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I think the way it works with Don is that each song is governed by a click track (based on the fact that every song seems to have the same tempo from performance to performance). I think the click track itself only plays through the in-ear monitors of Don and the band, but also is the foundation of the backing tracks, which are audible to the audience. The vocal/instrumental tracks seem to be layered under the click track.Quote:
Originally Posted by KingWalsh
Hiring extra personnel is more expensive than you might think. It's more than just a salary. You have to budget for their accommodations on the road. It's why Lindsey Buckingham shrunk his touring band down, and he's hardly hurting for cash. Such decisions often depend less on the amount of money the artist currently has in the bank, and depend more on how they affect the tour's profit margin. The fact that he no longer has that additional percussionist, and his daughter on tour with him, implies such economizing (BTW, I daresay Felder is a wealthy man, but those sites that proclaim they can give you a dollar amount as to how much celebrities are worth are pretty much hooey - he could have less, he could have more.)Quote:
Originally Posted by thebagels
Admittedly, I'm just speculating, but comparable artists have stated that it's a consideration.
Back when I first saw him live in 2009, I heard those little vocal hiccups that proved he wasn't lip syncing. I very much enjoyed the performance, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by chaim
Hope we can hear the original demo of HC soon. Don talks about having it on his laptop in this interview.
https://youtu.be/qDeoCZw_LE0
He probably played it, but for some bizarre reason it was edited out. Can't be a legal thing, because surely he owns the rights to his own demo?Quote:
Originally Posted by thebagels
I’d love to hear it myself. What a piece of history.
Don and Slash Namm 2020https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIT6L5b5n4g
Thanks for posting that, KW. Don looks like he is really enjoying himself.
Here is the full performance.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=16...20don%20felder
Thanks for sharing. Randy attended NAMM two years ago. How cool it would have been if he had gone this year and met up with Felder? I’d love to see a pic of them together.
I wish we would see a pic of Randy out and about anywhere, Delilah. As far as I know the last pic of him was at Jimmy Messina's show in March of 2018.Quote:
Originally Posted by Delilah
I agree lovemusic, recent pics of Randy in general would be great! BTW, there are some links to pics of him at the Troubadour in November 2018 posted on his sub-forum. This was when Richie Furay was celebrating Poco’s 50th anniversary. You should check it out. There’s also a video promo for Richie’s documentary with Randy in it.Quote:
Originally Posted by lovemusic
It looks like Don goes every year. I still can't believe he and Joe didn't bump into each other in 2016. That picture would had been over the whole internet.
I wonder where everybody is at or how big it is. Jay Osmond of the Osmonds is also there and I'm surprised he didn't bumped into Don.
I think Joe probably went out of his way to avoid him at the time. I can't remember when the NAMM show dates were that year vs the time when Glenn had died. But I certainly wouldn't want anything to do with him at the time. If not out of respect for Glenn while he was alive, or the fact he didn't want to be bothered because he was grieving Glenn. I think the fact they didn't bump into each other was intentional, TBH.Quote:
Originally Posted by shunlvswx
I think it was said here recently that they talked briefly last year, which is fine. But I don't see them doing anything together at this point in terms of playing together. I could be wrong, but I don't envision it.
Thanks, Delilah. I'll check that out. Have a good evening! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Delilah
That video with Slash was fantastic. Thank god Slash played the original solo (even if he did have a looser interpretation). It always bothered me when Tommy Shaw tried to do his own thing for the second half.
But lets clear something up:
Who in blue blazes is playing the polka style rhythm behind Don and Slash?! :rofl:
It drives me batty. Turn down your rhythm guitar, for one. And polka boom-tick type rhythm just sounds so out of place. It has it's place, but it ain't on Hotel California! I mean thats the kind of guitar rhythm I play live when I play with a certain group of guys when we do the song "Iko Iko", lol. Despite being billed as a Mexican Reggae, that kind of Bob Marley meets polka rhythm isn't appropriate for HC, IMO. It's just gross. And it wasn't played consistently throughout, it was like the rhythm guy was just playing the chords and saying "screw it, I'll just goof off". At times it was Bob Marley and at times you cant even hear him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WalshFan88
LMAO walshfan88! I agree so much! The Tommy Shaw solo I saw on YouTube BIG thumbs down. :unimpressed::unimpressed:
And the rhythm in this vid....wth?!? 😂 it had me scratching my head. With that said glad to see Don havin fun with his buddy Slash. 👍🏻
Yeah I was quite happy to see that too. Guns N' Roses is one of my favorite bands and Slash is one of my favorite guitarists. I just had to mute out the Bob Marley chicka chicka rhythm out of my mind, lol.Quote:
Originally Posted by KingWalsh
I divide the best concerts I've seen into two categories. Great performances, and the most fun. The first category goes to the Eagles on the HOTE tour. The second easily goes to GNR.
