The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

This is a live performance by The Beatles, the performance is from Shea Stadium in New York 1965. It's in colour, but it's a little pale and the audio isn't the best, but still an amazing performance.
The song was released in 1964 on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was written by John Lennon, but credited to McCartney as well. The song is very famous for the opening chord which rings out before the lyrics and the rest of the band join in. It has been debated for a long time what chord it was, but it was confirmed by George Harrison that it is in fact a Fadd9, or as Harrison put it: "It is F with a G on top,[...]". The complete opening has been broken down like this,
George Harrison: Fadd9 in 1st position on Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric guitar
John Lennon: Fadd9 in 1st position on a Gibson J-160E 6-string acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney: high D played on the D-string, 12th fret on Hofner 500/1 electric bass
George Martin: D2-G2-D3 played on a Steinway Grand Piano
Ringo Starr: Subtle snare drum and ride cymbal

by Dominic Pedler.
It is a classic Beatles song, and it has been covered by a lot of different artists, including: The Supremes, Quincy Jones, Peter Sellers, Chet Atkins, Billy Preston, Otis Redding, Hank Marvin, and Billy Joel.
It's a great song, and the reception of girls screaming in this clip is just astounding. No band has ever gotten a reaction like that, and I don't think any one ever will!

Enjoy ; )

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe

This is a live performance by guitar legend Jimi Hendrix playing his version of the classic song "Hey Joe". The song is from the 1960s and it became a rock standard. The original authorship of the song isn't certain, but the earliest known commercial recording of the song was done by The Leaves in 1965. The most famous version however was Jimi Hendrix's recording from 1966.
The song tells the story of a man who is on the run after shooting his wife. He is planning to go to Mexico on a hideout.
It's a great performance by Hendrix. What I really love about this is the pace of the song, it's quite slow allowing for some awesome soulful soloing by Hendrix.

Above is a version from 2007 featuring former members of Hendrix's band. It features Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell from Hendrix's former band, Steve Winwood on Hammond B3 organ, and Slash on guitar. It's a good version, I especially like Winwood's singing and playing on this. Slash is all right too, but of course no match to Hendrix.
Hendrix really pulls all of the stops on this performance, first playing with his teeth, and then playing the second solo behind his head. It's showmanship, but the crazy thing is that it sounds just as good as if he'd picked it out traditionally. Only Hendrix could pull something like that off and that's why he's a legend.
Being a rock classic and standard, the song has been recorded countless times. It has been recorded by: Cher, Wilson Pickett, Deep Purple,Roy Buchanan, Patti Smith, Seal, Type O Negative, Eddie Murphy, and Robert Plant. It that is only a snippet of the people and artists who have done this song.
I love the Hendrix version of this. And this is a great performance by him, just pouring his soul out through his guitar, truly a legend!

Enjoy ; )

John Lee Hooker - Hobo Blues

This is a live performance by legendary blues musician and song writer John Lee Hooker playing his classic song "Hobo Blues". The performance is from 1965 at the American Folk Blues festival.
It's a self-accompanied performance by Hooker. He taps the rhythm with his foot, plays the rhythm on the guitar and also plays the melody at the same time. At points in the song he also hums the melody on top of playing it on the guitar. I really love this performance. The fact that it's self-accompanied just makes it better and shows a skill that very few people had back then, and even fewer people have today. You can also hear Hooker's influence on slide guitar through his use of open tunings. He doesn't use a slide himself, but uses the tunings many slide players would later also use. (Of course I know that slide guitar existed way before John Lee Hooker, but many slide players, for instance Ry Cooder, have quoted John Lee Hooker as an influence).
The song was originally released as a single in 1948 which was also the year it appeared on Hooker's LP "The Blues" released on Crown records.
As mentioned earlier it's a great song and a great performance. One of Hooker's best.

Enjoy ; )

Johnny Winter – Highway 61 Revisited

This is a live performance by American blues guitarist Johnny Winter doing his rendition of the classic Bob Dylan song “Highway 61 Revisited”.
This was the title track of Dylan’s 1965 album. The lyrics of the song all revolve around various problems that eventually end up being solved on Highway 61.
Johnny Winter did his cover of the song in 1969 and it became a career defining track for Winter. It was on his album “Second Winter”. The song became a live standard for Winter.
The song has also been recorded by P.J. Harvey and Billy Joel.
I love Johnny’s version and the slide guitar he’s playing that just seems to fit in perfectly with the original feel of the song. A great song and a great performance.

Enjoy ;-)

Aretha Franklin - Respect

This is a live performance by soul queen Aretha Franklin playing her classic song “Respect”. The performance is from 1990.
The song was originally recorded and released by Otis Redding in 1965. It was also written by Redding, but with a different perspective than Franklin would use later. Franklin switched the perspective so the song turned into a plea from a woman to a man demanding respect. This made the song popular in the feminist movement.
Franklin’s version was released in 1967 and it became her perhaps best known song. She won two Grammy Awards for the song in the R&B categories.
The song was a huge hit and it was later covered by a large number of artists such as: Ike & Tina Turner, Janis Joplin and Jennifer Hudson to name a few.
It’s a great song. I really love the true soul there is on this and the sound of the big orchestra with the horn section. A great song and a great performance.

Enjoy ;-)

Bo Diddley - I'm a Man

This is a live performance by rock, R&B and blues legend Bo Diddley performing his classic song "I'm a Man", the performance is from 1992.
The song was originally recorded by by Bo Diddley in 1955. The song is a moderate slow blues with a stop tempo inspired by earlier blues recordings. The song was inspired by Muddy Water's Hoochie Coochie Man from 1954 written by Willie Dixon. After the release of the song Muddy recorded an "answer song" titled "Mannish Boy", a pun on Diddley's younger age.
The song has been done by quite a few artists and a version of Muddy and Diddley performing the song together was also recorded at one point. It was also done by The Yardbirds in 1965 when Jeff Beck was with the group. A live version was recorded as well with Clapton on guitar in 1964 before he left the band. The version with Beck did very well in the US pop charts.
A lot of songs have also taken inspiration from this classic simple song structure. Songs like "Whole Lotta Rosie" by AC/DC and "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood. They both have the stop time thing and the same chord shifts as Diddley's song as well as a rhythm that strikes resemblance to Diddley's song.
Also really love the guitar solo Steve Cropper delivers. It's really good and not too long, he knew Diddley was centre stage, but still very nice indeed.
A great performance of this amazing blues song.

Enjoy ;-)