Metallica – King Nothing

This is a live performance by the American heavy metal band Metallica playing the song “King Nothing” live. The performance is from 1996 from the British TV show “Later with Jools Holland”.
The song was originally released on the band’s 1996 album “Load”. The song is credited to: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett. All guitars were tuned down one half step to Eb.
The song was released as a single in 1997 and a music video was shot for it as well. It peaked at #90 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It’s a good song and a good performance by the band.

Enjoy ; )

Led Zeppelin – Ten Years Gone

This is a live performance by the British rock band Led Zeppelin they play the song “Ten Years Gone” live.
The song originally appeared on the band’s 1975 album “Physical Graffiti”. The song is credited to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. It was originally intended to be an instrumental piece composed by Page, but Plant later added the lyrics and made the song what it is. The lyrics are about Plant’s relationship to a girl who ten years earlier had forced him to choose between her or his music.
When playing the song live it was done by Page using a Telecaster with a b-bender and bassist John Paul Jones playing the rest of the parts on a three neck guitar featuring a 12-string, a 6-string, a mandolin, and bass pedals. Truly great measures to get the live performance right.
It’s a great song. I really love Page’s approach to playing the b-bender getting a sort of Eastern sound from it. It’s a great performance by a legendary band.

Enjoy ; )

Metallica - Am I Evil?

This is a live performance by American heavy metal and thrash band Metallica playing the song "Am I Evil?". The performance is from 1998 in New York.
The song was originally recorded by the British heavy metal band Diamondhead. It was written by Sean Harris (singer) and Brian Tatler (guitarist). It was originally released on Diamondhead's debut album "Lightning to the Nations" in 1980.
Metallica who were big fans of Diamondhead would play this and many other Diamondhead songs at the beginning of them playing together. The most widely available version by Metallica is on their 1998 "Garage Inc." double album which consists solely of covers. Diamondhead has said in interviews that they are flattered by the cover done by Metallica and that the royalties from the song have been beneficial for the band's continued recording and touring career.
It's a great and heavy song, and a great performance by Metallica.

Muse - Knights of Cydonia

This is a live performance by the British band Muse playing their song "Knights of Cydonia". The performance is from the British TV-programme "Later with Jools Holland" from 2006.
The song appears as the closing track on the band's 2006 album "Black Holes and Revelations". The song was also released as a single in 2006 and did well on the charts. It is also featured in the video-game "Guitar Hero III".
It's a great song and a very good composition.

Enjoy ; )

Pink Floyd - Money

This is a live performance by British rock band Pink Floyd playing the song "Money". The performance is from the Live 8 benefit concert from 2005.
The song first appeared on the band's 1973 studio album "The Dark Side of the Moon". The song was written by Roger Waters and it is known for it's rather unique 7/4-4/4 time signature, it's bass line, and the seven-beat loop of money related sound effects that plays in the intro of the song, and throughout the song. The chord structure follows a typical blues progression in B minor, but the time signature makes it sound so unique.
It's a great song and performance.

Enjoy ; )

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

This is a live performance by the British rock band Pink Floyd playing live at the "Live 8" benefit concert. The song is the title track to the band's 1975 album. The song is was a Roger Waters and David Gilmour collaboration with lyrics by Roger Waters who writes about alienation from other people. The song is also an homage to former frontman Syd Barret.
The song is very popular and it has been covered by Wyclef Jean whose version ended up at #2 on the UK Singles Chart. His version was released in 2001.
I also recommend checking out this version, click here to go to a video of it. It is a performance by Roger Waters with Eric Clapton accompanying him. It sounds very good and Clapton's subtle lead playing fits the song very well.
A great song and a great performance.

