Billy Joel Outs U2 For Using A Secret Backing Band

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  • djklambake
    djklambake PHX, AZ Posts: 2,524
    Popmartijn wrote:
    SatansFuton wrote:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Go2DK9VtQ&feature=player_embedded

    And the truth is even better (than a pun I'm not going to make)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHlU2ukrCoU

    :)

    Goddammit so much...
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  • SatansFuton
    SatansFuton Posts: 5,399
    Popmartijn wrote:
    SatansFuton wrote:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Go2DK9VtQ&feature=player_embedded

    And the truth is even better (than a pun I'm not going to make)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHlU2ukrCoU

    :)

    Yeah, that's from "It Might Get Loud", good movie. I would probably be a little more put off by The Edge if he actually acted like he were some guitar god, but he's pretty humble and honest about the fact that he's about 20% talent and 80% technology/effects.
    "See a broad to get dat booty yak 'em, leg 'er down, a smack 'em yak 'em!"
  • keeponrockin
    keeponrockin Posts: 7,446
    SatansFuton wrote:
    Yeah, that's from "It Might Get Loud", good movie. I would probably be a little more put off by The Edge if he actually acted like he were some guitar god, but he's pretty humble and honest about the fact that he's about 20% talent and 80% technology/effects.
    I think the real talent is how he uses those effects.
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
  • SatansFuton
    SatansFuton Posts: 5,399
    keeponrockin wrote:
    SatansFuton wrote:
    Yeah, that's from "It Might Get Loud", good movie. I would probably be a little more put off by The Edge if he actually acted like he were some guitar god, but he's pretty humble and honest about the fact that he's about 20% talent and 80% technology/effects.
    I think the real talent is how he uses those effects.

    Well I'm not talking about originality, ingenuity, etc. He's not completely worthless, and he is unique. I'm just talking about technical skill, which admittedly is not all it takes to be a guitarist. He's a good composer/songwriter, but isn't the most skilled player. On the opposite side of the spectrum you have guitarists like Eric Clapton or Mick Taylor who are extremely skilled players, but have next to no songwriting skills.
    "See a broad to get dat booty yak 'em, leg 'er down, a smack 'em yak 'em!"
  • musicismylife78
    musicismylife78 Posts: 6,116
    i dont think this means anything. in fact i know it doesnt. The 4 of them write the music, play their instruments, and write the lyrics. Anything else, anyone else creating the music or helping them on the album is listed in the liner notes of every album, or under each specific song. Thats the way it is for every single band in history. Beefing up a bands sound is never rare. The Black Keys no longer are just a 2 piece band in studio nor in a live setting. I saw PJ in seattle in 2009 and they had a whole string section play with them.

    Translating songs live is alot different than creating songs in studio, as anyone who has ever been to a concert and seen a band play a song different than they played it on the cd can attest to.

    This is a non issue. Its cool now to dislike u2. This isnt milli vanilli. They all can sing and write and play.

    Plus, the whole "band under the floor" idea sounds crackpot conspiracy to me. If people know about it, and videotaped it and put it on youtube, its hardly a coverup. Its not like you cant see or talk to these musicians. They arent being flown away on jets after the show so as to prevent them from spilling the beans on this thing. If it was some sort of coverup, no one would know about it and no one would be able to film it. Plus, you really think if they wanted to keep this a secret, which if it were some coverup, they would, why would they show an organ player on the 360 screen, those are images i assume approved if not by the band, then their managers at the show, and then to have it be broadcast on a DVD?

    Plus their live shows are legendary for being pretty out there and over the top. The whole 360 idea, the winding stage where fans and the band are mingling basically, maybe the musicians "under the floor" didnt want to be up top, maybe they felt it would be better to be "under ground" for these types of shows and the stage setup?

