Favorite Live Performances:

[Walkinat9]

It's funny, Stephen, I always really liked her outfit here, and how she did her hair. . .I think it's quite timeless.

Actually I like that outfit (and the whole style) too and apparently so did Karen, 'cause she wore it no less than 3 times on TV that year: first the Space Encounters special, then when they were on the TopPop music program in Holland (singing "Sweet sweet smile") and finally on the Tonight Show

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Here's the 1975 audio for "Only Yesterday" at Valley Forge Music Fair. Yes, I was there too!



Harry

Harry, I completely missed this post and I listened to this just now, what an amazing live version of "Only Yesterday" hearing this for the first time and sounds like a whole new recording just being uncovered. I love it. Karen sings it using some different nuances, it's this live recording one can really hear her lower register coming across in a concert setting. I don't know about the rest of you but I never got to hear them sing in concert with my own ears and I literally got goosebumps when I first listened to this...imagining for a moment the feeling I would have got sitting in my seat looking at Karen and hearing that voice. I love how she changed it up just a little bit in her delivery of the lyrics (just her live vocals give it a whole new feel.) I've listened to this multiple times and I am blown away. I must make an mp3 of this for my iTunes library. Thanks so much for this rare complete live version.

I wonder if Karen was playing drums for this song or was she walking the stage while singing?

Rick
(Chris Has Exited)

 

[GaryAlan]

Watching the 1974 Japan Budokan Concert,
I note Karen and
(I believe) Cubby O'Brien drumming simultaneously on the song "Help".
Great to watch.
Actually, love watching the entire 1974 concert.
One interesting comment from the Youtube show, states that this show is actually an edited version
of a longer one (with interviews) which had appeared on Japanese Television at the time.
Apparently--for later VHS/DVD/Laser releases the original footage could not be located.
Has anyone seen more footage from the concert besides that appearing on those releases (or, on Youtube) ?
I have a (non-official) VHS Copy--no means to play it anymore--thus, the additional
footage--if it exists--may be in my possession.

 

[Harry]

I have the LaserDisc of LIVE AT BUDOKAN. It starts with a very early scene of an airport. An interviewer questions some kids (all in Japanese) who seem to be waiting around. He then questions some others in the airport. An American serviceman replies "Carpenters?" Back to the kids where the shortest reels off a list of Carpenters songs.

Then we see a Japan Air Lines plane land at the airport. Down the steps come Agnes and Harold Carpenter, followed by Sherwin Bash and then Karen & Rich. Quick cut to inside the airport and we see the scene of them pushing through the crowd.

We hear "Heather" as we see Karen & Richard signing their names on glass, then it's an indoor photo-op / press conference / award presentation and signing some autographs.

The on-screen title proclaims 4:00 and we see the outside of the hall. Fans gather and read through a tour booklet. Inside the group does set-up and sound check. All of this takes about 8-and-a-half minutes total and the program starts (stating that it's 7:35 PM). Opening song, "Superstar."

At 1:06:00 into the LaserDisc program, the end credits roll for a minute and a half (Burt Bacharach's "Close To You"), with total time of 1:07:32, including all Japanese warnings, etc.

Harry

 

[GaryAlan]

I notice that Live At The Palladium LP has The Hits Medley--inclusive Superstar and Rainy Days--
the Medley clocking in at 15 min 44 sec in its entirety.
Now, to the 1976 First Television Special:
The Hits Medley at the end of the program omits the above two songs,
however, those two songs are included as a separate two-song Medley earlier in the Special,
sung nearly the same as on the aforementioned UK Live Album !
I thought the Hits Medley was sung--as performed there-- 'Live' on that Television Special .(?)
The similarities are uncanny between each song--as performed on the Palladium Concert LP
---and then on the Television Special.

 

[GaryAlan]

I am perplexed:
Given the outstanding reviews which Neil Sedaka was receiving
while opening for Carpenters--not to mention the reported long lines---
if one were to 'revamp' Carpenters concerts going forward, wouldn't one be compelled to
ask Neil Sedaka's stage/concert creators ?
Sedaka was doing the 'right' things in his concerts--if the reviews are any indication--
and, I believe Richard Carpenter's vocals and piano talents were at least as good, if not better.
It remains a question in my mind as to why the 'revamped' shows--as the UK or Holland
concerts exemplify--took the direction they went in.
One American concert review (Desert News, October 1976) of this revamped show
(entitled: Carpenters need polish) is not a very good one (though, "mildly entertaining").

