April 07, 2009

All the best music - all the best bands...

Bon JoviImage via Wikipedia

For many years now I've been on a bit of a quest. Well, it's something of an obsession more than a quest. I want to hear my all time favourite songs played live by the original artists.

For certain songs this is going to be impossible - Hendricks playing "Voodoo Chile (slight return)" live is probably a lost cause, I would suggest. But there are others which did sound impossible but have still occurred:

I was able to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd play "Freebird' despite that fact that a number of the band died in a plane crash in the late 70's. They reformed with the remaining band members and the original lead singer's younger brother to produce a fabulous show at the old Hammersmith Odeon in London. I was also able to get tickets for Eric Claptons last world tour to hear him play "Layla" in Sheffield about 4 years ago.

Anyway here's the list (and no laughing at my weird and eclectic musical taste!)

Already heard live:
  • Don Maclean - "American Pie"
  • Eric Clapton - "Layla"
  • Eric Clapton - "Wonderful Tonight"
  • Rolling Stones - "Sympathy for the Devil"
  • Rolling Stones - "Satisfaction'
  • Rolling Stones - "Honky Tonk Woman"
  • Joe Walsh - "Life's Been Good"
  • U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Freebird"
  • Lynyrd Skynrd - "Sweet Home Alabama"
  • Eurythmics - "Sweet Dreams are made of this"
  • Aerosmith - "Jaynie's got a gun"
  • Katie Melua - "Closest Thing to Crazy"
  • Genesis - "Mama"
  • Paul Simon "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Even though it was an atrocious reggae version!)
  • Ton Petty "Free Fallin'"
  • Bon Jovi - "Wanted. Dead or Alive"
  • AC/DC - "Hells Bells"
  • AC/DC - "Back in Black"
  • Paul Rodgers (from 'Free') - "All Right Now"
Not heard live:
  • Jimmy Hendricks - "Voodoo Chile (Slight return)"
  • Jimmy Hendricks - "Foxy Lady"
  • Pink Floyd - "Wish you were here"
  • Eric Clapton - "White Room" (it wasn't in the set he played)
  • Madonna - "Ray of Light"
  • Eagles - "Hotel California"
  • Paul McCartney - "Hey Jude"
  • Guns 'n' Roses - "November Rain"
  • Aerosmith - "Living on the Edge" (it wasn't in the set they played)
  • Elton john - "Your song"
  • Rolling Stones - "Angie" (not in the set)
  • Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Probably not going to happen!)
There have been a number of memorable occurances during these concerts:

The Paul Simon Concert. Wembley Arena, London. It took him about 25 minutes to play a song the audience were enthused about. That song was 'You can call me Al' which he then played again! The encore was the atrocious reggae version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" which it took everyone about 2 minutes to recognise. Possibly the worst concert I have ever been to.

On the plus side I attended a Bon Jovi concert at Southampton's football stadium where Jon and Richie Sambora played the acoustic guitars for "Wanted, Dead or Alive" and THE WHOLE audience just provided the vocals while they smiled and strummed away without singing anything. I got chills!

The Rolling Stones concert at Twickenham Rugby Ground in London was great. I was in the middle of the field about 30 yards away from the stage. At the midpoint of the concert, the drum riser and a small piece of stage actually detached from the main stage and rode out on a rail to about 8 feet away from me where Mick and the boys continued to play . We got a mini concert of about 5 songs including "Satisfaction" before the mini-stage rode back to join it's bigger brother. Magical.

As I mentioned earlier on, a number of these on the wish list are never goig to happen. But then again they said that about the Eagles reuniting (even going so far as to call the reunion tour "Hell Freezes Over") so I still hold out hope that a number of those on my list will happen...


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