This performance of “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young originally on the 1972 best seller Harvest comes from a 1986 concert in San Francisco with Crazy Horse. –Redbeard
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U2-Mysterious Ways-1992 New York City Yankee Stadium
Everything you need to recreate the moment seeing and hearing “Mysterious Ways” in New York City’s original Yankee Stadium in August 1992 on the U2 Achtung Baby tour except the belly dancer. Belly dancer sold separately. – Redbeard
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The Band-The Last Waltz 50th- Robbie Robertson
Concluding our two-part In the Studio rockumentary on The Band, there is ample evidence in this classic rock interview as to why the late Robbie Robertson had always been one of my favorite musicians with whom to converse. A great storyteller gifted with rich language skills, the main songwriter and lead guitarist for The Band through seven studio albums 1968-1976 and the Rock of Ages legendary live set, took the opportunity to reveal, in great detail, the following long-debated issues about the first-ballot Hall of Fame quintet with the generic name:-why The Band (and Bob Dylan) moved away from Woodstock, New York after the legendary concert near there at which Dylan never appeared;
-the storied 1974 comeback tour with the re-emerging Dylan after eight years in self-imposed exile;
-detailed in-depth profiles of Band-mates Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Levon Helm (sadly all deceased except for Hudson);
-and how the discussions which eventually led to the legendary Last Waltz Thanksgiving concert and subsequent Martin Scorsese-directed film never included Robertson threatening to leave the band, as has been misreported for years;
-Robertson’s highly-lauded autobiography, Testimony, in conjunction with the deluxe reissue of The Last Waltz film and soundtrack . –Redbeard
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Bruce Springsteen & the E St Band- Independence Day- Atlanta 9-30-78
Maybe one of the reasons that Bruce Springsteen scored his first #1-seller in 1980 for the double album The River is because he had been road-testing some of the material in concert for years, such as this performance of “Independence Day” from Atlanta’s Fox Theater in September 1978. Certainly another factor in The River‘s mass acceptance was also the series of regional broadcasts that same year on rock radio stations, particularly effective in the South which was one of the last to get “the fever”. The late Clarence Clemmons on sax and dearly departed Danny Federici on organ. –Redbeard
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Julian Lennon- Help Yourself
It’s true: the first time I met and interviewed Julian Lennon live on Q102 radio in Dallas/Ft.Worth shortly after the release of his 1985 debut Valotte, I had to apologize publicly for my staring. The facial resemblance to his father John Lennon is uncanny, and no doubt it is what made me feel surprisingly drawn to the singing son with a familiarity and even affection which surprised me in spite of myself. Legacy, leg up, or curse? We could ask a wide variety of offspring born to high-profile people, from actor Michael Douglas to entertainer Liza Minnelli to Hank Williams jr and even former U.S. President George W. Bush. Yet none has a story more compelling or more poignant than Beatle John’s first born. With two Top Ten hits on that first effort,”Too Late for Goodbyes” and “Valotte”, it is debatable whether that kind of rookie success was conducive to establishing a long term career for Julian Lennon or simply pushed the expectations bar of the eldest Beatle son impossibly higher. By the time we visited again in November 1991, Julian had released two more albums, The Secret Value of Daydreaming and Mr. Jordan, with diminishing returns prior to Help Yourself. A peculiar and confounding thing happened with the reception to that fourth album and its brilliant eco-ballad “Saltwater”. The song went to #6 in the UK and straight to #1 in Australia, but failed to even chart in America. This often inexplicable disparity drives record companies and recording artists alike absolutely crazy, and the experience was sufficiently maddening to force Julian to turn his back from any recording for seven long years.
