Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Can you remember your first live concert? I remember it better than the time I lost my virginity (in fairness, I was sober at my first gig). It was Slade, and I was 12. The concert, not my first time. With a couple of mates I travelled by train from Lübeck to Kiel, somehow found the Ostseehalle, and braved a host of dreadful support acts that included one of the many “next Bay City Rollers” called Buster, a few German Schlager herberts, and Bonnie Tyler, whose hoarse balladeering I might have appreciated a year earlier, but not now when I had learned to play air guitar with as much attitude as a barely pubescent rocker could muster.

I didn’t see another proper concert (that is, live music not performed in a pub) until 1982, when I caught Johnny Clegg’s Juluka in Cape Town. A couple of years later I moved to London, where I immediately set out to buy concert tickets. My first London gig? I’d like to say it was the Smiths (never saw them live, alas) or Leonard Cohen (whom I did see live eventually), but — to my cool factor’s detriment — it was jazz-funksters Shakatak at the Hammersmith Odedon. At least the concert recording was released as a live album. From then on, I’d go to concerts almost every week, in the course of which I caused poor Joan Armatrading apparent distress by falling asleep, in the second row, bang in front of her.

The summer of ’85 represented the zenith of my gig-hopping career. On successive weekends I travelled from London, where I lived then, to see U2 in Milton Keynes (with the Ramones, Billy Bragg and a little know outfit called REM on the bill), Dublin (with the Ramones and some acts I can’t remember) and in Belgium (with the Ramones again, REM again, the Style Council and, er, Paul Young). Just back from Belgium I saw Bruce Springsteen live at Wembley, twice on successive nights (including a July 4 show). And a couple of weeks later, I was back at Wembley for Live Aid.

Happy memories. Back in South Africa since 1987, the last international concert I saw was Al Jarreau at Green Point Stadium. In 1993. Press tickets. I’ve missed a few potentially great concerts by international artistes since then, but enjoyed a few actually great gigs by local performers. Lamentably, the last concert I attended was as long ago as last July (a great performance by Cape Town emo-punk outfit Spratch).

All this dull reminiscence to introduce some live recordings… The great Welsh music writer Simon Price holds that live recordings are useless, because they fail to capture the atmosphere of the gig itself, and are post-concert engineered and re-recorded to such an exent that they don’t reproduce faithfully the sound which the crowds are cheering. And the music usually sucks anyway. Price is not entirely wrong.

And yet, there are artists whose interpretation of their songs presented on live albums eclipse the studio-recorded originals. Since falling in love with Crowded House’s Farewell To The World set I find it difficult to listen to their studio originals (just hear the genius of “When You Come” live, and then listen to the perfectly good but comparitively deficient studio version). Ditto Foo Fighters’ Skin And Bones set.

So with this in mind, Any Major Dude With Half A Heart presents for your listening pleasure…

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
The cover of Jimmy Cliff’s original composition, “Trapped” was on Broooce’s setlist on the 1985 tour. It was an absolute highlight as the E-Street Band would hit a crescendo and suddenly stop mid-noise, with perfect timing. This version appeared on the USA For Africa album.
Bruce Springsteen – Trapped (live)

BEN GIBBARD
Death Cab For Cutie and Postal Service singer Ben Gibbard takes on Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated”. The crowd laughs, Gibbard tells them that this is not a piss-take, but that he “fucking loves this song”. He’s right: “Complicated” is a great song, even if it was originally performed by Avril bloody Lavigne (by the way, having heard the new Lavigne album — for review purposes, I hasten to add — I think it is aggressively mediocre). This file cuts out much of the pre-song chatter included in most versions making the rounds on the Internet.
Ben Gibbard – Complicated (live)

THE WEEPIES
I’m in love with Deb Talan of The Weepies, and “Cherry Trees” simply intensifies my passion. It’s the poetry of the song (the title of which Talan happily admits she pinched from Pablo Neruda), Deb’s utterly lovely delivery, and —the clincher — that adorable giggle as she thanks her audience. This is from the previously linked live set on archive.org. I have pumped up the volume levels from the too-soft original (I suspect I haven’t remotely nailed the appropriate jargon here).
The Weepies – Cherry Trees (live)

BEN FOLDS
If I could choose to see any act in the world live right now, I’d demand my ticket to a Ben Folds show. The man is a superhero: Joe Soap with bargain-price clothes and glasses by day, Master Musician and Laureate Poet with bargain-price clothes and glasses by night. How did “There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You” evade inclusion on Folds’ proper album releases? This live recording comes from the “Songs For Goldfish” EP.
Ben Folds – There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You (live)

BARENAKED LADIES
I can’t decide whether I really like the Barenaked Ladies, or not. “Brian Wilson” is a great song, and there are a couple of brilliant tracks on the new album. At their worst, they don’t piss me off. Which I appreciate. “What A Good Boy” is by far the finest Barenaked Ladies song, and this live recording is better than the studio version.
Barenaked Ladies – What A Good Boy (live)

CROWDED HOUSE
As mentioned above, the Farewell To The World live set is quite brilliant. But, as Crowded House fans will tell you, it was not representative of a typical CH gig. This version of “Distant Sun” comes from an earlier concert, courtesy of my pal Battylad (Leeds Utd fan, hence the name).
Crowded House – Distant Sun (live)

FARRYL PURKISS
Farryl Purkiss is a hugely talented singer-songwriter from Durban who by rights should make it big internationally. His self-titled second album was one of my top 5 favourites of 2006. This recording of “Ducking And Diving”, which is not even the album’s best track, was captured in Australia last year. Be warned: this is a poor quality audio file.
Farryl Purkiss – Ducking And Diving (live)