This is interesting.

[aaronm360]

I can recall the band members playing the occasional wrong note a number of times though !

 

I remember Guy playing a wrong note in AHFOD at the BBC Exeter show in 2016, and at the 2017 Cardiff show I went to, Chris invited a fan on stage to play Everglow who wasn’t so good, so he had to take over. They also messed that song up at Glastonbury 2016. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that a lot of the instrumentation was fake, as Guy, Jonny and Will are solid and reliable musicians, but during GS/AHFODT they certainly made use of a lot more advanced pre-recorded backing tracks than in previous tours.

[Pier62b]

I don't understand why he use playback. In this video he sang really well Clocks.

 

[I ran away]

I remember Guy playing a wrong note in AHFOD at the BBC Exeter show in 2016, and at the 2017 Cardiff show I went to, Chris invited a fan on stage to play Everglow who wasn’t so good, so he had to take over. They also messed that song up at Glastonbury 2016. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that a lot of the instrumentation was fake, as Guy, Jonny and Will are solid and reliable musicians, but during GS/AHFODT they certainly made use of a lot more advanced pre-recorded backing tracks than in previous tours.

Yes, and Jonny played a wrong note during ASFOS once. Chris has had piano issues on the B-stage several times (I remember Gelsenkirchen in particular but that was not the only time). They messed up In My Place right in front of me at the C-stage in New Jersey.

Like you said, they are good musicians who just don't mess up very often.

[aaronm360]

I don't understand why he use playback. In this video he sang really well Clocks.

 

I’m almost certain it was done for a rest, not because he can’t sing it anymore

[AnaMarie]

This is very, very interesting, there is nothing wrong with boosting live vocals with studio or pre-recorded vocals; but for example, Church is fully lip-synced,there are no “live vocals” to enhance ...why this song in particular? Not one single performance of this song has had at least a “live vocals” part... is it because it strains Chris’s voice too much???

Edited February 3, 2020 by AnaMarie

[aaronm360]

This is very, very interesting, there is nothing wrong with boosting live vocals with studio or pre-recorded vocals; but for example, Church is fully lip-synced,there are no “live vocals” to enhance ...why this song in particular? Not one single performance of this song has had at least a “live vocals” part... is it because it strains Chris’s voice too much???

 

It is interesting to lip-sync the first song in a set, as it wouldn’t give the opportunity for a proper warmup. I’m afraid no one knows the answer except the band (plus maybe Miller and Dan Green :joy:). After Church he sings Trouble in Town live, which is considerably easier

[AnaMarie]

It is interesting to lip-sync the first song in a set, as it wouldn’t give the opportunity for a proper warmup. I’m afraid no one knows the answer except the band (plus maybe Miller and Dan Green :joy:). After Church he sings Trouble in Town live, which is considerably easier

Yeah! That’s what I find so interesting and puzzling... if we could only read their minds hehehe!!

besides, it makes me sad ‘cause I truly want to listen to Church LIVE!!

[aaronm360]

Yeah! That’s what I find so interesting and puzzling... if we could only read their minds hehehe!!

besides, it makes me sad ‘cause I truly want to listen to Church LIVE!!

 

Yes me too, he did sing the end part of it live in the last performance of the EL ‘tour’ though, and at least Nora’s part was live. All we can hope is that on the next series of performances (whether that’s a big tour or some more small intimate performance) we will get it live!

[Roadie42]

Have you guys seen something similar this time around? Was just watching the Buenos Aires show on YouTube and looks like he uses a vocal track for Biutyful. You can see/hear it before the final chorus.

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by Roadie42

[I ran away]

Yes, I noticed it too. During Biutyful it was painfully obvious, but also during some other tracks like People of the Pride where Chris's voice is at the very least doubled by a high volume backing track (and some lines/sounds seem to fully come off the tape). Unfortunately he didn't quite get the timing of the words in the intro right, which exposed the track to the listener.

The number of songs lipsynced has increased in this tour, to up to 8-9 around the halfway point of the European Tour. People found that out by analysing videos. There used to be a thread about it. It must be very difficult on Chris to sing all these nights in a row. I personally wish he'd embrace his vocal imperfections and sing more live. On the other hand, if singing it all live would risk him losing his voice and not being able to tour anymore, that would be devastating.

