If asked, I will always say "Street Fighting Man" is my favorite Rolling Stones song. But boy, does it stink live.
Does the band play it badly? No. Not at all. They just play it differently, and it never works for me.
That song is also an amazing record. The tone of the acoustic guitar. The snap of Charlie's snare. The maracas on the coda. None of this translates live. In concert, "Street Fighting Man" becomes another Stones rocker, albeit a good one, just not the amazing record found on "Beggars Banquet."
And so, I ask of you, what are your favorite songs that did not translate live? That does not mean the concert sucked. I want to know specifically, songs that you love that left you cold in concert.
18 comments:
I first saw Van Morrison 40 years ago and by that point his band and overall sound had shifted from his 1970’s style. Moondance has become a sort of jazz piece that is nowhere near as satisfying as the album version.
- Paul in DK
Joe Bonamassa's second album So, it's Like That was far less of the hard & heavy blues rock album and more straight sounding rock record to me. In particular I really liked the song Mountain Time. When I saw him live a few ties he often included it in the set, but in a slower more bluesy version. It just didn't hit the same for me. The shows he played back then were pretty enjoyable though.
Led Zeppelin - Black Dog, Stairway
Randy
Most of the stuff Dylan does nowadays
I haven't seen Clapton in many years now but I got very tired of how he reinterpreted most of his catalog (e.g: Layla, Crossroads.)
As for the Stones, I have never liked their live version. Re-arranged in a dopey way that to totally misses the power chordy drone and menace of the guitars on the classic studio version.
Live version of Jumpin Jack Flash. Sorry. 😎
Costello and Clubland. A wonderful record that never seems to gel live until the chorus comes around.
Sturgill Simpson - The Promise
Springsteen - Johnny 99. All the live versions seem ridiculously overblown and lose the chill that makse the nriginal so good.
May 26, 1979 ironically my birthday.
Muddy and Clapton, Portland Maine.
I was there to hear Muddy, a legend who passed 4 years later.
Clapton, in the nadir of his alcoholism took the stage - he opened with the song I love to hate - Cocaine. It was unlistenable, I walked ou
Prior to this I saw Cream & Blind Faith when he was at the height of his skills.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Temptation
The Kinks never quite pulled off Come Dancing in concert, IMO.
Top of the Pops,1983 is pretty good
Steely Dan - Reelin' in the Years
I once saw Robyn Hitchcock jump onstage to sing an obviously unrehearsed version of Street Fighting Man with Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three. And Springsteen's cover back in the Born in the USA years wasn't very good either. I think it's just a deceptively hard song to pull off live.
Rob, I'm pretty sure that TOTP performance is lip synced to the record.
The Who could never pull off Long Live Rock live IMO. Couldn't pull off the groove or replace Nicky Hopkins' piano.
Just as an aside here: My wife and I lived in Tucson for five years, up in the hills that we shared with the nastiest, ugliest animals you can imagine -- no, not the White House press staff -- but Jalvalinas, which look like the result of cross pollination between a pig and a porcupine.
These rotten things don't see very well but to protect their young will charge anything that moves. If you're walking your dog at daybreak you are liable to come in contact with a pack of them which could mean trouble.
That's when I discovered how wonderful the Rolling Stones and in particular "Street Fighting Man" could be. One morning, a pack took note of us and started chasing us up a driveway. With our backs against the all, I pulled out my iphone, and I specifically chose the Stones out of desperation because I wanted something loud and then picked Street Fight Man because it just seemed like the perfect song for when your back is against the wall.
And guess what, they listened for like five seconds and backed off. To Sal's point, a few days later when they appeared again in the road in front of us, I played the live version which did nothing. They laughed. Another time, when it was just my wife out there, she only had her phone a lot of singer/songwriter with their acoustic guitars and she reported that they swayed to the music for a while and then charged. After that, until we moved it was always SFM, the studio version and we never had a problem again.
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