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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: Evermind on June 27, 2020, 05:31:55 AM
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I don't think this thread has been done before, or at least I don't remember it, advanced search yielded nothing.
Last week I was listening to A Sort of Homecoming by Anathema, Sanctitude by Katatonia and A Night Under the Dam by Green Carnation a lot, and I realized I really like when rock and metal bands go acoustic, either in the studio environment or live.
What are your favourite acoustic performances by rock or metal bands? Could be songs, albums, studio, live, anything.
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Gosh, I have so many. I'll come back with all of my examples, but this is so worth the watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYYkf6jlUt4
DT play The Silent Man in Rio, JLB says that "it faaawking sucks" they don't get to see the city, JP plays Sometimes When We Touch, MM drops in to sing a few lines of it, everyone laughing and having a good time. It's wonderful.
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Tesla’s Five Man Acoustical Jam that started it all.
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MTV Unplugged by Kiss is awesome.
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MTV Unplugged Alice in chains
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Dream Theater - Cover My Eyes (the live acoustic version on the 5 Years in a Livetime DVD is a 100 times better than the electric demo version from the FII sessions)
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Dream Theater - Cover My Eyes (the live acoustic version on the 5 Years in a Livetime DVD is a 100 times better than the electric demo version from the FII sessions)
Same with Speak To Me
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Dream Theater - Cover My Eyes (the live acoustic version on the 5 Years in a Livetime DVD is a 100 times better than the electric demo version from the FII sessions)
Same with Speak To Me
True, but that's not an acoustic performance, which is why I didn't mention it. ;)
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Dream Theater - Cover My Eyes (the live acoustic version on the 5 Years in a Livetime DVD is a 100 times better than the electric demo version from the FII sessions)
Same with Speak To Me
True, but that's not an acoustic performance, which is why I didn't mention it. ;)
Well, the drums are acoustic I guess... ;D
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Stevie Ray Vaughan, MTV Unplugged 1990.
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Unplugged ... and Seated. I never cared much for Rod Stewart until hearing / seeing that.
Also, UnLedded. Naturally I have to mention that one.
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Tesla - Five Man Acoustical Jam
Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged
Page/Plant - Unledded, although it isn't completey acoustic
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Great White - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAerqUwADe8)
The Cult - Edie (acoustic) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4pw0Fz_zYs)
MTV Unplugged Alice in chains
I am not a big Alice guy, but that is a great performance. I always regretted Don't Follow [an all-time top 5 song of mine] wasn't part of the set.
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Opeth - Damnation is their best by far
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Pain of Salvation - 12:5
Also that live Metallica show I think last year that was all acoustic. Sally awesome. Minus Hardwired
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The only thing that really comes to mind with this is Queensryche on MTV Unplugged.
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Not many come to mind. As above : Tesla , KISS (surprisingly good) and One Live Night by Dokken was also a pleasant surprise.
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The KISS one is excellent, mostly due to the interesting setlist.
And I'm just gonna say it. I freaking love this album...
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81vS%2BwfdozL._SL1400_.jpg)
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The one that came to mind immediately is
Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane, from The Dance.
Fleetwood Mac - Big Love
Jim Croce - Time In A Bottle
The Arkitecht - Acoustic Session (forgot what it's called, it's on their Bandcamp)
Nick Drake - Day Is Done
Anneke Van Giersbergen - Like A Stone (at ProgPower XIX) This was amazing, Cram and others can vouch for that.
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https://youtu.be/VbwCrB0CtJA
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Bon Jovi used to be great at this. Just Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora on their own with acoustic guitars and singing together. It was magic how their voices harmonised back in the day. Lots of stuff on their Access All Areas VHS of the New Jersey tour. I think they did a short acoustic set at the MTV awards in the 80’s as well where they did acoustic versions of Wanted Dead Or Alive and Livin On A Prayer which was great and was rumoured to have given MTV the idea for the whole Unplugged series.
