Impromptu Street Gigs

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Impromptu Street Gigs

I showed my friend Cliff this video of the Arcade Fire doing an impromptu gig at the Union Square subway station in NYC this morning.

And he returned the favor by showing me this video of Bruce Springsteen doing an impromptu street gig in Copenhagen when he joined a street musician in a rendition of The River.

Say what you will about YouTube, I love it way more than TV because of things like this.

Comments (9) | Posted February 19, 2007 in My Music

Comments

Excellent. Thank you for the Springsteen clip. Wow. I totally agree that it is not only the on-demand aspect of this that makes it great online, it's that this content wouldn't be available at all on TV.

Posted by: Michael Hoffman | Feb 19, 2007 12:41:05 PM

My heart is filled with insane joy, positivity and hope after seeing the bruce springsteen street gig clip...God bless u both....

Posted by: Mehul Patel | Feb 19, 2007 2:58:06 PM

I like the New Order cover. I found another good one on Hype Machine:
http://hypem.com/track/33577

Posted by: Mike | Feb 19, 2007 4:07:46 PM

this arcade fire clip is from over a year ago. you mean you showed it to your friend this morning, right? (if it was from this morning, there would be piles of snow - she'd be wearing a coat ;)

Posted by: josef | Feb 19, 2007 4:53:08 PM

This inspired me to look for other music on YouTube. The depth is amazing... and I hope the copyright issues won't get in the way of some of this old content. Take a look at Sister Rosetta Tharp here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnIJR3PWTT8&eurl=

Posted by: Michael Hoffman | Feb 19, 2007 8:08:44 PM

Thanks for the healthy serving of bruce juice! Brilliant!!

Posted by: Steve Stein | Feb 19, 2007 11:44:25 PM

Would it make you feel different if you knew that the Springsteen clip/event was staged by his marketing/pr group?

The greatness of YouTube is the true community aspects of the videos. Marketers have now hooked in and are looking for creative ways to leverage this amazing community.

What ends up happening is there is more interesting and professional content, but it does taint it because it causes question of if it is real or just a creative marketing guys idea.

Something to think about.

Posted by: Jim Larrison | Feb 20, 2007 12:31:25 PM

Great clips, thanks! From what I have read, the Springsteen performance is from July 1988, so it was probably not "staged" just for YouTube. In any case, any music played for any audience anywhere is "staged" and is "marketing," whether it's aimed at selling albums for Sony or collecting a little cash in a guitar case. Even if no money is involved at all, the performer is still "sellling" the song for approval. I approve of both of these.

Posted by: Mark Czerniec | Feb 21, 2007 9:32:33 AM

My favorite thing about the Springsteen clip is the guy you can hear yelling "Born to Run! Born to Run!" at the end of the clip. Awesome.

Posted by: Dick Costolo | Feb 21, 2007 1:53:58 PM

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC