Live album tricks and clowning/showmanship?

[sleeplessknight]

I'm looking for live recordings of bands having fun with a tune, or just clowning around within a song's form. I'm not necessarily looking for "We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium"-type stuff, but more in the line of Stevie Wonder's syncopated horn ending on "I Wish" off the Natural Wonder album, or Victor Wooten's "I Wanna Thank You" off of Live In America. Stuff that may or may not be orchestrated, but the band is absolutely having a hell of a good time, and the audience is suitably dazzled, etc.



or



Both videos should be timestamped for your convenience.

Is there a better description of what's going on here too, other than "Showmanship"?

 

[FilterFunk]

"We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium" - I'm sorry...I can't pull myself together enough to answer your question because the line I quoted from your post has me !

 

[sleeplessknight]

You've never seen KISS cover 'Great Balls of Fire"?

Hey man, the 80s were a wild time. Don't judge!

 

[dalkowski]

I'm not necessarily looking for "We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium"-type stuff

But if anyone is, I know a guy who knows a guy.

 

[ahbass2500]

Gov't Mule weaving Prince's When Doves Cry into Beautifully Broken during The Deepest End. If you are reading this post and have never listened to The Deepest End, go listen/watch it. Gov't Mule is fantastic live and the bass player lineup for the concert is insane.

Not one I have a video for, but in line with OPs original request of live bands having fun. I will never forget the first time I saw Gov't Mule live. Matt Abts (drummer) did not stop playing the entire show. Small drum solos/fills between each song to pull them together seamlessly. Extended drum solo for first set break and break before the encore. It was impressive on endurance alone (even more impressive was how musically he was able to do it). This seemed to be a one off thing as I have seen them a few times since and he did not do this for those shows.

Note I am interpreting having fun as playing with the song (something jam bands are great at and not necessarily as a completely random occurrence).

 

[ahbass2500]

Another favorite fun music moment. From Tom Petty's Pack Up the Plantation live album.



Petty sings "It's all right if you love me" crowd takes it from there (and nails all the words). Petty comes back in with "You are going to put me out of a job."

 

[Killing Floor]

Solid banter to start and the play between him and the horns is golden.

 

[Passinwind]

 

[OllieVT]

I've never seen anyone light any parts of their anatomy on fire, but c.2000 I did see Alex Kane, lead singer of Antiproduct, strip naked and spray paint himself orange. I remember enjoying the show overall, but can't recall this doing anything in particular to elevate the music. (Also, their bassist at the time, Toshi, is one of my bass heroes, now that I've started playing bass and thought about bassists I've enjoyed, or even noticed, in the past.)

 

[Rib 13]

"We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium" - I'm sorry...I can't pull myself together enough to answer your question because the line I quoted from your post has me !

I'd pay good money to get tickets for that show

 

[Lobster11]

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, with Bruce Springsteen and Little Steven, covering Sam Cooke's "We're Having a Party." Love the series of modulations they add at the end!

 

[BrotherRay]

If you've never seen Earth Wind & Fire do Magic Mind, Maurice and the horn section absolutely clown! There are several versions, this one is the original band. There's another version from Live in Japan in 1988
.

 

[Guitalia]

I'm looking for live recordings of bands having fun with a tune, or just clowning around within a song's form. I'm not necessarily looking for "We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium"-type stuff, but more in the line of Stevie Wonder's syncopated horn ending on "I Wish" off the Natural Wonder album, or Victor Wooten's "I Wanna Thank You" off of Live In America. Stuff that may or may not be orchestrated, but the band is absolutely having a hell of a good time, and the audience is suitably dazzled, etc.

Is there a better description of what's going on here too, other than "Showmanship"?

James Brown should have received royalties every time someone did the hit one time/two times/etc. thing.

Should start around 7:00.



One of my favorite obscure '70's jazz rock/then weird rock bands, Patto, went in for their own versions of false endings. Clip should start at the second of two or three false endings, at about 5:45. But listen to the whole song to appreciate how out there they were.

 

[J Wilson]

Either of the live J Geils albums on Atlantic, FULL HOUSE from 1972, and BLOW YOUR FACE OUT, the double LP from 1976.

Hard drivin' men at work, Wolf in midair. L-R, Magic Dick on harp, the late J Geils on triple pickup custom V, Stephen Jo Bladd on drums, the late Danny Klein on bass, and Seth Justman on B3 and Steinway. The OG 'Bad Boys from Boston'.

These guys' shows were 'nothin' but a house party', and Peter Wolf was a formidable, crazy frontman. The best band I ever saw to walk out, and by the first chorus of the lead-off tune, the house was up and ragin'.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

I'm not sure if there's video of it but many years ago I saw Billy Joel at the (now defunct) Capitol Center in MD. In the middle of the show he segued into "Shout" by the Isley Bros. Played the whole tune! It was great! Then he turned around and apologized to the band! But you could tell they were having a ball!

BBB

 

[Five or Six]

We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium

I think if that was done to the drummer it would be better.

 

[jerry]

I'm looking for live recordings of bands having fun with a tune, or just clowning around within a song's form. I'm not necessarily looking for "We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium"-type stuff, but more in the line of Stevie Wonder's syncopated horn ending on "I Wish" off the Natural Wonder album, or Victor Wooten's "I Wanna Thank You" off of Live In America. Stuff that may or may not be orchestrated, but the band is absolutely having a hell of a good time, and the audience is suitably dazzled, etc.



or



Both videos should be timestamped for your convenience.

Is there a better description of what's going on here too, other than "Showmanship"?

The " hit me no times" is a classic!

 

[Winslow]

Rush started having a lot more fun in their shows in the late '80s. I was at one of the shows on this tour (Hold Your Fire), and remember the crowd going absolutely bonkers when they realized "Closer to the Heart" was not ending as it usually did, but instead, the boys were going into a double-time "Hold my beer and watch this" addendum to it.



It was absolutely electrifying and tremendous fun to see, and kind of a turning point for a band who had usually played things pretty close to the way things were expected of them.

And for a whole lot of showing off as a tight-as-hell organization, it's almost impossible to beat Prince and the Revolution's live version of "Baby I'm a Star" from the Purple Rain tour:

 

[5StringBlues]

Yes Live: 11/8/77 - Glasgow - Rick Wakeman playing with his feet - video (youtube.com)

 

[dbsfgyd1]

"We lit the keyboard player's t*sticles on fire and zip-lined him across the stadium" - I'm sorry...I can't pull myself together enough to answer your question because the line I quoted from your post has me !

Didn‘t Jerry Lee Lewis write a song about this??