Dinosaur Jr. – Live @ Parades De Coura 14/08/2014

Since reconvening the original JayLouMurph line up, alt-rock heroes Dinosaur Jr. have gone from strength to strength. The first three albums released since the 2007 reunion (‘Beyond’, ‘Farm’ and ‘I Bet On Sky’) are a match for anything the three men recorded at the end of the 80s.

There’s a plethora of live footage of the band out there, but finding stuff in good quality can be a challenge. Finding live recordings will well balanced and even audible vocals is even harder, but this show from the ‘Beyond’ tour is absolutely stellar. The band are sloppy as always, but in great form because of that, never despite it. The balance between the guitar and vocals is perfect and the setlist well chosen.

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THE BOOMTOWN RATS – Live at Goldiggers, Chippenham 1984

In the late 70s and early 80s, the BBC had a series of programmes called ‘Sight and Sound In Concert’.  These specially filmed gigs were simultaneously broadcast on BBC TV and radio.  A few are available commercially – as is the case with the excellent Thin Lizzy performance from the Hitchin Regal in 1983 – but sadly, many are not.  Thankfully, due to repeat showings, many fans have pristine off-airs of shows by Camel, Gentle Giant, Renaissance and others.

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THEM CROOKED VULTURES Live at Roskilde 2010

The combination of Joshua Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones brings together three very talented people. Despite the amount of talent shared between the three men, the debut album from Them Crooked Vultures often sounded like Josh plus side band – a very talented side band, granted, but the end results drew too heavily from Homme’s influences. This could be frustrating since Jones began his career as a master arranger (he’s clearly not had a great influence in arranging most of the Vultures’ songs) and Grohl has proven a decent songwriter over the years.

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