We Miss Live Music So Much (A Roundup)

The mass cancellations of metal shows, tours, and festivals due to the Covid-19 pandemic has made me think about what live music means to me. Obviously the bands are hit much harder by this than those of us in the audience - it affects their livelihood directly - but I know I'm not alone in missing that live magic. And THE PIT.

The mass cancellations of metal shows, tours, and festivals due to the Covid-19 pandemic has made me think about what live music means to me. Obviously the bands are hit much harder by this than those of us in the audience - it affects their livelihood directly - but I know I'm not alone in missing that live magic. And THE PIT. This week on Metal Bandcamp will be my small tribute to live music, beginning with this roundup of three recent live releases.

Artwork by Cameron Hinojosa.

This Khemmis EP, Doomed Heavy Metal, is only half-live. There's a newly recorded song, two studio rarities, and three live tracks, one from each of their albums. It takes a confident band to cover a Dio song, but here Khemmis takes their shot with "Rainbow in the Dark." They make it work as a "Khemmis song" without tweaking the original overmuch.

But we're really here for the live tracks. Of particular note is "The Bereaved," the best song from Khemmis's debut album Absolution and always a live favorite. Here's a Shitty Video™ from their set at Maryland Deathfest 2018. It's short and the sound quality is terrible, but the jubilant audience wohooo's when the song kicks in probably tell you better than all my words what it is we're missing.

The Inter Arma live EP takes me to a venue in Copenhagen last year. On record, Inter Arma have passages that sound great, beautiful even. Live, they're an entirely gnarly beast. Even the epic instrumental "The Long Road Home" (which was a bold choice for opener of the set) becomes a part of churning maelstrom of nonstop metal, anchored by the incredible propulsive drumming of T.J. Childers. After the last song of the Copenhagen set, there were a few seconds of stunned silence before somebody said, only slightly slurred, "Could you please play one more, if you don't mind... please?" And they did.

Note that all proceeds from the EP will go to Direct Relief, an organization that provides PPE to healthcare workers in regions affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

I never saw Porcupine Tree live - they went into hiatus before I started going to shows again in earnest. In March, the band launched a Bandcamp page with a cache of live recordings, making up for what I missed out on. Some of them are pretty rare, like the surprisingly good recording of their first ever live performance in 1993. My favorite is the immaculate Köln 4th Dec 2007 (TV broadcast). It's a nice collection of songs, including a particularly good performance of the 17-minute "Anesthetize" and a beautiful version of "Dark Matter." I guess I am a sucker for songs with that kind of epic build up.

Like Inter Arma, the drumming on these songs is a joy to hear. Take for example the way Gavin Harrison's cymbals start playing double time during the solo in "Dark Matter." He can change the rhythmic feel of a song like no other, and he knows when to add something interesting to the song and when to step back and let it breathe. It's a high quality live recording, you can hear every little fill he does.

Should Porcupine Tree ever tour again I will definitely try to catch them. But for now I am happy that these recordings has found a home on Bandcamp.