[andreaslodge]

On 4/19/2016 at 12:07 AM, The Adversary said:

I really don't want to believe this. Coldplay are such an amazing live band that this seems completely counter-intuitive. Chris must know in the age of camera phones and social media that this will obviously be picked up on. Either he A) Doesn't care (which doesn't seem like Chris at all to be honest) or B) Has some serious vocal issue.

 

Of course this is Coldplaying.com so there will be posters who will deny until the cows come home but the evidence is very damning. All you have to do is listen for variation on certain word pronounciations from video to video (You find there is none) or sync (No pun intended) the videos together and play them at the same time.

 

It begs the question what other songs is he also lip-syncing? Surely if he can't hit the notes on Clocks there's not a hope in hell he can hit the notes in Fix You? I'll have to do some more investigating but if he's lip-syncing Clocks to protect his voice one minute and jumping up and down belting HFTW the next that shows a certain attitiude to the older music........

I'm editing a multicam version of the second show here in Chile this year (09.21.2022), and someone sent me a really upclose video of Chris during People Of The Pride, and yeah, i'm positive that he was lip-syncing. Idk if he was protecting his throat/lungs due to the infection, but i noticed that he had a hoarseness for days (probably because that week was really cold here), so he was drinking a lot of water, giving himself propolis spray (i think) and swallowing pills in between songs.

[I ran away]

Yeah, sadly it was before the infection too - the massive substitution of tracks happened around the time of the Paris shows, as people found out in that other thread.

Just saw this on Reddit - apparently he slipped up on Yellow too during the global broadcast. Oh man, that was really not his night.

 

[AlienSomewhere]

Found a video from Paris (I think? I'll have to find it again) where he messes up during a moment on Higher Power and it was obvious to see he was lip-syncing. It could be that a lot of songs he can't perform live anymore because it would be too much for his voice, especially with the length of tours. 

Edited November 5, 2022 by AlienSomewhere

[Dexynboy]

On 4/23/2018 at 9:15 PM, nowayme said:

It's just somekind of soundboard (?) recording with the prerendered part of the projections. Some are either black screen or in the case of Clocks it's just a red screen. There's also the footage that tells you to strap your Xyloband on with the audio being played while showing that.

WOW!

Where You find these?

[nowayme]

1 hour ago, Dexynboy said:

WOW!

Where You find these?

It's not publicly available. It was made available for tour personel.

[Pier62b]

He lip sync the following songs: Higher Power, Paradise (partially), AOALT (partially), HFTW, People of the Prise, SJLT, Clocks, Humankind, My Universe, ASFOS, Biutyful, Viva la vida, fix you (partially)

I think he really sings in full the scientist and the acoustics songs. 

[GamingForeverAUS]

21 hours ago, Pier62b said:

He lip sync the following songs: Higher Power, Paradise (partially), AOALT (partially), HFTW, People of the Prise, SJLT, Clocks, Humankind, My Universe, ASFOS, Biutyful, Viva la vida, fix you (partially)

I think he really sings in full the scientist and the acoustics songs. 

for more detail, the folks on the Coldplay discord server have done some analysis:

A-STAGE:

1. Higher Power (lipsynced since atleast Paris shows)
2. Adventure Of A Lifetime (partially lipsynced)
3. Paradise (lipsynced latter half of 2022, recent Brazil shows are live)
4. The Scientist 
5. Charlie Brown (lmao rip)

B-STAGE:

1. Viva La Vida (lipsynced since atleast Paris shows, same voice crack in the 2nd chorus, and "rule the world" outro)
2. Hymn For The Weekend / SJLT (both lipsynced, HFTW is live during the breakdown before the confetti)
3. Let Somebody Go / B-STAGE SONG
4. [Rotational]

• A Head Full Of Dreams (fully lipsynced, they fucked up the first time they played and it basically exposed chris rip)
• In My Place (lipsynced latter half of 2022, recent shows seem live)
• Orphans (only one performance to check, but seems lipsynced based on quality of vocal v chris face to microphone etc)
• Coloratura (partially lipsynced, is live at b-stage but once at a-stage or chris runs up it becomes pre-recorded, check chris crawling on the ground and his vocal still being completely stable?)

