For this module, we are tasked with putting on a live performance to an audience, and showcase our ability to perform professionally as an ensemble. Before we are to do this though I am going to be looking into four professional live performances of different styles by established artists, and picking apart the key elements that make these shows effective and engaging.
Metallica, Monsters of Rock festival – Moscow 1991
My personal favourite live performance ever is the Monsters Of Rock festival in 1991 with U.S thrash metal band Metallica taking the headline slot. The crowd capacity was sold out at 1.6 million people in the audience, and the footage from this show sees the band when they were in their prime.
Metallica were, and still are the largest metal band in the world, and have a level of aggression in their music. This comes across clearly in this footage as the young band are full of energy and drive, really having an impact on how aggressively they play their instruments to get the authentic thrash metal sound that they have become known for.
The Band itself is a standard four piece rock band:
- Rhythm Guitar / Vocals – James Hetfield
- Lead Guitar – Kirk Hammett
- Bass Guitar – Jason Newstead
- Drums – Lars Ulrich
On a technical level, the music is heavily guitar driven. The big ‘chunky’ riffs from Hetfield’s heavy handed rhythms drive the music forwards at mainly high tempos. He further adds to this drive by mainly palm muting and down-picking almost all of the rhythm lines, portraying a level of aggression in his guitar sound.
Kirk Hammett takes the vast majority of the lead and melody lines, but doubles up on Hetfield’s rhythm lines in sections to build up their signature thick guitar sound. His playing style is that of a stereotypical metal guitar player, having lots of palm muting and down strokes in his playing. Kirk’s signature sound is associated with heavy use of a wah pedal, although that developed much more extensively in later years.
Jason Newstead is your typical bass player, mainly locking in with the drums and playing around route notes. In this performance circumstance, the music has been written by the previous bassist Cliff Burton, who sadly died a few years earlier. Burton had a signature style of melodic playing on his bass, contrary to the norm of the time, therefore you can hear Newstead playing these lines in parts which are more technically demanding in regards to the scales / arpeggios than that of Metallica’s later music.
Lars Ulrich on drums is a standard metal drummer really. One thing that sets him apart from some though, is the use of two bass drums on his kit as opposed to a double pedal. This gives the drums much more of a punch and drive that the music needs to sound authentic to the style.
In terms of persona and stage presence, the band don’t bother with many theatrics such as pyrotechnics or massive lighting rigs, with the exception of a few spotlights and strobes. The musicians themselves are young here and buzzing with energy. This is used to their advantage as they are moving about the stage, and really feeling or ‘rocking’ to their music, solidifying the aggressive feeling they want to portray. The band’s persona and branding is obviously your stereotypical metal band, therefore they all have long hair and wear vests and jeans with bullet belts and etc… Hetfield makes sure to be interacting with their audience as well, by getting them to sing in parts and through gestures on stage.
Ultimately this all makes for a very effective live performance, and you can see it on the footage too with the audience going wild in parts. Obviously this is a level way above ours, and we most definitely wont be preforming to 1,600,000 people at once, and probably never will, but it is a good example of a successful live performance.
Nirvana, MTV Unplugged – 1993
The next performance I wanted to look into was the MTV unplugged session that the rock/grunge band Nirvana played in 1993. Nirvana as a band had a massive impact on the rock/grunge music scene, and can come across as quite a heavy band at times. Therefore when they did this acoustic session, it was an interesting take on their already popular songs, and in a very different setting to what the band would normally do.
Nirvana brought on a new wave of grunge and rock bands, and were highly thought of around the globe. They came out with this new style of alternative music, and had various hits such as Come As You Are, and Heart Shaped Box. Nirvana fans across the world were devastated when they heard the news of frontman Kurt Cobain’s suicide in 1994.
This band were also a standard rock band lineup:
- Guitar / Vocals – Kurt Cobain
- Bass (guitar occasionally) – Krist Novoselic
- Guitar – Pat Smear
- Drums (and bass on one track) – Dave Grohl
Due to this session being acoustic, the techniques used differ from your standard rock show. The music is now softer and in parts more melodic than the album versions, while maintaining the authentic ‘Nirvana’ sound. Cobain’s vocals are less gritty in this as his voice is softer than normal, and one big difference is he is on an acoustic guitar. His guitar lines stay more or less the same as they are in the original versions, He still adopts the use of a plectrum to give the songs a level of drive that they still need, and probably for ease of playing.
Pat Smear on guitar 2 is mainly just rhythm playing and in the same way that Kurt is, also using a plectrum. His lines are more harmony focused, playing most of the chords while Cobain takes the lead melodies. A good example of this is during the song ‘Come As You Are.’ Again, this is a lot more laid back than the playing on the original recording, and it works well in this scenario.
Krist Novoselic is using an acoustic bass in this session, although he could have likely used an electric and lowered the volume. I feel as though this reinforces the acoustic feel though, as his bass-lines remain largely the same but now have an acoustic sound.
Dave Grohl is most famous for his role as the frontman of the modern rock band called the ‘Foo Fighters,’ however his music career launched when he was hired as the drummer for nirvana. Dave is on a regular acoustic drum kit, but adopts the use of brushes rather than drumsticks for the majority of the performance as they give a softer sound that is well suited for an acoustic setup.
