Singing / performing live (or not)

[CaledonianGonzo]

I guess the poster children for keeping it real are the Stones, who fly by the seat of their pants every time - and thus can swing from thrilling boogie nirvana to total trainwreck with predictable regularity.

Edited July 12 by CaledonianGonzo

[The Nal]

Depends on how sore Keefs fingers are I guess.

 

Theyre the exception yeah. Its been industry standard since the late 90s to have backing tracks. 

[fullfathom5]

11 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

I guess the poster children for keeping it real are the Stones, who fly by the seat of their pants every time - and thus can swing from thrilling boogie nirvana to total trainwreck with predictable regularity.

The way it should be.

[soundofeverything]

I watched some of the fan footage from the recent AC/DC concerts at Wembley Stadium. They seemed completely live to me, although it's not a complex sound and they have been doing it for nearly 50 years. 

 

When I saw GnR at Glasto last year I found Axel's vocals to be a bit of a disappointment, but fair play to him for doing it live and not relying on pre-recorded enhancements. 

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

46 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Depends on how sore Keefs fingers are I guess.

 

Theyre the exception yeah. Its been industry standard since the late 90s to have backing tracks. 

 

 

[DeanoL]

James are a nine-piece now (and sometimes an extra four choir members) and still use backing tracks for some songs. 

[dumski]

Jungle DJ's with an MC aren't faking it.  (Nia may have had some help)

Call for the reload and you know then for sure!

[gigpusher]

19 hours ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

My overriding regret this year is that I hadn’t discovered Jalen Ngonda until I got back! How he’s flown under my radar I’ve no idea. Great, soulful songs and your right, that voice. Spine tingling.

I saw him at Band On The Wall just before the festival and yep that voice is so good you'd think he was miming. Incredible live.

[CaledonianGonzo]

His Glastonbury set was better than the tour show by dint if having keys and the backing singers.

[MrZigster]

Queen used to leave the stage for a costume change during the Bohemian Rhapsody bits they couldn't play live. Famously had "there are no synthesisers on this album" printed on every sleeve up until The Game LP (where they used them sparingly but to great effect imo). Boston always had a similar disclaimer. Computer tech definitely always used to be viewed as cheating.

 

Rush, my favourite live act ever, kind of made their name amongst musos because of their "liveness" (as it were), with Geddy Lee multi-tasking with bass pedals when he had a keyboard bit to do. Even they ended up relenting, though they insist that they trigger every sample/backing track themselves live apparently, despite the obligatory click track they could presumably synch them to. I know you can get vocal harmoniser pedals but there is definitely only one Geddy Lee singing on stage and not four or five.

 

Was pleasantly surprised when seeing Sugababes in Avalon that they had a full backing band behind them. Fully expected it to be karaoke. They absolutely nailed it (the backing band) and they appeared for real to me and not miming. Did they have a band at West Holts this year?

 

Couldn't help thinking during Bob Vylan this year that this really rocks, but it would really rock even more with a bass player and a guitarist on stage. As others have said that's more touring costs though and I presume it's solely just them two in the studio, so therefore still an "authentic" live experience.

 

I spend my spare weekends watching local acts and have watched it go from all live acts to it being acceptable to have backing tracks (still one pub that won't countenance such behaviour). Some Open Mic/Jam Nights have gone from all live to having a laptop with backing tracks ready for seemingly everything ever recorded.

 

Just my tuppence worth.

6 hours ago, soundofeverything said:

I watched some of the fan footage from the recent AC/DC concerts at Wembley Stadium. They seemed completely live to me, although it's not a complex sound and they have been doing it for nearly 50 years. 

 

When I saw GnR at Glasto last year I found Axel's vocals to be a bit of a disappointment, but fair play to him for doing it live and not relying on pre-recorded enhancements. 

Thought Axl was the headliner who got closest to their recorded vocals that year. Made the effort in a syllables in the right place type of way. Bay yee bee yeah yee yeah.

[MrZigster]

And...

 

Watching Dolly at Glasto on the Beeb right now and all live. Huge Band. Old school proper.

[MrZigster]

And now Chet Atkins (on Country at The BBC). From god knows back when. Visuals are just him and a guitar but deffo backing tracks happening even back then.

[goldfishboy]

37 minutes ago, MrZigster said:

And...

 

Watching Dolly at Glasto on the Beeb right now and all live. Huge Band. Old school proper.

except her 'sax solo' 😆

[MrZigster]

2 minutes ago, goldfishboy said:

except her 'sax solo' 😆

Missed that bit. Great Benny Hill re-enactments happening throughout the field during though. 

