London, UK (Shepherd's Bush Empire), June 30, 2019 Options

[Voodoo Lady]

Live has had a lot of fans for this tour with Bush. The crowds have been pretty solid for them.

Maybe I spoke too soon. I do hope you are right. You have been to the shows out east, where I can definitely see them having a bigger fanbase. -It’s their home. Let’s see what it’s like in the south and I’ll correct if necessary.

[LiveForNow]

Maybe I spoke too soon. I do hope you are right. You have been to the shows out east, where I can definitely see them having a bigger fanbase. -It’s their home. Let’s see what it’s like in the south and I’ll correct if necessary.

Live could also play for 12 people in a parking lot and Nick could sell us on the experience.

These solo shows look great. I wish they'd vary up the setlist, but this is still way better than the setlists that were coming out while they were promoting V, BOP, or SFBM. Although I would love to hear Like I Do live.

[Voodoo Lady]

Videos from [Dan Maguire]

They Stood Up for Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv885fvP-UM

I normally skip this song, because I never liked it. For some reason, decided to watch this, and it’s a great performance. Prompted me to listen to it more today, driving around, on repeat. It’s grown on me, and I can officially say I now like it. It only took me 20 years.

[live2cd]

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=652950

mp3s: https://www.mediafire.com/file/p60uqivmxy3r...cd-mp3.zip/file

shitty fucking sound in there.

[dangum]

Thaks for recording the show. It's not as bad as you made out. I enjoyed it!

Here is a review of the show. Some nice pics included as well.

https://rockshotmagazine.com/live-sell-the-...ds-bush-empire/

Throwing Copper isn’t just Live’s second album. It’s the one that put them on the map, by topping the Billboard 200 charts, featuring five singles (including two US #1s), and selling over eight million copies. Now that it’s 25 years old, the band are celebrating with a special anniversary edition and at least two special intimate shows back home.

So when they begin their first London show in 10 years with the LP’s first song, the slow-climbing, deep-diving The Dam At Otter Creek, there’s a brief sense that they might perform the whole thing from start to finish.

They don’t. But they do play most of it in a set that digs deep into the five-year run of hits from 1994 onwards. The impassioned Heaven, given the unplugged solo treatment by frontman Ed Kowalczyk, is the only inclusion from this century – and it came out in 2003.

Yet, despite the passage of time, these songs remain as forceful as the way they’re performed tonight. Lead guitarist Chad Taylor and bass player Patrick Dahlheimer may look the epitome of rockstar cool in their matching Stetson-sunglasses-beard combos.

And, in terms of physical exertion, they’re no match for the hard-hitting Chad Gracey. But, even in their laid-back approach, Taylor and Dahlheimer sound just as intense as the drummer who’s all blurred arms and head-down momentum.

With some assistance from rhythm guitarist Zak Loy and percussionist Clint Simmons, they tear through signature loud-quiet, dark-light rockers like All Over You, Iris, I Alone, and Selling The Drama as if they’re back in high school (when they were still called First Aid and Public Affection).

A riotous Shit Towne (melodic, plaintive verses; thrashing choruses), epitomises Kowalczyk’s description of Throwing Copper as “big songs, big feelings, big dynamics”, while the visceral White, Discussion (meditative start, apocalyptic finish) is a thundering assault on the senses.

Leading from the front (and, frankly, all over) is Kowalczyk. As energetic as Gracey, but not confined to a drum stool, he’s every bit as dynamic as those songs he’s more than singing.

Even as he’s pointing both index fingers to the sky like a celebrity DJ, leaning the microphone into the rabid crowd, raising a fist, enclosing his hands around an invisible globe, playing rhythm guitar, or just running around the stage, he fully inhabits hit after hit.

His soaring roar of “Let me ride” is as essential to the murky Lakini’s Juice as Taylor’s gritty guitar riff. The alternating vocal restraint and excess of The Dolphin’s Cry is only surpassed by the shades within the forever beautiful Run To The Water (verses almost spoken, choruses almost stratospheric).

The perpetually pretty Turn My Head, performed alone, is custom made for the “edgy croon” setting in Kowalczyk’s voice before Taylor steps in with the haunting solo.

As he drapes his arm over the guitarist, there’s no sign of the rift that split the singer from the rest of the band for seven years. In fact, throughout the evening, Kowalczyk speaks of their shared bond, their families, their hometown (York, Pennsylvania), and just how much fun they’re having being back in London.

Of course, there’s also time for the standard stage banter, with the frontman frequently encouraging the crowd to sing or clap along and at regular intervals asking: “Are you having fun now?”

Judging from the screams around Shepherd’s Bush Empire (and the particularly enthusiastic dancing from two punters on the balcony), the answer’s always the same: a resounding yes.

The band are clearly having a blast too, to the extent that they even perform two covers. R.E.M.’s Losing My Religion, billed as a tribute to their early influences, comes early in the set; an exciting take on The Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black couldn’t possibly sound more like musicians who still enjoy playing together.