I saw GNR in St Louis in 2017 on the reunion tour with Slash and Duff and it was the most fun I've ever had at a concert. It was Eagles-long, like 3 and a half hours of nothing but AFD and UYI songs, with a couple from the Chinese Democracy album. Getting to hear Estranged and Coma was amazing, and of course all of the hits I love like Rocket Queen, Paradise City, etc. It was a good performance, but it was sheer fun. I love classic rock and hard rock music that still has the "rock n' roll" heartbeat and groove and getting to hear Slash tear it up all night was an experience I'll never forget. It was also in an indoor stadium. That was my first time in a stadium. I can't do the outdoor ones due to my heat intolerance. It was also their first show back in the Lou with the original members since the Riverport riot. I was nervous, but it was fine.
Not meaning to turn this into a G'n'R topic, but I must say that I didn'tgo see them when they were in Finland, but I definitely would have if Izzy had been there.
Having said that, I gotta say that I slightly envy you, Austin, for getting to hear Estranged and Coma. 😁
It was flat out awesome!Quote:
Originally Posted by chaim
Izzy was asked and just didn't have any interest. Same with Matt Sorum, who was asked. Steven Adler was asked and wanted to, but IIRC didn't cut the mustard and wasn't fit enough to tour with them.
I do love Izzy and would have preferred to see him but Richard Fortus is fantastic. Look him up sometime on YouTube. Even outside of Guns, his playing is awesome and very much in the vain of Izzy, Malcolm, etc. Fantastic rhythm guitarist. I never liked DJ Ashba or Buckethead personally, but they did right by getting Fortus. And he was the only Chinese-era Guns guitarist to be asked to join up with Slash after Izzy said no. He's played with Dead Daises, Thin Lizzy, etc in recent times.
Ya add GNR to the lengthy list of bands I have yet to see. When they broke the scene, I was so into them. Ha ha. When MTV actually was a music station, they would play Live at the Ritz. I recorded it on VHS I played that to death, don’t know what happened to that....I consider that my live GNR experience. Lucky you!
Very long version of "The Long Run;" Don and the other guitarist do simultaneous solos at one point. Anyone know who Don's guitar player is in this performance?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svn4XOS4sC0
Full concert:
https://youtu.be/pDJvhAmiAsI
Do his concerts always start with that hilarious speech?
Don with Jeff Coffey. It sounds like the backing vocals are finally live.
https://youtu.be/8V7ib2xkghU
Looks like it...actually all the concerts are the same it seems, you have to wonder why ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by chaim
I'm surprised there haven't been copyright claims against these videos, all of mine were "killed" and I got three strikes !!!
Don sings "Take it Easy" in 2009. He's singing pretty well here (live!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCEcQ2dOBxY
Don rehearsing HC with Tommy Thayer.
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.john...57334279535919
I haven't compared that to other performances, but it sounds like he's singing live.
I think he's singing live too. This is actually an interesting video because we get to see his rehearsal process. It seems like he doesn't bother singing much beyond the first and last verses in rehearsal. It also proves that many of the harmony vocals are actually prerecorded because the harmonies on the choruses and second verse sound exactly the same as they do in concerts with his road band even though the lineup of musicians is totally different.Quote:
Originally Posted by chaim
I must say that, although I'll never get the chance to see Don live, I'd rather hear rough, occasionally out-of-tune singing than pre-recorded autotune'd stuff. I mean, Neil Young's singing isn't perfect even on studio albums, why should Don Felder's singing be perfect live? Don could sing live with acceptable results. Maybe he couldn't do those high wails in the middle of Witchy Woman, but they don't have to be there.
Don actually can do them live (they're somewhat out of tune, but he's capable of hitting the notes).Quote:
Originally Posted by chaim
https://youtu.be/VzO6KHm2MBk?t=116
His voice is not the best, but its range is somewhat impressive. He can go all the way down to a low D on the Seven Bridges Road bass vocal and then do these high wails in (somewhat) full voice. I really think he could have been a good singer if he worked on his voice. He certainly has an ear for singing as evidenced by the vocal way in which he phrases a lot of his guitar playing.
I definitely agree with what you said about rather hearing live vocals. Joe Walsh sings out of tune frequently--so much so that I think they took his voice out of the mix in more recent Eagles shows. You can hear Joe singing his harmonies flat in the 1970s; he apparently often doubled with Felder on songs like Lyin' Eyes, etc. which had only 4 vocal lines in the chorus, but apparently Joe and Don were singing the same part.
https://youtu.be/6NGnIBYBCPg?t=85
Yet, when Joe does solo concerts, he sings live, and no one really seems to mind. Glenn sang extremely out of tune towards the end of his life and still apparently did solo shows without pitch correction on his voice. Deacon doesn't sing any better to my ear. Now Henley is starting to sing out of tune too.
