About


The Verve Live was created in 1999 and went through one name and various designs in its infancy until the current name was chosen around late-2002 to early-2003. Originally, the site had been known as The Verve: A Requiem of the Past. The site acquired its own domain, www.thevervelive.com, in June 2003.

What eventually became The Verve Live began as a project for a basic web design class in 1998. For fun, after completing the project, the site's pages were uploaded to Geocities.  The site was used as a live recording trading site, initially focusing on Verve material only.

When the band split in 1999, many active Verve sites were lost, becoming ghost sites in the the band's absence. Nevertheless, this site continued as a hobby for trading and post-Verve information, later focusing primarily on the latter. So from a live recording trading site, the site slowly grew into a band site.

The website name intentionally uses both the verb and adjective forms of the word 'live' to reflect the early nature of the site as a live recording trading site, and also to reflect the existence of The Verve Live as an online archive of the band's activity, intended to preserve the memory and music of The Verve online.

The Verve Live would like to thank the many people who have made a contribution along the way and have helped this site become what it is today. Special thanks go to the great variety of writers, reporters, and news organizations around the globe who have allowed The Verve Live to collect their articles and material on this site for the archival benefit of The Verve's audience.

- HRH


With thanks to...

  • Everdred - for the early support, knowledge, ideas, and time given to get things started
  • James - for the many updates, emails, and contributions to the site
  • Clark - for his work transcribing Verve's music into tablature and for choosing this site as the current home of The Verve Tablature website
  • Jeff - for his Verve website and collaboration over the years
  • J. Adams - for contributing his time, thoughts, and writer's craft to numerous Verve related reviews which can be found here 

    Recognition

    2002

    Prior to the release of Richard Ashcroft's Human Conditions album, his official website was revamped and The Verve Live was placed in the links section.


    2003

    In 2003, The Verve Live was listed in DMOZ, also known as the Open Directory Project (ODP), the then largest human edited web directory of the World Wide Web. Being listed in DMOZ was like an endorsement of website quality. From a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) point of view, a link from DMOZ brought more trust and authority than most sites. Getting listed was difficult and could take months or even years. Founded in 1998, DMOZ closed in March 2017, but was succeeded by Curlie, a new independent project from the former DMOZ editing community and the ODP. The Verve Live is listed here.



    2004

    Prior to the release of This is Music: The Singes 92-98, The Verve Live was approached and funded by EMI to help promote the record and also run a competition. Ten winners enjoyed a Verve package including a t-shirt, DVD, and album.


    2008

    In April, The Verve Live received Simon Jones' endorsement. Meeting after the first of two gigs at New York City's WAMU Theater, when asked of the site he said "I've been there, respect..respect." Pictures were taken with all four members of the band.

    In August, The Verve Live was thanked in the Acknowledgements section of the Richard Ashcroft book The Verve, Burning Money, and The Keys to the World by Trevor Baker, pictured below:




    In November, The Verve Live announced a week-long competition to win a copy of Richard Ashcroft's unofficial biography titled The Verve, Burning Money, and The Keys to the World by Trevor Baker. After a short Verve/Richard Ashcroft trivia questionnaire, two finalists were chosen to win free copies based on trivia scores. The books were supplied by the publisher, the Independent Music Press, Europe's leading alternative music publisher.

    2009

    In October, the original Verve site on Geocities was archived by OoCities. Geocities started in 1994 and was one of the most important websites in the world until it was closed on October 27, 2009. OoCities saved many sites that were deemed "unique and worthy scientific sources," "of great public interest," "historically interesting" and representative of "90's website culture and style."

    The archived version of A Requiem of the Past can be seen here. Though updated in 2007 with the band's reunion, the overall style was mostly unchanged from the early 00's.

    2017

    In October, The Verve Live was recognized in the Acknowledgements section of the updated version of Sean Egan's The Verve: Star Sail, which was first published in 1998.



    Concerts attended 

    • Roundhouse, London, UK; 8 November 2007
    • Roundhouse, London, UK; 9 November 2007
    • WAMU Theater, New York City, NY, US; 28 April 2008
    • WAMU Theater, New York City, NY, US; 29 April 2008
    • Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, NBC Studios, New York City, NY; 22 March 2011
    • Bowery Ballroom, New York City, NY; 23 March 2011
    • Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, Boston, MA; 24 March 2011
    • Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, Canada; 07 April 2017 (cancelled)
    • Central Park Summer Stage, New York City, NY, US; 16 May 2018 

    Updated 5/28/18