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Live album/DVD - Katatonia - Sanctitude; I also really like the other two you mentioned (Green Carnation and Anathema)
Studio: Threshold - Wireless; they also have some great acoustic versions as bonus tracks
Live in person performance: Vanden Plas at ProgPower with Wolverine a close second. Evergrey and Labyrinth also had great sets. For some reason the Anathema one wasn't quite as good as the others or their dvd, but I still enjoyed it.
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Bon Jovi used to be great at this. Just Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora on their own with acoustic guitars and singing together. It was magic how their voices harmonised back in the day. Lots of stuff on their Access All Areas VHS of the New Jersey tour. I think they did a short acoustic set at the MTV awards in the 80’s as well where they did acoustic versions of Wanted Dead Or Alive and Livin On A Prayer which was great and was rumoured to have given MTV the idea for the whole Unplugged series.
Saw the New Jersey tour a couple of times. Fantastic show.
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Opeth - Damnation is their best by far
I find it interesting how often this is referred to as an acoustic album when it isn't at all. It's a mellow album, which was certainly different for them at the time, and I am a big fan.
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Live in person performance: Vanden Plas at ProgPower with Wolverine a close second.
Both acoustic sets? Damn, I wish I was there.
Anneke Van Giersbergen - Like A Stone (at ProgPower XIX) This was amazing, Cram and others can vouch for that.
I wish I could've seen some of The Gentle Storm shows where Anneke performed with Arjen Lucassen in acoustic setting.
https://youtu.be/VbwCrB0CtJA
I mean there's an electric guitar :lol
Opeth - Damnation is their best by far
I find it interesting how often this is referred to as an acoustic album when it isn't at all. It's a mellow album, which was certainly different for them at the time, and I am a big fan.
Yeah, definitely not acoustic.
Pain of Salvation - 12:5
I'll be revisiting this one today, totally forgot it existed for some reason.
Everyone else: I'm listening to your picks, so if you include links in your posts it's even more helpful, but even if not, I intend to check out every single thing posted in this thread.
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Pain of Salvation - 12:5
Alice in Chains - MTV Unplugged
While not on the same level I think Porcupine Tree - We Lost the Skyline is a pretty fun performance (only 30 mins or so) it has some electric guitar but its only SW and John Wesley joining in for a few tracks.
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Ha! I picked the wrong Queensryche video. Lol. I meant to post the unplugged version. My bad!
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Does it have to be a metal or rock band? I find that most of those bands think they can simply play sort-of the same things they would do on an electric guitar and that it then somehow works (it often doesn't).
No idea whether this is going to count or not, but here you go. Surely someone will approve:
Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia - Friday Night in San Francisco (1981) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3BzAKHCEvo)
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Actually it doesn't, if you've got your favourite acoustic performance from other genres, go with it!
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Well, look above then :lol
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Well, look above then :lol
I'm listening right now!
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Does it have to be a metal or rock band? I find that most of those bands think they can simply play sort-of the same things they would do on an electric guitar and that it then somehow works (it often doesn't).
No idea whether this is going to count or not, but here you go. Surely someone will approve:
Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia - Friday Night in San Francisco (1981) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3BzAKHCEvo)
That's my all time favourite live album :tup
I think I have even every audience's "wooh" memorised
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I was actually thinking of you in particular when I wrote 'Surely someone will approve' :)
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Live in person performance: Vanden Plas at ProgPower with Wolverine a close second.
Both acoustic sets? Damn, I wish I was there.
Yeah, both bands did a regular electric set and an acoustic one. The acoustic shows were really small and intimate. The Vanden Plas set was really energetic and varied; they did half originals and half covers and it was amazing. The Gethsemane cover was unbelievable. I don't think there's video of this set which is a shame. Wolverine's was all originals and he gave some background for the songs and lyrics. Here's a video from that one: https://youtu.be/1UVRm0KdnYQ
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Probably the Counting Crows Live Across a Wire (first disc) or Marillion Live at Cadogan Hall.
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The one that came to mind immediately is
Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane, from The Dance.
Dang, I would have sworn I've heard that whole album and that performance didn't ring any bells. Maybe I missed it somehow. That was great.
