With the reopening of tours, live albums are enjoying a resurgence. ADRIAN THRILLS rounds out the current crop – both new and old…
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE: Dance Fever: Live at Madison Square Garden (Polydor)
Verification: ****
Fate was not kind to Florence Welch in 2022. As Florence + The Machine frontwoman, she delivered an impressive fifth album, Dance Fever, partly inspired by how much she missed touring during lockdown.
When she finally returned to the UK stage last month, she broke her foot at London’s O2 Arena and – despite tripping towards the end of the show – saw the rest of her homecoming tour postponed until next year.
Their first live album, recorded in New York in September, highlights the brutal timing. Described by Welch as her “full circle moment”, it shows her sheer joy at singing in front of a crowd.
Out now digitally (and on two-disc vinyl LP in April), it mixes songs from Dance Fever with old favorites like Dog Days Are Over.
Florence + The Machine delivered an impressive fifth album in 2022 with Dance Fever
“As you can imagine, it’s still a crazy time for live music,” she says, opening the show with the enthusiasm of a former Glastonbury headliner. As pop’s biggest drama queen, she builds a sense of grandeur with graceful arrangements and a voice that shifts from soaring operatic vocals to rock ‘n’ roll roars. For all its theatricality, however, a defining characteristic of a Florence performance is its ability to capture and hold a hypnotic groove, a quality more associated with dance music than rock.
The Dance Fever songs flow seamlessly into the live arena. Free is pulsating electronica, My Love is a swirling anthem. Among the ballads, Daffodil is a danceable country-blues number that whets the appetite for her next return to the stage.
SAM FENDER: Live from Finsbury Park (Polydor)
Verification: ****
Sam Fender’s songs were also made for big arenas, and the man nicknamed Geordie Springsteen cemented his position as Britain’s brightest new rock star with a spectacular summer ahead of him. He supported The Killers, impressed Glastonbury and played his biggest headline show to date in July in front of 45,000 fans.
This performance at London’s Finsbury Park is celebrated on his first live album, released on vinyl and as a bonus CD in the 2021 deluxe edition of Seventeen Going Under.
Supported by a driving guitar group, he is at his best on stage. Beneath his easy-going spirit, 28-year-old Fender tackles challenging issues: teenage suicide on Dead Boys; his difficulties in speaking openly with his father on Spit Of You.
The show ends with a massive sing-along that continues long after the game is over. “This is a milestone for us,” he says. Expect another one when he plays shows at St James’ Park in his hometown in June.
Sam Fender cemented his position as Britain’s brightest new rock star with a spectacular summer
A performance at London’s Finsbury Park celebrated his debut album, which will be released on vinyl and as a bonus CD on the 2021 deluxe edition of Seventeen Going Under
TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: Live at the Fillmore (1997) (Warner)
Verification: *****
Classic acts with a difference take center stage in a massive new Tom Petty box set. Live At The Fillmore, which documented his 20 shows at The Heartbreakers in San Francisco in 1997, is a light-hearted, feel-good radio drama that Petty, who died in 2017, describes as “the pinnacle of our time as a band.”
Available in 2CD Box (£14), 3LP Vinyl Set (£42), 4CD Box (£56) and 6LP Deluxe Edition, it features a mix of covers and originals. Featuring songs by Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan along with Petty’s American Girl, sung acoustically, and Free Fallin’, it feels less like a concert and more like an embedded history of rock ‘n’ roll .
As the set list changes each night, the 4 CD and 6 LP editions span 58 tracks. The Heartbreakers pay tribute to the 1960s British Invasion by doing covers of The Stones (Time Is On My Side, Satisfaction), The Zombies (I Want You Back Again) and The Kinks (You Really Got Me).
They are also joined by Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, who plays a duet at Eight Miles High, and bluesman John Lee Hooker. A sense of the whole bitch as a brilliantly preserved time capsule is summed up by Petty’s side note about the era’s emerging technology: “We’re live on the Internet tonight…whatever that is.”
