As the 2014 live-music season comes to a close, it strikes us that we’ve spent more time traveling and rocking out at various shows & festivals in 2014 than we did at home! At least it’s felt that way, as Crave has brought you guys wall to wall music coverage all year long with daily reviews, interviews, highlight recaps and, of course, photos of all the action as it happens.
This year, Crave rocked more festivals, shows and major events than ever before in our history, and brought you along as we headed to the desert for Coachella, drove cross-country for our insanely fun Road To Bonnaroo video series, kicked all of the asses at SXSW, as well as Austin City Limits, Outside Lands and many others.
Jack White Tops Crave’s 20 Best Albums of 2014
After hundreds of performances and dozens of festivals, we’ve compiled the best of the best shots into one spectacular dose of eye-candy – the 25 Best Live Shots of 2014!
All photos: Johnny Firecloud
Best Live Shots of 2014
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Childish Gambino at Austin City Limits 2014
Austin, TX
Hitting the stage at Austin City Limits for a late-afternoon Friday performance, Childish Gambino was clearly in high gear for his first live appearance since the arrival of last week’s STN MTN mixtape and Kauai EP. Bounding across the stage in shorts and – for a short time – a Hawaiian shirt, the former Troy pulled the biggest bouncers from both his albums, and dabbled in the new as he gestured wildly and threw maniac faces.
He may have acted a bit like a goofball on ecstasy, but his rhyme game was razor-sharp, edging him closer to headliner contender status. We'd say it's about time.
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Phantogram at Sasquatch 2014
The Gorge, WA
Phantogram continued to hone their hypnotically powerful live abilities onstage at Sasquatch 2014, and Crave was on hand to capture the experience. Check out a full Sasquatch gallery of Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, aka Phantogram.
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Pearl Jam at Austin City Limits 2014
Austin, TX
We covered a blizzard of music festivals this year, and in the hundreds of bands and countless hours we’ve had the privilege and pleasure of rockin’ out to, not a damn one comes within screaming range of the intensity, catharsis, heart-soaring greatness of Pearl Jam’s headlining performance at Austin City Limits. Read our full review from the front-row rail right here.
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Outkast at Austin City Limits 2014
Austin, TX
The Honda stage was a suffocating swarm of wild enthusiasm as Andre 3000 and Big Boi took to the stage for a massively celebrated headlining Austin City Limits performance, giving the crowd of 60,000 the Outkast reunion they’ve been hotly anticipating all year.
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Soundgarden at SXSW 2014
Austin, TX
On the rooftop of the Starr Building in Austin during a maniacally awesome SXSW 2014, Chris Cornell led guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron – in his penultimate Soundgarden performance for quite some time – through a set that leaped all over the band's lengthy catalog.
Opening with punk-strut favorite "Kickstand," the band moved through brooding but dutiful renditions of the unexpected "Hunted Down," "Flower" and a slew of Superunknown favorites to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary: "My Wave," "Limo Wreck," "Mailman," "Superunknown" and "Fresh Tendrils," among others.
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Brody Dalle at Sasquatch 2014
The Gorge, WA
The Distillers/Spinnerette frontwoman delivered a growling set of rockers from her new album Diploid Love, stepping over the smarmy "Women Who SHRED!" caricatures to actually kick some legitimate ass. As husband Joshua Homme and kids looked on from side-stage, Dalle polished her crowd as the queen of rock in the midday sun.
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Jenny Lewis at Outside Lands 2014
San Francisco, CA
Cuter than ever and razor sharp in her game, Jenny Lewis took to the Sutro stage at Outside Lands for a career-spanning run of singalongs and pretty ditties. Making sure to do her Rilo Kiley fans proud, she delivered an endearing run of “A Better Son/Daughter” from her old group.
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J Roddy Walston & The Business at Austin City Limits 2014
Austin, TX
Sure, we were big fans to begin with, and sure, we had a hell of a good time acting like hippies with them just before they hit the stage, but that doesn’t mean we’re exaggerating when we say that J Roddy Walston and The Business tore the almighty hell out of the Austin Ventures stage at Austin City Limits.