A-STAGE:

1. Yellow (lipsynced chorus' latter half of 2022 beginning in Bogota, recent shows since sometime after the BA cinema broadcast is back to live vocals)
2. Human Heart
3. People of the Pride (lipsynced in full except the intro, in Sao Paulo there were 2 nights were Chris sung the song fully live besides the "yeah yeah" at the end, but has since gone back to using a track)
4. Clocks (lipsynced fully, same as AHFOD tour but with different track)
5. The Lightclub 
6. My Universe (fully lipsynced, check for same "gaaaa" before the first chorus after Paris shows)
7. A Sky Full Of Stars (fully lipsynced after the first round before chris asks for no phones)

C-STAGE: all live

A-STAGE:

1. Humankind (fully lipsynced, pretty obvious its the same track since 2022, chris yells "go" in the same ways everytime lmao, and fucks up the same falsettos)
2. Fix You (partially lipsynced, starts lipsyncing in the outro after the band comes in)
3. Biutfyul (haven't checked but it def is partially as of the BA 2022 cinema broadcast, unsure about recent tour)

...yeah so chris isn't singing many songs live anymore....

 

 

[szymixsiorek]

Wtf. This is the worst thing they can do. Better solution is to end career and stop making fools From fans

[gustavothehuman]

9 hours ago, GamingForeverAUS said:

for more detail, the folks on the Coldplay discord server have done some analysis:

A-STAGE:

1. Higher Power (lipsynced since atleast Paris shows)
2. Adventure Of A Lifetime (partially lipsynced)
3. Paradise (lipsynced latter half of 2022, recent Brazil shows are live)
4. The Scientist 
5. Charlie Brown (lmao rip)

B-STAGE:

1. Viva La Vida (lipsynced since atleast Paris shows, same voice crack in the 2nd chorus, and "rule the world" outro)
2. Hymn For The Weekend / SJLT (both lipsynced, HFTW is live during the breakdown before the confetti)
3. Let Somebody Go / B-STAGE SONG
4. [Rotational]

• A Head Full Of Dreams (fully lipsynced, they fucked up the first time they played and it basically exposed chris rip)
• In My Place (lipsynced latter half of 2022, recent shows seem live)
• Orphans (only one performance to check, but seems lipsynced based on quality of vocal v chris face to microphone etc)
• Coloratura (partially lipsynced, is live at b-stage but once at a-stage or chris runs up it becomes pre-recorded, check chris crawling on the ground and his vocal still being completely stable?)

A-STAGE:

1. Yellow (lipsynced chorus' latter half of 2022 beginning in Bogota, recent shows since sometime after the BA cinema broadcast is back to live vocals)
2. Human Heart
3. People of the Pride (lipsynced in full except the intro, in Sao Paulo there were 2 nights were Chris sung the song fully live besides the "yeah yeah" at the end, but has since gone back to using a track)
4. Clocks (lipsynced fully, same as AHFOD tour but with different track)
5. The Lightclub 
6. My Universe (fully lipsynced, check for same "gaaaa" before the first chorus after Paris shows)
7. A Sky Full Of Stars (fully lipsynced after the first round before chris asks for no phones)

C-STAGE: all live

A-STAGE:

1. Humankind (fully lipsynced, pretty obvious its the same track since 2022, chris yells "go" in the same ways everytime lmao, and fucks up the same falsettos)
2. Fix You (partially lipsynced, starts lipsyncing in the outro after the band comes in)
3. Biutfyul (haven't checked but it def is partially as of the BA 2022 cinema broadcast, unsure about recent tour)

...yeah so chris isn't singing many songs live anymore....

I was in Curitiba and I'm 100% sure Chris lipsynced certain songs on Day 1 but not Day 2, they are switching between songs, so of course a "masterpost" will look like this.

Edited March 27, 2023 by gustavothehuman

[gustavothehuman]

Also, I don't get why people insist in forgetting Chris is only a regular human being, one that was breathing harmful chemicals for around 50 shows last year and ended up getting a lung infection because of it. I'm sure he would love to sing all of it completely live but this isn't 2000 anymore, they are not a small band that can just cancel last minute over illness. Vocals for Us Against the World on March 22nd were top notch by the way, he's still a very good singer.

