In no particular order, here are some specific performances I very much enjoyed in 2017.
‘Rose In The Heather’ by Celtic Social Club
As I mentioned in a prior post, this was one of the two groups I saw in 2017. The fiddle player - who I believe is Pierre Stephan - is really worth seeing in person. Everything the band accomplishes runs through him.
As an audience member, it was a fascinating experience to watch. During the portion of the song when there was no fiddle, Stephan simply sat on his stool and waited, instrument down by his knee, appearing almost lifeless to us in the audience. He would wait like a solid stone statue until the fiddle part approached. Then, slowly, he would lift the instrument into playing position. When his part came around, he burst into life and dazzled the audience once more.
This song is the band’s standard concert closer. It is basically an extended excuse to get out of Stephan’s way while he plays at top speed for several minutes.
‘Rental Love’ by Lake Street Dive
‘Rental Love’ is a short, simple showcase of each band member’s strengths (well, the drummer excepted, I guess). This was a song I mostly ignored back in 2015 when I first listened to Bad Self Portraits. As I’ve come back around to take a deeper dive into their work, I found I liked this song as much as all the other tracks I enjoyed back in 2015.
‘On The Ground’ by Rubblebucket
Rubblebucket did pretty well for me in 2017 and they contributed a number of good candidates for this song of the year concept. I think this somewhat restrained version of ‘On The Ground’ is the best one for me. The opening notes always touch me and I often find the song stays with me long after I’ve finished listening.
‘American Pie’ by John Mayer
I came across this track by accident. First, I looked up Tom Petty concert footage after his passing in October. In addition to discovering many of his performances, I also found myself redirected to cover performances by various other artists.
I eventually found my way to Mayer playing an acoustic version of “Freefallin” - itself a very strong performance - and I guess those wizards over at Youtube HQ took the hint and recommended I try another Mayer cover performance. This recommendation was a video from David Letterman’s show a few years ago. Mayer’s performance – outside of his strange confusion regarding ‘the jester’ – does the song full justice. It’s a great representative of why I like cover performances so much (1).
‘The Little Things That Give You Away’ by U2
What can I say about U2 that hasn’t been said already? They are great, they are old, they are past their prime, they are still able to put on a great performance, get off my iPod, blah blah blah…
The way musicians age is probably not all that different from how athletes age. Over time, the performance level slowly declines as the body gives in to the creeping demands of age. Those accustomed to seeing a top performance, night in and night out, start to notice the slippage. Gone are the highest notes and the bone-rattling drum beats. The sprints up and down the stage become jogs, then walks.
In the recording studio, I imagine the aging process takes a little longer to show. But eventually, albums that once produced hit after hit might now just leave us with one or two, at most. And the cultural impact of said hit would pale in comparison to the leading lights of past albums.
Last summer, I first heard this track off their newest album, Songs of Experience. What was I expecting? Pretty much a manifestation of those previous two paragraphs. And in a lot of ways, this song was the same as always: a resemblance to the past, an enjoyable few minutes of music, and a prompt to boot up the concert footage from the 80’s or 90’s when the song was over so that I could relive the glory days I was too young to actually experience.
But surprisingly, this song grew on me. Unlike ‘Every Breaking Wave’ - the best track from the previous Songs of Innocence album - this song sounded more like U2 with each performance. It started to feel like an accomplishment, a rolling back of the years in terms of performance, yet it managed to balance this innocent nod to past with the accumulated wisdom they've earned over four-plus decades of turning experience into music.
The challenge for all artists, no matter what age, is to dig out what is locked away within. The good ones go in and collect what they know is there. The better ones do a little more work and find what they know is buried just a short way beneath the surface.
And the best? In many ways, I think what they do is a lot like the good or the better. The best, too, dig out what is locked away. But the difference is not knowing. The best artists dig without a treasurer map. They dig when what’s locked away is unknown. The best still dig even when they don't know what’s there. They dig until they find it. It’s this quality, this little thing, that makes the best the best. And unfortunately, I suspect it's this little thing that dooms the very best to ultimately finish their career with a performance no one asked for.
But you know what, reader? Time and again, the naysayers have said nay. They’ve said things like ‘there is nothing left here to dig up, so go home’ to those who've only known the way of the shovel. Lucky for us, U2 never listens to anyone...
I say if U2 wants to keep digging for another forty years, I’ll bring the shovels. And to you, reasonable reader, I suggest checking out at least one or two songs from the new album - you will be pleasantly surprised (2).
Footnotes / extended reminiscing
1. And landed...FOUL...on the grass...
'American Pie'…I hadn’t heard this song in years. And I couldn’t believe what this song made me feel after so long. Way back in the day, 'American Pie' was my favorite song.
Now, a fun fact, reader - this was the first song whose lyrics I entirely memorized. I’m not sure I how I managed this feat in second grade, reader, for two reasons.
First, the song is eight minutes long.
But more importantly, this is surprising because I only heard it every once in a while on the car radio. Add in the fact that my mom hated the radio and thus it was never on when she was in the car and this feat is even more impressive (or just more likely to be fabricated).
That was life twenty years ago – just waiting around in the car and hoping the spirit of radio would deliver. I think Rush sang about it, once.
2. This sounds like a good way to market the blog...
True On Average - you will be pleasantly surprised!
