re U2 playback: The hype is that the Stones were the first halftime act to perform with zero pre-recorded elements.

Chas Wrote:
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> I think they would sound better w/ just a core
> band--the four + Daryl, Chuck and maybe one horn
> player.


I agree. And it would be even better if they had just the four Stones plus a bass player who wasn't Darryl and a keyboard player who wasn't Chuck. plus like you said maybe one horn, which would probably be Bobby Keys. I'd like to see Jack Bruce on bass and Ian McLagan back on keys.

re: U2 - doesn't The Edge trigger a ton of samples onstage?

Although the thread changed from Blondie to U2, it is an interesting subject what bands use pre-recorded material on stage to "beef up" the sound.

I found a short blurb metioning U2.....


In Concert, but Not Live
Backing Tracks Find a Role Onstage

By Sean Daly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 31, 2004; Page A01


Thanks to relatively recent advances in digital processing, using prerecorded tracks is merely one of myriad tricks that musicians from Britney Spears to Aerosmith to U2 rely on to give live performances the same slick sheen as their albums. Much of the digital derring-do that used to be accomplished in recording studios -- vocal tuning, cutting and pasting guitar licks, adding multitrack layering -- can now be done onstage.

Link to whole article

[www.washingtonpost.com]

1'st - whne Blondie is playing with the Stones in consert, it is absurd to hide him behind the stgae - then let him be on stage.....

2'nd - doesn't surprise me, that U2 is pre-recorded...... just says a lot more about Bono and Co.

hot stuff Wrote:
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> plus the stones have been doing that since 1969
> with keys and jim price....
> the great part is on the bang tour you hear the
> core band more than any tour since 1981....the
> stones are doing it right on this one!


Totaly disagree.......................

Where not talking about the horn section.

The Stones are a group of a one singer a drum two guitars a bass and back up by a piano, and if necessarily a horn section.

But not by a third guitar player.



__________________________

Keyboards are for retards. A piano, that's what I wanna see!

How does a guy strumming an acoustic guitar cheapen the effect? It's not like his part, played on acoustic, is competing with or covering for keith or ron's.

I agree it's a little odd to have the backups playing behind the stage for the first few numbers. But it's not like they're trying to hide them in the mix. It's just that I guess they think it makes a better show to stagger the entrances.

They probably have to pay him more. Off stage less pay. Mick has alimony payments.

It's funny that out of the 9 shows I've seen this tour. The last one Mickschick and I were on the side of Lisa, Bernard and Blondie 20 ft away. You can watch Blondie strumming plain as day. Never heard him though. NOT ONE NOTE!! Could of been the mix or where we were sitting. Hey DrPete you were behind us. Did you hear him?

Music is like food. All the ingredients together make it taste good, and some of the ingredients you don't even notice even though they contribute to the whole. But when you leave one or two out, you suddenly notice that it tastes different.

Glass Slide Wrote:
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> > Actually, if they want a 3rd player they should
> use Mick--he plays a good rhythm and it fills out
> the sound. I also like the way he sings when he
> plays--if you notice, his style changes quite a
> bit, and I always thought it sounded good.
>
> It's funny, '78-82 he played alot of guitar on
> stage and not nearly as much now.
> I hate to keep beating the '78 tour horse, but I
> thought MJ's playing instead of the horns resulted
> in a much rawer kind of sound.


It always seemed to me that Mick would play guitar on the new songs...like he played guitar on the Some Girls songs in '78...then the next time around he played guitar on the Tattoo You songs, etc.

kees Wrote:
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> bv: ' major playback on every song by U2 ' What
> bullshit accuse is this?
> The Stones lost part of the rawness since 89 by
> adding too many back ground musicians. Except a
> piano player (a real one), a saxophone player and
> maybe a trumpet player, the Stones don't need
> more. I hate Lisa screaming on Satisfaction, JJF,
> IORR. Her trick on GS we know by now after 5/6
> tours. Bernard was a good combination with Ron
> during the Slide on this tour but is useless now.
> Won't even mention Blondie.
> Get Keith/Ron back doing the back vocals. And
> get them back on their guitars.


Amen to that.

Amen too. I was listening to the Rio boot yesterday and I find it quite good, but I'm getting into the phase where I hate the Stones having backup singers. I prefer no backing vocals at all. Start Me Up, IORR, Satisfaction, Rough Justice don't need backing vocals: in fact, most of the songs don't need backing vocals at all! Gimme Shelter was good, but as kees wrote, after five tours...
The problem is that most of the songs sound very very very similar to, let's say, 1994: intro to Tumbling Dice, rolling guitar licks, and then the same @#$%& ooooh-ooooh-ooooooooh coming from the backing singers. The same with Start Me Up (which doesn't need backing vocals at all): aren't you tired of those "You make a grown man CRY" screams?? Don't you prefer "You make a grown man cryy-aaaayy-aaaayyyyyyy" sung slightly out of key by Ronnie????


[There'll be no wedding today...]

Lorenz Wrote:
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> (he plays instead
> of Ronnie, etc).

I think he would do a better job on guitar than Ronnie does for the moment ... the second guitar is sounding so bad in these days that it must be Ronnie ...

I supspect since they are not singers and have done nothing to preserve their voice, one of the problems may well be that Keith and Ronnie could no longer maintain back up vocals for a whole tour. The vocal cords are two bands of muscle, and like any muscles, if not regualrly exercised, they loose their strenth as a person ages.

The perfect review once called Keith's back up vocal ( for the 81 tour) "Richard's lonesome appalachian yell. " I miss hearing him on songs like Dead Flowers, Lets Spend the Night Together( hell I just miss that song being a regular) and others. I suspect though that Ronnie may just not have the wind and lung power to do back ups for a whole tour, and Keith now has to save his voice for two numbers per night up front.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-02-24 13:24 by kahoosier.

I prefer Lisa and Bernard to Keith and Ronnie's vocals. As a matter of fact, considering how awful Keith sounds on the 81-82 tour, I think it was a very good decision to bring backvox to the following one!

Both Lisa and Bernard could be better used, though, and I don't like what they sing on Satisfaction and JJF. I don't like either the new arrangement on TD, "diiiIIIIce."

But in general I think they do a very good job.