It's no secret that Ben Harper is my favorite musician ever. I randomly came across this full show on YouTube last night that is high quality and I didn't know existed.

Got me thinking with all the music fans on this board, please post some gems of your favorite artists in which the recordings may be obscure.

Above & Beyond which is a legendary EDM group and pretty much always just performs live by DJing and pushing buttons has rarely done acoustic performances of their songs.

Two immediately come to mind. One everyone will know and another I don't suspect more than a few will.

RATM's first public show:




Vince Bell performing on local late night show in Austin in 1977. For my money this is the most beautiful version he's ever done of S&M&S:

$240 Worth of Pudding said:

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Two immediately come to mind. One everyone will know and another I don't suspect more than a few will.

RATM's first public show:




Vince Bell performing on local late night show in Austin in 1977. For my money this is the most beautiful version he's ever done of S&M&S:

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Vince Bell's story is amazing and his book about his accident and recovery is fascinating. I have an acoustic guitar made by Vince Pawless who is good friend's with Bell. I really can't get into VBs post accident music, but i am amazed that he does it!

rednecked said:

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$240 Worth of Pudding said:

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Two immediately come to mind. One everyone will know and another I don't suspect more than a few will.

RATM's first public show:




Vince Bell performing on local late night show in Austin in 1977. For my money this is the most beautiful version he's ever done of S&M&S:

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Vince Bell's story is amazing and his book about his accident and recovery is fascinating. I have an acoustic guitar made by Vince Pawless who is good friend's with Bell. I really can't get into VBs post accident music, but i am amazed that he does it!

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Yeah some of his stuff with that grizzled voice is fantastic. Others…not so much.
Some of his paintings aren't half bad either.

This is incredible

Any Pokey LaFarge fans out there?

Amazon suggested "Ain't Comin' Home" based on my liked songs. I really dig it. I tried a few more of his and didn't find much else I liked. I'll give him another try.

bam02 said:

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Amazon suggested "Ain't Comin' Home" based on my liked songs. I really dig it. I tried a few more of his and didn't find much else I liked. I'll give him another try.

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TBH, I don't really follow his new music. I discovered him when he was in his retro, St. Louis blues phase which I liked a lot. He seems to still be looking for something more contemporary but his newer stuff is definitely more hit and miss.

I've been listening to this band (and have seen live a few times) since first seeing them open up for Randy Rogers and Turnpike in 2017.



"We Are the Normal" is one of my favorite songs and the whole Superstar Carwash album is great. This is the release party at a record store back in '93, which would have put me at 11 years old. "We Are the Normal" starts around 38:00



An awesome live version of a great song from one of the best albums of the '90s



One of my favorite bands in HS and college. I haven't seen another band live as many times as I've seen this one, but 2 more Turnpike concerts and they'll tie.



And my current favorite band, and there is no close second…





And I'd you can find the original recording (demo?) of this song, you'll love it. The re-recorded studio version sucks. I listen to it at least once a week, and have since I first heard it in '01.

One of my favorite guitar solos ever.

aTm2004 said:

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And I'd you can find the original recording (demo?) of this song, you'll love it. The re-recorded studio version sucks. I listen to it at least once a week, and have since I first heard it in '01.

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The original recording (or at least the one I assume you're referencing--the one that opens with the solo harmonica) is still available on Spotify. You can find it under Honeybrowne or on the compilation "Brewed in Texas, Vol 2" which is where I first heard it.

ETA: found the 'good' version on Youtube:

The 80s , a kids show , The Smiths, Morrissey is there but not singing…

I don't know if this really qualifies, as most Americans fans will likely be familiar with this, but it's such a great cover of a really cool ballad. They play it at most shows but I think they only recorded it once on a live album.

That RATM video will forever be legendary. When they go into that early rendition of "Killing in the Name" - my goodness. Always gives me chills.

Head Ninja In Charge said:

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That RATM video will forever be legendary. When they go into that early rendition of "Killing in the Name" - my goodness. Always gives me chills.

