Are concert 'jams' dead?
I have at least a dozen concert DVD's roughly divided in two groups. Vintage footage (60's and 70's) and modern concerts. Some of the former are,
Jethro Tull at The Isle of Wight Festival, 1969
Hendrix with Band of Gypsies, at Fillamore East 1970
Neil Young with Crazy Horse, Rust tour 1978
Some of the latter,
Tina Turner Wildest Dreams Tour, 1999
David Bowie Reality Tour, ????
Bon Jovi Crush Tour, ????
One thing I noticed watching these recently is almost all the bands in the older footage would let at least a couple of songs evolve into extended jams. In fact Neil Youngs concert became almost one long jam session. During 'Cortez the Killer' Neil became all glassy eyed, like he was in a different place. Of course I realize certain chemicals may have been involved but you know what I mean. My wife even said 'he's totally in the zone'.
Hendrix was often the same. In fact, on the Band of Gypsies footage he totally missed a cue and turned the song into a jam session to cover.
None of the modern concerts seem to have these spontaneous jams. They may be technically great but they are a little sterile compared to the older concerts. That's not to say I don't like the newer footage. Tina is my favorite performer of all time. But I really love to watch these great artists jam/improv.
So, I'm interested in your comments. Do you like watching jam sessions as much as I do? Do you agree that modern concert dogma precludes jams? Isn't there something extra special that develops when great musos let it all hang out?
You guys that are actively playing out, like Dave and Jaymie, do you jam during your shows? Do the crowds like it or just tolerate it?
Man I agree with you big
Man I agree with you big time, I think that this is the pro era now and people have high expectations on bands to just play what the crowd knows.
Big artist now, like Robbie Williams just stick to a set performance and I think it has a bit to do with getting a routine and making a quick buck.
The same for most singers that use session players, I think that they prefer to stick to a plan, but not always.
I love jamming on stage and think that it will come back, I did my second gig last sat with my new band at a corporate function and because they had a fill in drummer as well, we didn’t really have enough songs between us, so for the fist set we just jammed some stuff out, totally fun!!! We played some pop and rock songs in jazz styles and I came up with some cool bass lines that we made into songs, the guitarist made some stuff up and the two singers started making up words on the spot. You know, it went so well and we had so many comments on that part of the night.
So it’s funny that you bring this up Paul, because I’ve been thinking the same thing.
Jay
Quite the coincidence that I
Quite the coincidence that I post this right after your Saturday 'jam'. Glad it went well and you enjoyed it.
If you ever watch Tinas 'Wildest Dreams' DVD, or if you have of course, it is one of the most professional productions I've ever seen. Tina's a rock goddess. LOL But there isn't a note out of place during the show. Bowies Reality concert was the same. Utter perfection.
Some performers even have everything on tape in case one of the musicians is having a bad night. The show has to be perfect.
But there was something fun back in the day when perfection wasn't the goal. The Jethro Tull performance at the Isle of Wight was fantastic. I mean some of the instruments went out of tune, Ian missed cues, the sound wasn't always great but for all that the concert was as entertaining as the best modern perfection can turn out.
And Hendrix of course, an improv genius. What can I say.
Yea, you got it!! I'm about
Yea, you got it!!
I'm about to start learning 11 songs for another band for this Sunday and one of the songs is Simply the best by Tina, I was never really into her stuff but I actually enjoyed playing that song when I had a quick go at it last week, it's got bite.
Back in the day the band
Back in the day the band used to improvise a LOT of jams. It was fun, but also a two edged sword. Leaving a jam up to a guitarist cue would leave you at the mercy of how he was feeling that night.
In todays world people are just to impatient to do a lot of that. If you go over 5 minutes with a song they seem to loose interest. What I do is improvise some jams within a certain structure. That is we will only do the jam for so many bars. Trying to get the best of both worlds. Improvising a jam, but not dragging it on too long. I have some bass cues that I pull us out of those jams as well. I have to really be careful as to not to drag them out. Sometimes it's like pulling out....LOL!
It was fun though back in the day. Just going off for about 10 minutes and having fun with it. When the whole band would get into a groove with it you just NEVER wanted to end the song. It was magically and a one of a kind moment you just can't duplicate.
Dave
Like pulling out? Whatever
Like pulling out? Whatever do you mean? LOL
I love watching those oldtimers jam. If you ever get a chance check out the DVD Rust Never Sleeps. Neil and Crazy Horse were so tight they were amazing. It's one of the best concerts ever. I think you'd really appreciate it.
LOL!! Yeah, I'll have to
LOL!! Yeah, I'll have to check that out sometime Paul. I'd like to see it..... ahhhh the golden days!
