In the early hours of Monday morning, U2 made history by becoming, well, the first band called U2 to broadcast a gig live on YouTube. But although the band's webcast direct from LA's Rose Bowl was about a decade too late to be considered truly innovative, it certainly raised the bar. Anyone in the UK keen enough to get up at 3.30am and watch the gig live was treated to the glitch-free video playback quality you'd expect from YouTube, with the kind of lavish, multi-camera production you wouldn't. Plus, the inclusion of a live Twitter feed showing posts about the gig helped viewers feel part of a global event.
The entire show has now been uploaded to youtube.com/u2 as a conventional YouTube video, where it will stay until 9 November. How much you'll enjoy it will depend on how much you like U2. For those of us with doubts, the big advantage the repeat showing has over the live stream is that you can skip past the duff new songs and Bono's interminable between-song wittering.
At the other end of the bigness scale, but also making great use of YouTube, is Texan indie-popper St Vincent (aka Annie Clark). For her recent tour of the US with Andrew Bird, Clark brought along her friend, film-maker Alan Del Rio Ortiz, to document proceedings. The six films that have been posted to youtube.com/ilovestvincent1 each offer a beautifully shot insight into Clark's touring world. We see her goofing on slides in St Louis, playing an in-store show to a handful of people and talking openly about the ups and downs of touring life, with each film soundtracked by one of her performances. Together they offer an intimate, original and artful record of the tour.
If the U2 show leaves you yearning to experience more live music on your computer, check out the two full-length Florence and the Machine concerts currently online. The first, available in the video section of the band's official website, florenceandthemachine.net, was filmed at their album launch gig at London's Rivoli Ballroom in July. Such is the quality of the filming and Florence's rousing performance, the show is due to be released on DVD as part of a deluxe version of the album.
The band's other online show was filmed earlier this month at Abbey Road studios as part of Absolute Radio's first birthday celebrations. Although it's a more stripped-back, acoustic affair, Florence's delivery is no less mesmerising, particularly during a heart-rending cover of the Beatles' Oh! Darling halfway through. Catch it at bit.ly/abbeyflo before it's taken down on 5 November.