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I hadn't seen that one before, really cool . Earliest one I had seen before was this, so polished for being so early in their career.

No, that's not the one. That is one of the re-recorded versions I believe. Even the one on their Finding Shade album on Spotify/AM/etc isn't it. The version I'm talking about starts with Fred counting "1-2-3" and then goes into an acousic intro and ends with a pretty good guitar solo. It doesn't sound as produced as those versions and the beat is a little bit faster. It's not a live version, but I have never been able to find it on any streaming service. I do have it in MP3.

I had their Real ablum when I was at A&M, and ripped it into MP3 and still have it, but I don't think it was on there either. It may have been, but I don't see it on the song list on that album when I look it up. I may have found it on Limewire or something similar back before it was frowned upon. Honestly, one of the biggest reasons I have Apple Music and not Spotify is because it's easy to upload old MP3s I have that aren't on their service, and the Real album and this version is one of them. Tired of this Town, Goodbye, Looking Back at Me, etc. This is the band that led me from listening to the Nashville country and into more of the indie/red dirt stuff, which was right when Pat Green, Boland, CCR, etc were on their way to their peak. What a great time for music and to go to school in a town that they frequented.

If there was a way to post it here, I would, because it's awesome.

How about some old school ZZ Top from the European show "Rockpalast" in 1980?




[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKQv715aJg][/url]

A few of my favorites

Ringo Starr All-Star Band from 1992.



Same year. Dylan on a David Letterman anniversary special.

Nuno Bettencourt - 6 years ago. Full concert of him singing and playing with guests.

If you are one of the few like me who said "Soundgarden could carry on with Richie Kotzen as Cornell" ….merry Christmas.

46:30 mark, Kotzen and Tom Morello come on stage. They all play Audioslave "Save Yourself" with Kotzen singing only and not playing guitar.

Then f'ing Steve Vai comes on stage and they play DLR Yankee Rose. Later Nuno, Morello, Kotzen, Vai cover Jimi, all but Nuno playing guitar.

Nuno is a god. He's dewschy (Morello takes the D-Bag crown in this video turning his solo in VC political), but a god. The full show is great. Props to Nuno for still looking like a mini Conan the Barbarian at his age (about 50 at the time?)

Aston 91 said:

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Pearl Jam at The Unicorn Ballroom in Houston '92. I'd just moved to the Houston burbs and wanted to go but couldn't convince anyone, so I skipped it. Later realized Soundgarden opened - still kicking myself for missing this one:

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Saw the same tour in Dallas at the Bronco Bowl but I think was reversed. PJ opened for SG. Monster Magnet opened it all. Don't lose sleep on MM, they were beyond horrible in 92.

How sweet would it be if Antones had a secret archive from the mid 90s they dropped and we get 371 never seen before Scabs shows...

a few from EJ's early years. Can't believe this was almost 50 years ago.

Enjoying a lot of the recommendations above. Don't know if this is considered rare but I totally forgot about it until just now and it is phenomenal.

Here's probably the one live performance I've watched most often. For you punch brothers fans, this was back before they were called the punch brothers, but it's the full original lineup. They finish this set with a Radiohead song, where it morphs into this nice long bluegrass jam in 5/4 that really only moves between the major and minor of the same chord. Somehow it works, the solos are melodic and of course Chris Thile's mandolin playing is unreal. They manage to wrap it all up into a little bluegrass breakdown, and I just love hearing the crowd start to get riled up, so that the moment they hit the last note, the crowd just loses it. Unbelievable playing, incredible musicianship, just so ****ing good all around:

Love me some Butch Walker.

Always loved these two songs he did for a Fender session. I love at the end of the second one you hear a guy go "Holy S__" like he just showed up for work to tape some guy and never expected that.

I had no idea this video existed of this song, probably the only clip from this period.

From the Innervisions album, #34 on Rolling Stones list of best of all time.