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Got to give my vote to Pain of Salvation - 12:5
Simply amazing.
On a different note, have you heard Rodrigo y Gabriela? I never thought acoustic music could rock so hard. Look up their live performance of "Diablo Rojo" (the oldest one! the one with a crowd!) and let me know if you could resist rocking along.
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Does it have to be a metal or rock band? I find that most of those bands think they can simply play sort-of the same things they would do on an electric guitar and that it then somehow works (it often doesn't).
No idea whether this is going to count or not, but here you go. Surely someone will approve:
Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia - Friday Night in San Francisco (1981) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3BzAKHCEvo)
But then this is shred as shred can, not much different from metal ;D
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I don't see random metal shredders playing the stuff those three guys are doing, but okay, sure.
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Got to give my vote to Pain of Salvation - 12:5
Simply amazing.
+1 That's a great one!
As Mr Crabs said, Nirvana Unplugged is a classic. Speaking of that, Dave's acoustic version of Everlong is great.
Not really eligible because it's a cover project but Mind The Acoustic Pieces by Maiden United with Damian Wilson is great.
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The one that came to mind immediately is
Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane, from The Dance.
Dang, I would have sworn I've heard that whole album and that performance didn't ring any bells. Maybe I missed it somehow. That was great.
That's a prime example of a song that sounds way better acoustically than the original.
Another example is Rush - Resist (live)
Rodrigo Y Gabriella are fantastic mix of Acoustic Flamenco with a hint of Metal influence
https://youtu.be/6aQIzE_nP34
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I don't see random metal shredders playing the stuff those three guys are doing, but okay, sure.
I was half joking, I really like that concert but sometimes they get carried away. Just because it's jazz doesn't mean it's free from wanking.
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Queensr˙che is the first one I think of. Their MTV Unplugged. It really showed how great they were. I recommend checking YouTube for the uncut version.
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Not many come to mind. As above : Tesla , KISS (surprisingly good) and One Live Night by Dokken was also a pleasant surprise.
Lynch was plugged in though.
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I've always liked this clip.
Ian Gillan - When a Blind Man Cries (Live at Absolute Radio) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfcsKAc5hRc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfcsKAc5hRc)
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Not many come to mind. As above : Tesla , KISS (surprisingly good) and One Live Night by Dokken was also a pleasant surprise.
Lynch was plugged in though.
So were most of the other guitars in this thread :biggrin: I know Lynch played some solos on an "electric" with a touch of gain but I consider the album in the same vein as the others.
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Really not a big fan of acoustic albums/performances in general. That said:
Tesla - Five Man Acoustical Jam
Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged
The only thing that really comes to mind with this is Queensryche on MTV Unplugged.
The above 3 do rate highly for me. Add to that the 5 shows that DT did at the tail end of 1998 - IMO all those shows were magical, and I wish I could've attended them.
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Me too.
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I don't see random metal shredders playing the stuff those three guys are doing, but okay, sure.
I was half joking, I really like that concert but sometimes they get carried away. Just because it's jazz doesn't mean it's free from wanking.
A lot of jazz contains ‘wanking’, because by its nature Jazz is a music genre that’s collectively improvised. I personally think that a lot of the lines played on this particular album are far more interesting melodically and the interplay between the guitarists is way more nuanced and ‘musical’, for lack of a better word, than your random metal shredder. But let’s not get carried away into WildRanger-esque ‘which one is objectively better’-discussions.
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Pain of Salvation - 12:5 is what I immediately come to think of
https://open.spotify.com/album/1LJKYYvJxtbOwRKna2Hpnd?si=zQJxcIKKSDSdWTsyJbZ7Hg
I also came to think of this wonderful show by Anneke van Giersbergen and Danny Cavanagh where they take turns playing songs from each of their respective carrers (can't find it on spotify)
https://youtu.be/4OmGI0KN-3U
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The above 3 do rate highly for me. Add to that the 5 shows that DT did at the tail end of 1998 - IMO all those shows were magical, and I wish I could've attended them.
