Oprah likes to do her "Favorite Things" shows from time to time, and in keeping with that tradition, I thought I'd share my favorite two places to watch live music happen online. The first is a French site called La Blogoteque.  The link is to their vast archive. From what I can tell (since much of the writing is in French and I don't parlent Francais very well) they ask artists visiting Paris to come and film them doing a couple tunes in spontaneous ways: sometimes it is just with an acoustic wandering around the streets, other times they set up a small gathering of friends in a flat, or in Sufjian Stevens case, on top a roof. They don't edit the film; it is just a raw and intimate take of an artist performing a song with background noise right in there. Some of my favorites are Bon Iver, David Bazan, Arcade Fire (especially the song filmed with the entire band squished into a freight elevator), Adrew Bird, and the aforementioned Sufjian. Check it out. The quality of their filming is really great stuff.

The 2nd place I enjoy me some live online music is KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic hosted by Nick Harcourt. This show has been around for years and I'm always excited to watch my favorite artists perform in-studio. Recent performances by Death Cab for Cutie, Wilco, and M83 have been very cool. My favorite episode has to be by Imogen Heap (formerly of Frou Frou). This one woman band is one of the most amazing musicans I've ever had the pleasure of watching/hearing. She opened her set at Coachella a couple years ago by singing acapella. She looped her voice and handclaps mulitple times so that by the end of the song there must have been 12 tracks of just her and it was beeeeautiful! Only a woman could multi-task this well!  

Nothing beats being at an actual show, but since very few of my favorites make there way to San Diego (most hit L.A.before moving up to San Francisco, Portand, and Seattle), watching online is the next best thing. Enjoy.