Coldplay Viva La Vida Backing Track
Kahlil Algya
As much as I love coldplay music, I really hate to see the four musician standing idly while you hear the dulcimer playing at the start. I like seeing all my instruments on stage, thank you very much, that's what I'm paying for. I would even rather if they just chose not to use it, at least that way, what you see is what you hear. ::angry:
No offense but if you really don't think your getting your money's worth then quite simply, don't go. They do what they do, it's their choice how they do their shows and no one's forcing you to see them live...
I think it comes down to a matter of opinion and people's personal Concert tastes. Personally, I hate when I go see a band live and they have a huge amount of "extra" musicians on stage. Backing tracks don't bother me.
That said, I think if it ruins the show that much for you, I'd suggest you may have deeper misgivings about Coldplay as a live act than you may be aware of. There are a lot of band's whose music I like who I think suck live. If one thing takes you're mind off the show so much, perhaps there's somithing bigger about the show you don't like, even if you're not immediately aware what it is.
A lot of the music on their new album is very unique and hard to re-create, especially on-stage, especially with someone who didn't write it. Would you rather they lose the sound they are going for just to be 100% live?
I just wanted to see how exactly they do the dulcimer for "life in technicolor ii" that's all. I was hoping they would have shown it on stage, but they didn't. I was a bit disappointed in that. Doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the rest of the show though.
I see what you mean. A lot of the music on-stage seemes to have a backing track. Remember during the radio show concert Chris messed up and starting singing "Those who are dead are not dead.." waay too late and we heard two Chris' sing the same thing?? It's ok though. I'm a big fan and I rather have the backing tracks than 10 people on stage. It would be AMAZING to hear VLV with a live orchestra though just once though.
I see your point but I prefer to see the four of them on stage.Considering all the different instruments on this band, if you had to bring them all on stage I think it would be too much.You would loose the little gang atmosphere that I like about them
It doesn't bother me. Sometimes bands can't have all the instruments on stage, or they'd have to run back and forth between instruments in order to get everything right, and they could potentially screw up. I'd rather have a backing track sometimes and have everything sound perfect, rather than have a million tiny mistakes that happen because they're all trying to do everything live.
U2 have used backing tracks, Genesis have used backing tracks, Rush have, Paul McCartney has, Prince has. It doesn't really matter to me if not all instruments are live, if the key instruments are, and the band are all playing.
Honestly, I wouldn't like seeing hundreds of other musicians with them on stage, because that is what I pay money for - seeing Coldplay and not 'seeing Coldplay and a couple of other people playing Coldplay songs'. If they would bring some people playing the strings during Viva La Vida on stage, it would probably be a bit crowded on stage. Also it would take some time so that you spend a lot more time watching people going on and off stage and roadies carrying hundreds of instruments. If those other musicians weren't on stage but backstage playing their parts, there will be people like you saying they can't actually see the instruments and I find it kind of frustrating for the musicians to be hidden.
They would have to be paid and would need to be on stage, which makes it a crowded place. So I prefer backing tracks over extra musicians. Besides Coldplay played most of the other instruments for Viva La Vida themselves and it would simply not sound the same.
The Grammys, when they did Politik, with loads of Orchastra, why not Viva. I personally dont care if it sounds rubbish, which it wont, Id be proud of my boys for trying to make it as live as possible:smug:
yeah. Muse is just 3 people, but in the Big butterflies and hurricanes performance ( the one where the singer is wearing a red suit, and all the instruments are shiny ) there was an extra guy playing the synth.
