Most Electrifying Live TV Performance You've Ever Seen

The first thing that comes to mind is Kanye West's performance of "Power" on SNL. Amazing!

Can't find a working video link on line, unfortunately.

 

OK. I didn't see this "live", but I saw it on ABC's "Heroes of Rock and Roll" in 1979. I believe it was the first time Springsteen ever appeared on TV in the US. It was a 2 hour special with a bunch different artists, and of course, they saved this until the very end. My Ed Sullivan moment for sure...

 

Yeah, I've been trying to stick to things I actually saw in real time, and leaving all those great BBC clips to the lucky Brits!

 

this was one; I've never heard of them til seeing this that night.



I wanted to go see them the next night as I discovered just hours before they played S.F. that it was happening (I knew nothing about them beforehand) but had no ride, no one knew about them etc. But this blew my mind how great they were.
For two albums they seemed they could be the saviors of rock and roll. Then they changed. (and then they broke up)

 

As a Burbank resident, (and a huge Elvis freak) I drive by that stage a couple times a week and try to imagine what it must have been like to be sitting in there during those shows.

 

This was incredible to see also.

 

The Who concert for new York 2001

 

This is the one that defines "electric TV performance" to me. Not quite at the level of Beatles or Elvis on TV as far as cultural change, but the effect it had on me (and my buddy who was watching with me) was immediate, overwhelming and changed everything for us.

 

I was 7 years old when I saw the T.A.M.I. Show at our local theater. I was there with my older brother. James Brown came on and did his thing. I can remember thinking, "What's wrong with this man?" as he kept throwing off the cape and wouldn't leave the stage. I remember thinking that he must have developed some medical condition. Being so bothered by it, that it has stuck with me all these 54 years. No one has touched the stage with that kind of performance since.

 

No doubt this has already been mentioned but James Brown’ performance on the TAMI show. Nothing even close.

 

- Funkadelic. Insane.

 

Kesha - Praying - 2018 Grammies

 

And then this. I still don't know if I actually like (I think I do), but it stops you in your tracks anyway:

And for the Brits, about half of the Word's performances - L7 (for obvious reasons, particularly when you're a teenage boy at the time), Rage Against the Machine, Dinosaur Jr refusing to stop playing...ad break coming? Need to stop? Pah!

 

Man...that sent chills down my spine!

 

I'll be eternally grateful to my parents for collecting and piecing back together the exploded bits of my brain after the first time I saw KISS move. That would be the Paul Lynde Halloween Special in 1976.

 

I sort of hate the Mars Volta, but they had an insane performance on Jools Holland's show in the UK too. So yeah, as much as I don't like their music, it was a genius performance.

 

Not musically electrifying per say but quite the spectacle.

t.A.T.u. ~ Not Gonna Get Us at the at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards

Caught me by surprise and has become one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

 

I still get chills every time I see and hear this powerful vocal performance: