ok, so I got a chance to see them perform VLV on the Jonathan Ross show, and although I think that it's great performance i'm very disappointed with the band. The reason for this being that they are using pre-recorded parts from the song and playing along. This to me can be seen when Chris sings the chorus of VLV. how you can tell is that if you listen closely enough you can hear another voice of chris sing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qte8BBs0i_Q

The Chorus-at 5:34-6:01 and 6:43-7:09

and also the ooh's at 6:36-6:41 it's supposed to be the whole band singing (the exact same singing as the end of the song) yet jonny isn't

 

Don't get me wrong the song sounds great and i can't wait to see them live again, but i'm disappointed because how do we then know if they are actually performing or just lipsynching? I would honestly rather see the band play a song and screw up instead of having parts of the record playing.

trust me, if they wanted to just lipsycnch then the MTV Movie Awards performance would've been a lot better. and then there's the fact that these new songs are very complex and there's only so much you can do with 4 people onstage, particularly seeing as how Eno played many of the instruments on the album along with others who they can't rope in easily.

 

however, you do have a point and it would be nice if they had a live string section or something - we can hope they'll have it for the tour (as all this pre-tour stuff doesn't really warrant getting in extra musicians) and it would be really cool if they did

I think this is going to change on the tour, i mean, the performances on tv shows and such almost always have some lip-synched parts but once on tour it's another story :) i'd be really glad if they had a string section on stage with them during this song (which, i think, is going to be the closer of the gigs)

I think that's actually Will singing backing vocals for Chris during the chorus of VLV, rather than a backing track...

You have to be realistic - there's only so much a band can do on a tv show. If they wanted live string musicians on Jonathan Ross they'd have had to have them sitting on their laps!!!

 

I don't think they'll have them on the tour either - they've always been very keen on it just being the four of them on stage. To be honest, it really doesn't bother me.

 

As for the vocal track, again I think it's for tv. On television, every little lfaw gets picked up, and while they're still ironing out the kinks, they probably just eanted a bit of help. On Jo Wiley, Chris said that one of last wednesdays rehearsals for the live shows coming up this week was rubbish, and one was really good. They've still got some work to do, but you know they'll have it fixed for the tour.

That second voice in the chorus is a delay. Oh and Will is singing as well. And Chris does play the string part on that little midi, its just played then looped, as you can see before the violin changes in the first verse Chris goes back and seems to be playing nothing but he's actually recording the next part to be played. A bit hard to explain without screen annotations but 85% of the song is indeed played live by them

That second voice in the chorus is a delay. Oh and Will is singing as well. And Chris does play the string part on that little midi, its just played then looped, as you can see before the violin changes in the first verse Chris goes back and seems to be playing nothing but he's actually recording the next part to be played. A bit hard to explain without screen annotations but 85% of the song is indeed played live by them

 

 

So he's playing something in advance of us hearing it???

Um that's Will singing during the chorus. I'm still praying for a full string section for the stadium concerts ;)

It will only be certain songs like Viva la vida which will or may have backing tracks. They cant play the string section so have to use a pre recorded sound. There only 4 people they cant play all the instruments on certains songs it just isnt possible. Its only these new songs with extra new instruments and sounds, the old songs will still very much be them playing.

So he's playing something in advance of us hearing it???[/size][/i]

 

Yup, as far as I can tell..Chris plays the 2nd violin part (melody) about four bars before it comes. You can see him go back to the midi and play something distinctly different from the main verse a few bars before the violin changes. Just before the line "I used to roll the dice" he plays the violin part that accompanies it.

Even though the album was supposedly geared more towards the live show, I think the album versions of VLV songs willeasily surpass most of the live versions. I haven't heard the full album yet, but I've seen a bunch of live performances, and my general feeling is that most songs are too much to swallow live, but the material that they're trying to perform seems to be really strong. Yes, is the only new song I've seen that translates pretty well live and lacks any apparent backtracking. Violet hill is good, but the chorus is often very very weak. viva la vida is more backtracked than it needss to be, I don't think they need the extra strings, flute etc. They have the two keyboards, Guy does the cello sounds for the bridge, and there's no reason why the voices in the coda and bridge have to be backtracked.

 

Lovers in Japan: Why can't Chris stay at the keyboard, he plays the intro and leaves letting the TV play the riff all the way through. I'm optimistic about this song though because they're still sorting out the arrangement on stage and that may change, but I'm worried that VLV will stay this way throughout the whole tour.

 

My only real consolation though is that it seems like a killer album. and some weak live songs is forgivable if thy're complexities make the album that much better.