When Julian Lennon did once again record for 1998’s Photograph Smile, the results were spectacular, easily his best effort ever as well as one of that year’s best by anyone, but that does not necessarily mean that you ever heard it. AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine seems to recognize how Julian Lennon has always been graded on a steep curve by the luck of the gene pool when Erlewine writes,”…All of the music is well-crafted and melodic, the kind of music that would receive greater praise if it weren’t made by the son of a Beatle.” Check out my 1991 interview with Julian above plus his live acoustic performance of “Saltwater”. –Redbeard
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John Hiatt- Buffalo River Home- Dallas 3-93
“Now there are only two things in life, But I forget what they are…” drolly quips John Hiatt during this one-man band version of his “Buffalo River Home“, originally found on Perfectly Good Guitar, reminding us with a wink that the sage wisdom from even the best song and dance man has its limits. For my money there is not a better working songwriter in America than John Hiatt. –Redbeard
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Chris Whitley-Living With the Law- Dallas 7-91
Although Chris Whitley‘s birth certificate listed Houston Texas as his birthplace, by the time the eclectic modern bluesman’s untimely death in 2005 at age 45, Chris had lived all over the world. Sensing a rare authenticity and smoldering passion upon the release of his major label debut Living With the Law in Summer 1991, we gratefully welcomed him as a prodigal Texan out on the lawn under a tent when Chris Whitley performed the title song, for free, for Q102 Blood Drive donors that evening.- Redbeard
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Pete Townshend- Face the Face Deep End 40th Anniversary
The mid-Eighties was a most difficult time for the titans of rock’s Second Generation, hence the need for this tasty project from Pete Townshend, Face the Face: Deep End Live. It was the only time in the last half century when every one of the British superstar bands which had dominated the Seventies, e.g. the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Who were no longer recording, touring, and in some cases even SPEAKING to one another. Rock’n’roll was officially in full-blown midlife crisis and no respecter of persons, as even the biggest names such as Pete Townshend and David Gilmour were cast adrift from the structure of their respective former bands to deal with it individually for the first time.What has been made available from this mid-Eighties transitional period is Pete Townshend’s live performance with an all-star band he dubbed the “Deep End”, which included Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and terrific timekeeper Simon Phillips on drums, performing live at Cannes France in January 1986 and broadcast on German television. The Who had supposedly broken up three years earlier with a lengthy farewell tour following the death of Keith Moon, leaving Pete Townshend searching to find his artistic footing alone. The arrangements range from the intimate, on “Pinball Wizard” and “Behind Blue Eyes”, to the big band assault of the mature marital confessional “Slit Skirts”, and “Give Blood” featuring David Gilmour‘s distinctive echoplex guitar. –Redbeard
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Billy Joel-New York State of Mind-9/11 Tribute rehearsal
I am not the first to point out that when things are at their worst, Americans often are at their best. Since 2001 you do not have to be a native New Yorker to be in a “New York state of mind” each year on September 11.
No doubt the toughest gig Billy Joel ever had to play came in November 2001 at New York City’s 9/11 Tribute to Heroes, just eight weeks after the terrorist attacks there, in Washington D.C., and on board four hijacked passenger jets, which stole more than three thousand souls. For twenty-five years Billy Joel had been the post-Sinatra Musical Mayor of the Big Apple, but suddenly his unofficial leadership role took on almost inconceivable gravity: to grieve, console, reassure, and rally, all at the same time. Born in the Bronx, raised on Lon’ Gisland, this former welterweight decided to come back punching for all he was worth, and the people loved him for it. – Redbeard
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Metallica- The Unforgiven- San Francisco 2-6-16
Flashback to February 2016 and the fiftieth anniversary of that most American of worldwide exports, the Super Bowl, & the site was one of America’s finest regions, the San Francisco Bay area. And so who did the the NFL secure to perform at halftime during this historic All-American sporting event, broadcast to over a billion viewers worldwide from a US city with a long rich heritage of musical contributions? Coldplay, the finest innocuous British band money can buy. In the true spirit of rock marching to the beat of its own drummer (in this case the Olympian Lars Ulrich), San Francisco homies Metallica decided to play the night before the Super Bowl in AT & T Park for a crowd even larger than that for the football game, and they got to play for two hours in a thrash metal throwdown, neither of which would be possible in a Super Bowl halftime performance. Here is heavy rock absolution with “The Unforgiven“.- Redbeard