This - Morgan Nichols handles most of the extra stuff, and he does a great job of it - now Muse sounds a lot fuller. Before it had to be backing tracks on songs like Butterflies and Hurricanes and Bliss (it's really obvious in Bliss) but having him there makes things a lot more genuine in my opinion.
i struggle with this subject and this decision each time i perform as a solo artist. ...i think i tend to agree with you that ideally it is better if the music being heard is being all played live...however, just as a crutch to make the performance better atop the actual band i don't really have a problem with it
They obviously can't play a song like VLV without backing tracks, but on some tracks it seems completely unnecessary. And they definitely shouldn't use it for vocals. I remember there was a lot of fuss about the guitar tech playing acoustic guitar during Yellow in the AROBTTH days, but I had no problems with that. They didn't try to 'hide' it, he could clearly be seen at the side of the stage. But they should get rid of the backing tracks for vocals.
i think they shouldnt use any backing tracks, and even if they use, they shouldnt pretend to sing like guy does in the ooooh part in VLV or play like chris does in the intro of LIJ(you can watch the live version on BBC to see what i mean).
I agree, and i would prefer them to be a little more spontaneous and not rely on metronomes through their In Ear Monitors for nearly every song. After all they are clearly able and versatile musicians.
Well i'd know that Matt Mcgiee played Yellow in the backstage :cool: but this time they can use the backing track for Yellow :angel: I love how he dance in Live 2003 Yellow even better than ANY OTHER DANCERS IN THE WORLD :D
But for songs like Fix You, they should really just play it. I said it in another thread and I'm going to say it again here- when I go to see a band, I don't go to see them dance. I go to see them play their music. I like them for their music, not for their dancing, so imo having a backing track just so they can dance around is not a good excuse.
They really don't need them, just as an example of a song, take Lost! (one which surprisingly has not been brought up yet..) The organ is insanely important to the song but it's played by a backing track, my question is why don't they get someone like Jon Hopkins to come on tour and play it for them (I'm not positive about this but I feel like that's him playing that part in the studio). He's definitely not some "random schmuck" which I think is an excellent point.
Plus if they had a 5th member to play keyboards and what not then I feel like setlists could be much more easily changed and there's a less risk of them completely screwing up (which is what Will did during the French festival where he set off the strings for IMP at the wrong time?)
My final thought is that it looks weird when the backing tracks are played and literally no one is playing (I'm thinking of Swallowed In The Sea here -- and that's a real shame because it's a lovely track that I really want to see return to sets)
p.s. huge pet peeve of mine is during the verse in Clocks. That is one backing track that should either be played by Jonny (instead of him standing there doing nothing) or taken out completely and let Chris mess around on the piano with the sustain pedal on. Just a thought. Hope the post wasn't too long! Cheers!
Well speaking Lost, it would make a lot of sense if Chris just played organ on that (same setup as in Fix You), and then it would be all good. I think Lost also has a backing track for the drums and backup vocals in the 2nd and 3rd verses....perhaps unnecessary. :/ On the other hand, Jonny DOES play the organ in the 1st verse (also, the 1st half of VLV) but it appears that after he leaves the synthesizer it becomes a backing track. Same goes for Chris for the keyboard in LIJ.
I noticed from their T in The Park performance they've gone more "organic" now, as in the backing tracks no longer overwhelm their actual played parts (see Lost). Let's see how it'll be on the full tour
^Regarding the "overwhelming" I think that is more related to the sound mixing at individual concerts. Sometimes the backing tracks are very clear, other times not, only because the technicians need to the really intricate job of making all the instruments/vocals sound balanced. It's pretty variable with the Scientist...I don't have a lot of videos to back me up at the moment, but the volume of the strings is really variable.
^^And "pretending to play" isn't really pretending because you can tell that when Chris or Jonny play the instrument that is on the backing track, THAT goes on top/takes over the backing track. You'll know what I mean if you listen to the instrumental bit after the 1st chorus of Lovers in Japan live at BBC 2008 because Chris makes a mistake. If that makes sense.
If I haven't said in this thread already, one thing I've realized recently is that they really DON'T need backing tracks to sound "big" or "stadium-ish".....only listen to Everything's Not Lost, Life is For Living, GPASYUF, the end of Amsterdam...
I don't mind them using backing tracks, but I would love to see them with other live musicians, it seems a bit more down to earth, especially if they interact with them (thinking Elbow here, with their string quartet).
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