| The end of 2005 was notable for featuring several live albums by high profile artists, including Queens of the Stone Age, Slipknot, John Mayer, and the long-- winded Mars Volta. Although they’re a rarity today, there was a time when a live album was a staple of virtually every band’s catalogue. It wasn’t enough to kick ass in the studio, you had to kick ass onstage, too, and said ass-kicking had to be different enough from the studio versions to warrant purchasing the live album in the first place.
Of the above-mentioned groups, The Mars Volta in particular are noted for featuring deviations from studio versions of songs and for long improvisations, a quality that has both endeared them to and estranged them from concert-goers. Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has got in on the fun, saying that his solo tour will feature much looser shows than he’s used to, using the songs as "the germ of what we’re going to do." Although such things may seem foreign to younger concert-goers, there was a time when live performances like this were much more common.
Although groups like the Queens of the Stone Age and The Mars Volta are gaining popularity and playing bigger venues, they are not "arena rock," which is best exemplified by power-ballad groups of the late’70s and ’80s like Journey, Styx, Foreigner and REO Speedwagon. You can leave your lighters in your pocket and forget about doing the singing for the band at a QOTSA or Volta show. No, the tactics of these bands have much more in common with the "hippie ballroom" scene of the late ’60s and early ’70s, where stoned teenagers packed mid-sized venues like San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium. At the height of this era, groups such as Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Santana were known for live performances that mutated on a seemingly nightly basis, using their instruments in ways that made older, Perry Como-leavened audiences run in terror. Even punk godfathers like the MC5 were inspired more by freeform jazz than three-chord rock, and were noted for covering songs by innovative jazz musicians like Sun Ra, Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders in concert. In addition to aggressive sonic experimentation in the studio, these bands were equally adventurous onstage, playing with audience expectations. As drugs and egos set in, the performances became either watered down or self-indulgent (although live recordings from the time showcase sides of these musicians that people may have forgotten about).
Newer groups like The Mars Volta are also a far cry from the bands that made up the "jam-band" scene that gained popularity during the 1990s. This loosely connected scene was best represented by Phish, notable for being one of the first bands since the Grateful Dead to sell more concert tickets than albums. Other bands of the movement included Moe, Widespread Panic and Blues Traveler. Although they possessed impressive improvisational abilities and tried to make every concert unique, they lacked the sheer balls to reach into the sonic unknown the way the bands they were emulating had done. They appealed primarily to older audiences, who were content in the realization that they wouldn’t do anything too "out there" onstage. And unlike the bands I mentioned earlier (The Mars Volta, QOTSA, etc.), studio albums and songwriting were largely an afterthought, things that record labels made them do in between shows.
Of course, it’s not always about extended jams. Sometimes it’s about pulling out all the stops and giving a good show, regardless of whether or not it sounds "just like the album." A few years ago, I watched an awards show that featured performances by Nelly Furtado and The White Stripes. Backed by a veritable army of musicians to ensure every blip and bleep of the studio was made, Furtado gave a performance that was like watching the music video of her song, except without the slow-mo shots. Then the Stripes went on, with a vintage guitar and tiny drum kit their only instruments, and tore through their part of the show. It was noisy, a bit out of tune and a lot more exciting than what Furtado had done only moments before. The White Stripes are known for not using any sort of set list for their shows, and Jack White’s paint-peeling guitar tone and blues howl will ensure your aunt Minnie covers her ears should she decide to attend.
…And you will know us by the Trail of Dead is another band noted for its live performances. The band forged a reputation for on stage destruction that hadn’t been seen since the heyday of The Who. The band seeks to make a live performance an almost visceral experience, alternating loud and bombastic with gentle and serene, so that both indie kids and headbangers are kept on their toes.
What this all adds up to is that there is a new generation of bands that is doing everything it can to make each concert an exciting and unique experience – even if it’s not always comfortable. Sure, extended guitar solos aren’t for everyone, but look at it this way –– at least it’ll be different the next time you hear it. |
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