It’s only been a few weeks, but wow, do I miss live music. The vibration. The harmony. The thump of the bass inside your rib cage. The bliss of a crescendo nailed. I miss the crowd, the invasion of personal space. I miss the guy who spills beer on your shoes.

Quarantine is giving new meaning to the phrase “house concert.’’ With gratitude to all those musicians livestreaming their solo sets from home studios, we’re still missing the herd. In an effort to recreate some shred of the live-music experience, we went out — virtually, of course — in search of a few exceptional archival recordings from Boston’s long history of great musical performances. Most of these have video; most are high quality, with a couple of worthy exceptions. Here’s a sampling of what we found.

Brandi Carlile at Boston Calling, May 27, 2017 (WGBH Front Row Boston)

Since its debut in 2013, Boston Calling has quickly established itself as a rite of spring on par with Opening Day at Fenway. Earlier this week, the promoters pulled the plug on this year’s festival.

At least we can revisit some stellar sets from past performers, including this one by songwriter Brandi Carlile. “I heard the Sox are playing the Mariners tonight,’’ she says in this clip, right after introducing herself as a Seattle native. Then she pulls on a Red Sox cap and launches into “Raise Hell.’’

Around here, we’ll accept that kind of blatant pandering every time. Especially when there is no crowd roaring over the Green Monster.

The Meters at the Jazz Workshop, Sept. 7, 1976 (audio only, Wolfgang’s Music, subscription)

Mardi Gras has been known to cause a few hangovers, but this one is unprecedented. Authorities say this year’s parades are at least partly to blame for New Orleans’s emergence as a COVID-19 hotspot.

If you’re starting a second line at home, the only danger posed by this superb time capsule of Big Easy funk is the infectious groove. For this gig, the Meters were still riding high from their March 1975 showcase on the Queen Mary, a record release party for the Paul McCartney and Wings album “Venus and Mars,’’ which was recorded in New Orleans. That led to the Rolling Stones inviting the band to open for them on tour. By the time they got to Boston, they were at the head of their own parade. Most relevant song title: “The World Is a Little Bit Under the Weather.’’

The Cure at the Underground, April 20, 1980 (YouTube)

There weren’t many more than 100 people on hand when the Cure played Boston for the first time, in 1980, at the short-lived Underground club in Allston. Robert Smith was so young he had yet to turn 21; he would do so the next day. The band was celebrating another milestone, too — the release later that week of their second album, “Seventeen Seconds.’’ The footage is early-music-video quality, with lots of effects and closeups of mouths and fingers. The always on-time “10:15 Saturday Night’’ speaks to our present-day collective boredom: “And the tap drips, drip, drip, drip, drip.’’

Jason Isbell at House of Blues, Feb. 27, 2016 (WGBH Front Row Boston)

WGBH has a nice library of shows taped at several venues around town, part of their Front Row Boston series. Among them, Lord Huron and the Lone Bellow at House of Blues, Nathaniel Rateliff at the Brighton Music Hall.

This is a real highlight: the Muscle Shoals songwriter at the top of his game, doing songs from his breakthrough albums “Southeastern’’ and “Something More Than Free,’’ as well as the shattering one-two combo of “Dress Blues’’ and “Decoration Day.’’ Professionally shot, with multiple cameras, in handsome black and white.

Pixies at Paradise Rock Club, Aug. 8, 2005 (Stingray Qello, subscription)

The listing says 2003, but the Pixies didn’t play any shows in 2003. They didn’t play any shows in 2002, either, or in any year going back to 1992, when one of the Boston area’s most beloved bands was about to break up by way of fax machine.

The original band did finally reunite; this footage, available from the on-demand concert streaming service Stingray Qello, is actually from mid-2005. It’s truncated, leaving off the band’s cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong,’’ for instance. Still, it’s a clear-eyed look at a band whose psycho singalongs have inspired plenty of dewy recollections among people of a certain (middle) age. Hey Paul, let’s have a ball.

Aerosmith on Commonwealth Ave., Nov. 5, 2012 (YouTube)

Anticipation was high on the street in front of Aerosmith’s old crash palace when the grizzled band prepared to play a one-of-a-kind free record release party on a brisk, sunny day in November 2012. Scroll past the crowd shots to the 34-minute mark, when Robert and Jonathan Kraft, Jerod Mayo, and a former Patriots quarterback stroll onto the flatbed stage to introduce the band and present them with properly inflated game balls.

“This is the US championship band of all time, in our opinion,’’ says Mr. Kraft. Let’s don’t tell Bon Jovi.

Velvet Underground at the Boston Tea Party, 1967 (Internet Archive)

The idea for this list was to find pristine recordings of concerts that took place in and around Boston. This is not that. Shot by Andy Warhol, this half-hour film features lots of fuzzy shots of blinking lights and long segments almost entirely in the dark. The sound is like a jet engine on the tarmac.

But it is quite a document. It’s the only known color footage of the Velvet Underground “in their prime,’’ way back in 1967. The college kids in the audience hadn’t even gone full hippie yet.

R.E.M. at the Paradise Rock Club, July 13, 1983 (audio only, Wolfgang’s Music, subscription)

The archetypal “college rock’’ band had only recently released their full-length debut album, “Murmur,’’ when WBCN broadcast this live set. The hype was already heady, as DJ Carter Alan points out while he’s introducing the band.

The set includes several songs from “Murmur’’ (but not “Radio Free Europe’’), a couple from the “Chronic Town’’ EP, and a couple more that would end up on the rarities album “Dead Letter Office.’’ There’s also the rowdy “Just a Touch,’’ supposedly one of the first songs the band ever wrote together — it’s about the day Elvis Presley died. “Look to the days, how long can this last?’’ Michael Stipe babbles, not that you can understand a word of it.

Ray Charles at Newport Jazz Festival, July 2, 1960 (YouTube)

The great Ray Charles kicked off a long association with George Wein’s Newport Jazz Festival with his 1958 live album recorded at Fort Adams. Here he is on a return visit two years later. The energy picks up considerably when the Raelettes take the stage, and the camera doesn’t want to leave them. Special shoutout to the hopelessly sedated golf-announcer voiceover: “Ray Charles can move the largest audience to vocal response, and does so with his scorching ‘What’d I Say.’ ’’

Santana at Tanglewood, Aug. 18, 1970 (Vimeo)

The Tanglewood calendar around the turn of the 1970s was stocked with longhairs. For three seasons, rock promoter Bill Graham presented shows under the banner The Fillmore at Tanglewood.

Just a year after Santana’s coming-out party at Woodstock, the Latin-jazz rock band played an impeccable, expertly recorded set at the BSO’s summer home. Barely into their 20s, they were already seeking a higher calling: timbales, congas, maracas, Hammond organ, and Carlos Santana’s unmistakable sustain. Mid-set, the band plays “Hope You’re Feeling Better.’’ Right about now, a flashback like this just might do the trick.

E-mail James Sullivan at jamesgsullivan@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @sullivanjames.