    Non issue.
  • direwolf74
    direwolf74 Posts: 1,622
    musicismylife78 wrote:
    i dont think this means anything. in fact i know it doesnt. The 4 of them write the music, play their instruments, and write the lyrics. Anything else, anyone else creating the music or helping them on the album is listed in the liner notes of every album, or under each specific song. Thats the way it is for every single band in history. Beefing up a bands sound is never rare. The Black Keys no longer are just a 2 piece band in studio nor in a live setting. I saw PJ in seattle in 2009 and they had a whole string section play with them.

    Translating songs live is alot different than creating songs in studio, as anyone who has ever been to a concert and seen a band play a song different than they played it on the cd can attest to.

    This is a non issue. Its cool now to dislike u2. This isnt milli vanilli. They all can sing and write and play.

    Plus, the whole "band under the floor" idea sounds crackpot conspiracy to me. If people know about it, and videotaped it and put it on youtube, its hardly a coverup. Its not like you cant see or talk to these musicians. They arent being flown away on jets after the show so as to prevent them from spilling the beans on this thing. If it was some sort of coverup, no one would know about it and no one would be able to film it. Plus, you really think if they wanted to keep this a secret, which if it were some coverup, they would, why would they show an organ player on the 360 screen, those are images i assume approved if not by the band, then their managers at the show, and then to have it be broadcast on a DVD?

    Plus their live shows are legendary for being pretty out there and over the top. The whole 360 idea, the winding stage where fans and the band are mingling basically, maybe the musicians "under the floor" didnt want to be up top, maybe they felt it would be better to be "under ground" for these types of shows and the stage setup?

    Non issue.

    Totally agree. And there is no secret band under the stage. As already mentioned, they do have an extra keyboard player who plays on the occasional song and programs backing tracks, etc... They actually showed part of the guy's setup on some show (can't remember when I saw it exactly) where a camera crew was doing a tour of the 360 stage with all the computers and mixing equipment below and backstage. But there's no "secret band". It's a myth created by people who hate U2 and want desperately to find some idiotic reason to crap on them.
    "I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."

    -Tom Waits
  • acutejam
    acutejam Posts: 1,433
    Had read this about the '99 Black Sabbath tour, that a guitarist was offstage playing rhyhm guitar to help Iommi transfer from lead back to rhythm parts -- but that Iommi would eventually pick up the baton and keep running. I was like 7th row or something and never noticed a thing. Likewise on the latest U2 tour, I was 4-5 people back from the fly-way, and when the Edge came out and solo'd in front of me, yeah, that was him playing that. Lil augmentation here and there no prob. This ain't like a Simpson or Millie Vanilli bs. (or ANY of the horrid pop singer's lip syncing, I mean c'mon, don't all these pop stars just lip sync now? How they hell are they doing those dance moves and still breathing normal while singing?)
    [sic] happens
  • DewieCox
    DewieCox Posts: 11,432
    acutejam wrote:
    ANY of the horrid pop singer's lip syncing, I mean c'mon, don't all these pop stars just lip sync now? How they hell are they doing those dance moves and still breathing normal while singing?

    Hell, they even fake pregnancies. :lol:
  • SatansFuton
    SatansFuton Posts: 5,399
    DewieCox wrote:
    acutejam wrote:
    ANY of the horrid pop singer's lip syncing, I mean c'mon, don't all these pop stars just lip sync now? How they hell are they doing those dance moves and still breathing normal while singing?

    Hell, they even fake pregnancies. :lol:

    Who did that?
    "See a broad to get dat booty yak 'em, leg 'er down, a smack 'em yak 'em!"
  • DewieCox
    DewieCox Posts: 11,432
    SatansFuton wrote:
    DewieCox wrote:
    acutejam wrote:
    ANY of the horrid pop singer's lip syncing, I mean c'mon, don't all these pop stars just lip sync now? How they hell are they doing those dance moves and still breathing normal while singing?

    Hell, they even fake pregnancies. :lol:

    Who did that?

    Beyonce...She was on some show and when she bent over to sit down her "baby bump" sorta folded in half, and her due date has mysteriously moved up a few months.
  • Of The Aggie
    Of The Aggie The ATX Posts: 1,550
    DewieCox wrote:
    Beyonce...She was on some show and when she bent over to sit down her "baby bump" sorta folded in half, and her due date has mysteriously moved up a few months.

