Re: The surprise of the evening

I had the pleasure of seeing Bauhaus on their 2005 tour. The band totally surprised me that night by playing a cover of Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll, Part 2."

From where I was standing, it looked like an unplanned, off-the-wall selection: Daniel Ash shouted something to Kevin Haskins, and then to David J., and then started playing the chords. Eventually, Haskins and J. caught on, and joined in. The audience enjoyed it thoroughly, and chanted along.

I realized, I've known that song since at least fifth grade. I've heard it at countless parties, sporting events, school dances, you name it. But that Bauhaus show was the first time I'd ever seen any band actually play "Rock & Roll, Part 2" for an audience.

I've checked out the InstantLive CDs available from that tour, and haven't found that song included on any of them. (The band's Denver show wasn't recorded for InstantLive. Pity.)

Can anyone else (or everyone else) offer an instance of a live show where a band surprised the audience big-time with a song selection ... whether a well-chosen cover or a long-forgotten gem of their own?

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Jermoe's question on an earlier thread, "Is anything weirder than the ongoing fascination with Glitter's 'Rock & Roll, Pt. 2'?" made me think of this.

i saw dylan and he played a steve earle song while steve earle was opening for him. a friend of mine was friends with steve earle and steve didnt know he was going to play it and dylan barely said a word to him before or after the tour .

saw dylan also do the harrison song something it was about a week after his death., never did the song again.

saw dylan do dancing in the dark as well

saw a local band do the song tear stained letter by richard thompson and they also did death or glory by the clash.
ive been going to bars for over 15 years that are not bars that would play trouser press kind of music. would be geared for top 40 and the band was prob more suprised that i was mouthing the lyrics.

saw westerberg do the wreckeless eric song whole wide world

saw prince do miss you

superseded



Post Edited (09-13-07 14:06)

In the space of a week back in the 90s, three different bands on three different nights suddenly did Echo and the Bunnymen covers -

Velocity Girl - "Seven Seas"
The Prayer Chain - "The Cutter" (they were opening for the 77s, who themselves tossed off a nifty version of "Driven to Tears" by the Police.)
Hole - a brief version of "The Killing Moon"

I've seen the Flaming Lips do my beloved Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" a few times. Once it was really amazing, the other times, just kind of crap.

Most irritating live cover version
Saw Better than Ezra at one of those radio station amphitheater festivals (sharing a stage with the Ramones, Big Audio Dynamite, Matthew Sweet and They Might Be Giants. BAH!!!!!) and they did an excruciatingly stupid version of "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman." Chortle chortle ho ho ho. That kind of thing works if it's Lyle Lovett doing "Stand By Your Man" or T Bone Burnett doing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," since they're rather intelligent and understand things like irony and subversiveness. I don't think Better than Ezra had quite as good a grasp on such things.

In that same show, Ezra also did an extended version of their hit "Good" or whatever it was called, into which they dropped a chorus of "When Doves Cry." Which seemed like a really bad idea to sudenly take time out from your own mediocre song to remind the audience of a great one.

I really hadn't intended to suddenly begin kicking the shit out of poor Better Than Ezra, who I regarded mostly as inoffensive. But man, I hated that show. Especially when it was sandwiched in between the other acts that day. (Even so, though, the worst performance of that day went to the dire Nixons. And after typing that, I think that would've been a better band name - The Dire Nixons - than just plain old Nixons. Actually, Plain Old Nixons wouldn't have been bad, either.)

Tito Puente encoring with the theme to the I Love Lucy. The Hollywood Bowl crowd went nuts. (And here we are back to vintage tv again.)

Amy Rigby has done a lovely version of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know About Us." She is also a longtime Wreckless Eric fan - did "Whole Wide World" - and later toured with him.

Neil Finn did "The Kids Are Alright" after John Entwistle's death.

dada did Prince's "Sexy MF" and the Mamas and the Papas "California Dreaming" one frigid night in Minneapolis around 1994.

Decemberists did a ravishing version of "Bring On the Dancing Horses" in Portland once - speaking the of Echo and the Bunnymen.

Those are some of the ones that stand out.

Once, at a very serious show by the very serious Vigilantes of Love, in Atlanta's "Premier Listening Room", Eddie's Attic, the guitarist was noodling a bit and played something resembling the chugga-chgga riff from Heart's "Barracuda", at which point, sulen lead singer Bill Mallonee said, "Hey, were you just playing 'Barracuda'?" Shoulders were shrugged, then the rhythm section kicked into it, and in seconds they were full-on rawking "Barracuda". It was most likely followed by a ballad written from the perspective of a Confederate POW afflicted by comjunctivitis and halitosis as he writes to his donkey back home.

At the Atlanta stop on the 1986 Amnesty Int'l Conspiracy of Hope Tour, Joan Baez did a cover of Tears for Fears' "Shout", which struck me as odd. About midway through, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears popped up and joined her. That was all he did at the show. He was done.

In 1989, I saw Hothouse Flowers at the Uptown Lounge in Athens, GA. They played a lengthy set followed by two encores. They didn't have that much material yet, however, so when they came out for the second encore they made an attempt at playing "Purple Rain". I think about 5 or 6 of the words were right, but musically it wasn't too bad.

There's also that recording of REM & Billy Bragg having a spontaneous go at "Tom's Diner", in which a bit of "Unbelievable" & "Baggy Trousers" gets thrown in...



Post Edited (08-25-07 14:27)

Saw Lambchop a few years ago. It was the quietest gig if ever been to, so quiet that the audience were shooshing each other and the staff had to turn off the fans because they were too loud. They had Dave Kilgour in the lineup that night which was pretty special. Anyway they play a great set, do a great first encore and come out for the second encore with a version of The Saints' I'm Stranded.

I don't know if they do this normally, but when I saw Ween, they kicked off the encore with a blasting non-ironic "Hot for Teacher", even Gene or Dean (don't know who is who) seemed surprised about how well it came off.