Awesome Concerts

The Elevator Music channel has a fun concept – they invite DJs and other musicians to perform live inside an elevator. As the elevator rides up and down, people pop in and out to enjoy a mini-concert. This episode features an hour-long performance by house music legend Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim with a mix of his own and other groovy dance tracks.

“Could you work to build something else besides a wall?”The minds behind NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert tried to get Brooklyn rockers TV on the Radio onto the show 15 years ago, but the band says they never received the invite. They more than make up for it with a rousing set that took us back to nights in small gigs, the air filled with smoke, beer, and sweat.

Stevie Wonder is a living legend, having written and performed numerous hits over the course of his 6+ decade career. The United Kingdom’s The Bands of His Majesty’s Royal Marines paid tribute to the musical legend with a joyful medley of classic tracks, including Sir Duke, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, and Superstition.

“I’m outside in the dark, wondering how I got so old.”  The Cure not only came up with the most appropriate album title for our hopeless times, but they were generous enough to share the melancholy for free. The band performed all the tracks from Songs of a Lost World in London (along with many other songs) then uploaded the concert to YouTube.

While they’ve continued to tour, it’s been 14 years since indie rock band Cake released an album. The group performed a new track from their upcoming album for Texas Public Radio’s Live From the Freight Elevator. The song Billionaire in Space is a harsh criticism of the uber-wealthy burning cash in orbit while ignoring real problems here on Earth.

The remaining members of the influential new wave band DEVO are still going strong. Instead of playing the usual hits, their NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert features four lesser-known tracks, including some they haven’t played live in more than 40 years. The set list: It Takes a Worried Man, Blockhead, Praying Hands, and Come Back Jonee.

We’ve witnessed filmmaker Jay Christensen’s drone photography skills before. In this amazing FPV clip, he takes us on a journey through the now-iconic Las Vegas Sphere, starting from outside the facility, flying through its massive lobby, and into its immersive arena. Once inside, we find that Phish is playing on stage. Now try on your backstage pass.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Blue Album, the prolific masters of garage rock stopped by Spotify Studios in L.A. and performed four tracks from their debut record. Rivers and the guys chatted about each song’s story and were joined by 5th Weezer Karl Koch, producer/songwriter Suzy Shinn, and Barry Johnson from the band Joyce Manor.

Hot Chip stopped by the NPR Music offices for a 4-song set that included some of their best tracks. They started with Over and Over and Boy from School before slowing things down with Look at Where We Are and kicking things into gear with Ready for the Floor. Jonny Lam’s pedal steel guitar added warmth to their electro-pop sounds.

The Black Keys dropped by the Helpful Honda Sound Space at KROQ and turned in a fantastic short concert for a lucky few in attendance. The 24-minute set includes classics like Howlin for You, Gold on the Ceiling, and Lonely Boy, as well as three tracks off their latest album, Beautiful People (Stay High), On the Game, and This Is Nowhere.

To celebrate the release of his new album Everything I Thought It Was, Justin Timberlake and 14 musicians from The Tennessee Kids crammed into the NPR Music offices and turned in this fantastic short concert. The seven-song R&B set includes Señorita, Rock Your Body, Pusher Love Girl, Until The End of Time, Selfish, What Goes Around, and SexyBack.

On 3.11.2024, NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert dropped this excellent short performance by alt-rock band 311. Lead singer Nick Hexum and his bandmates sound as good as ever, with a four-song set that includes Beautiful Disaster, All Mixed Up, Amber, and Down. We always loved the way they blened rock, reggae, and funk sounds.

The Boston Typewriter Orchestra is hoping to score a spot on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. Their 2024 submission to the popular show is this mechanical tour de force titled Selectric Funeral, a rhythmic and enigmatic track performed on four vintage typewriters, bells, and effects pedals. It’s also their first song to incorporate an electric typewriter.

Nile Rogers has written and produced some of the biggest songs and albums ever. Among his creations is the disco-funk group CHIC, who stopped by NPR Music with Rogers. The mini-concert’s six mega-hits: CHIC’s Le Freak and Good Times, Diana Ross’ I’m Coming Out, Sister Sledge’s We Are Family, Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, and David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.

Grammy Award-winning musician Post Malone and a dozen bandmates stopped by the NPR Music offices and turned in a wonderfully intimate acoustic set. The mini-concert includes performances of his multi-platinum hits Sunflower, I Fall Apart, and Circles, along with a new track, Enough is Enough, fresh off of his 2023 album Austin.

(PG-13: Language) Opposites attract, so naturally, punk-metal band GWAR and NPR hooked up for a Tiny Desk Concert. Blöthar the Berserker held court, saying they brought maestro Wilhelm Fartwrangler along to class things up, then plunged into a surprisingly blood-splatter-free set of Sex Cow, I’ll Be Your Monster, Ratcatcher, and Phantom Limb.