Cities have begun to reopen (NYC is in the early stages of doing so) and some people are finding socially-distant ways to put on concerts, but the world of live entertainment as we know it is still far from back to normal. In addition to watching the many livestreams that happen every day, one thing we've been turning to in these concert-less times is live concert footage, and thankfully there’s YouTube which has an amazing array of live footage from throughout the history of pop music, from clips from concert films, TV performances and other pro-shot footage, to tons of fan-shot video from shows. If you’re looking for a place to start, we’ve been picking some of our favorites. Here are five more:
Pavement @ Khyber Pass 7/30/1992
We posted video of Pavement on the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain tour, but here is a slightly younger, rowdier version of the band not to long after the release of Slanted and Enchanted in 1992. This was when wildman drummer Gary Young was still in the band and he brought a more forceful style and unpredictability to the band. (Also: headstands.) This set has tons from Slanted and other what are now deep cuts, like the great "Shoot the Singer" from the Watery Domestic EP. [Bill Pearis]
--
Tricky @ Shepherd's Bush Empire 1997
Tricky is currently in the midst of a creative hot-streak with a new album on the way, this show is from the mid-'90s height of trip hot, when Martina Topley Bird was still his muse. Shot for UK's Channel4 on the Pre-Millennium Tension tour, the sound is fantastic on this while the show itself is, as per usual for Tricky, very darkly lit. Performances of "Christiansands," "Overcome" and more are loaded with murky power. [Bill Pearis]
--
Missy Elliott @ Essence Fest, New Orleans, LA - 7/5/2019
Missy Elliott is a genuine icon, and headlining the 25th anniversary of New Orleans' Essence Fest in 2019, she did a victory lap through a catalog of hits that still sound as fresh and relevant now as they did when they were released, complete with costume changes and a troupe of backup dancers. Later the same summer she released the Iconic EP, her first collection of new music since her 2005 LP The Cookbook. We were looking forward to seeing Missy at the 2020 edition of Governors Ball until it was cancelled over coronavirus concerns, and this video only whets our appetite. [Amanda Hatfield]
--
Deftones @ HFStival 2000
Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham said that the band's highly anticipated new album is finally done being recorded, "getting mastered right now," and will "hopefully, maybe" be out in September. "I heard something. I can't remember..." Meanwhile, their classic White Pony turns 20 this weekend (and is getting a reissue with a remix album called Black Stallion), so here's a video of the band looking and sounding amazing at Maryland's HFStival in the White Pony era. (The footage was broadcast on MTV 2. Remember when MTV played music?) The show was about a month before White Pony came out, and they did a couple of that album's songs along with earlier faves like "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)," "My Own Summer (Shove It)," "Around the Fur," "Bored," and more. [Andrew Sacher]
--
The Distillers @ 929 Cafe - 10/25/2002
The Distillers finally reunited in 2018 (though not without some roadblocks), and they had been working on their first new album since 2003 until the biggest roadblock of all hit, coronavirus. They've put out some cool quarantine content, but while we wait for them to once again tour and hopefully finish that album, here's a killer black-and-white video of the band tearing it up in their early 2000s prime.
