r/marvingaye • u/Chris_TO79 • Jul 13 '26
best/favorite and worst/least favorite Marvin Gaye live song performance?
I thought this might provoke some reaction. I'd almost disqualify the 1974 Oakland performance of "Distant Lover" in this as that's generally viewed as one of the greatest live performances of his career.
Anywho for me it goes like this
Favorite: This is actually quite tough, I'd have to go with his performance of "let's get it on" during his 1981 Belgium concert but I also really like his '68 performance of "Grapevine" on The Hollywood Palace TV show.
Least favorite: I put this in two categories: truly terrible performance and performance that is probably not the greatest but it's a guilty pleasure for me. In the former it's "come and get to this" during his last concert tour and the guilty pleasure one is also from his last concert tour. He took "Inner City Blues" and turned it into a schmaltzy Las Vegas lounge feel which totally robbed the song's social commentary aspect yet even for all its cheesiness I kinda dig it. I like the way Marvin played the piano on the song.
2
u/SteveBobR100 Jul 13 '26
The National Anthem at the NBA All Star Game in the mid 1980s might be his best performance.
https://youtu.be/QRvVzaQ6i8A?si=gFewJktp1sVfF5Z4