Source:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=ZH8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6892,3918025&hl=en

 

[GaryAlan]

1976 Holland, as clear (though incomplete) as I have ever seen it, approximately 45 minutes:

 

[goodjeans]

 

[Chris Mills]

This looks like a live performance, Karen was so good at lip syncing it's hard to tell, what makes me think it's live is the tone of her voice, this doesn't have the pre recorded studio sound quality to it. Great performance by Karen anyhow, looking and sounding confident even without the drum kit in front of her.

 

[Chris Mills]

Click on the YouTube logo to get the link to play.

 

[BarryT60]

Re their concerts. I saw them in 1973... I know some critics said their show was a drag - but I rather liked it in '73.... I actually preferred it to what I thought could have been a schmaltzier update for the later concerts in which Ken & Mitzi Walsh were involved. I think Sedaka was simply a more engaging "entertainer" with some of those driving beats and melodies that just simply scored better with audiences of the mid-70's...certainly in comparison to the smoother melodies of our duo... Bad Blood, for example, was a raucous and infectious and very current mega-hit in the summer of 75 - right about the time the snafu occurred in Vegas... I think it was a terrible idea to have the two acts share the billboard... They should have stuck with comedians... Steve Martin? David Brenner? Joan Rivers?

Back to the topic at hand... From my best remembrances, & certainly from the Live in Japan album, I really liked Karen's delivery on For All We Know... The little improvisations she took on the melody here and there really gave it a special live spark...

This remains probably my favorite Carpenters song, so the live version still stands out as a winner...

 

[Another Son]

Another favorite live performance of mine - happens to be a solo performance of Merry Christmas Darling... from the same broadcast as the above I Need To Be In Love...

This is a beautiful live vocal. Karen's voice sounds so rich and warm. I remember reading that in the 70s, there was some sort of legality that stated that if performers were presenting themselves on UK TV as singing 'live', they could perform to a backing track, but the lead vocals had to genuinely be live. Therefore, the musicians could be 'miming', but the lead singer had to actually be singing. No lip-synching. This is from the Bruce Forsythe show, (as you probably all know).

 

[Another Son]

Here's the 1975 audio for "Only Yesterday" at Valley Forge Music Fair. Yes, I was there too!



Harry

Beautiful song and beautiful live vocal. Carpenters perform a shortened version of 'Only Yesterday' in the 1976 Osaka concert that is available on Youtube, (lesser sound quality than this clip), and on that, Karen isn't playing drums. Incredible that she can hit those low nights while pummelling away at the skins. Thanks for posting!

 

[BarryT60]

This is a beautiful live vocal. Karen's voice sounds so rich and warm. I remember reading that in the 70s, there was some sort of legality that stated that if performers were presenting themselves on UK TV as singing 'live', they could perform to a backing track, but the lead vocals had to genuinely be live. Therefore, the musicians could be 'miming', but the lead singer had to actually be singing. No lip-synching. This is from the Bruce Forsythe show, (as you probably all know).

we're all the better off for that legality... this one was just perfect...

 

[Graeme]

Normally I'd opt for the early BBC concert, despite the odd bit of lip syncing. Pure, unaffected and intimate. The live version of I Need to be in Love on Bruce Forsyth's show is another. However, the 1972 concert in Japan is wonderful. I'd not seen this until today. The whole band just look so at ease and are at the top of their game, and Karen doesn't stick quite so closely to her album vocals, playing with the melody a bit at times (Ticket to Ride for example). Clip below is Reason to Believe (complete with yee-haas Top of the World style) and Hurting Each Other.

 

[lorij57]

Hey Folks:
A recent reply from Song4You in a separate post, revealed a live performance of 'Rainy Days & Mondays, (a version I had never seen), which prompted an idea for a thread featuring our favorite 'live' recordings...
I have a few... but I'll start with this gem... Not one of my very favorite singles - but one that certainly ranks as a fave - in terms of live performances.... Enjoy! & I look forward to seeing and hearing yours!

My fav is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1AH6AheBSw

 

[BarryT60]

My fav is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1AH6AheBSw

really good concert.... I don't think I've ever seen the whole thing... Thanks for posting the link...