# 20 Favorite Concert Video Clips, Part 3



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Rush
In 2013, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, that extraordinarily erratic "decider" about Who is Important Enough, finally ended years of disgrace and scandal by inducting Rush, some 12 to 20 years after the trio had established the irrefutable necessity of their inclusion in the minds of the millions of their devotees. Certainly since 1974, Rush has offered uniquely cogent lyrics, amazing musicianship, and an electrifying stage presence that, decade after decade and album after album, has mesmerized its enormous following, including me--they indeed wield a Strange Magic. Here they are, Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson, and wizard-in-chief Geddy Lee, at the summit of their powers before an adoring audience and performing their classic Subdivisions.






Fleetwood Mac
I am long enough in the tooth to recall the original "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac", at one point blessed with three lead guitarists: Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, and Jeremy Spencer, in addition to the extraordinarily durable duo of Fleetwood and MacVie. Songs to remember, like "The Green Manalishi, with theTwo Prong Crown". Then came the transformation into the Buckingham-Nicks FM, and an ocean of great pop, one marvelous song after another, and the endless saga of who was in or out, in so many ways, with whom. The group then slowly disintegrated like wet tissue paper. And then, years later, a miracle! The glory was restored and the group reformed to produce a wondrous live album, The Dance, revisiting the old greats and revealing some new material, some of which appeared later also in the fine album Say You Will. But here, from the Rhiannon era, is....Rhiannon, with Stevie Nicks in full throat, giving the song her all:






Stevie Ray Vaughan
The Paganini of the electric guitar. His idol was Jimi, and though he never equalled him as a songwriter, he may have surpassed him as a master of the instrument. Vaughan "appeared to come out of nowhere, a Zorro-type figure in a riverboat gambler's hat, roaring into the 1982 Montreaux festival with a '59 Stratocaster at his hip and two flame-throwing sidekicks he called Double Trouble. He had no album, no record contract, no name, but he reduced the stage to cinders and, afterward, everyone wanted to know who he was", later said People Magazine. David Bowie sought him out, with the result that SRV played guitar on 6 selections on the Let's Dance album. Rock lost a treasure when Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in 1990 at the age of 35. Bowie joined many other musicians at SRV's memorial service. Here is Vaughan's stupefying version of Jimi's Voodoo Child (Slight Return). I can hardly believe what I am seeing and hearing.






Tavares
Disco! Who doesn't like Disco? It is one of the key genres that made the 1970s the rich, fertile, satisfying rock and pop decade that it was. And as long as people dance, Disco lives. It is pure escape: there is in much Disco a wistful quality, a hint of underlying melancholia, that adds to its not-so-mysterious appeal. In songs by Chic, SOS Band, Michael Jackson, the Bee Gees, there is a vision of haunted, harried people dancing late into the night, seeking release, surcease, from the growing stresses of contemporary life.

But here is another song altogether. In Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel, Tavares offers the Disco of pure joy. Heaven is, for me, one of the two most cheerful, joyous songs I know--the other being Bruce Springsteen's Rosalita. It's impossible not to find oneself smiling at the sight and sound of Tavares in this clip, and the audience is dancing, dancing, dancing.....You come and dance too.






Madonna
I just love this concert video. First, Ms. Ciccone performs one of my very favorite Madonna songs, Dress You Up, a hit of musical cocaine that triggers my pleasure centers every time I hear it. Second, watching the young Madonna discovering her mastery over both her presentation and over her audience is a joy. She is on the Virgin tour, following up on the monster success of the Like a Virgin album (itself a tribute to the skill of Nile Rodgers), and we see her slowly descend the staircase in time with the opening measures of the song, repeatedly striking a distinctive pose. She then approaches the microphone, and her face is lit with a huge grin of pleasure as she surveys her adoring audience. Her subsequent moves are perfectly choreographed, first jerking her thumbs toward herself, then pointing her forefingers like pistols at the crowd as she sings "I've got something that you'll really like!" The entire performance is flawless, and she finishes by ascending the stairway and locking into that same trademark pose that began the whole marvelous thing. Wonderful!


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