Five Faves: Live Performances, Female
🎵 The first in a new listicle series covers five of my favorite live musical performances by a female, solo or group 🎵
Hi friends! Now that last year’s Alphabet Soup series and the 2024 AOTY posts are behind me, I’m looking forward to seeing what 2025 brings, both on the new (and new-to-me) music front and with Joy in the Journey. I’ve got a few ideas and at least one regular feature lined up, the first of which is Five Faves. I'm not sure what the frequency will be on these, but I’m guessing it'll be a couple times a month. I hope you enjoy this inaugural installment!
Five Faves is an ongoing listicle series presenting a collection of five of my favorites from a specific category—songs, albums, videos, books, movies, quotes—just about anything is fair game. This isn’t intended to be a definitive “best of” list but more of an in-the-moment list of things that have moved me or brought me joy.
In this installment I’m sharing five of my favorite live performances by female vocalists. I've long considered the live performance to be the highest standard by which a vocalist can be judged. Depending on the song and the instrumentation, vocalists can really be exposed vocally when performing live and can find themselves with little room for error. Nowadays, with pitch correction being so widely used—even on "live" performances, which are often adjusted before they air on television (Fil at Wings of Pegasus on YT has some great videos on this)—it can be difficult to discern whether what you're seeing on "Live" TV or YouTube has been modified or not.
At least we used to know when we we should expect lip-synching (American Bandstand, Top of the Pops) or were being treated to authentic live, unadulterated performances (The Midnight Special, early Saturday Night Live). Sadly that's much harder than it used to be, which is disappointing; the passion and the emotions so near the surface in live performances often result in less than pitch perfect renditions, many of which are still magical and absolutely glorious.
The five performances I'm sharing below (sorted alphabetically by artist name) are 100% live and direct (correct me if I'm wrong) and they encapsulate so much of what I love about music. The immediacy of the performances, the sheer vocal talent, the passion of the performers, and their willingness to put all of themselves into the performance engender a powerful emotional connection; all of these performance can—and do at times—move me to tears.
I hope you love some or all of these performances as much as I do; I can't wait to hear about some of your favorites.
Happy listening!!
Beth Hart - L.A. Song
We kick off with American blues singer Beth Hart, an artist that Joe Bonamassa has compared to Tina Turner and Janis Joplin (she played Janis in the off-Broadway production of Hey, Janis). In a 2016 article in Blues Blast Magazine, interviewer Don Wilcock takes the comparisons even further, writing that Hart's voice "embodies the anger of Nina Simone, the bluster of Janis Joplin, and the hurt of Billie Holiday and Etta James". In 1999, Hart released her second full length, Singing For My Supper, an album that Atlantic Records considered (as relayed by Hart) one of the best records anyone had turned into the label. The pressure was too much for Hart and she began abusing alcohol and drugs on a daily basis, ultimately leading to her being dropped by her label.
It's hard to watch this video and not presume that Hart was still struggling with her demons at the time it was recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in 2004. As someone with 30 years of sobriety who's been through the early stages of recovery, and seen people come in at their rock bottoms, all the signs are there. Whether Hart is high during the the show is debatable, but the performance itself is about as sweaty, dirty, raw and unfiltered as anything I've seen while still being astonishingly affecting; I challenge anyone to watch this performance and walk away unchanged. Hart is truly a force of nature here, untamed, unbowed and keeping things unapologetically real.
Incredibly, Hart has manage to survive the well-documented struggles with addiction and mental illness that have plagued her since her teens and has now gone on to release a total of 18 albums (including live and collaborative releases). When I think of Hart, I'm often reminded of Amy Winehouse, who sadly flew to close to the flame and perished long before her time. I'm sure most of us have seen one of the innumerable clips of Winehouse, performing when she was clearly under the influence and not fit to be on the stage. They're sad and exploitative and they prompt the obvious question: "why weren't the people that were supposed to care for this young woman looking out for her best interests?" Thankfully, unlike Winehouse, Hart was able to survive and, in addition to finding sobriety, she found a soulmate and a husband of 20+ years that gave her the unconditional love she needed to navigate life. Would that were we all so lucky.
