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Dave's Side One · September 2 · 6 min

When the Song Becomes a Performance

When does a song stop being a fixed recording and become a performance? In today's episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave continues The Art of Listening with The Allman Brothers Band’s At Fillmore East. A familiar studio recording can become the version of a song we carry in our heads: the guitar enters here, the solo lasts this long, the ending happens there. But a great live performance reminds us that the recording is only one possibility. Dave listens for the conversation inside the band — guitars, bass, organ and drums reacting to one another — and asks why extended performances work when the musicians use the extra time to develop tension, make choices and go somewhere. The Studio vs. Live Test: Play a studio version of a song. Then play a great live version. Don’t ask which is better. Ask what changed: tempo, dynamics, arrangement, solos, interaction and ending. Then ask what those changes did to the feeling of the song. The song may be the map. The performance is the trip. Side One Spin: What live version made the studio version feel incomplete afterward?

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When does a song stop being a fixed recording and become a performance?

In today's episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave continues The Art of Listening with The Allman Brothers Band’s At Fillmore East.

A familiar studio recording can become the version of a song we carry in our heads: the guitar enters here, the solo lasts this long, the ending happens there.

But a great live performance reminds us that the recording is only one possibility.

Dave listens for the conversation inside the band — guitars, bass, organ and drums reacting to one another — and asks why extended performances work when the musicians use the extra time to develop tension, make choices and go somewhere.

The Studio vs. Live Test:

Play a studio version of a song.

Then play a great live version.

Don’t ask which is better.

Ask what changed: tempo, dynamics, arrangement, solos, interaction and ending.

Then ask what those changes did to the feeling of the song.

The song may be the map. The performance is the trip.

Side One Spin: What live version made the studio version feel incomplete afterward?

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