JOAN ARMATRADING: Live at Asylum Chapel (BMG)
Verification: ****
Five decades after their 1972 debut album What’s For Us, Armatrading still manage to convey intimate, emotional feelings with a soulful pop song. Recorded in London last year and released on CD and digital, this live set sees an artist put aside any thought of retirement at the age of 72 but continue to forge her own path.
Hits like “Love And Affection” and “Drop The Pilot” sit alongside tracks from 2021’s “Consequences.” Highlights from the latter include the love song “Al There” and the reggae-tinged “Better Life”. “Empty Highway” from 2007’s “Into The Blues” is a power ballad that rivals anything from his heyday.
Joan Armatrading is still able to convey intimate, emotional feelings with a soulful pop song
RINGO STARR: Live at the Greek Theater 2019 (Roccabella)
Verification: ***
Ringo’s second live album from LA’s Greek Theater features some illustrious friends. His all-star band includes Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, Santana co-founder Gregg Rolie, Men At Work’s Colin Hay and Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart, all providing superb support as the former Beatle solo hits and Fab Four sing favorites with uncomplicated charm .
Yellow Submarine and With A Little Help From My Friends are unsurprising, but some of his lesser-known vocal performances are also in the spotlight: the country-inspired rubber soul track What Goes On; Rockabilly track Act Naturally by Help!; Don’t pass me by the white album.
The show (available on CD, DVD, Blu-ray and vinyl) is set up as an old-school soul revue, with guests each playing three songs from their own bands. Rolie shines on Oye Como Va, Lukather leads on Rosanna and Africa and Hay sings Down Under. All well and good. . . although a little more unadulterated Ringo wouldn’t have hurt.
Ringo’s second live album from LA’s Greek Theater included Yellow Submarine and With A Little Help From My Friends.
THE SMILE: The Smile At Montreux Jazz Festival (All Streaming Platforms)
Verification: ***
Formed last year by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – with the addition of funky jazz drummer Tom Skinner – The Smile is starting to feel less like a side project and more like the main event. This all-digital live album follows the trio’s first studio effort, A Light For Attracting Attention, and is an urgent tour de force.
With complex time signatures on top, the eight tracks won’t have fans humming in the shower, but there are throwbacks to classic Radiohead on Free In The Knowledge that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on The Bends and The Opposite, with Greenwood showing its full breadth in guitar hero betting.
TERRY HALL: A TRIBUTE
The first time I saw The Specials didn’t just make me dance. It fueled my imagination, changed my clothes (loafers and mohair jackets) and broadened my taste in music. Combining the energy of punk with the upbeat rhythms of Jamaican ska, the multiracial Coventry band became the most influential band of their generation.
Central to her appeal was the funny singer Terry Hall. As his henchmen jumped and frantically criss-crossed the stage, he was the epitome of cool. But as Liam Gallagher could attest, standing still doesn’t necessarily mean being a convincing frontman.
Hall, who died of cancer this week aged 63, was a hugely important figure in British music. He sang of unity and tolerance at a time of heightened racial tension.
When The Specials broke up after Ghost Town in 1981, he formed Fun Boy Three, formed The Colourfield who released the delightful Thinking Of You and provided vocals on Lightning Seeds’ Sense.
The British singer Terry Hall died this week at the age of 63 after a battle with cancer
But it’s his seminal role on The Specials – who reunited in 2008 and hit the album charts for the first time in 2019 with comeback LP Encore – that he will remember fondly.
An inspired early performance stands out to me. During their performance at the Bilzen Rock and Jazz Festival in Belgium, they inappropriately wedged themselves between The Cure and AC/DC. Despite an awkward afternoon slot – and with Hall giving his bandmates a typically deadpan foil – they all blew off the stage. It wouldn’t be the last time.
Source: Daily Mail
Ashley Root is an author and celebrity journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for all things celebrity, Ashley is always up-to-date on the latest gossip and trends in the world of entertainment.