Edited March 27, 2023 by gustavothehuman

[CP-EST]

The performances on this tour right now are heavily aided by use of different tricks indeed. Lipsyncing seems to take the most heat, understandably. Although I think for several reasons, it's really difficult to say what's really lipsynced and what's not, especially for people who don't take time to analyse it. So at the end most people would ask, does it really even matter?

1. Often there's a blurry line where Chris sings live over his own prerecorded vocals and the volumes of live and pre-recorded vocals seem to be balanced in the moment by some clever tool. 

2. In some songs there is a more consistent performance from show to show. In some songs the use of tricks isn't consistent and changes from show to show.

3. 99% of time when Chris lipsyncs, he's doing it really professionally. So it's not possible to notice if you don't start to compare several shows.

4. In stadium there is also a slight delay of sound. Even if you may notice lipsyncing you're also confused by delay.

5. This show is currently so full of effects and Chris is moving around a lot. There's not many points where a single person can watch and analyse. You may only do it when being close to stage

 

So, the way they have decided to perform is clearly a choice they have made quite early on, considering pros and cons. The show is so massive, use of these tricks takes a way lot of the technical and physical stress during the performances, result is a more consistent show. This tour seems to go on at least one more year, so it's also a decision taking account long term factors, like vocal strain.

In summary, when you put it all these details in the context of a massive show they currently have, at some point everyone who isn't a stubborn and bitter person, will hopefully eventually think that it isn't worth overanalysing lipsyncing. The current style of concert just isn't the concert where pure live vocals in each song would make any difference how this show is perceived by an average concert visitor. I think the current style of performance for Chris is quite a natural development of their performances over the years, kind of seen it slowly going towards this since Mylo Xyloto tour.

Still, when Chris sings live and his voice is fit, he's doing it really well.

[jossec]

You know how Adventure of a Lifetime has quite a dynamic bassline? Where you'd expect to hear at least some minor variations between live performances? Did you ever notice there never are any? It sounds exactly the same every time.

That's right, I'm convinced that Guy Berryman has faked nearly every performance of the song since 2015.

A rare exception to this is here, where he actually plays a simplified version. Apparently he can't handle the complexity of the line in the album version, so in nearly all other cases they just play it off tape.

I think aside from vocals this is the first time we've seen a band member just flat-out and consistently fake a performance on their primary instrument.

At this point I'd be surprised if this was the only song where he does this. But with other songs it'll be harder to tell because the basslines are generally simpler than this one.

I know, it's a big show for thousands of mostly casual fans, most people notice and probably wouldn't even care. It's kinda funny to me though, I thought some of you might be interested to know 

[gustavothehuman]

45 minutes ago, jossec said:

You know how Adventure of a Lifetime has quite a dynamic bassline? Where you'd expect to hear at least some minor variations between live performances? Did you ever notice there never are any? It sounds exactly the same every time.

That's right, I'm convinced that Guy Berryman has faked nearly every performance of the song since 2015.

A rare exception to this is here, where he actually plays a simplified version. Apparently he can't handle the complexity of the line in the album version, so in nearly all other cases they just play it off tape.

I think aside from vocals this is the first time we've seen a band member just flat-out and consistently fake a performance on their primary instrument.

At this point I'd be surprised if this was the only song where he does this. But with other songs it'll be harder to tell because the basslines are generally simpler than this one.

I know, it's a big show for thousands of mostly casual fans, most people notice and probably wouldn't even care. It's kinda funny to me though, I thought some of you might be interested to know 

It's more likely he makes the same simplified version of the bass line for all live performances and this one a one-off. What do you people want to do next? Say they have no talent at all? It's giving conspiracy theory at this point. Jesus.

Edited March 28, 2023 by gustavothehuman

[gustavothehuman]

They mentioned still wanting to perform but you know what? I hope Coldplay retires entirely in 2025, y'all put them through too much bullsh*t and they don't deserve it.

[CP-EST]

19 hours ago, gustavothehuman said:

They mentioned still wanting to perform but you know what? I hope Coldplay retires entirely in 2025, y'all put them through too much bullsh*t and they don't deserve it.

Don't let the Internet rabbit holes give you so negative impression. The audience numbers so far on this tour are hinting it will be biggest tour in history of music when it finishes, seems at least 1-2 more years. It's quite crazy love people are showing at the concerts. That's what matters 🙂 

Still, in my eyes everyone has their right for opinion though, as long as it's respectful and not having hateful tone.