Fleetwood Mac - Rhiannon
On February 27, 1976 the British-American Rock band Fleetwood Mac stepped onto the stage of The Midnight Special and laid down a blistering performance of "Rhiannon" from their 1976 eponymous album. Before I get into the track, can I just say how incredible it is that The Midnight Special finally launched their own YouTube channel back in 2022? Gone are the blurry, choppy videos with terrible to poor audio quality, replaced by an archive of stunning performances with clear video and top notch audio quality. I'll be covering some of my favorite Midnight Special performances in a future installment of Five Faves.
The band, who were in the midst of recording one of the best-selling albums of all time, had begun regularly using cocaine by this point, habits which would ultimately lead to addiction and rehab for many of the members. At the same time, the band was imploding, with the band's two couples splitting up in dramatic ways with affairs and betrayals the order of the day. While Mick Fleetwood has stated that cocaine was the only way the band made it through the recording process, Nicks has also suggested that the band created the best music when in the worst shape. Based on the results of the Rumours sessions and the quality of this performance, it's hard to argue with the results.
Nicks' voice is absolutely sublime here. While there's an intensity from the beginning, it's almost languid in nature during the opening minutes. But after Buckingham and McVie finish their solos on guitar and keyboards, and the song begins in earnest, Nicks seems transported into another dimension of consciousness. From the 5-minute mark onwards Nicks takes her vocals to another level completely, effortlessly reaching a white hot intensity that's equal parts intoxicating and exhausting.
Please feel free to share the Joy with anyone else you know that loves music! Because, after all, sharing is caring, right?
Ledisi - Four Women
Despite her disdain for the label “High Priestess of Soul”, Nina Simone undeniably stands in the pantheon of greatest female soul singers ever. While Simone’s dynamic phrasing and vocal delivery masked her limitations as a singer, her performances are imbued with an emotional weight that can be hard to replicate. While Nina Simone is well regarded for the litany of cover songs in her catalog, it's a brave artist that decides to cover a Simone track, whether an original or one of the standards with which she is synonymous. In 2021, American singer Ledisi Anibade Young, better known as Ledisi, released the incredible tribute album, Ledisi Sings Nina, which was a top 20 release for me that year.
In 2002, finding herself in an extremely low period in her life and contemplating suicide, Ledisi heard Simone's rendition of "Trouble in Mind" on the radio and credits that experience with turning her life around. Beginning in 2017, Ledisi began incorporating Simone’s songs into her live performances, culminating in the 2019 Proms performance at Royal Albert Hall Mississippi Goddam: A Homage to Nina Simone. Four of the performances from the Prom made their way onto the 2021 album, including this incredible rendition of "Four Women".
Backed by the Metropole Orkest led by Jules Buckley, Ledisi shares the stage with Lisa Fischer (singing "Aunt Sarah"), Vula Malinga (singing "Saffronia") and Sharlene Hector (singing "Sweet Thing"). Ledisi's three collaborators deliver beautiful performances as three of the four female Black archetypes Simone constructs to highlight the impact of enslavement and systemic racism on Black women. But it's Ledisi's awe-inspiring performance as "Peaches" that truly delivers the goods and gives me goosebumps every time. I don't see how anyone can watch her minute-long vocal, from the opening "My skin is brown" to the crescendo of "My name is Peaches" and not walk away impressed. Just stunning.
Meg Myers - Tear Me to Pieces
Meg Myers, who was already two albums into her career when I first became aware of her music, exploded onto my musical radar with her NPR Tiny Desk Concert appearance in March 2019. The fact that the YouTube algorithm was regularly feeding me such amazing recommendations only five years ago is a stark reminder of just how enshittified the platform has now become. The video below is time-linked to the start of her performance of "Tear Me To Pieces" from her second album, 2018's Take Me to the Disco, but it's certainly worth sticking around for her amazing cover of Kate Bush's "Running up that Hill".
There is so much I love about this performance: the insistent piano that anchors the track, the initial low drone of the cello which later joins with the other strings in setting a skittering and stressful atmosphere. But it's Myers' passionate vocals and the intensity of her emotional delivery that grabs me every time. With the intensity of her gaze in the first chorus when she transitions from "I know this love will tear me to pieces / I know his hands will dig up my secrets" to "It's in your eyes / ah, you fucking liar", you feel that she's really in the moment or memory that inspired the song. By the time she's delivered the second chorus, you can see she's battling her emotions. In the final chorus I get the sense that she's mastered the emotion but she's transformed it into an incandescent rage. It's a stunning rendition that never fails to take my breath away.
