Live!: Why We Go Out

(Hardback)

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Description

In 1972, when Robert Elms was thirteen years old, he saw the Jackson Five

play live at the Empire Pool. At some point during the performance,

he describes experiencing three minutes of 'divine delirium' as he found

himself in a state of otherworldly perfect synchronicity with everything happening

around him. This single event would set him off on an endless pursuit

for that same height of pleasure.

Since then, Robert has lived his life through live music, from pub

rock to jazz funk, punk to country, and everything in between.

Each gig is memorable in its own way, and his snapshots of

musicians past and present are both evocative and

startlingly concise: *Tom Waits showboating with an umbrella,

Grace Jones vogueing with a mannequin, Amy shimmying

shamelessly like a little girl at a wedding, Gil Scott-Heron

rapping with a congadrum.

*

While in our changed times, Robert notes that we have found new ways of listening-

of being part of something special by uniting fans with their favourite performers

online- there is not, nor can ever be, anything quite like the live experience.

Live!: Why We Go Out is a memoir and a musing on why experiencing live music

really matters.

Reviews

'From queuing all night outside the Kilburn State in order to score a Faces ticket aged fifteen, to certified ''Triple A'' eminence, Robert's gimlet eye has observed the live music scene from a unique perspective over five crucial decades' Nick Lowe 'The sound of life-changing musical events pour out of this visceral memoir of live music. Maybe you were there too' Gary Kemp

Author Bio

Robert Elms is a writer and broadcaster, based in central London. He started out as a journalist, writing for The Face and NME. He is best known for his eponymous radio show on BBC Radio London which covers everything you need to know about the capital, from architecture and clothes, to accents and great music.

Robert is the author of three previous works of non-fiction, Spain: A Portrait After the General, The Way We Wore: A Life in Threads, and London Made Us, and a novel, In Search of the Crack.

@RobertElms