The Grey Area: Live Ones

Hey folks and welcome to whatever this is.

Every other month I'm going to share 3 videos of live performances with you. I'm going to limit it to individual tracks, as I can't imagine anyone's got the staying power for 3 full live shows every month. I know I don't.

I'll also give a bit of context to each video (if I can) but will try not to waffle on. After all we're here for the music, not my self indulgent musings.

First up we're off to Brazil. It's pretty well known that I'm no expert on Brazilian music, so this one came out of leftfield for me. I've since checked out the studio recorded version of "A Menina Dança" and don't think it holds up to this intimate little freak out! Baby Consuelo (on vocals) is just mesmerising!

This footage is taken from Richie's infamous Woodstock performance. Richie wasn't scheduled to be the opening act of the festival, but the huge highway tailbacks meant most of the other artists weren't on site yet. There are varying reports on how long he played for, but the general consensus seems to be around the 3 hour mark?! Not only that but this track in particular was ad-libbed on the spot. Freedom is his spin on the traditional folk song "Motherless Child" and, like the Novos Baianos track above, I think it blows the later studio recorded version away. Unreal stuff.

Something far more contemporary now, recorded in December of 2021, and the perfect introduction to a band whose live shows are unparallelled. Both times I saw them in 2023 couldn't be separated as my gig of the year, and I implore you to see them at the next available opportunity. Avalanche Kaito are like nothing else out there.