I prefer to hear the music live the way I first encountered it on the radio or first heard it on the album / CD. Doesnt have to be an exact reproduction, but a reasonable facsimile would be nice. Some bands will change the entire fucking song into something totally different, add or eliminate music, the singer wont sing it the way it is on the original cut. Which bands are the worst offenders of this and does it bother you when they do?

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

no it doesn't bother me at all. if I wanted to hear exact duplication of the album version, I'd listen to the album. granted if you go see the Police and all you want to hear is Don't Stand So Close to Me and they play a raggae version of it, you'd probably be pissed. but i really like improvisation, it's part of the live experience.

This

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Agreed 100%. The unique versions you hear of songs in concert is what makes shows memorable.

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Team Cutler.

Some of the bands that I really love do this.

Mettallica does a medley of their early stuff.....hate that. Play the good stuff in it's entirety for cryin' out loud!

Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters has insisted on combining acoustic into "Everlong" for every performance now. It was cool at first, but give me the all plugged in version any day.

I don't mind the variation which makes it memorable, but make it close.

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

Its a matter of degree.

A little changeup, Oasis playing Dont Look Back in Anger at a faster tempo with an electric guitar and no piano, is good

But some of these assholes seem to get off on changing the tone, time, and lyrics of EVERY song. Its not to make the song better. If youre just throwing in random 2 second pauses to throw the audience off, youre just being a dick

For the type of music I listen to (guitar driven blues), improvisation is what I'm counting on. I guess overall I agree that I want the song to resemble the original. But I certainly want to hear something different. In my case, I want new solos... longer, louder, whatever.

first thing I thought of...plus, James would sing all of the older material differently after the Black album.
"Woaah...woman...YeaaaH!"
another reason why the Black album sucks.

The Pumpkins have redone quite a few of their songs over the years...I always enjoy hearing new versions. Disarm, Tonight Tonight, Ava Adore, etc...

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@audioidkid

well to this point- doesn't that song have a lot of strings or non-guitar instruments? for example I saw Blur twice touring for the same album- an album that was heavy on horns and such. The first time they were just a 4 piece band, the next time they had a horn section with them. so yeah, with music that isn't just guitar/bass/drums you tend to get more improvisation just because a band isn't going to lug an entire orchestra around with them on tour

as for the original question though, I find Yo La Tengo are one band that does a great deal of improvisation life and not just guitar solos, the entire structure is different which I think was badrogue's original point

As long as the song still sounds good then its usually cool and unique. If you are out to make an artistic statement and hack the shit out of it or turn it into spoken word then I don't want to hear it.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I once heard Guns N Roses change every song at a concert, but unintentionally. I thought Slash was gonna fall off the stage.

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken

Aye, it just begs the question, would a person even have started liking a particular band if the way they play a song in concert is so far removed from the way they originally recorded it . Im sure that doing this livens up the song for the band who are tired of playing the same song a zillion times if they've been around awhile, but in doing so , makes the song a shadow of what it used to be. Some people would not buy the ticket to see the band if they knew songs they came to hear were going to be changed so much.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

If you equate seeing a live musical performance to seeing a play or a movie, wouldn't one want the play or movie to be the same each time so they're getting there money's worth?

Edit: Obviously a movie is not going to change or be edited for every viewing.

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

well...the recorded version of Tonight Tonight is pretty gay. They did play it all orchestral and crap early in the MCIS Tour. They rock it as a four piece now.
Disarm is done electric with drums, although there was violin and cello....
Ava Adore is all rocking since that was the album they didn't have a drummer and Billy programmed everything...
damnit...

alright, bad example.

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@audioidkid

Have you had some sort of bad experience that is bringing up all this anger?

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bands don't fiddle with their songs to make their songs worse...they are trying to make them more interesting for themselves and the audience.

if there is a 5 minute jam in the middle of big hit song X by super band J, does that make the song a shadow of what it used to be?

i think that stuff is cool and lends to the experience of the live show.

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@audioidkid

There are occasions where, when I find a live recorded version of something that enhanced the song, it usually winds up on my mp3 player.

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Honestly DB I really havent, theres no anger just curiosity.I stated my preferences in the OP but was just wondering how others felt about it.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

What about when some third-rate act does a shitty cover of a classic in concert? Like this one time a friend dragged (drug?) me to a Joni Mitchell/Bob Dylan show. And Dylan did a cover of one of my favorite Jimi Hendrix tunes. But it was all wrong--nasally vocals and slowed down, chuggy/bouncy sound instead of the driving sound of Hendrix' original. I was like "learn to write your own songs, old man!"

If it was All Along the Watchtower, that's a fucking Dylan song that Hendrix covered.

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Yeah, but maybe you're thinking of Dave Matthews Band.

Thats some tough sledding when Joni Mitchell is the good looking one .

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

compared to dylan? she'd still come out on top.

speaking of which, dylan is the first person i thought of with this thread. he is one of those that insists on playing a completely different version of his song live.

i don't mind it to a degree, but sometimes you do want to hear a "live" version of a recorded song, to capture the energy that you first felt when you heard it.

recording songs blows. it's so tedious and time consuming, and everything has to be just right. it's the most boring part of writing/playing music. so maybe artists don't want it to sound like the record because they spent 11 hours in a studio doing it the same way over and over again. you have to let them take their own artistic license with their own stuff.

i don't care if you want to play something completely different; just get on the damn stage sometime before midnight, ya jerks!!

Youre gay


Whats wrong with it? I find it to be one of their most Heterosexual songs.



U2's album version of Please is terrible. They re recorded the single and played it that way live...it was awesome.


Thats fine

But Urlacher's Missing Neck put it perfectly...sometimes their out to hack the shit out of it or make it spoken word,

A lot of times when these bands change "tone" (tune down), they are doing so to accomodate their singer. As a U2 fan, you should be very familiar with this.

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Well then my music lingo is wrong.

U2 doesnt do what im referring to.


Im talking about Adam Duritz taking 11 minutes to sing the 4 minute long Round Here so he can put 20 second pauses between words.

Oh ok, I thought you were talking about something else then.

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Good call. Counting Crows is one of the biggest offenders of doing this.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

it's those anti-depressant pills kicking in.

Last time I saw Son Volt in concert Farrar was doing some odd, metallish versions of old Tupelo songs. Simultaneously interesting and offputting.

I always like the way Tweedy changes the lyrics to Heavy Metal Drummer in concert. The extended, slowed down version of New Madrid Wilco was doing a few years back was just fantastic. I love the acoustic version of Gun Tweedy does in his solo shows.

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