Lest people think this criticism is undue, I love the Eagles, and would probably have not learned to sing harmony if it were not for them. In the '70s, they really could sing wonderfully in tune together (for example, the Seven Bridges Rd. video in the Eagles doc.). So as a musician, but also as a fan, I'm disappointed that their vocal standard both individually (except Tim can still sing well in tune) and together when they sing harmony has gone down to the extent that they have to use live autotune and have backing musicians doubling their vocal parts (you can clearly hear the live autotune in the Forum 2018 concert).
Then again, I too hope to be able to sing somewhat in tune if/when I reach my mid-70s...but, on the other hand, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Styx, etc. could still manage it at that age, so...
I have to disagree the bagels. I saw them in February 2020 at MSG and I didn’t hear auto tune at all. Have their voices changed sure, they are in their 70s. Maybe there is some post production on the 2018 live at forum as one would expect on live cds, but I seriously doubt auto tune. And to say Any of the guys sing out of tune frequently is a bit drastic no?
We can agree to disagree. I should have clarified too that I don't hear live autotune during verses, but I hear it during choruses where there are lots of harmonies. Pitch correction in post-production is autotune.Quote:
Originally Posted by KingWalsh
Felder does actually sing out of tune frequently. If you find videos of him actually singing live, he doesn't stay in tune very well. Surprisingly, he actually sang Hotel California tunefully at the R&R HOF a little over a year ago when the "Play it Loud" exhibit moved there.
Joe sings out of tune frequently as well. If you listen to any video (not a studio recording) of him singing live, he isn't always in tune. He has also gone more out of tune since the 70s.
I feel that Glenn was good at staying in tune until the mid-2000s. I remember seeing a 2007 Eagles news story in which they were all sitting around in the "Circle of Fear" doing the new version of "How Long." Glenn's voice cracked audibly on "rock yourself to sleep." I was surprised that they left that line in the news broadcast. After 2007, Glenn became even more pitchy. Of course, he was sick, and I have to commend him for continuing to perform if nothing else.
Henley is starting to go out of tune on the high notes. This can be heard on any live song (like Witchy Woman) where he needs to sing high.
Somehow, Tim still sounds very similar to the way he did on HFO imo. I want two of whatever he's eating. :smile:
Given all of these factors, it is very hard for me to believe that they can sing harmonies literally perfectly in tune now, but cannot hold pitch consistently when they sing solo, especially when they could not harmonize that well in tune in the 70s. The HC-era "Seven Bridges Road" backstage video is truly one of the greatest live vocal performances ever captured imo, but Joe sings his baritone part just a little bit flat. It's not a criticism either; there will be some amount of human error when harmonies are sung totally live. That is natural; the ideal is just to minimize the error. But suddenly, when we hear the Eagles doing SBR in 2020, they are so in tune that overtones are produced. Something doesn't add up.
Again, I love the Eagles. But when truly pioneering rock bands like CSN, Poco, Buffalo Springfield, etc. can sing live, warts and all, and work very hard for a fraction of the money, so too should the Eagles imo.
We will agree to disagree. I don’t believe they are using auto tune post production. Added vocals perhaps but I do not hear the digitized effect auto tune gives. Voice cracking is not out of tune issue in my opinion. I don’t think any singer is perfectly in tune all the time and don’t expect that. Many older stars have a hard time hitting higher notes and will actually sing the song in a different key to compensate for that, perhaps other artists you mentioned might do that. Regardless, I think the term frequently is drastic in this case. I do not believe Joe, Don or Glenn are frequently out of tune. Their voices have changed with age. I have watched many live videos of the boys throughout the years and have to disagree. I saw them live 2020 and will stick to my guns no auto tune.
This pitch thing is an interesting subject. It would be cool if it could have a topic of its own without anyone feeling that the Eagles are being bashed as singers. Especially when people get older, there tends to be some pitch issues, so it's normal. (Paul Stanley sang out a lot until he started to lip sync.)
The Eagles have always been a great vocal band and everybody knows that. If they were not always perfectly in tune even in the 70's (like was suggested above), I don't think it takes anything away from their greatness. This would be an interesting subject as a neutral discussion without a "good singer - bad singer" thing.
A live show from the Greek Theater in 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiDK7oAuh3c
Don singing "Take It Easy" live with a different band for a private party.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSdh0QiDkQ0
Thanks for sharing
That really IS live. No autotune either. When was this? His vocal is way out of tune here and there and that is perfectly ok. In fact I love it. I very much prefer this to the pre-recorded/autotuned robotic, 100% perfectly executed vocal performances.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebagels
I always mention it when I hear Don sing live, but clips like this (if this is recent) prove that he COULD sing live, if he didn't want so badly to be a spot-on, perfect singer every night.
Well, sure. I agree. When a singer is in their 70s, no one should expect perfection, including the artist. People are coming to hear Don's incredible playing, anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by chaim