Question of the Week: What’s the best or most unusual live version of a cover song you’ve ever heard?

Local Spins’ Question of the Week (Oct. 20, 2022)

What’s the best or most unusual live version of a cover song you’ve ever heard?

The winner in last week’s drawing of email subscribers who responded to our question of the week was reader Jon Peterson. To be placed in a drawing for a Local Spins gift pack, sign up for email updates and the weekly newsletter here: https://localspins.com/subscribe-local-spins-mailing-list/

THE READER RESPONSES:

Chuck Carter – “Stairway to Heaven” by Tiny Tim and Brave Combo

Chad Michael Wedeven – I immediately think of Richard Thompson and his “1000 Years of Popular Music” show, which started with Gregorian chants and ended with Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again,” played in that Thompsonian gravity well.

Andrew Ogrodzinski – Santana covering “It’s a Man’s World” at Muskegon Summer Celebration the same year James Brown played, itself which was one of the best shows I attended.

Jon Peterson – Per today’s Local Spins contest on best live covers, too many to mention, but these two local shows come to mind for me: “Blue Moon” by the Mavericks at Meijer Gardens on July 25, 2019. Raul Malo’s voice on a beautiful summer night – magic! Encore jam of “Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home/The Thrill is Gone” by Government Mule, Donald Kinsey and Larry McCray at Meijer Garden on August 14, 2017.

Don Clapham – “Jumpin’ Jack Flash / YoungBlood” cover by Leon Russell on the “Leon Live” album recorded in 1973. Leon blended two iconic tunes by the Rolling Stones and the Coasters into a live masterpiece. Leon ends the song with some sage advice: Yeah, now ev’rybody’s got a young lady at home that they love/But sometimes the things, they just don’t go right/But I want to tell you one thing, and it’s for sure/You treat your woman like you treat yourself/Ev’rything is gonna be alright/Yeah it’s gonna be alright now

John Olszewski – Jeff Beck, “She is a Woman”

Liz Snavely – Tory Amos singing Bonnie and Clyde by Eminem!

Buck McDougall – I really love Luna’s version of “Season of the Witch” by Donovan.

Bradley Raffenaud – Bauhaus doing “Ziggy Stardust” at Cruel World Fest this past spring was pretty dang cool.

Jamie Geysbeek – “Stairway to Heaven” by Heart

Brad Vredevoogd – Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade doing “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”

Kyle Rasche – -Iron & Wine’s “Such Great Heights”… -The Stationary Set’s “We Belong”

Stacy Noonan – Hearing Sawyer Fredericks cover May Erlewine on “The Voice” was a HUGE thrill to me! (“Shine On”)

Jeff Martin = Saw Athens, Ga., band Elf Power open for J. Mascis & the Fog around 2002, and they covered the first song on the first Brian Eno album, “Needles in the Camel’s Eye.”

Michael Packer – Susanna Hoffs, “Name of the Game” (feat. Aimee Mann)

Bryan A Harrison – Someone please make this a playlist once all the answers are in. I love me some cool covers.

Kikki Lone – I really, really loved Norah Jones’s cover of “Black Hole Sun.” Such a unique spin on the original while still respecting it. Hauntingly beautiful, especially given when/where she performed it. Definitely brought me to tears the first time I heard it. Also, Nirvana’s cover of Leadbelly’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night? In fact, their whole Unplugged show was full of great covers!

Jay Haidys – I saw Alien Ant Farm perform Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” live at Clutch Cargo’s in Detroit (Pontiac) in the 90s before the cover was on the radio… That was wild. Them and Taproot were opening for Linkin Park.

Dale Oldenburg – Vanilla Fudge, “You keep me Hanging On”

Lee Chase – The Ramones covered “California Sun” at Second Chance in Ann Arbor in ’77 or ’78. Unbelievable. MC5 covering Sun Ra’s “Starship” at various venues was always unusual, to put it mildly.

Mike Ensing – Bruce Springsteen “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” Notre Dame 1/81
John Nowak – Lake Street Dive, “Anyone who had a Heart.” This blew my mind when I saw them this fall and I’m so glad it made their EP this year

AJ Dunning – The band Self’s cover of What A Fool Believes, from the “Gizmodgrey” record- performed on various children’s toy instruments & cheapo synths.

Kerri VanderHoff – Melissa Etheridge, both times I saw her live (and her live shows are amazing) she included a fantastic cover tune- in GR she did Maggie May and in Saratoga Springs she popped up mid audience and belted out You Shook Me All Night Long.

Steve Damstra – Wings’ cover of Richard Cory on “Wings Over America”

John Sinkevics – I love Elton John’s rendition of “Honky Tonk Women” from “11-17-70” and Gov’t Mule’s various versions of Pink Floyd tunes. And Joan Osborne is masterful when it comes to covers. So many more to choose from. Oh, Peter Frampton’s version of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” And I just heard The Verve Pipe’s live version of Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” last weekend and it was phenomenal! Oh, and more incredible local gems: Public Access with Emilee Petersmark absolutely killing it on Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and The Crane Wives and/or an all-star West Michigan female ensemble) playing Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”

Daniel P Hudelson – 1986, DeVos Hall, Bourgeois Tagg opening for Robert Palmer, did a mind-blowing version of “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

Scott Stefanski – Yes’ version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “America”

Daniel Francis – Harry Nilsson’s “Many Rivers to Cross.” This is a cover of a Jimmy Cliff song and I love it! Also, Sonic Youth covering The Carpenters’ “Superstar.”

James R. Murphy Jr. – Rickie Lee Jones covered “Trouble Man.”

Deborah Weiser Pianist – Phoebe Snow sings “At Last” with the New York Rock and Soul Review.

Chad Michael Wedeven – Audra Kubat played Earthwork Harvest Gathering this year. Her songs are intense, brooding, dense. A familiar tune, played in her style, slowly made itself known: “Danger Zone,” by Kenny Loggins.

Greg Baxter – Greensky Bluegrass wirh help from Steppin’In It covering “Against the Wind.”

Lee Middleman – Victor and Regi Wooten doing “Kashmir.”

Roy Wilde – River Matthews – The House Of The Rising Sun [Audio]

Tom Slendebroek – Cheap Trick’s “Jump into the Fire.”

Benjamin Joseph – Dinosaur Jr. covering Mazy Star’s “Fade into You”

Jon Koeze – “Kawliga” by the Residents

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