Both are well received, but (predictably) the biggest cheers are reserved for the Live original that (predictably) closes the high-impact set: Lightning Crashes. Possibly still the only number one hit to mention a placenta, it definitely still has the majesty and enduring legacy to prompt 2000 voices to join in unprompted, almost drowning out Kowalczyk and the band, until those “big dynamics” kick in one last time.

Live Review by Nils van der Linden, Photography by Phil Honley of +LIVE+ at Shepherds Bush Empire on 30th June 2019.

[dangum]

Another review. Check link for some nice photos.

June 30, 2019
O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire

“It feels so good to be back on stage with my brothers from junior fucking high school!”
If there were any doubts about how Live would be received after a hiatus, acrimony, and a long absence from the UK, there was no need to worry. The show at the 2000 capacity Shepherd’s Bush Empire sold out quickly, even without a history of the radio success they had in the U.S.

The venue, designed as a circus and music hall theatre in 1903, was packed to the rafters on an unusually hot summer evening. Anticipation was rife as friends and strangers shared stories of previous shows and their hopes for the long-awaited return of the classic Live line-up.

The lights dropped as usual, but the lighting tech and band had more in store. During Dam At Otter Creek, the dramatic opener of the 8 million selling 1994 album Throwing Cooper , the stage was kept darkened with just enough blue light to see the players perform in silhouette. There were flashes of bright light corresponding with powerful bursts in the song, foreshadowing the energy that the band would give throughout the night.

With his earnest delivery and thoughtful lyrics covering elemental topics like love, death, spirituality and everything in between, singer Ed Kowalczyk gained a reputation for intense seriousness in the band’s radio and music television heyday. However, here he grinned as much as emoted; appreciating and encouraging the fans’ fervour for exuberant rock numbers like All Over You and Shit Towne.

The set included two covers; REM’s Losing My Religion and The Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black. Kowalczyk forgot a few lyrics during the latter song despite having the words pasted up next to the mic stand.

Let’s face it, that was never going to work given his boundless energy in prowling the stage and stepping out to interact with the crowd. No problem though. He simply flashed another grin, gave another thumbs up, and offered the mic out for the crowd to willingly fill in the blanks. The fans were well up for that role. Later, the way they collectively held the note on the chorus of Turn My Head was really rather impressive.

The Paint It Black cover was heavy in dropped D guitar, heavy bass and drums, with surprising shades of Black Sabbath along with influences of the original song. Perhaps not all that surprising given that Live had two live drummers for the show.

Although not referred to explicitly, there were oblique references to the band’s time apart; the entire group went on hiatus in 2009 and the three founding members returned three years later with a different singer for a four years. Any bitterness from that time seemed well and truly resolved now.

Kowalczyk galloped around the stage embracing and interacting with his stoically cool bandmates, openly appreciating their musicianship, and sharing mutual expressions of brotherhood.

For a handful of songs, including the heartfelt ballad to his daughter, Heaven – a comeback U.S. radio hit in 2003 – Kowalczyk played alone with just an electro-acoustic guitar and the crowd singing as one for accompaniment.

He spoke of the message behind the song, alluding to the fire and brimstone street preachers that are a regular feature outside Shepherd’s Bush station: “They can’t see the heaven that’s right there on the sidewalk…if heaven ain’t like this, count me out.” In a time of uncertainty and instability, it was refreshing to hear someone use their platform to celebrate the joy in life, especially in the emotion, energy and community of live music.

When it came to live Live music, it was fascinating to see the passion with which the fans received the songs even though they weren’t big hits over here. The highest single position was 30 for Selling The Drama, and that 8 million selling album Throwing Cooper didn’t sell many of those copies here, as it only reached number 37. An outsider would never have known that the barnstorming U.S. modern rock behemoth I Alone hadn’t made an airplay impact, or that Lightning Crashes wasn’t generally considered a modern classic here. Even the security guard sang along!

Overall, the band impressed with a greatest hits set that was heavier and rockier than a casual listener might expect, fuelled by experience, energy and reinvigorated friendships dating back to school days some 35 years ago. Hopefully it won’t be 10 years before they’re back in the UK again!

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https://musiccloseup.com/2019/07/04/live/

[dangum]

Videos from [Sandy Learmonth]

Lightning Crashes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw4gQmliEuk

Losing My Religion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGQ26wT2jT0

Lakini's Juice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMLcDpyK_i0

[jimmythecuckoo]

I thought it was a brilliant show.

They rocked my socks off on a hot and steamy evening in West London.

Ok so they just did the tracks we all know and love and most of the newer stuff close to the split was left out, or in the case of Heaven just done acoustically by Ed.

As it was Glasto weekend, I had watched a lot of the tv coverage but didn't see anything that moved me like this.

[dangum]

Video from [MsMelDoe]

Turn My Head

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSSLESQvMnk