concert films, John Prine, Live

Classic concert: John Prine Sessions at West 54th (full concert)

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John-Prine

John Prine  Sessions at West 54th (full concert)

This is a great concert and a rare treat as there are very few Prine concerts on the web. The only problem is that it is too short! John Prine is the type of singer that makes you listen to his lyrics. He infuses humour in his, sad but entertaining lyrics. Each time you hear him, you hear something different. Bob Dylan had this mix of humour and seriousness on his first album and Townes Van Zandt and Warren Zevon made a real art out of it. John Prine fits fine in their company.

The crowning moments for me are the duets with singer Iris Dement, who with great pride joins him in some “questionable lyrics” as he puts it. And the wonderful song , Lake Marie, I never get tired of that song. Prine tells the story wonderfully on this concert.

 

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“Sessions at West 54th gave Prine a chance to work his charm on a television audience (and in 2002, a VHS and DVD audience). The appearance coincided with the successful release of In Spite of Ourselves, and a number of that album’s songs appear on this set. Prine begins his performance by reaching back to the very beginning of his career for “Blow Up Your T.V.” and “Six O’Clock News.” He’s accompanied by guitarist Jason Wilber and bassist David Jacques, players who provide a simple and warm setting for these songs. Iris Dement joins Prine in the middle of the session for a number of duets, including fine versions of “In Spite of Ourselves” and “Let’s Invite Them Over Again.” Other classics, including “Sam Stone” and “Hello in There,” fill out the disc. Watching Live from Sessions at West 54th is a lot like getting a good seat to a Prine show in a small venue.”
– Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. (allmusic)

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Classic Concert, Country, Johnny Cash, Live, Music Calendar

Dec 5: Johnny Cash played MSG, New York in 1969

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Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden is an album by Johnny Cash that was recorded in December 1969 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, but which was not released until 2002 (making it his 86th album overall).

The album was recorded just 4 months after Cash’s seminal At San Quentin was released, which is probably why it was not released soon after its recording. As with all Cash live shows of this period, he was backed up by the Tennessee Three, which consisted of W.S. Holland, Marshall Grant and Bob Wooton. After the first 11 songs, Johnny Cash took a short break and the guests stepped up to the plate with their current hits. As if Johnny wasn’t enough, we get Carl Perkins and The Statler Brothers in tremendous form. The Carter Family was a standard part of the Johnny Cash Show, and it is a real treat hearing Mother Maybelle with her daughters. They also performs back up vocals on many of the songs.

As with most Cash shows, the genres covered ran the gamut from country music to rockabilly to even some folk rock. Similarly to “Johnny Cash At San Quentin”, Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden includes numbers performed by Perkins, the Statlers and the Carters while Johnny was offstage.

It is an absolute must have for any Johnny Cash fan! I still wonder why Sony took 33 years to release this gem.

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Concert films, Johnny Cash, Live

Video of the day: Johnny Cash Live from Austin, TX 1987 (concert video)

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Johnny Cash Austin TX 1987

“In case you’ve been born since ‘56 and never heard it…this is the way it sounded 31 years ago when we recorded it.”
– Johnny Cash (introducing I Walk the Line)

“At one point, while introducing his band, Cash tells the audience, “I don’t even remember the bad times, there’s been so many good times,” but on the best moments of this performance, it’s clear he never forgot the valleys of his life, and they informed his work even on what should have been just another television gig following the release of an album (Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town) destined to be lost in the shuffle.It’s the strength of ordinary moments like this that serve as a reminder of how remarkable Johnny Cash really was, and while Live from Austin TX is hardly his definitive live album (that honor would go to Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison), it’s a potent and thoroughly enjoyable disc that fans will want to hear.”
– Mark Demming (allmusic.com)

Recorded on January 3, 1987, Live from Austin, TX is Johnny Cash’s performance from the Austin, Texas television show, Austin City Limits. It was released on New West Records in 2005. Cash performs many old hits, and performs new ones from his latest releases on Mercury Records, where he just recently moved to. The CD and DVD do not contain the whole show — the songs “The Big Light”, “A Wonderful Time Up There”, and “The Fourth Man in the Fire” were left out.

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Concert films, Levon Helm, Live, Rick Danko, The Band

The Band in New Orleans April 22 1994 (video)

Band No2

Good concert video recorded at the Lakefront Arena, New Orleans, LA, April 22, 1994, during the New Orleans Blues and Heritage Festival. The Band were the opening act for the Allman Brothers Band. The video does not contain the complete show (there are at least 4 songs missing).

Highlights are Blind Willie McTell and Atlantic City

Featuring Rick Danko, Levon Helm, and Garth Hudson, with Randy Ciarlante, Jim Weider, and Richard Bell.

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