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Sia - Lentil
Sia Furler, the incredibly talented but unambiguously quirky Australia pop star has delivered four top ten hits in the US and eleven in the UK, with most of them coming since the 2011 breakout single "Titanium" recorded with David Guetta. But for me, it's Sia's work with the downtempo outfit Zero 7 and her early solo work that hits my musical sweet spot. Her vocals on the Zero 7 track "Destiny" from their debut album Simple Things helped to make the album one of my eight Desert Island Discs and the song one of my favorites of all time.
The live performance I'm highlighting here took place in 2007 on LA-based KCRW's fantastic Morning Becomes Eclectic music program. "Lentil" appeared on Sia's fourth studio album, 2008's Some People Have Real Problems and was apparently penned in honor of a pet that she had to leave behind when relocating to England:
Lentil was Sia's earliest known pet, a male dog which she owned between the 1990s and the 2000s in Australia. She was unable to take him with her to England due to vaccine regulations, and she left him in the care of friends. Seeing that Lentil had bonded with their daughter upon Sia's coming back for him, she chose not to separate them, although she would continue to visit her beloved former pet.1
One of the greatest joys I've found in music is its ability to move me so deeply and the ending of this performance certainly has that impact. The 40-second series of vocal runs that Sia strings together starting at around the 3:20 mark is breathtaking and rarely fails to elicit a catch in my breath and a tear in my eye.
As always, I’d love to hear what you thought about these picks. When you’re finished reading, please jump into the comments and get the party started!!
Have you seen any of these vids before?
Are any of your favorite artists here?
What live performances would be among your favorites?
Have you seen any of these artists perform live IRL? How were they?
Great post, Mark.
Being a huge fan of Zero 7, I completely agree with your thoughts on Sia's collaborations (I also love Sophie Barker's vocals on Z7's tracks).
Whilst reading, I immediately thought of the amazing video of a relatively unknown Janis Joplin, with her SF band, Big Brother & The Holding Company, ripping through Big Mama Thornton's "Ball & Chain" at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Her power and energy, watching her feet stomp as she belts out with every fiber of her being and soul, are absolutely breathtaking. At the end, she gleefully runs off the stage, knowing she just nailed it. The camera then pans to Mama Cass, who is completely blown away. Janis' career would never be the same after that performance.
I have also seen Mazzy Star twice and Hope Sandoval several times, and she is quietly enigmatic and commands the stage in a way that is difficult to explain, as she is quiet, relatively still, and often bathed in subtle light or total darkness. Her presence combined with her gorgeous voice, makes me melt.
Finally, the tiny amount of live video of Betty Davis that we have is astonishing to watch. I wish there were more because she was an incredible performer!
These are just a few that came to mind!
Such a great idea! Female artists don't get enough credit, so it's always refreshing to read this type of work.
Beth Hart is so good. I am mostly familiar with the work she did with Joe but need to dive deeper into her solo stuff.
Also Ledisi -- what a voice, what a talent! I had one of her records, or at least thought I had it somewhere, but no idea where it is or where it ended up after I moved to the UK. This gives me a chance to reconnect with her and also with some of the other artists you mentioned.
As live performances of female artists go, in my opinion, it doesn't get any better than this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY0SMqLLEUc
Mariah was just starting out and there was a lot of media speculation that she was a studio product (probably on the back of the Milli Vanilli scandal). There was also mounting pressure for her to explain herself in terms of her ethnicity -- being half-black, half-white, the expectation was that she should "choose" a certain side... none of this was made easier by how she looked (fair skin) coupled with how she sounded (classical technique but as soulful and gospel-like as it can get).
Mind you, she was 21 years old when she performed this song (which she wrote alongside Carol King for Mariah's second album). The range, the level of relaxation, the maturity in her voice and the diaphragmatic support of those belts are all things which still send shockwaves to this day particularly from vocal coaches or professional singers when reacting to this performance.
As a lifelong fan, this is, to me, Mariah at her absolute best. Hope you enjoy!