Slamming piano keys, flailing wildly, howling maniacally, all the soul-searing goodness of a Southern rock revival were in place for an unforgettable set.
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Queens of The Stone Age at Sasquatch 2014
The Gorge, WA
When QOTSA take the stage at a festival, it’s like getting in the muscle car with the grown-ups after riding your BMX around the neighborhood all day. Sex-rock power on high, Josh Homme & crew led the Sasquatch crowd through an airtight run of hip-grinders and slow-burn demon grooves.
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Jack White at Bonnaroo 2014
Manchester, TN
Jack White provided the defining moment of Bonnaroo 2014 when he utterly shamed Kanye's egomaniacal rant-fest the night prior with an astonishingly powerful, sharply engaging set spanning his entire career. There's a reason our Road to Bonnaroo feature took us to Jack's mad-scientist laboratory at Third Man Records last week, and the entirety of the Bonnaroo festival audience was witness to it as he immediately tuned in to the collective crowd frequency and played well beyond his scheduled ending time.
The band entered first and jammed, a swarm of groove that set the mood in a sea of baby blue. Jack entered the fray with his back to the crowd, dancing along with the sound, looking for his entry point, deciding how our journey would begin. Nearly a full minute in, he blasted into the White Stripes gem "Icky Thump," and within four minutes of improvised lyrics, maniacal laughs and stage-galloping explosive energy there wasn't a doubt to be found among the ocean of sweaty Bonnaroovians that Jack was anything but lightning unleashed, and we were in for an unforgettable night.
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Deafheaven at Sasquatch 2014
The Gorge, WA
San Francisco's black metal screamers Deafheaven brought the fury to Sasquatch 2014, where the Sargent House prodigies tore a hole in the space-time continuum.
George Clarke's bloodied lip and sneering intensity less than a minute into first song should've been plenty indication of the sonic armageddon lifting off, as the boys delivered an unmatched fury on the Yeti stage. Kids in giant rabbit hats and facepaint were slamming into each other with teeth-chipping abandon as Clarke prowled the stage like a capeless superman of fury. Could we understand a goddamn thing he was growling? Not a chance. Does that matter? Nope.
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Die Antwoord at Bonnaroo 2014
Manchester, TN
Die Antwoord's Bonnaroo set took place in the middle of the night, undoubtedly intended to atmospherically capitalize on the post-sunset sharp uptick of narcotic intake. What resulted was the trippiest, spookiest and most insanely badass set of the entire weekend.
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Grieves at Swing House, 2014
Los Angeles, CA
Rhymesayers’ prodigal Pacific Northwesterner Grieves is on a killer streak following the release of his fourth album Winter & The Wolves, a fine time for his spotlight as Crave's Band of The Month featured artist. Check out an exclusive studio performance by Grieves.
Years of relentless touring and dedication to the craft have yielded a strong balance of sound and a promising new chapter in the career of the man born as Benjamin Laub. The self-proclaimed love-song rapper’s alt-soul lyrical acrobatics hopscotch the web of life, love and loss through a romantic’s lens on his latest offering, and we can't wait to see where he heads next.
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Arcade Fire at Coachella 2014
Indio, CA
Introduced by a man made of shimmering mirrors in the middle of the crowd, Arcade Fire closed out weekend one with a headlining slot performance that showcased superstars in a comfortable high stride. Opening with the title track of their new album Reflektor, Win Butler and a dozen or so of his friends were in no mood for half-steps as they delivered a barrage of upbeat songs with forceful excellence.
Win won many General Attendance hearts over with a little shot at the comically ridiculous and unnecessarily huge “VIP area” in front of the main stage barricade. “I just have to say there’s a lot of fake VIP bullshit going on at this festival,” he explained, with a nod to the giant open space dividing him from the tens of thousands of fans. “I know that’s a dream for some people, but you’re better out here, because it super sucks in there.”
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Spoon at Outside Lands 2014
San Francisco, CA
Having just released their eighth album They Want My Soul to stellar reviews and fanfare, Spoom took to the stage at Outside Lands 2014 without a care in the world. The crowd was highly receptive of new songs like “Knock Knock Knock,” and packed in at the Lands End stage in San Francisco’s gorgeous Golden Gate Park to catch the band entering their true prime.