Dave
I Agree
As someone said "back in the day" bands that I went to see, not in bars but in concert, almost always had a couple of long jams. I'm thinking of The Dead, The Band, The Allman Brothers (although the last time I saw them was in 2005 and there was quite a bit of jamming between Warren Hayes and Derek Trucks).
Bands would often change popular songs around, but know it seems that bands try to mimic their recordings so fans hear tunes exactly the way they sound on records.
Re: I Agree
I saw footage of The Dead and The Band on the Festival Express film. They definately got into jamming on, and off, stage. Both were great acts. You're a lucky man to have seen them.
[quote=Pete Wallace]Bands would often change popular songs around, but know it seems that bands try to mimic their recordings so fans hear tunes exactly the way they sound on records.[/quote]
How true. That's exactly my observation too. I guess the modern ticket prices might have something to do with it as well. When you're paying $80 to see a big name act I guess you want to hear your favorite songs the way you expect them to sound. It's a shame though because some of the best music i've ever heard was spontaneous.
The last big concert that I
The last big concert that I went to was when Metallica opened for Ozzy at Irvine Meadows (now named something else). Metallica did a small jam just after one of the rafters fell and came with in inches of Newsted's head (he did not miss a beat either). Then Ozzy came out and the band went into a long jam at the end of the session. THEN they left the stage, 5min later Ozzy came out wearing his old Sabbath outfit (the black one with the tassels on the arms)toyed with the audience for a bit and then the lights went dim. When they came back on all the original members from Sabbath were on stage (this was the first reunion since Ozzy left) and they had a few good jams and for the finally both Sabbath and Metallica did a few tunes and then had a great jam at the end.
As you can read I have not been to many big concerts in years but from what I have heard from friends there have really been no jams at them. I may get out to Ozzfest this year since it will be free so maybe there will be some there.
Hazz
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Not dead, just comatose....
Last year I had the extreme good fortune to see Clapton.
The Clapton concert was a jam lovers dream. It opened with the Robert Cray band and EC was accompanied by Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II with Wille Weeks on bass. 3 amazing guitarists on stage at the same time -wow!
B #
B #
I had forgotten Mr Clapton.
I had forgotten Mr Clapton. He always did like to jam didn't he? Still, I'd kind of lump him in with 60s and 70s crowd. Sort of a holdover from 'back in the day'.
Thanks.....
for making me feel old! LOL
Actually, I was just feeling nostalgic about when I lived in Germany (71 to '73 - we had some amazing concerts there that this thread got me thinking about) when I got an e-mail from an old school mate who's now living in California. Made me feel old too to realize I hadn't heard from him in 34 years.
It was a great concert for me, Derek Trucks is an awesome talent as is EC. The new generation knows how to jam too, but you're right EC and the Allman Bros are from another time. We'll never have another Grateful Dead but it would be great to see the art of jamming revived.
B #
B #
They're not dead in SA!
One of my favorite local bands (Starchild) always has at least one jam in the middle of their shows. The guitar player even does the behind-the-head playing thing. The bass player even gets some solos (and he's good) as does the drummer. The three of them even do a drum jam at most of the shows. They have a video of it on their myspace page. You should check it out. It's awesome.
So concert jams aren't dead...at least in my part of the world.
San Antonio's original live music scene is growing. I think our music here is more diverse and better (gasp!) than Austin's. And our musicians will jam in the middle of the shows. And it's cool. And people cheer and whistle and dance. : )
-Ann-
It probably varies quite a
It probably varies quite a bit by genre. A funk band I used to play with in the early 90s had lots of very long songs with very long improvised sections. It was a dance-oriented band, so the crowds liked a groove to go on for a while. But, in a rock band, a little goes a long way. I can get bored with the endless jam stuff, and I never had much of a taste for the whole "jam band" thing that became popular for a while. That kind of thing is fun to play, but it isn't always fun to listen to. But I tend to loose respect for any rock band that can't improvise and that refuses to do a bit of it, especially toward the end of the night.
I listen to a lot of jazz. And, in that genre, improvisation is the whole game. So, when I really need a taste of extended improvisation, I spin up some Coltrane.
The last gig I played was filling in on bass for a jazz/funk band. Most of their songs were almost entirely improvised I-IV-V numbers. For the ones that weren't, the trombone player was holding up fingers to call out the chord changes (using the "Nashville number" system). That was great fun. And it worked, because everyone there was a good improviser and was really listening and paying attention. I wish their regular bassist would quit! I'd join in a heartbeat.
Wheat
bassplaying.com