Fifteen years ago on this day Neil Young was having a pretty good if premature idea. It was the first of two days for his annual Bridge School Benefit Concert and Young had decided to try broadcasting the event live across the internet. How many were actually able to tune-in without their relatively prehistoric routers crashing or cutting out, we'll never know. But Neil was certainly onto something. Not too far into the future, musicians and websites began to wonder if live-streaming concerts was the next big thing.
Has it been? Not quite yet but we're getting there. You can check out live sets from the Pitchfork Paris music festival and in the meantime check out some huge concerts that broke ground in the streaming field over the last decade.
Live 8 (2005)
Live 8 was an enormous concert series performed across several continents, but its main purpose wasn't to signify the 20th anniversary of Live Aid: It was meant to go hand-in-hand with the G8 summit being held in Scotland at the time, and what the governments and citizens of the countries represented could do to help the less than great nations still struggling with a slew of issues, ranging from debt to hunger. It was important that the message reach as many viewers as possible and organizer Bob Geldof realized the internet was the answer. With the help of AOL, more than 5 million viewers around the world were able to tune in and watch the shows taking place at six of the ten locations: Berlin, London, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome and Toronto. The event was obviously more about solving real problems but it did a great deal for live streaming as well.
U2360° at The Rose Bowl (2009)
Few venues are as vaunted or simply as big as the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. That wasn't nearly large enough an audience for the world's largest band however. U2 opted to live stream the concert through its YouTube channel, making it the first band to do so. The world bought in as well, as 10 million people watched the concert, setting a record for the largest streaming event in YouTube history. Add the nearly 100,000 people at the stadium to see it in person (also setting a record for most gathered to see just one act) and U2 reached roughly 10.1 million people in one night. If that doesn't demonstrate the format's potential, what does?
YouTube Symphony Orchestra (2011)
The second rendition of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra ensured that U2's record wouldn't last too long. The concept was that musicians would audition via YouTube to join an orchestra that would perform an original piece—Mothership by composer Mason Bates—live from the iconic Sydney Opera House during March of 2011. Contestants to take part submitted videos of themselves playing and improvising on the piece for YouTube visitors to vote upon. The final 110-person orchestra was conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas while being streamed live (with many replays for those who were unable to catch the live rendition due to time changes around the world). By the end of the week the video had been watched an astonishing 33 million viewers, still the most viewed internet concert of all time.
Paul McCartney for Apple (2012)
Apple always looks for help from big name celebrity when it launches a new product (such as aforementioned U2 recently with the iPhone 6). The company made its biggest push of Apple TV when the third generation debuted during 2012 and to demonstrate the capabilities of its system, Paul McCartney streamed a live concert to users (which was also available to viewers on the regular internet, but oh well). The performance didn't get as many views as those listed above but it piqued the curiosity of techies and Apple fans alike. Would the Apple TV be able to support third party apps that might allow smaller acts to stream to fans and listeners the world over?
