Live Playlist: 5 All-timers

Live performance is the foundation that Teppen! is built on. Here’s 5 of my personal favorite live vids you can just watch on the ‘ol YouTube.

(featured image courtesy of ATO Records)

My Morning Jacket – “Steam Engine” – Bonnaroo 2004

Already I’m fucking up this list with a video that’s not even complete, but this exemplifies everything about what made the mid-2000’s version of My Morning Jacket among the greatest live bands of all time. An insane thunderstorm, a nearly flooded stage, barefoot frontman Jim James trying not to electrocute himself. All leading to a powerful visual of James on his knees lifting his Flying V over his head, a moment in which he later said he was waiting for lightning to strike him in the Return to Thunderdome documentary. The entire show was released as part of the MMJ Live collection, including the ability to listen to the full version of Steam Engine. But you gotta have the visual first.

Kinoko Teikoku – “Musician” / “Yoru ga Aketara” – Shinjuku Motion, July 12, 2011

A fan-shot video with inconsistent audio, but it puts the viewer right in front of a young Chiaki Sato as Kinoko Teikoku performs two of their most powerful songs. Those early Kinoko Teikoku records were intense, heartwrenching, and immensely powerful. This performance matches all of that. “Musician” is a slow build, with Sato’s voice going from calm, to a near scream, it wavers like she’s holding back tears. From the 6 minute mark on, it really takes off, the camera focuses on the guitarist for a minute, A-Chan, making these incredible facial expressions. The song fades and then explodes back in, and the camera pans to bassist Shigeaki Taniguchi who collapses to his knees. One quick glance at Kon Nishimura feverishly driving the song with his drumming, before we see Sato also on her knees, frantically strumming her iconic black Telecaster. Then they launch into “Yoru ga Aketara”, “At the Break of Dawn”, its calm, beautiful intro washing over the unrestrained noise and chaos of just moments earlier.

Talking Heads – “What a Day That Was” – Stop Making Sense

Stop Making Sense is the greatest concert film ever made. The whole thing should be on this list, but what makes “What a Day That Was” stand out among everything else, is that it’s where the film truly launces from “great” to “the greatest”. It’s an intense performance, made moreso by its lighting, lit from below, strange shadows are cast on the faces of the band members. Behind them, their own shadows dance and play in the background. It sets the plate for the last few tracks of the film, which are an incredible ride themselves.

RAY – “Sea of Tranquility” – Shibuya WWW, December 30, 2024

A theme so far of this list has been intensity, and perhaps nothing is more intense than this performance from a somewhat unlikely source. RAY are, by definition, an Japanese Idol group. Choreographed dances, typically no backing band, and a highly produced environment. But when you commit to something like this, in a way, similarly to Talking Heads above – we get the incredible artistic display of “Sea of Tranquility” we see here.

Starting with a looping recording of a member reading a poem about the changing of the seasons and death. It gets corrupted more and more as it plays. Then RAY launch in to the song. And it’s obvious they’re not your typical Japanese idol group. There’s a live percussionist, someone working the electronics, and they’ve unapologetically hitched themselves to the classification of “Shoegaze”. They’ve collaborated with some legends of the genre, members of Ringo Deathstarr, For Tracy Hyde, cruyff in the bedroom, and Number Girl.

“Sea of Tranquility” is a powerful track in so many ways. But the last four minutes of this performance is where RAY reaches some incredible heights. A building loop takes over, guitar, vocals, distortion all coalesce into an overwhelming typhoon of sound. Not to be dragged under the growing waves, each member grabs a cymbal and place them in a V on the stage. They begin to strike the cymbals, harder and harder until the song reaches its conclusion. Near silence after a whirlwind of flower petals and deafening noise – all that’s left is a vocal loop. RAY drop their drumsticks and leave the stage, and the lights fade, and the cameras show the aftermath of such a violent ending.

Phil Collins – “Easy Lover” – Seriously Live in Berlin, 1990

guitar solo