"Streets" for other bands

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Joey788

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I was watching the 360 DVD earlier and got to thinking about how rare a song like Streets is. It's an intensely emotional song that nearly everyone agrees should be in the set every night. It is part of the band's live identity and considered to be their quintessential live song by many.

So my question is, what are other band's "Streets?" The only one I can think of at the moment is Arcade Fire with "Wake Up."
 
If we're talking Arcade Fire, I'd think Power Out -> Rebellion is the emotional high point of the show.
 
Good question.

Born To Run is the best answer I can think of right now.

The other live band I know the most about is PJ, and in terms of songs that are part of the band's "live identity" you've got Even Flow, Alive, and Yellow Ledbetter. All three could fit the criteria. Even Flow is their most played live song by far, they play it every night. Alive on recent tours has become a huge, late set cathartic song for both Eddie and the audience. And Yellow Ledbetter has a big fan connection, as they almost always play it as the final song of the night, with the house lights up, and it ends with the band and the crowd staring at McCready alone on stage ripping some sick guitar solo.

I'll bet other big "jam bands" like Phish or Dave Matthews have signature live songs. Have no clue what they are, though, because I'm not much of a fan of either.

Just throwing some others out:

Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone (maybe, I'm not an expert on his set lists or live history, though)
Petty - Refugee
Flaming Lips - Do You Realize? (I don't know)

What would Radiohead's be? Paranoid Android? Everything In Its Right Place? Fake Plastic Trees? I don't know.

Nothing tops Streets, though, in terms of a band having that one seminal live song.
 
You know, I was close to saying Refugee (or American Girl).

I think the band rocks out a bit harder on Refugee, though.
 
The two times I saw Petty THE most memorable thing was "American Girl" in terms of crowd reaction and overall performance, just imo. Plus they up the ante with the lights on "AG"
 
Mr. November
Fix You (this is a joke, I have no idea what it would be for that band. Yellow or In My Place maybe.)

The signature live moment of Arctic Monkeys shows when they first got big was A Certain Romance. That shit brought down the house. And then...they just stopped playing it on their last tour.
 
I know they're a newer band, but when I saw them at Lolla and when I listened to their aftershow performance on the radio, Phoenix is pretty bit on the 1901.
 
For Oasis it had to be Don't Look Back In Anger. For Pearl Jam, I'd have to say Yellow Ledbetter. For Mute Math when I've seen them, it was Reset. Man, I really don't go to enough shows.
 
Flaming Lips' is actually Race For The Prize, I think. They tend to open with it, and that means Wayne in the bubble. Twas the highlight for me, anyway.
 
I just remember when a few of us were watching the live stream of the Almost Acoustic Christmas gig, Scumbo said something about, "Always end with A Forest" (which, I think I've told him before, has become an in-joke between some friends and I because he said that, so I went to bed and ended up missing the next five songs of the show :lol: )
 
Ha, I remember watching that Almost Acoustic Christmas thing here on the 'ference.

I remember watching most of the sets by Franz Ferdinand, somebody else I can't remember, the Killers, and a decent amount of the Cure set.
 
I had a huge exam the next day, and had spent most of the evening watching the stream instead of studying, and I needed to go to bed, as it was getting quite late. Scumbs said the show was over, and at the time I didn't really know "A Forest", so I bailed.

Then I found out the next day they went on for like another 45 minutes or something. It was good I went to bed, cause I would've been ruined the next day, but, :lol:, I hated missing any of the show.
 
Those kinds of threads are fun, where there's a decent amount of people all watching something live and making comments. We should do that shit more often.
 
Unfortunately, that lineup doesn't really excite me at all. I'd probably still watch some of it if we had a little group together making simultaneously snarky and thoughtful running commentary.
 
That's night one. As far as I know, Night one is always that kind of music, and night two is the kind of music that would appeal more to B&C

Night one of the year we all watched together:

Night 1 (Saturday): The Offspring (headliner), Stone Temple Pilots, Rise Against, AFI, Staind, Three Days Grace, Slightly Stoopid, Hollywood Undead

vs.

Night 2 (Sunday): The Cure (headliner), The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, Paramore, Kanye West (Surprise Appearance), Franz Ferdinand, Scott Weiland, Snow Patrol, Vampire Weekend
 
not 100% the same thing, but the dropkick murphys used to always do skinhead on the mbta to end the set, everyone piled on stage to sing along in utter chaos and it was a good time. sure, there was the time i got thoroughly trampled at the warped tour, or the time ken casey jumped off the drum set and kicked me in the face, or the time i puked (i was sick, should have stayed home)...but otherwise, that was a perfect way to end the show for the punk rock unity cheesiness factor alone. too bad they don't really do that so much anymore.
 
It is pretty rare for a band to have a song that is the combination of 'biggest hit' (creating biggest-reaction-of-the-night casual punter crowd excitement with just the sound of its opening notes or chords) that also goes onto being a/the real highlight of the gig. Too often with those really big songs it's just going through the motions, and the let down in the crowd is sort of palpable. I mean, look at the songs that probably come historically in 2nd and 3rd place with U2 (in terms of general public 'size') - With or Without You and One. Yawn.

Really random I guess, but Beastie Boys 'Sabotage' immediately sprang to mind.
 
i was really, really unimpressed with WTSHNN at the u2 show i went to a few years back. i've seen i don't know how many videos, hell even on live audio recordings, you KNOW that when that song starts up it's about to be a big deal. and it's been one of those things where i've watched/heard live versions of it, and thought damn, i need to see that band live.

it's nothing more than a public service announcement now. or it was on the bomb album tour. blending it into "one" with all the save africa/aids/red this that and the other thing/political bono bullshit speech, completely killed what i expected to be the highlight of the show. now, i was pretty well on my way to losing any interest in u2 and mainly went to that show because i'd never seen the band live before and still considered them to be one of those bands i should see live at least once. and kind of sick of anything off JT from complete overplayedness. but i still had some pretty high expectations for that song live, and was actually even looking forward to it.

had the band just played the fucking song, it would have been fine. would it have been the most amazing thing i've ever heard? who knows. probably not. but it wouldn't have been the steaming pile of shit that they turned it into had bono not been talking for half the intro. and don't get me started on flashing all the "text such and such to this number to sAvE tHe wOrLd1!111!!!!!1111!!!!" crap over the tv screens.
 
I think it's not an uncommon opinion around here, Streets being a bit underwhelming on the Vertigo tour.

It's better this tour. :up:
 
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