
Bill Graham: holocaust survivor, legendary concert promoter, and all-around badass.
Photo by Mark Sarfati
Please. One more hit. Just one. That’s all I need. Another song, another act. It won’t hurt. It can’t hurt. I promise this will be the last place we go. Four hours later, we wake up on a subway train in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Live music can be a dangerous thing. The thrills of a live show, the blending lightshow, the stomach-shaking bass, the spit and the sweat, are irreplaceable, but the life of the live music junkie can drain one’s energy and bank account. Fortunately, thanks to the folks at Concert Vault, you can get your live music fix on daily basis for just $2.99 a month.
Concert Vault aka Wolfgang’s Vault started their collection by acquiring the master recordings from concert promoter Bill Graham’s archives. Graham’s archives, purchased by Bill Sagan in 2003, feature shows from Graham’s legendary venues including Fillmore East and Winterland, but their online collection includes plenty more live music resources. Right now I’m listening to a 1974 Steely Dan show from the Rainbow Theater in London. Also featured are the revealing acoustic performances from Daytrotter Sessions as well as some official releases (I found Rush’s Grace Under Pressure tour release that came out with their Replay x3 DVD) and other decent-sounding bootlegs. And it’s not just classic rock on the site, the ConcertVault features performances from artists such as the heavy metal of Exodus or the mariachi-Springsteen songs of Calexico as well as choices in the jazz, country, and blues genres. In fact, the collection of live music on this site is kind of overwhelming.
Photo by Mark Sarfati