Moshpit is the sort of live-music destination to get lost in. Debuting under the Paste Media umbrella (and in the navigation bar at the top of this very page), the site is a treasure trove of live music, recorded from the 1950s to the present day. Pulled from a wide (and growing) roster of music catalogs, Moshpit’s catalog of concerts encompass basically every genre you can imagine, from hip-hop to bluegrass, punk to jazz, New Wave to metal, and beyond. And it’s all free.
As of the site’s launch, Moshpit boasts recordings of over 40,000 live concerts, along with session performances and interviews from acts both iconic and obscure. Apart from navigating the no-doubt labyrinthine legal obstacles to put these one-of-a-kind time capsules of live music online for free, Moshpit has also expended enormous effort to clean up, restore, remaster, and otherwise scrub decades worth of live recordings of variable sound quality to the highest standard possible. Each concert is cut into easily navigable tracks, complete with between-song banter (Robyn Hitchcock’s absurdist stage poetry survives intact), rowdy crowd noise, and the occasional happy squeal of onstage feedback.
Jerry Garcia
Naturally, as a Gen X white male, my first foray into Moshpit was in search of concerts I’d been to. And while Elvis Costello’s Colby College concert after the release of Spike (which it turns out my future wife and I unknowingly attended separately) wasn’t on Moshpit’s roster (yet), I took solace in the decades-spanning Costello entries ranging from 1978 to 1999. Same goes for the time Billy Bragg shook my hand as I worked the Bowdoin College Democratic Socialists of America info table outside of his early ’90s show—no dice there, but a trio of 2013 shows satisfied my need for some cheeky, Cockney, Bragg-style rabble rousing at Good Danny’s in Austin.
Clicking on an artist might uncover a scroll-heavy listing of dozens of concerts and interviews (unsurprisingly, The Grateful Dead page goes on forever), or maybe just a lone concert (Wu-Tang Clan is captured in one raucous 1999 appearance), or even a single precious song, as when Annie Lennox brought down the Royal Albert Hall with a soaring “Blame It On The Sun” in 1986. Some entries feature extensive liner notes about the artist and the individual concerts, a few have video footage (if you wanted to see the infamous Woodstock ’99 “Break Stuff” performance by Limp Bizkit, this is your chance), while others just let the band speak for themselves.
Moshpit also sprinkles some spoken-word treasures throughout its many pages. These tend to be a bit eccentric, as a search for comedian Patton Oswalt finds not a full stand-up set but his in-studio Daytrotter reading of John Collier’s 1940 short story “The Chaser.” Fans of groundbreaking improv troupe Firesign Theater can tune in for a handful of experimental post-Firesign outings from members Philip Proctor and Peter Bergman. Actor and podcaster Paul Scheer is represented as he reads out celebrity gossip from Us magazine, while a 1989 Henry Rollins relates the hilarious repercussions for throwing rocks in Australia in “Adventures Of An Asshole.” Meanwhile, Paste Magazine’s Swan Dive series boasts interviews from funny people from Tood Barry to Pete Homes to Hari Kondabolu. There’s even a lone 1977 bout of condescending conservative rhetoric from William F. Buckley, Jr., if that’s somehow your thing.
Mick Jagger
Listeners can venture into Moshpit through several gateways. A glance at the alphabetical listing of performers is the natural first choice, a glance over just the first page presenting more than 500 artists to choose from, ranging from AC/DC rocking Towson State College in 1979 (four months before original lead singer Bon Scott’s death) to a Fourth Of July performance from Art Blakely’s Jazz Messengers at the 1969 Newport Jazz Festival. If you’re feeling Christmas-y (and a little high), there’s a three-song in-studio holiday concert from none other than the Aqua Teen Hunger Force compliments of sibling site Daytrotter (whose voluminous catalog feeds into Moshpit’s collection), while fans of indie rock bands ironically named for beloved character actors can check out the Daytripper outing from California outfit Abe Vigoda.
And that’s just the ‘A’s. If Moshpit’s seemingly endless choices have your eyes glazing over, heading to the Catalogs header narrows down those 40,000 or so artists by source. The Bill Graham Presents archive contains priceless live shows from San Francisco sound stalwarts like Jefferson Airplane and others recorded at legendary venues like the Fillmore East and the Cow Palace. The King Biscuit collection pulls from the classic rock era, with irreplaceable, unadorned performances from the likes of The Who and The Rolling Stones. Silver Eagle gathers together classic country from Tammy Wynette, Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams, and Dolly Parton. And in the realm of eras I wish I’d been around to see, the archive of recordings from iconic New York venue Tramps is the first stop for ’80s and ’90s alt rock, hip-hop, and avant garde music, with concerts from everyone from KRS-1 and De La Soul to Government Mule and Ween.
Moshpit’s tireless live music archivists are committed to acquiring even more music catalogs, promising several major additions in the coming months. So whether your wish is to hear Talking Heads’ live debuting “Once In A Lifetime” to a worshipful crowd in 1980, or R.E.M. performing “Driver 8” in advance of Fables Of The Reconstruction, or Radiohead coming off The Bends in New York City, Moshpit has you covered.
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