Front Row Seat: Janelle & Ellie At The Nobel Peace Prize Concert

Hey, remember that new feature I teased about in my last post? The one involving live performances? ‘Tis here. (And I even came up with a cheesy name for it! It wouldn’t be a Harmony Avenue post without one…) Normally I plan to make this about one particular live performance, but for a few reasons, this post won’t highlight just one video…but five. They’re all from the same night…the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which took place back on December 11 in Norway. Two of my favorite artists took the stage, and delivered absolutely outstanding performances: Janelle Monáe and Ellie Goulding. Rather than narrow their songs down to just one or two, I’m going to share them all. Happy New Year.

First off, Ellie did a lovely job with her cover of Elton John’s “Your Song,” enhanced beautifully by the on-stage orchestra. She also gave the best live version of her amazing song “Starry Eyes” that I’ve seen yet…the size of the orchestra and the unique setting really seem to energize her, and she’s absolutely in top form. Here are both of those songs:

Not that I like to compare artists too often, but I think Janelle Monáe did even better with her fiery 3-song set. First, she took on the Jackson 5′s infectious classic, “I Want You Back,” and handled it with aplomb:

Then (or perhaps before…I’m not exactly sure how the program order went, seeing as I, y’know, wasn’t there), she sang a two-song medley featuring a pair of my favorites of hers, “Cold War” and “Tightrope.” To say she brought down the house would be an understatement. I’m pretty sure even some dignitaries in the audience are dancing by the end…

And well, that’s pretty much it. I might tinker with this feature a bit next time it pops up, but for now I’ll just keep it plain and simple. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words (which makes 5 YouTube videos worth…quite a lot of words?). Thanks for reading.

Song of the Day: “Bulldozer”

It’s the last Song of the Day (and post on Harmony Avenue, for that matter) of the year! Sniffle, sniffle. What shall it be? How ’bout a little something called…

“Bulldozer,” by Bess Rogers!

I got this song just yesterday thanks to a free sampler NoiseTrade (an absolutely terrific site where you can find lots of free music from up-and-coming artists, I highly suggest you check it out) and Bess herself were offering this week. (It’s still available for a short time, so go forth and get it! It features a collection of 9 great songs from her various EPs, along with a few other tracks.) I’m not quite sure how I stumbled upon it, but I do remember checking out Bess’s music on iTunes about a year ago and loving it (but sadly, my wallet didn’t love it, and I couldn’t buy any at the time). She’s toured with the one and only Ingrid Michaelson (in fact, in the live version of “The Chain” on Ingrid’s compilation CD “Be OK,” Bess is one of the trio vocalists), and all her music is absolutely terrific. I just can’t get enough of this particular song, especially (I’m getting close to just sticking it on repeat, since I’ve already listened to it so much)…it’s peppy, but deep; the chord progressions are just SO good, and Bess’s voice is full of power and personality. I highly recommend you close out 2010 with this fine number…and bonus! Here’s a firecracker live performance of the song, courtesy of Blender (the embedding thing didn’t work for some reason, so just hop on over to the link):

http://www.blender.com/video/live/85036/bess-rogers-bulldozer.html

Have a great New Year’s, everyone! See you all in 2011, with lots more musical goodness here in Harmony Avenue. (And if you’re looking for a blog-y way to celebrate, how about subscribing? It’s the best, most convenient way to keep up with everything happening here. Just click on the button on the right.)