Enjoy ; )

Cream - Outside Woman Blues

This is a live performance by British supergroup Cream performing a live version of the song "Outside Woman Blues". The performance is from their 2005 reunion concert at The Royal Albert Hall. It's a great performance and it shows just what this trio was capable of and still were capable of back in 2005.
The song was originally recorded by Blind Joe Reynolds in 1929. It has since been covered by a large number of artists, but most notably Cream. Cream's version was released in 1967 on their "Disreali Gears" album. There were only two covers on this album, and the rest of the songs were originals. Also the lyrics are credited to Blind Joe Reynolds, but with arrangement by Clapton. This is also very clear, if you take a listen to the original (click here for a performance of the original).
The song has been performed by a lot of artists and Clapton has also played the song live as a solo artist. Like this acoustic clip embeded below which is a very good version. It really marks Clapton's self-accompanied style and abilities and his vocal ability as well.

The song has also been performed by: Jimi Hendrix, Back Door Slam, Doyle Bramhall II, Van Halen and Johnny Winter.
I love both of Cream's versions of this song. They're both great performances who share displaying Clapton's guitar abilities and his vocal ability as well.

Enjoy ; )

Black Sabbath - Iron Man

This is a live performance by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath playing perhaps their most famous song, or one of them at least, "Iron Man". The performance is from Paris 1970.
The song is of their "Paranoid" album which was also released in 1970. The song has since its release been featured in various TV-shows, been sampled by numerous hip-hop acts and covered by a large number of artists.
The song's title is courtesy of Ozzy Osbourne, but the lyrics were written by Geezer Butler around Ozzy's title. Originally it was named "Iron Bloke", but this was just a working title alas it was changed before the song's release.
The song is about a man who travels back in time and sees the apocalypse. When he returns to the present he is turned in two an iron man and proceeds to communicate with people around him. His attempts are ignored and mocked and so he gets angry and causes the very destruction he saw in the future.
As mentioned earlier the song has been covered by a large number of artists. Anything from Metallica to Sir Mix-A-Lot. It was also recently confirmed that William Shatner with the aid of Ozzy's former guitarist Zakk Wylde. Below is a short clip showing them working on it in the studio.

I think this is very funny and really shows the cult status the song has reached.
It's a very good performance of a truly iconic song. The audio isn't the best in the world, but still all right and a pretty good descent video quality for 1970.

Enjoy ; )

Foghat - Fool for the City

This is a live performance by British rock band Foghat performing the song "Fool for the City" from their 1975 album. "Fool for the City" was the title track and second single from the album. The most famous track from the album is their signature song "Slow Ride".
The album is also the band's only platinum selling album. "Slow Ride" reached no. 20 on the mainstream pop-charts, but "Fool for the City" didn't do as well and only reached no. 45 on the same charts.
It's a good and steady performance and song. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of Rod's lead playing. I'm more a fan of his slide work which is stunning, fast and done to perfect precision, now that's impressive. But a very good performance none the less.

Enjoy ; )

Jethro Tull - Aqualung

This is a performance by English progressive rock band Jethro Tull. They play their song "Aqualung", a weird art rock/hard rock song about an old nasty man, to sum it up short. (Listen to the song, the lyrics are pretty well spoken, and easy to understand). The song is from the album also titled "Aqualung" released in 1971.
It is a weird composition, starting off with a really hard and heavy riff. It is inspired by Beethoven and his 5th symphony, which is somewhat similar to this.
It's a great performance, and everyone really delivers solid. Very enjoyable.

Enjoy ; )

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

This is a live performance by the British hard rock band Led Zeppelin performing the classic song "Kashmir". It was written over a period stretching from 1973-1975 which was the release year for the song. It was on Zeppelin's album "Physical Graffiti". It was written by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham. And the lyrics of the song date back to 1973.
The main guitar riff is played in Open Dsus4 tuning (commonly referred to as DADGAD-tuning). It has an eastern sound and feel to it, and Page has stated that he had a sitar, and that therefore the sitar was an influence on the song. It is one of the few songs from Zeppelin to feature session musicians as the album version has a string section and a brass section as well, and an added mellotron on top, and you get the distinctive sound of this song.
It's a great performance, Plant is singing his lungs off and Page is playing to the point where he starts sweating, and Bonham is as always just excellent on the drum kit. A great performance of a great song.

Enjoy ; )