    Hadn't heard about that one! Ridiculous.

    Back to U2, I have never seen U2 but I don't think I'd ever go to one of their overblown productions disguised as a concert these days. I would have loved to have seen them back in the War days, though.
  • halv
    halv Posts: 713
    From 1985 to about 2002 I was about the biggest U2 fan on the planet. Man how that has changed. I can't imagine a more boring concert than a U2 show now. It's basically a Broadway show. Theatrical, choreographed and full of false emotion. I saw them on this last tour in Toronto and was bored stiff and I was 5 feet from the stage. If I have to see Bono fake scream at the audience or balance on one leg again I'm going to rip my eyes out. First time I saw them was on the Joshua Tree tour and that show was full of real emotion.

    As far as hidden musicians, it is super lame that they hide the keyboardist under the stage. The Stones suck nowadays as well but at least they are honest enough to have the orchestra of extra musicians onstage with them. Rush readily admits that they wouldn't be able to play half of their songs without pre-recording some of the sounds but the band triggers those sounds themselves with foot pedals.

    With U2 they seem to be about maintaing their status as the "biggest band on the planet" rather than putting out honest and creative music. That died with them after Zooropa.
  • janvanderdam
    janvanderdam Posts: 524
    U2 is an overrated band.
  • DewieCox
    DewieCox Posts: 11,432
    halv wrote:
    Rush readily admits that they wouldn't be able to play half of their songs without pre-recording some of the sounds but the band triggers those sounds themselves with foot pedals.

    I would think they do it, but I don't really remember a ton of pre-recorded sounds on the live Rush stuff I've seen outside of Peart's drum solo. Al and Geddy(especially) do play alot of foot controlled synths, but they're still playing them live in time with the music.

    John Paul Jones used to play "bass" in a similar fashion for stuff like No Quarter and Misty Mountain Hop.

    MMJ use some triggered samples, I think for back up vox mostly. At least doin the leg work, but it seems like they lift some of that stuff straight off the albums and it doesn't totally mesh with the the live sound.
  • Better Dan
    Better Dan Posts: 5,684
    halv wrote:
    From 1985 to about 2002 I was about the biggest U2 fan on the planet. Man how that has changed. I can't imagine a more boring concert than a U2 show now. It's basically a Broadway show. Theatrical, choreographed and full of false emotion. I saw them on this last tour in Toronto and was bored stiff and I was 5 feet from the stage. If I have to see Bono fake scream at the audience or balance on one leg again I'm going to rip my eyes out. First time I saw them was on the Joshua Tree tour and that show was full of real emotion.

    As far as hidden musicians, it is super lame that they hide the keyboardist under the stage. The Stones suck nowadays as well but at least they are honest enough to have the orchestra of extra musicians onstage with them. Rush readily admits that they wouldn't be able to play half of their songs without pre-recording some of the sounds but the band triggers those sounds themselves with foot pedals.

    With U2 they seem to be about maintaing their status as the "biggest band on the planet" rather than putting out honest and creative music. That died with them after Zooropa.


    Saw U2 twice in 05 and I thought they were really great shows but I agree with you about the choeographed production. I mean Bono going to the exact same spots and doing the same poses during the same songs. Then I purchased the Vertigo tour DVD and everything was exactly the same...same poses in the same places with the same facial expressions....it just doesn't look or feel feel natural. That doesn't make it bad..like I said I thought the shows were awesome....but definitely makes it more of a "production" than a rock concert, in my opinion. That's why I skipped their show the last time they were in town.
    2003: San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Seattle; 2005: Monterrey; 2006: Chicago 1 & 2, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Detroit; 2008: West Palm Beach, Tampa; 2009: Austin, LA 3 & 4, San Diego; 2010: Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbus, Indianapolis; 2011: PJ20 1 & 2; 2012: Missoula; 2013: Dallas, Oklahoma City, Seattle; 2014: Tulsa; 2016: Columbia, New York City 1 & 2; 2018: London, Seattle 1 & 2; 2021: Ohana; 2022: Oklahoma City
  • marcos
    marcos Posts: 2,112
    Billy Joel was cool like like 30 years ago. We didn't start the fire? It's a shame he's not relevant and feels the need to take cheap shots at other musicians for attention. I could care less about whether U2 uses a back up band or tracks for that matter as long as Bono sings at this point.