Edited July 13 by MrZigster

[Thunderstruck]

On 7/9/2024 at 3:17 PM, tarw said:

Does it really matter?  I go and watch music I enjoy. I know that there are backing tracks auto tune and effects put on some of them. 
What is the difference between using an effects pedal on a guitar or having an effect put on the vocals?

 

The argument he was making wasn't that Dua was autotuned - he clearly pointed out her live vocals are there in the mix. However tthey were low in the mix with the studio recording is used as the backing track.

 

She's singing live, but with the safety net of the other studio recorded pitch perfect voices.

 

On 7/9/2024 at 4:03 PM, CaledonianGonzo said:

Dua wasn't performing along to studio versions cos there was all sorts of differences e.g. the Bicep interpolation 

Maybe it was just the bit he showed then - he presented how the live and studio are perfectly synched. She was singing along to a backing track.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Can we stick to roasting Fil in one thread please otherwise there's a risk of me repeating myself.

[noplacelikehome]

23 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

His Glastonbury set was better than the tour show by dint if having keys and the backing singers.

Agreed, but current tour is very small venues (also saw him at Band on The Wall) so probably can't afford a full band for those as no way would ticket receipts cover it. Suspect tour in March next year will be full band

[Alex DeLarge]

We need to go back to the days when no one mimed, just look at Top of the Pops.

[Gnomicide]

Gigs always famously like tv shows.

[Spindles]

3 hours ago, Alex DeLarge said:

We need to go back to the days when no one mimed, just look at Top of the Pops.

As a young un living on the coast I used to go to the radio one roadshow when it was in town, the 'performances' where artists would mime to their songs were insanely painful and I never really saw the point.  They'd come on the stage, the music would start at a volume about 1/5th of everything else coming out of the speakers and they'd awkwardly pretend to perform it.  The whole thing was just embarrassing and, as it was on the radio anyway I never saw the point.

 

As for singing over backing tracks, the most egregious example in recent years has to be Billie Eillish, at one point during the set she actually commented on the fact that the vocal was playing as if it was some major surprise to her.

[danbailey80]

I really don't think it's a old fart thing to suggest that music should be encouraged to be live.

 

It's really not a modern/ old thing at all. This argument has been around since the 80s.

 

If you can't see the difference between, for example,  Lizzie singing along to a CD or having a full backing band (her last 2 sets at Glasto were very different) then you're a bit of an idiot. 

 

Another example. Madonna Blonde Ambition tour with some of the finest musicians around and the recent tour where it's backing tracks and almost not live musicians. 

Edited July 15 by danbailey80

[CaledonianGonzo]

 

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, danbailey80 said:

I really don't think it's a old fart thing to suggest that music should be encouraged to be live.

 

It's really not a modern/ old thing at all. This argument has been around since the 80s.

 

If you can't see the difference between, for example,  Lizzie singing along to a CD or having a full backing band (her last 2 sets at Glasto where very different) then you're a bit if an idiot. 

 

Another example. Madonna Blonde Ambition tour with some of the finest musicians around and the recent tour where it's backing tracks and almost not live musicians. 

Of course there’s a difference but I can also see why Lizzo first didn’t have a backing band and then did. It’s simple economics. If people want everything played live by small artists then they are going to have to pay more than a tenner a month to Spotify for music.

 

 I think we have to accept that there are many and varied reasons for not everything being played live. Perhaps transparency from artists would be good  so people can make a decision on whether they like the approach in advance. 

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

10 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Of course there’s a difference but I can also see why Lizzo first didn’t have a backing band and then did. It’s simple economics. If people want everything played live by small artists then they are going to have to pay more than a tenner a month to Spotify for music.

 

 I think we have to accept that there are many and varied reasons for not everything being played live. Perhaps transparency from artists would be good  so people can make a decision on whether they like the approach in advance. 

 

Giving more money to Spotify is not necessarily the right answer.

 

Changing their remuneration model for paying artists definitely is.

[soundofeverything]

I got round to watching some of the BBC Glasto coverage last night and can't get this thread out of my head, wondering what is and isn't been performed live. What I noticed is there's two distinct types of performances.  One's that play to a click track and one's that solely rely on the drummer to keep time. It was noticeable how comparatively loose the artists who weren't playing to a click track sounded, and how relatively few of them there were.  I guess we're so used to hearing music snapped to the grid these days our ears have become accustomed to it.

 

I appreciate there are lots of reasons why performers would play to a click, and that doesn't mean they're are not playing live.  Dexys for example had the guitar & bass on a backing track, but it still felt like a live performance. That said, I do miss the raw & loose feel of a non click track performance. The Gossip, even though I'm not particularly a fan sounded absolutely great.