From cover versions to city sessions, exclusive performances are burgeoning on the web, writes Chris Salmon
With George Michael busy being a compelling tweeter and maker of rather disappointing new material, a reminder of how great his songwriting can be has emerged from the unlikely source of US folkster Iron and Wine. The extravagantly bearded musician chose Michael's 1988 single One More Try as his track for the Undercover 2011 series which is running on The Onion's avclub.com site. Head to avc.lu/iwdogm to watch the wonderful reworking of the track into a sparse heartbreaker, driven by clarinet and great dollops of emotion. And while you're there, check out the other covers, notably Low's mournful reading of Toto's Africa, Of Montreal's suitably raucous take on White Stripes' Fell in Love With A Girl, and They Might Be Giants' grin-inducing blast through Chumbawamba's Tubthumping.
The BBC's coverage of T in the Park festival has always come with a strong sense of deja vu, coming just a fortnight after its Glastonbury festival broadcast, with the two events usually featuring many of the same acts. This year, though, with the Beeb's Glastonbury highlights now available online for a full 30 days, its web coverage of the two festivals actually overlaps. Some acts thus appear to have denied permission for a second batch of highlights: you can still watch parts of Beyonc� or Jessie J's Glastonbury performances at bbc.co.uk/glastonbury but nothing from their T shows at bbc.co.uk/tinthepark. Other artists have allowed both sets to be posted, enabling you to study the similarities between the two performances from Primal Scream, Plan B, Tinie Tempah or Everything Everything. It's probably more worthwhile sticking to the highlights of acts who only played at T, such as Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Swedish House Mafia and Deadmau5. Sadly, though, despite Pulp performing at both festivals, the BBC isn't offering highlights of their set from either.
With so many live session websites competing for your attention, new ones need a unique selling point to stand out. In the case of City Sessions (citysessions.co.uk) that involves mixing films of performances with its own animations. So, the latest session sees Brighton's Electric Soft Parade sitting on one of the city's beaches playing a lovely song on a gorgeous day. Suddenly, the camera pans to the deep blue sky, at which point an animated hot-air balloon drifts across, dragging a passenger behind it. Meanwhile, a performance of the Turbans' vibrant, violin-fuelled music in London's Borough Market is interspersed with paper cut-out scenes based on the duo. It's hardly earth-shattering stuff, but you do find yourself looking forward to the animations. Throw in a good choice of acts and some quality production values, and the sessions deserve more than the few hundred views each film currently gets.
paul gray peter steele teddy pendergrass dennis hopper leslie nielsen
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