Dramatic Silence in Live Music Performance

November 19, 2014 8:19 AM

I am looking for examples of musical performances in which the performer uses a natural break or pause in the song and stretches it out to the breaking point creating tension for dramatic effect before diving back into the song.
posted by j03 to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

If you're looking specifically for live performances, you might want to track down live versions of the many examples in this old Ask.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:23 AM on November 19, 2014

Or this very recent ask.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:24 AM on November 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Maybe not the genre of music you're looking for, but fun. does this a lot in their live performances of Dog Problems. Particularly in this rendition. (I was there... what a great show.)

Recorded version for reference.
posted by mekily at 8:38 AM on November 19, 2014

Between 0:51 and 0:54 in this live version of Chopin's fourth ballade (Sviatoslav Richter).

At the end of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto (between 36:30 and 36:34 in this recording/Michelangeli), the pianist gets to decide how long to wait with the final run.

A break, very low dynamics, and a dramatically slow start in Vladimir Horowitz's version of Rachmaninfoo's g-minor prélude here (2:16).
posted by Namlit at 9:21 AM on November 19, 2014

'Dinosaur', King Crimson. has a long rest before the middle guitar break. This was extended which was a terrific tension-builder. Sometimes the rest was concluded off-time, which was a jaw-dropping audio-surprise.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:39 AM on November 19, 2014

Response by poster: I am looking more specifically in rock and pop, and I should clarify that I say live performances because that is when it is really accentuated.. In most studio recordings those breaks exist but I'm looking for uncomfortable even awkwardly long pauses that performers sometimes do when they know they've got the audience in the palm of their hand.

I'm trying to get my own band to be more comfortable doing that sort of thing and want to share some particularly extreme examples with them.

So, not just any song with a pause, but an extreme silent tension to the point that the audience isn't sure whats going on anymore.
posted by j03 at 9:40 AM on November 19, 2014

Smashing Pumpkins did this often with their live performances of Silverfuck. (look around the 2:30 - 2:35 mark).
posted by Benway at 12:51 PM on November 19, 2014

Beastie Boys used to do this all the time when they did Intergalactic, by stopping, sometimes for a minute, between "Let the beat..." and "mmm, drooopp."
posted by General Malaise at 1:01 PM on November 19, 2014

Best answer: Also Interpol did this often when they performed PDA. (around 1:40).
posted by Benway at 1:49 PM on November 19, 2014

Phish does this - and even stands perfectly still - during "Divided Sky'.
posted by PSB at 6:24 AM on November 20, 2014

Dr. Frankenfurter in "Sweet Transvestite," I believe ("...antici pation.")
Cake does it in a few of their songs as well.
posted by cross_impact at 7:48 AM on November 20, 2014