Any idea if these shows were ever recorded/released? Something about this live era of DT was really quite special and I love their confidence to do stripped-down shows as a prog-metal band
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From outside the prog/metal scene (but still rock artists) I enjoy Poets of the Fall's chill acoustic performances, recently they released some performances from a theater session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLeCYV3uJPw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLeCYV3uJPw). Furthermore I enjoy the concert recording Live in London from Skunk Anasie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2meg38JbKIM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2meg38JbKIM).
Some of the great have already been mentioned here.
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The Queensryche Unplugged Sessions were amazing.
I was in attendance for Dream Theater's 1998 holiday shows (specifically Irving Plaza), which were semi-acoustic. Incredible.
Sevendust's Time Travelers and Bonfires is amazing as well, and the show was wonderful.
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AIC: I love Got Me Wrong and Over Now unplugged
Aerosmith: Last Child unplugged
Mansun: Moronica acoustic b-side
Warpaint: Undertow live acoustic 2010
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The above 3 do rate highly for me. Add to that the 5 shows that DT did at the tail end of 1998 - IMO all those shows were magical, and I wish I could've attended them.
Any idea if these shows were ever recorded/released? Something about this live era of DT was really quite special and I love their confidence to do stripped-down shows as a prog-metal band
In terms of official releases, there was the 1998 fan club CD, which contains parts of their performance from the Netherlands and a few tracks from the Paris gig that was featured on OiaL in June, 1998. IMO, it's the perfect companion piece to OiaL. The 5 shows they did at the end of 1998 were modeled after that show in the Netherlands. MP had intended to release the last show (which has the best setlist) of the 5 as part of the next batch of official bootlegs, before he left the band. Needless to say, it was never released. However, there are audience recordings of all 5 shows in circulation.
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Doesn't Five Years In A Livetime feature some of the Uncovered gig as bonus material?
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Some really good offerings here.
I'm personally a fan of the "Angels Of Love" album by Yngwie.
There's also a DVD on some versions of Van Halen's "A Different Kind Of Truth" with a couple acoustic songs that are REALLY good.
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Orphaned Land - The Calm Before the Flood
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Alice In Chains "Am I Inside" from the SAP EP is awesome. Haunting riff.
The Coma Wall songs from this EP:
https://shamanrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/wood-wire
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The above 3 do rate highly for me. Add to that the 5 shows that DT did at the tail end of 1998 - IMO all those shows were magical, and I wish I could've attended them.
Any idea if these shows were ever recorded/released? Something about this live era of DT was really quite special and I love their confidence to do stripped-down shows as a prog-metal band
In terms of official releases, there was the 1998 fan club CD, which contains parts of their performance from the Netherlands and a few tracks from the Paris gig that was featured on OiaL in June, 1998. IMO, it's the perfect companion piece to OiaL. The 5 shows they did at the end of 1998 were modeled after that show in the Netherlands. MP had intended to release the last show (which has the best setlist) of the 5 as part of the next batch of official bootlegs, before he left the band. Needless to say, it was never released. However, there are audience recordings of all 5 shows in circulation.
Damn I joined their fan club two years too late, as I missed that one and Cleaning Out The Closet the following year. I'm not a live album fan but I would easily pay for those shows, especially the live versions of the FII b-sides.
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SAP is by far my favorite Alice In Chains release. BY FAR (and I LIKE them; Rainier Fog is an amazing album).
Look, I know I tread on "Never Enough" territory here, but I think the OIALT/FYIALT/Xmas disk releases of those shows is... not up to Mike's standards. I tried to piece together a complete show and it wasn't really possible with the crossfades and what not. Those are legendary, milestone shows in the band's career and ought to see some kind of release.
While I LOVE that Mike is thawing relations with the guys (I'm sentimental like that) and have no illusions about him being in DT again (and almost hope not, if it would cut into his work with Neal Morse, which I'm far more "into" at this stage of my career), one secret wish is that we can resume the Ytsejam Releases at some point and get some of these seminal, historical shows out there. I'd LOVE a complete, start-to-finish, pro-mastered Ronnie Scott's show.
