Live music has the ability to make you feel like you’re part of something more, a bigger picture, a community. These moments from festivals and concerts are perfect examples of the good in the human condition and how shared experience can have a positive effect on your head and your heart. Moments like these don’t happen every day, which just makes this list all the better!
Especially now, when we need to keep our distance to keep each other safe, it’s important to remember that we will get back to these amazing moments again.
Kendrick Lamar – ‘Humble’
In 2017 Kendrick Lamar started his DAMN. tour and on his first night in Phoenix, Arizona, he paused to the let the crowd sing part of ‘Humble’ unaccompanied. The crowd didn’t stop, and after singing unaccompanied for a minute, they burst into applause. After this performance went viral, almost every performance of ‘Humble’ gets a crowd reaction like this
Catfish and The Bottlemen – ‘Hourglass’
Catfish and the Bottlemen have been touring and playing festivals for years now and they never fail to get the crowd involved in their set (seriously watch their full set from TRNSMT). One song, ‘Hourglass’, is always different from their usual sound. Lead singer, Van McCann performs this one solo and acoustic which only means you can hear the crowd even louder. ‘Hourglass’ is an unconventional love song written from the perspective of his girlfriend. It’s short and sweet and Ewan McGregor is in the music video, what more could you want?
Adele -‘Someone Like You’
Adele herself admits that this song made her whole career and the audio of a crowd singing along to it was so impressive it even became a meme. During her Glastonbury performance in 2016, with the crowd singing at the top of their lungs, Adele took it one step further and walked along the barriers to be even closer to the crowd and share that experience.
Snow Patrol – ‘Run’
This one is a little closer to home! This performance of ‘Run’ is made even better by the Oxygen crowd. Gary Lightbody looks amazed as he watches the crowd clearly sing the song back to him. He tells the crowd that it was beautiful and he wasn’t wrong. This is a definite reason to bring Oxygen back.
Dolly Parton – ‘Jolene’
Dolly debated whether or not to play Glastonbury because she had never performed to crowd that big on her own and she thought the crowd wouldn’t accept her music. Turns out Dolly had the opposite effect on the crowd and even got the security guards dancing to ‘Jolene’ with her!
Arctic Monkeys -‘When the Sun Goes Down’
Arctic Monkeys have transformed their image, their music and their accents since their first number one album in 2006, but the songs from Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not always get the same crowd reaction. Their first headline performance at Glastonbury really set the bar for future crowds.
Paul McCartney – ‘Hey Jude’
‘Hey Jude’ was written to comfort John Lennon’s son, Julian, which is why its lyrics are so positive and uplifting. Crowds all around the world have been singing ‘Hey Jude’ for more than 50 years now and somehow it’s still kept its magic.
Queen – Live Aid
Ok, this one is so good it had to be on here. It’s common knowledge that Freddie Mercury could command a crowd but the Live Aid set is something seriously special. The call and response section is actually the stuff of legend.
Ariana Grande – One Love Manchester
This is a brilliant example of how music can help people come together for a common good. Two weeks after the bombing at the end of her concert in Manchester, Ariana Grande put on a show to raise money for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund to help the victims and their families. The emotions in the crowd made this a really special night.
Green Day – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ at Hyde Park
This crowd moment is so good they didn’t even need anyone on stage. Before Green Day came on stage for their Hyde Park show in 2017, they played Queen to get the crowd warmed up and they got way more than they expected! With an empty stage, the crowd sang the whole song perfectly and then erupted into applause for themselves. It’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ though, once you start you can’t stop!
