Top Five Live Covers You Should Watch

Not too much on denigrating the art of the cover, now. Especially, as I've made clear, the live one. It's often high stakes thanks to some inaugural, celebratory, or tribute event in an arena, maybe even in front of the original artist. The live cover, in my opinion, is how an artist truly earns their stripes. Have they made it their own whilst honouring the original? Have they chosen the right track, or indeed been chosen for the event correctly? And ultimately, can they sing someone else's notes and lyrics with new, exciting meaning without changing its DNA?

Read on to find out:

The lead vocal of St Vincent feels at great, great odds with such a large and full presence such as Kate Bush's vocal in the seminal Running Up That Hill. As a St Vincent stan even I arched an internal eyebrow at the choice, and hoped for a miraculous new level to Annie's vocal that she often has no need to utilise. And she proved me wrong. Looking ethereal, and making such brilliant use of the patented Annie Stare, the first ten seconds had my mouth open with awe - both Annie and that fantastic band sound so like the record that is was almost a magic trick. Sure, the Annie-isms come in, and the belt isn't the same, but that's beside the point - Annie's sorceress-like ability to cast spells with her vocal and her presence sort of stupefied me, sitting at never mind how it felt to watch her live. A cover with head and heart, delivered flawlessly.

Lorde - Tribute for David Bowie, Brit Awards, 2016: Life On Mars

It's not yet okay that David Bowie is no longer with us - and I personally struggle with the philosophy of doing a tribute: what would be the point? The artist that has died should ideally be who we should be listening to, or indeed themselves should be the one listening to it. But nonetheless, the BRIT Awards that year went ahead with a simple and thoughtful segment with friends and colleagues offering their insights into the man, the artist and the legacy - and ended it with Lorde performing Life on Mars with Bowie's faithful and uber talented band. It is crucially not a copy of the vocal, Lorde doesn't even try - that would come off as parody, as often as his unique vocal style has been emulated for laughs throughout the years - moreso Lorde's own unique cadence is presented like a entree to his known version. It's odd, and offbeat, so well presented and brilliantly controlled. No wonder the man himself named her as the future of pop.

Lady Gaga, Sinatra 100 Concert, 2015 - New York, New York

Ah the lady of Gaga. Ridiculously hard to pick just one cover from her impressive ouevre - the one woman wonder has covered John Lennon, 4 Non Blondes, Talking Heads, Carole King and Sting like its going out of style and bringing the subjects of her talents to tears. But I chose her take on Frank. No stranger to a male alter ego (Hi, Joe Calderone flirting awkwardly with Britney, that was so unapologetic of you, thank you) Lady Gaga, as we all know is a true daughter of New York with the Hudson in her veins. And hell, does she utilise it. I clicked, expecting a typical theatricality, but instead received a more accurate low key performance, and deep notes to die for. It was a real molecular, almost scientific impression with all the notes, form, and gentle swagger expected of a class act. However, the true impression I get is of Gaga's vocal range from top to very impressive bottom. (Steady now)

Jade, Live Lounge 2024, Stormzy, Chase + Status - Backbone

A very fresh one here, only weeks old, but nonetheless an addition to the honoured Live Lounge pantheon that just grabs the concept of a cover and shakes it, etch-a-sketch style, then takes Aeresol Paint to it. Jade, one third of British pop band Little Mix has been busy carving a new musical identity for herself, and in my opinion, solidified and stamped it here. Her take on Stormzy and Chase + Status' collab: a very brash and masculine call to arms is here woven with femininity, and Jade's own personal and national identity with a nod to her Arabic roots, with beautiful new melodies and a new spoken rap in Arabic. It kind of like yes - more of this please! Confident and stepping into her singular star power, this is a cover that takes the essence of the song and diverts its power to new, exciting sources letting it flow effortlessly.

Christine And The Queens, Live Lounge 2016, Beyonce - Sorry

Another Live Lounge one, and I'm not sorry - this BBC institution has been bringing out the best in artists for too long now to be overlooked - and I require this cover of Beyonce's Sorry to also not be overlooked on pain of - this pillow in your face. So yeah. Watch out. But seriously - Chris is on fine form here, still in his epic, now historical Tilted era; an unexpected overnight smash here in the UK that catapulted Chris to fame and straight into the Live Lounge studio in 2016. Unrecognisable from the original and yet still honouring it, this is undoubtably now a Chris song, taking the Queen B's mantel and dancing all over it - and somehow also, in the bargain, a massively eighties hit. It has Chris's irresistable aesthetic and joy with loops, vocal fry and a breakdown to die for.

To choose just five hurt my soul: we must take into account: this eye-watering solo from the legendary Prince in the star-studded While My Guitar Gently Weeps with Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty & Steve Winwood for the George Harrison tribute, The light, airy, insanely melodic voice of Olivia Dean performing a live cover of You Can't Hurry Love on Jools Holland's Hootenanny that has taken TikTok by storm, and, as there have been no men on this list, I'll go for Labrinth's cover of Madonna's Frozen/Like A Prayer at a tribute for Madonna in 2016 and truly took us all to another plane with his epic voice.

What can I say, a cover is more than album art guys, long may it reign.

Cheers and happy listening!

J x