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The above 3 do rate highly for me. Add to that the 5 shows that DT did at the tail end of 1998 - IMO all those shows were magical, and I wish I could've attended them.
Any idea if these shows were ever recorded/released? Something about this live era of DT was really quite special and I love their confidence to do stripped-down shows as a prog-metal band
In terms of official releases, there was the 1998 fan club CD, which contains parts of their performance from the Netherlands and a few tracks from the Paris gig that was featured on OiaL in June, 1998. IMO, it's the perfect companion piece to OiaL. The 5 shows they did at the end of 1998 were modeled after that show in the Netherlands. MP had intended to release the last show (which has the best setlist) of the 5 as part of the next batch of official bootlegs, before he left the band. Needless to say, it was never released. However, there are audience recordings of all 5 shows in circulation.
Can you clarify this? I'm looking at the MP.com Tourography and, specifically, the 12/30/98 show in Poughkeepsie. Was that entire show an acoustic show? It says The Silent Man was the "electric version" but it is otherwise silent on the subject. It's tough to imagine stuff like La Villa Strangiato (other than the intro), the Van Halen medley and "Cygnus X-1" (which I assume refers to Book 1: The Voyage) being acoustic. I'm also curious what songs from those shows were on 5YIAL. The Wikipedia article on 5YIAL doesn't indicate where each song was recorded.
Those are legendary, milestone shows in the band's career and ought to see some kind of release.
. . . these seminal, historical shows. . . .
You're treading more on hyperbole than "'Never Enough' territory."
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Hahaha; "seminal" was too much? :)
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The bonus disc on Ambeon - Fate of a Dreamer is up there for me.
Ambeon, a side project by Arjen Lucassen were contracted to play a show in Italy that fell through and all we have are the rehersals on the bonus disk.
Ambeon songs and classic Ayreon songs like My House on Mars and Castle Hall played by Arjen on acoustic guitar plus a cello and a flute player and young Astrid van der Veen on vocals. Sooo beautiful versions..... totally love that disc
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Can you clarify this? I'm looking at the MP.com Tourography and, specifically, the 12/30/98 show in Poughkeepsie. Was that entire show an acoustic show? It says The Silent Man was the "electric version" but it is otherwise silent on the subject. It's tough to imagine stuff like La Villa Strangiato (other than the intro), the Van Halen medley and "Cygnus X-1" (which I assume refers to Book 1: The Voyage) being acoustic. I'm also curious what songs from those shows were on 5YIAL. The Wikipedia article on 5YIAL doesn't indicate where each song was recorded.
In reality, those shows were stripped down, and some songs were performed acoustically, but yeah, there was definitely a bunch that were performed with electric guitar. So I guess the shows don't truly qualify for what the OP was asking, but they will forever be the "acoustic" shows DT did in my mind. :P
As for which songs were taken from the Netherlands fan club gig, which was also stripped down, going strictly from memory I would say:
Cover My Eyes
Speak to Me
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
Anna Lee
To Live Forever
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Can you clarify this? I'm looking at the MP.com Tourography and, specifically, the 12/30/98 show in Poughkeepsie. Was that entire show an acoustic show? It says The Silent Man was the "electric version" but it is otherwise silent on the subject. It's tough to imagine stuff like La Villa Strangiato (other than the intro), the Van Halen medley and "Cygnus X-1" (which I assume refers to Book 1: The Voyage) being acoustic. I'm also curious what songs from those shows were on 5YIAL. The Wikipedia article on 5YIAL doesn't indicate where each song was recorded.
In reality, those shows were stripped down, and some songs were performed acoustically, but yeah, there was definitely a bunch that were performed with electric guitar. So I guess the shows don't truly qualify for what the OP was asking, but they will forever be the "acoustic" shows DT did in my mind. :P
As for which songs were taken from the Netherlands fan club gig, which was also stripped down, going strictly from memory I would say:
Cover My Eyes
Speak to Me
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
Anna Lee
To Live Forever
OK...that makes more sense. DT doing acoustic versions of La Villa and The Voyage are things I would really seek out!