The 50 best live songs ever
A subjective list
It’s Labor Day weekend 2002. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are headlining this all day festival in a parking lot underneath the Williamsburg Bridge. Karen O and her band have captured something in New York, and they’re on the cusp of breaking out everywhere else.
Rob Sheffield (writer): It was the kind of thing where people were climbing on nearby buildings and jumping on cars to get a look. This is when people still complained about coming out to Brooklyn. It was exciting that this was happening and so many of my bands were playing at the same time. The trains weren’t running that often, so anybody who was there walked there … Yeah Yeah Yeahs went on last and they were the best. I’d seen them before, but it was the best I had seen them at that point. They played “Our Time,” and everyone is singing “Our Time,” and it really did feel like our time. It was this parking lot full of people that the song was for.
Dave Sitek (producer): New York had literally blown up and Karen’s singing, “It’s the year to be hated.” That was like that most potent statement ever and it came from a band playing punk songs for kids. You had all these other high, intellectual-minded people not addressing it at all. And we were just like, “Whoa, Karen distilled it to like its most essential element and made it a pop song, and who thought that was going to fucking happen?”
Rob Sheffield: It would have seemed really weird to think that people were going to start caring about that song all over the world.1
Two years later, Karen O is strutting the stage of The Fillmore in San Francisco, two songs into the band’s encore. She’s at the peak of her powers. As the bridge hits, she squats down and demands from a front-row fan, “This girl, right here, you’re going to sing this with me. You know this song, right?”
She doesn’t. It’s a travesty. Another fan hops in to help. Then Karen O takes off, powering through the best banger she’s ever written.
One of my favorite things in the world is being lucky enough to catch a band as this happens. It’s rare, being there in person for a top-of-the-world performance. But thankfully a lot of them are preserved online.
My guy
beat me to this idea last week — thanks, Jody — but I’ve been dying to dive into it anyway. January is the perfect time to hole up at home and go down the rabbit hole of astounding live sets. It’s become something of an annual ritual. Here are my favs, a long list of bangers-only live songs, ranging from huge festivals to TV breakthroughs to small acoustic sessions. Free for everyone, because paywalling YouTube links would be lame. Enjoy. And here’s a YouTube playlist version.My 50 favorite live performances
Good Guy | Frank Ocean | NYC | 2017
Seeing this live broke me. Thank you dearly to the person who just recorded the full screen of the Spike Jonze direction.
Scenario | A Tribe Called Quest | NYC | 1992
Busta and Phife at their best. Also, there’s a scene in “Beats, Rhymes, and Life” where Q-Tip shows from start to finish how he reworked the sample for “Can I Kick It.” It’s worth watching just for that.
The Great Curve | Talking Heads | Rome | 1980
I’ve watched “Stop Making Sense” and “American Utopia” about 100 times. There isn’t one performance in either film that matches what’s happening here.
I Know | Fiona Apple | LA | 2006
The guttural, “If it gets too late,” hits every time.
Mystery | Turnstile | Tampa | 2022
I’m picking the opener, but the “Turnstile Love Connection” closer is also a contender.
Look Out For Detox | Kendrick Lamar | Tennessee | 2012
The interruption is clearly planned, but it 100% still works. I miss fun Kendrick.
All My Friends | LCD Soundsystem | NYC | 2011
There are a lot of great LCD Soundsystem performances captured in “The Long Goodbye.” But, you know, this is the one.
Wonderwall/99 Problems | Jay Z | Glastonbury | 2008
Underrated how much of a flex this was. Get Jay a residency at The Sphere asap.
You Don’t Miss Your Water | Sturgill Simpson | San Francisco | 2017
If Sturgill ever comes back, I hope it’s just for a covers album.
Ultralight Beam | Kanye West | NYC | 2016
The best SNL performance ever. It won’t embed. Just follow the link.
Deceptacon | Le Tigre | London | 2005
Go Gina | SZA | Unknown woods | 2017
Real Pain | Indigo De Souza | Studio | 2023
Try A Little Tenderness | Otis Redding | Norway | 1967
A Certain Romance | Arctic Monkeys | Scotland | 2006
Drunk II | Mannequin Pussy | Philly | 2021
212 | Azealia Banks | California | 2015
Destroyed By Hippie Powers | Car Seat Headrest | Seattle | 2017
Killing Me Softly | The Fugees | 1996
Me & My Dog | Boygenius | NYC | 2018
Burn, Burn, Burn | Zach Bryan | Colorado | 2022
Jesus | Curtis Mayfield | Soul Train | 1970
Scratchcard Landyard | Dry Cleaning | Seattle | 2020
Bathtub | Waxahatchee | Tiny Desk | 2013
Rhiannon | Fleetwood Mac | 1976
Real Love | Big Thief | Austin | 2017
I’ll Try Anything Once | Haim | London | 2017
The Modern Age | The Strokes | NYC | 2016
Cellophane | FKA Twigs | London | 2019
This Heart’s On Fire | Wolf Parade | NYC | 2005
911 | Tyler, The Creator & Frank Ocean | NYC | 2017
House Of Jealous Lovers | The Rapture | NYC | 2011
Cover Me Up | Jason Isbell | Austin | 2013
Fireworks | Animal Collective | France | 2007
All These Things That I’ve Done | The Killers | London | 2011
Belinda Says | Alvvays | Seattle | 2022
Jeff Mangum | Engine | Athens | 1998
7 Seconds | Porridge Radio | London | 2020
I Found You | Alabama Shakes | Alabama | 2011
I’ve Got A Feeling | The Beatles | London | 1969
Like Eating Glass | Bloc Party | Reading | 2007
Depreston | Courtney Barnett | Paris | 2015
Lapdance | N.E.R.D. | Netherlands | 2004
Leif Erikson | Interpol | France | 2005
I Summon You | Spoon | London | 2009
Walcott | Vampire Weekend | France | 2017
Sprained Ankle | Julien Baker | Memphis | 2015
At Least That’s What You Said | Wilco | 2009
Put It On Me | Ja Rule, Lil' Mo and Vita | 106 & Park | 2001
Ceremony | Radiohead | 2011
Via “Meet Me In The Bathroom”, Lizzy Goodman’s essential oral history of the New York rock scene in the early 2000s.
Great list except you are missing the universally agreed upon greatest live performance of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkFHYODzRTs
It's unfortunately also over-suggested as the GOAT live performance but that's because it is inarguably perfect.