I know in the world of popular music 4 guys playing music in a band are the most popular rock bands in the world. Coldplay, U2, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Queen, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, etc.

I'm a fan of Coldplay, but what annoys me is that when I see a performance or go to a concert of Coldplay, I feel a bit cheated when I can clearly hear keyboard sounds but I see no one playing any keyboard. I know that there should be an off-stage keyboard player playing all the sounds, but I would not feel cheated when they just put this person on-stage at live shows. It will also get rid of the rumors them not playing live.

And I know, they will no be displayed as a 4-members band, but it doesn't make their music less. You can just enjoy the econcert more.

 

Go to http://goo.gl/VQW4s and sign the petition if you agree with me. Hopefully they will read about it and take action.

 

On a personal note, I'm from the Netherlands. So If they just want to do it ones, 6th of September would be a nice day to do it :D.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backing_track

wow

They use backing tracks, though I'd rather they used extra musicians.

I prefer backing tracks :shrug:

They should put the keyboard player on stage. I've seen that. Bands adding bassists and pianists/keyboardists on stage, as say touring members.

I had exactly the same thought just add one keyboard player , Davide Rossi for the strings and one extra man who does some percussion or makes those nice effects (HLH, PoC for example)

Just watch bands as Muse, Snow Patrol, The Killers it works perfectly and it's 100% live.

They should teach Phil to play the keyboard. He's already accepted as the 5th members by the fans..

They should teach Phil to play the keyboard. He's already accepted as the 5th members by the fans..

 

Yes indeed :P I'd love seeing Phil perform on stage as well.

I always knew that they used backing tracks at their concerts!! Theres no way in Hell that they could perform such a full sound themselves, even with the most powerful amplifiers on the market, because, even by their own admission, they have said that they are not brilliant musicians!! Lets hope that one day they dont have a "Milli Vanilli moment" and the backing track gets stuck!! And we all know what happened to Milli Vanilli!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

I couldnt help thinking about this all through the concert at the 02 in December!!

 

Theres nothing wrong with using session musicians in concert!! Loads of bands do it!! Most notable for me, is Fleetwood Mac!! That band comprises of 4 band members, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, but on tour they take with them a backing band, in order to create a more fuller complete sound in concert!!

I know they are using a backing track, but am also expecting a keyboard player. There's lot of things a live keyboard player can just play live, which makes the music better and more dynamic. And they don't cheat on their fans.

I also looked a bit more and even found Red Hot Chili Peppers use a keyboard player and percussionist when playing at the MTV EMAs. Check of YouTube for that. And while also U2 is using a backing track, they also use a extra keyboard player. OK, he´s also not on stage, but should be.

I had exactly the same thought just add one keyboard player , Davide Rossi for the strings and one extra man who does some percussion or makes those nice effects (HLH, PoC for example)

Just watch bands as Muse, Snow Patrol, The Killers it works perfectly and it's 100% live.

 

White Lies do it too. Coldplay should, but I don't think they will :\

This is one of the things that disappoints me about Coldplay shows. I consider live shows a celebration of music and musicians. Using touring musicians just enhances the music they've written.

White Lies do it too. Coldplay should, but I don't think they will :\

 

Do they? I didn't notice..... oh wait I do there' s a guy on the left playing on the synths

A couple of challenges then persist. First, they probably play their own instrumentals for their backtracking, which of course requires then to either duplicate themselves using the heart of gold's improbability drive to take them back to the start, or simply record the additional instrumentals right before the performance, hope it's top-notch, and then sing and play along to it. Or add other highly trained professional musicians to do a superb job during the show, which is possible, maybe that's a legit way to go...

Secondly, what if someone's voice gives out during a performance, then what? Hm.. well, I suppose they could only then switch to miming, but perhaps that's the case anyways..

I know what Elton John has said, perhaps he is right in most instances, but what the Petshop Boys say seems equally true - if it's complex sounds, one almost needs a studio and just the right take to get the sound sounding great, or else it's sloppy.

I had exactly the same thought just add one keyboard player , Davide Rossi for the strings and one extra man who does some percussion or makes those nice effects (HLH, PoC for example)

Just watch bands as Muse, Snow Patrol, The Killers it works perfectly and it's 100% live.

 

 

Most of those bands use sidemen and backing tracks. Muse especially, they have 1 additional musician but also make extensive use of background looping over and above what he's adding.