    And this whole lecture tour thing is even more pompous. It just shows how jealous he is of rock musicians and the fact he can't perform anymore. I will always like Turnstiles and The Stranger records, but wish he wasn't such an embarrassment now.
  • halv
    halv Posts: 713
    Ya, I'm pretty much done with them live as well....unless they did a theatre tour. Play mid-size theatres, no production...I'd line up for that.
  • direwolf74
    direwolf74 Posts: 1,622
    halv wrote:
    Ya, I'm pretty much done with them live as well....unless they did a theatre tour. Play mid-size theatres, no production...I'd line up for that.

    A theatre tour would be fantastic, but I think they're way too big to even attempt something like that. A show like that would sell out in seconds and they'd have to do at least 3 or 4 shows in each city. I read a recent interview with Adam Clayton where he talked about the band wanting to scale things back on their next tour and go back to playing arenas, which would be cool. I saw them at the Bell Centre in Montreal in 2001, and it still stands as the single greatest concert I've ever witnessed.
    "I try my best to chug, stomp, weep, whisper, moan, wheeze, scat, blurt, rage, whine, and seduce. With my voice I can sound like a girl, the boogieman, a Theremin, a cherry bomb, a clown, a doctor, a murderer. I can be tribal. Ironic. Or disturbed. My voice is really my instrument."

    -Tom Waits
  • thispureamericanriot
    thispureamericanriot California Posts: 514
    My thing is, why not bring Terry Lawless (U2 keyboardist) on stage or put him behind Larry at least? Imagine if PJ put Boom under the stage? WTF! The Stones proudly put all the support staff on the stage. I know many bands have added support while playing live as they get older, but either put those people (aka other human beings) on stage with you or except the fact you can't pull your weight and hang it up. Most of these big name bands are filthy rich 20 years later - check ego at door. I wouldn't pay $450 ($900 for my wife) to see U2 at Levi's Stadium on the Joshua Tree 30th even though I could have afforded it. Are you kidding me! I mean, I love U2 and have seen them live twice (1997 & 2001), but I could buy every album and DVD they ever put out for $900. Not to mention parking, dinner, hotel...$1500 for one concert? No thanks!
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  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,662
    edited September 2018
    I don't know if there's any truth to this story but if it is true, I would be disappointed in the band.  Since my first show in 1965 to the present day, I've never seen a band with musicians not on stage as an integral part of the band.  I can't even imagine that happening.

    I did see U2 but that was in 1983 and the only thing under the stage back then were rats and gremlins.  I saw Talking Heads in 1982 and they had expanded from the original quartet but no way was any one of the players not in plain sight and tight in with the band.  They were a unit.

    thispureamericanriot said:
    My thing is, why not bring Terry Lawless (U2 keyboardist) on stage or put him behind Larry at least? Imagine if PJ put Boom under the stage? WTF! The Stones proudly put all the support staff on the stage. I know many bands have added support while playing live as they get older, but either put those people (aka other human beings) on stage with you or except the fact you can't pull your weight and hang it up. Most of these big name bands are filthy rich 20 years later - check ego at door. I wouldn't pay $450 ($900 for my wife) to see U2 at Levi's Stadium on the Joshua Tree 30th even though I could have afforded it. Are you kidding me! I mean, I love U2 and have seen them live twice (1997 & 2001), but I could buy every album and DVD they ever put out for $900. Not to mention parking, dinner, hotel...$1500 for one concert? No thanks!
    I wouldn't pay $450 to see God.  I agree, that's ridiculous.
    Post edited by brianlux on
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