The Electronic Window

Undoubtedly one may have heard it casually mentioned that “music in the past was so much better”, or “why is all the music from my generation so crappy?” or “why can’t we have music that was as good as the 6/7/8/90s?”, owtte. This is especially so if one has experienced the time-wasting banality that is the Youtube comments section, where this trick is applied regularly, often in a clear attempt to amass upvotes.

Yes, often there is hyperbole in effect. And yes, a simple application of logic will tell you that a majority of the time, only the best music from any given era has quality enough to be proudly passed down or remembered fondly, and the 5/6/7/8/90s most certainly had their own fair share of bad music which didn’t survive the test of time. (To wit: music in the past seemed better because they’re only showing you the very, very good stuff.)

There is plenty that is fantastic in our era, many pieces that are classic-worthy. Here are the best of the very best in live performances since the turn of the Millennium that come to mind, pieces that continue to thrill, to stir up, to uplift one listen after listen, timelessly across the months and years even as other earworms come and go. In a happy coincidence they are spread quite conveniently across 2000 till now. Please show them one of these. Or all of them.

U2’s All I Want Is You and Streets, Slane Castle 2001

Is this possibly the best transition ever? In some sense, to call it so is cheating a little because the Where The Streets Have No Name guitar intro is so recognisable and exciting and melodic and layered and flat out one of the strongest intros ever; you could lead into it with a multitude of songs and it will still give that emotional surge of expectation. What Bono does is a fabulous, diligent job of linking both, catapulting the poignant, sweet All I Want Is You dramatically into the driving oomph of Streets, surfing a wave built of the power of his vocals into The Edge’s dotted-third-delay magic.

Bono is occasionally criticised as being much more of a personality than a genuinely good singer but there’s none of that here; Slane Castle was one of U2’s masterpieces of execution where many things just fell together well.

And with U2 you can count on the lyrics to be poetry in motion. All I Want Is You distills the essence of a marriage to its very core, sweeping aside beautiful metaphors and driving to the point: “You say you’ll give me eyes in the moon of blindness / a river in a time of dryness / a harbour in the tempest / all the promises we make, from the cradle to the grave / when all I need is you.” And then the first verse of Streets just charges in with “I want to run, I want to hide,” which when you think about it is so magical because it is such a succint expression of the human condition.

Muse’s Invincible, Wembley 2007

A step away from the minor tones and political agendas which characterise much of Muse’s work comes the inspirational feel-good Invincible. Revolving around the theme that “tonight we can say / together we’re invincible“, lines such as “cause there’s no one like you / in the universe” or “and whatever they say / your soul’s unbreakable” keep punching in the self-belief and the yes-we-can again and again and yet again.

Invincible utilises a slow buildup into a roaring finish, slowly ramping up the volume and the panache as each instrument steps in and takes turns to build up individually. A tight, cohesive piece, it communicates the concept that despite the typical Muse heaviness in tone, every instrument line is a significant and thoughtful component in the whole. Electronic Organ and Strings are involved; two tones that go very, very well with Pop/Rock and should really be seen more.

Bellamy’s very natural talent shines through as he transitions seamlessly between different playing styles; atmospheric slide guitar intro, standard distortion strum, arpeggiations and palm mute in the verses, and a beautiful-and-hectic tapping guitar solo. There is no dearth of creativity here.

Coldplay’s Fix You, Glastonbury 2011

I think Fix You is Coldplay’s magnum opus in stirring the soul. Have heard it many, many times in its various versions (possibly over a hundred times, by now?) and almost every single time something stirs up deep inside and makes you feel like crying and flying and dancing all at the same time.

The Organ line underscores some of the saddest-and-truest lyrics I know, “when you try your best but you don’t succeed” or “when you love someone / but it goes to waste”. And yet the chorus breaks in with such a spiritual positivity that through all these, “lights will guide you home / and ignite your bones” and perhaps, most importantly, the amazing promise of the speaker, (the representation of a friend or a loved one:) “and I will try to fix you.” Melancholy intersperses with assurance combines with hope in something approaching salvation. Martin is never fully in control of his vocals at various points in the song but there is an honest passion that shines through and makes that imperfection even better. As always, when the audience sings along it makes for a phenomenal stadium-sized chorus.

It consistently amazes me that Buckland’s heart-wrenchingly emotive, soaring guitar solo is a THREE NOTE solo. A soaring passage which, like the next lyrics prompt, has undoubtedly made “tears stream / down your face” for thousands around the world has a musical complexity even simpler than Mary Had A Little Lamb. You see, music doesn’t have to be showy to be great.