Wolfgang’s Vault is a site dedicated to preserving great live performances, started by Bill Sagan using the archives from legendary Fillmore promoter Bill Graham. We have written about the site often over the last few years (here, here, here and here just for a sampling). The reason? They are constantly updating their offerings, making more and more stuff available, having sales on great shows for download, adding video and so on.
This week there were two things that really struck me: one from Miles Davis and the other from The Who.
Miles Davis Live at Newport 1955
Miles Davis’ appearance at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival is generally regarded as something of a comeback for the trumpet star. Plagued by a heroin addiction in the early 1950s, Davis dropped off the scene entirely for a couple of years. And while he had gone into the studio in 1954 to record an all-star session for Prestige, resulting in the classic Walkin’, his Newport set on Sunday, July 17, marked his return to the public arena in a very real sense. And a triumphant return it was.
As always you can stream it live here.
Alternately you can buy the MP3 version here for $6.98, or the FLAC (lossless) version for $8.98 here.
The Who ‘Farewell Concert’ 1982 from Toronto
Phase two of the Who’s extraordinary career essentially began in 1978, with the death of their drummer Keith Moon and ended on December 17, 1982 with a pay-per-view television broadcast and global radio transmissions of what was billed as the Who’s “Final Concert” at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. So explosive, suspenseful, and innovative a drummer was Moon that he could never be replaced, but with the help of former Faces drummer Kenny Jones, the Who soldiered on into the 1980s. Jones was a great, solid rock drummer, but his more conventional approach changed the band dynamic and not surprisingly, things would never be quite the same. Despite releasing three more hit albums and touring as successfully as ever with Jones on board, the Who planned their 1982 North American Tour to be their last. Roger Daltrey had been quoted in the Daily Mirror as saying, “It has been mine and Pete’s decision to quit touring now. We are getting too old to do kick-arse rock and roll every night and it will be a relief when it’s all over.” To fans everywhere, this was sad news indeed, but the performances were generally strong throughout the 1982 tour, and fans had the global simulcast of the final show still to look forward to.
As always you can stream it live here. There is no purchase option.
Other Stuff
Wolfgang’s Vault has also expanded their Facebook integration, particularly through the ‘My Vault’ page you get when you register on the site. It is a much easier way to see what is going on.
As an added bonus, Wolfgang’s has added a live video of Miles from the legendary performance at Tanglewood in 1970.
Related posts:
No related posts.
