Favorite Music: Live Performances

Music speaks to us in so many different ways.  It can make us laugh, it can make us cry, it can help to heal us during a tough time; it's like the best friend that's always there when we need it.

Periodically, I'm going to share posts involving songs or performances of songs that have special meaning for me. 

The first one, is one of the best live performances I've heard... but to simply refer to listening to this as "hearing" it, is just not doing it justice. This is the gold standard in live performance, because Whitney Houston takes an arena packed with people and transports every single one of them to a special place with her performance of "A Song For You" 

Listen to this with your eyes closed; it's true beauty in simplicity. 

Since I'm specifically referring to live performances, I can't neglect to mention Jennifer Holliday's performance of "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from the Tony's in 1982.  

I love to see people who truly connect with the material, and show it in their performance. This is another one of those performances that, if it comes up in a YouTube "watch this again" feed, I always stop what I'm doing and do just that. I think Jennifer Hudson did a fine job in this role in the Dreamgirls movie, but I can clearly see where she took her inspiration.  Holliday isn't just singing this, she's feeling it, which makes for a unforgettable performance.  Do you have any favorite live performances? Post a comment, let me know!