The major difference in this performance in comparison to the Metallica concert, is the setting. The performance is in one of MTV’s studio venues with the band in the middle and the audience being quite small and surrounding the band. The band are all sat down as well, and the atmosphere is relaxed and easy with no theatrics or anything involved.
Overall this performance is successful as the band have the acoustic sound which is well suited to the venue, and perform each track with great musicianship. The small audience remain engaged with the band as well due to how closely they are seated to them, therefore the band members don’t need to go out of their way to try and include them.
Kiss, Live in Zurich – 2013
Kiss are an American Pop-Rock/Glam-Rock band, and are widely regarded as the best live show to go and see due to their ridiculously large shows and crazy theatrics. As a band they are more pop than rock I would say, appealing to almost everyone, and are one of the most commercially successful bands to ever have existed.
Kiss are known for their signature look and catchy music. Some of their bigger hits would be ‘I Was Made For Loving You’ and ‘Rock And Roll All Nite.’ The level of theatrics on stage have made them a must see band for anyone who is into seeing bands perform live.
Again, this is a standard rock band setup:
- Guitar / Vocals – Paul Stanley
- Bass / Vocals – Gene Simmons
- Lead guitar / Vocals – Tommy Thayer
- Drums / Vocals – Eric Singer
Due to each member of the band doubling as vocalists, the role of frontman is in a way shared between them, however most people will regard either Paul Stanley or Gene Simmons as their main man. Most of the bands music are in a standard pop song structure with the occasional heavy guitar riff. Gene Simmons on bass is the driving force of Kiss, and fills out most of the gaps in the music with his heavy hitting and sometimes funky bass-lines.
Paul Stanley tends to most of the lead vocals in the music, with backing support from the other three members. He plays a good frontman, constantly interacting with the crowd and keeping everyone involved. Most of the guitar lines on both ends are simple but effective, not requiring much level of technical ability in most cases.
Tommy Thayer on lead guitar handles the majority of guitar solos. His solos tend to be very cliche, using standard techniques and tricks to fill in the gaps. This doesn’t make it ineffective though due to the nature of the music itself; The solos are straight to the point, and keep the flow of the music going.
Eric Singer on drums is a standard drummer really, but makes the most of his kit with his fills between different sections. He holds down the backbone of each track along with Simmon’s bass work, and keeps their flow going.
The gimmick with Kiss really comes down to how obnoxious their live concerts actually are. The clothes they wear are over the top eccentric, and combined with their signature face-paint the band are now recognised by people who have never even heard their music. They have become possibly the most recognised icon in the live music industry due to their inmage and persona, and subsuquently a large ammount of their income comes from the sales of their merchandise.
Snarky Puppy, ‘Lingus’ – From the DVD ‘We Like It Here’
The group Snarky Puppy are a large band of some of the most elite musicians in the world. Formed in 2004, they are a sort of mix between Jazz, Funk, and Fusion. The group is led meainly by the bassist and composer Michael Leauge.
Snarky Puppy have become known for their incredibly complex compositions, and their incredibly high caliber of skill when performing as an ensemble together.
This group has a very different set-up to the previous three bands I have mentioned. The performers in this video are listed here:
- Michael League – bass
- Shaun Martin – keyboards
- Bill Laurance – keyboards
- Cory Henry – keyboards (solo)
- Justin Stanton – Fender Rhodes
- Mark Lettieri – guitar
- Bob Lanzetti – guitar
- Chris McQueen – guitar
- Nate Werth – percussion
- Larnell Lewis – drums
- Mike Maher – trumpet (solo)
- Chris Bullock – sax (solo)
- Bob Reynolds – sax
- Jay Jennings – trumpet
This is a far larger ensemble than a standard band, and due to this the group make complex compositions with several layers of sound.
The group as a whole work incredibly well together and move with each other as the music progesses. Michael Leauge on bass and Larnell Lewis on drums lock in with each other incredibly well, and provide a solid backbone to the music, allowing for the accompanying instruments to add melodies over the top.
The brass section for the majority of the piece all play in unison with one and other, brining in strong melody lines that lock in well with the piece.
The guitarists and keyboardists work off of each other really well in this, providing a stong rhythm section with the occasional lead guitar line to bring the music back in after the texture thins out.
Cory Henry takes a big solo in this piece, and is known globally as a phenomenal keys player. His solo in this piece is incredibly complex, using all variety of scales, arpeggios, and chromatisism. This is probably the ‘selling point’ of this track, as it showcases such a level of improvisational skill by Cory Henry, and the other musicians as well.
This performance is far unlike what would be considered a standard live performance due to the setting and arrangement of the band. The venue appears to be more of a studio setting, with a small crowd capacity. Another interesting point is that the audience are all listening to the band through headphones insted of the live sound in the room. This is so they can hear the highest quality mix of the group while watching them perform the track. The musicians in this are not trying to engage the audience as live performers, but rather through the level of skill in their music, and are purley there to showcase their composition. Through doing this, these musicians look incredibly professional, and incredibly skillful, which is the persona that they have gained since forming back in 2004.