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Motorhead at Coachella 2014
Indio, CA
As Motorhead’s perpetually scowly frontman introduced Slash on Sunday night as “a friend of ours, a friend of yours,” you could barely see a hint of charm in his eye despite a supremely awesome moment unfolding for the most OG-rockin’ band on the bill. They obliterated “Ace of Spades” like Slash had been a member all along, the highlight of a grindingly badass hourlong Mojave tent set.
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Beck at Coachella 2014
Indio, CA
Beck has been known to trade out his magnetically quirky oddity for Elliott Smith-level sighful songs in recent years, but he brought an energized performance that defied his recent downtempo tendencies on Coachella's closing night. Kicking off with “Devil’s Haircut” before the festival-obligatory “Loser,” “Debra” and a reworked, groove-driven “Gamma Ray,” there was little sign of the back injury that found him nearly motionless onstage at last year's Treasure Island festival. In fact, the majority of Beck’s slower catalogue was missing from his Coachella set, replaced with live gems “Think I’m In Love” and a positively stompin’ “One Foot In The Grave”. On a night when tens of thousands of party-minded desert dwellers are in attendance, that's a very good thing.
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Grouplove at Outside Lands 2014
San Francisco, CA
Whether it’s the city, the setting in Golden Gate Park or some intangible collective energy, The Outside Lands Music Festival is always packed with positive energy and a general sense of excitement. This was helped in no small part on Friday by Grouplove, who brought some next-level energy to the Twin Peaks stage during their midday set.
It seemed that singer Christian Zucconi couldn’t get close enough to the enraptured crowd, diving into the sea of screaming festivalgoers more than once as the band rocked the hell out.
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Cake at Bonnaroo 2014
Manchester, TN
"Aaaaalright!"
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Chromeo at Bonnaroo 2014
Manchester, TN
Dave 1 and P-Thugg tore up the stage at Lollapalooza 2014 with a disco-dance throwdown that essentially mirrored every other festival performance they rocked in 2014 (and there were quite a few).
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The Flaming Lips at Outside Lands 2014
San Francisco, CA
Girls dressed up as giant mushrooms and a massive rainbow? You bet your ass. Silver-fringe codpiece? Check. Acid-trip visuals from top to bottom and everywhere in between? Standard. Welcome to a daylight dosing at Outside Lands. Hope you brought your tie-dye, because in San Francisco’s psychedelic wonderland, you’re the odd man out if your vision isn’t a kaleidoscope by now.
This, naturally, is all before Wayne climbs into his giant hamster wheel and rolls atop the crowd, all the way back to the soundboard, with maniacal grin on his face.
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City and Colour at Coachella 2014
Indio, CA
Dallas Green has a black belt in looking depressed and uninterested. If Elliott Smith were alive today, merely looking at Green's mopey visage would result in two full albums' worth of shoegaze suicide music.
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Broken Bells at Coachella 2014
Indio, CA
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Portugal The Man at Lollapalooza 2014
Chicago, IL
Our Lollapalooza 2014 experience began with Portugal The Man doing a special performance on the Kidzapalooza stage, where the VIP pit in front was designated only for kids. That means toddlers got to watch one of the best live bands in existence rock a version of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall” before segueing into their own crowd-favorite “Purple Yellow Red and Blue”.
Just a couple hours later they would take the main Samsung stage with a full set, and once again made jaws drop with a spot-on take of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” by Oasis as well as a stellar run of their own material, including our favorite “Atomic Man”.
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Paolo Nutini at Outside Lands 2014
San Francisco, CA
Sometimes a happy accident can make for the sweetest moments. A sizable crowd had gathered around the main stage for Scottish electronic act Chvrches on Sunday afternoon, but were highly confused when fellow countryman Paolo Nutini appeared instead. Thankfully for everyone involved, the crooner positively ripped it with a set of soulful pantydropper indie-R&B jams that made Harry Connick Jr. look like wet bread slapped against a brick wall.
