28 replies to this topic

[AmyForever<3]

Hey! I'm looking for opinions on Amy's best live shows. Obviously, it's bound to be very subjective as her live singing was a bit of an acquired taste, but I'd like to see other people's thoughts. I'm mainly looking for thoughts on Back to Black, Rehab, He Can Only Hold Her, Some Unholy War, and maybe some Frank stuff. In my humble opinion, her performance of Back to Black at Zenith, Paris was one of her best, if not the best version of it live. I also enjoyed He Can Only Hold Her at Shepherds Bush Empire. The fact she included a Lauryn Hill song really did it for me, though she was obviously pretty buzzed at that gig.   

[xDetachmentx]

I've been wondering this for a while too. I don't usually like counting her more polished up live shows, like At The BBC, or her Moon River cover with the NYJO because it's all pretty polished up and made to sound like a real studio track, but if I were to count those, they would definitely be at the top of my list. I'd have to say that Back to Black in Paris was her best version of it yet. Rehab, I'm not sure. I could never get into her live performances of Rehab because I haven't heard very many versions where she wasn't drunk. I like Some Unholy War at Shepherd's Bush Empire but I wish she didn't do the down tempo version, but I don't think she ever did the album version live. 

[amylove]

I always think of this performance of Rehab...

 

I love her Joe's Pub show. I wish we had better quality of it. 

[crol]

Zenith Paris, every time

[pattieboyd2]

Zenith Paris, every time

 

Same for me.

[xDetachmentx]

I wish people had recorded it better honestly, and I wish the ones that do exist were better. De La Semaine, and Kalkscheune were both pretty good. Zenith was her best though, I agree on that. I can't wait to see her performance of 'A Message to You, Rudy' she did on her Grammy night when it's released. 

[ravenauseous]

Kalkscheune, Zenith, Sao Paulo, and Alcatraz Milan (even tho the quality is bad for most of the video from this one) are my favorites

[Soul Power]

Overall, I always go back to Glastonbury '07 (the daytime show).  As much as anything else, it's probably because it was the first high-quality, full-length concert video I ever owned of hers.  But she was so on point the whole show, and it features superb versions of Fuck Me Pumps and Cherry (which were rarely performed in the BTB era, sadly).  I so desperately wish she did more Frank stuff with her later band.  Also, great versions of Back to Black and He Can Only Hold Her (and that evening's performance is my favorite version of Rehab).  For Some Unholy War, it's Portchester Hall '07 for me.

 

Based on responses here, it sounds like I'll have to revisit the Zenith show, though...thanks.

[camdenscherry]

i don't know why but the concerts i like the most are usually the 'saddest' i don't mean belgrade but i love glasto 08 w all my heart, and v festival, for example. xx

[LuckyHorse]

MTV 45th at night 2007 and for Back 2 Black, Joe's Pub 2007.

[MingusMonk&Amy]

i don't know why but the concerts i like the most are usually the 'saddest' i don't mean belgrade but i love glasto 08 w all my heart, and v festival, for example. xx

These are great emotional performances with some interesting phrasings, although they are a bit sad to watch with the strained voice and all. Reminds me of Billie Holiday's latter Verve recordings - damaged voice, but very emotional.

It's very sad, some of the world's most gifted singers ended up with very damaged voices. I guess pouring so much emotion in one's art, to stand emotionally naked in front of the mike, comes with a high price as you'd have to be a very emotionally sensitive person to begin with. It must have been so hard to sing these personal songs again and again.

[MingusMonk&Amy]

I'm a bit biased towards pre-B2B era. I'm very surprised all of the ones mentioned so far have been B2B shows, or maybe it's due to OP's specific questions. The sonic qualities of the recordings are definitely influencing my picks. It's hard to fairly judge the performance of primitive AUD recordings and most of those are not fresh in my memory.

I have so many favorites, but atm I'm thinking of these:

New Pop Festival
North Sea Jazz Festival
Summer Sundae Festival
Tränenpalast
--------
Dingle
Zenith
Eurockéennes
Benicassim

Perhaps we should start a thread where 1 specific song is chosen each week and everyone could tell their favorite live performance(s) for that specific song.

[Gorejuice]

I'm a bit biased towards pre-B2B era. I'm very surprised all of the ones mentioned so far have been B2B shows, or maybe it's due to OP's specific questions. The sonic qualities of the recordings are definitely influencing my picks. It's hard to fairly judge the performance of primitive AUD recordings and most of those are not fresh in my memory.

I have so many favorites, but atm I'm thinking of these:

New Pop Festival
North Sea Jazz Festival
Summer Sundae Festival
Tränenpalast
--------
Dingle
Zenith
Eurockéennes
Benicassim

Perhaps we should start a thread where 1 specific song is chosen each week and everyone could tell their favorite live performance(s) for that specific song.

I love this idea! Also, do you have links for the shows you listed above? (Besides Eurockeennes, Dingle, New Pop)

[MingusMonk&Amy]

I love this idea! Also, do you have links for the shows you listed above? (Besides Eurockeennes, Dingle, New Pop)

All of them are available on youtube, but I can upload them if it's better encoding you're looking for. Of the ones I listed, only Zenith is entirely sourced from tube-sites. I have a total of 2hr3min of AUD footage from Zenith. I have no idea if there's more available. Summer Sundae is audio only from BBC DVB-S. There's only 15-20min of video footage from North Sea Jazz Festival, the rest is audio only. I'm sure all of this has been shared here before.

[madziaq]

Both Glasto 2007 shows, Eurockéennes, Dingle, Shepherds and sooo many others. For me, 2007 was the best Amy's year.

Honestly, I like her earlier concerts, less later (except her live performance of "Valerie" with Mark Ronson on Brit Awards 2008 - it is so powerful) 

but concerts from 2007 are so emotional, powerful and at Amy's top form. 

Fun fact - only one song from my top three favourive live performances is from 2007    So:

3rd place is Love Is a Losing Game from Dingle

2nd - You Know I'm No Good - Live Album Chart Show - 2006

1st - What Is It About Men - North Sea Jazz Festival 2004.