Song of the Moment: Getaway

[digster]

The Who show was also over five years ago. His voice could conceivably have declined more since then.

[evenslow]

The Who show was also over five years ago. His voice could conceivably have declined more since then.

From my anecdotal evidence, I'd say he definitely declined from '06 to '09, but I think he went back up again and sounds good in '13, other than the occasional hiccup.

[hbk]

Also Plant had almost the same amount of shows in 2013 as PJ (34 RP shows to PJ's 36).

Plant has been touring since March with large gaps in between. Seems like an easier way to do 34 shows.

Ok, if we simplify it to a single tour since 2013 had full tours for both plus other appearances.

In June/July Plant played 21 shows, took a month break and played 2 more.

In this current tour, PJ is playing 23 shows, then are taking a little more than a month break and playing 6 more.

Still not that much of a difference.

To get back to the original point, down tuning works better sometimes and it really depends on the songs and the style of music. I know its easy to hate on Metallica (and I laugh at them more than I cheer for them) but they do well with their entire catalog down tuned (metal just lends itself easier to down tuning I guess). PJ seems to catch criticism for down tuning some of their stuff. I do remember Evacuation being down tuned a few tours ago, and actually liking the way it sounded.

I don't follow the Rolling Stones or The Eagles much, but know they still tour a bit...Anyone have insight as to how their songs are represented currently?

Plant's shows are shorter than PJ's to go back to the point i made earlier.
Also it's useless to compare one singer to another because some singer's are more prone to have issues due to certain factors.

Especially Ed with his history of smoking and drinking during a show (I am aware he claims to have cut back).

[Mine]

Also Plant had almost the same amount of shows in 2013 as PJ (34 RP shows to PJ's 36).

Plant has been touring since March with large gaps in between. Seems like an easier way to do 34 shows.

Ok, if we simplify it to a single tour since 2013 had full tours for both plus other appearances.

In June/July Plant played 21 shows, took a month break and played 2 more.

In this current tour, PJ is playing 23 shows, then are taking a little more than a month break and playing 6 more.

Still not that much of a difference.

To get back to the original point, down tuning works better sometimes and it really depends on the songs and the style of music. I know its easy to hate on Metallica (and I laugh at them more than I cheer for them) but they do well with their entire catalog down tuned (metal just lends itself easier to down tuning I guess). PJ seems to catch criticism for down tuning some of their stuff. I do remember Evacuation being down tuned a few tours ago, and actually liking the way it sounded.

I don't follow the Rolling Stones or The Eagles much, but know they still tour a bit...Anyone have insight as to how their songs are represented currently?

Plant's shows are shorter than PJ's to go back to the point i made earlier.
Also it's useless to compare one singer to another because some singer's are more prone to have issues due to certain factors.

Especially Ed with his history of smoking and drinking during a show (I am aware he claims to have cut back).

Yup and this is another thing that will affect different singers to varied degrees.

[evenslow]

Just finished watching the PJ LB special on Palladia and they played Getaway normal. Ed sounded normal, as in real good.

But I could certainly see where it would be exceedingly difficult to play in the context of 30+ songs per night in the midst of a tour.

[Hatfield]

Just finished watching the PJ LB special on Palladia and they played Getaway normal. Ed sounded normal, as in real good.

But I could certainly see where it would be exceedingly difficult to play in the context of 30+ songs per night in the midst of a tour.

what is this pj lb special?

[dkfan9]

Just finished watching the PJ LB special on Palladia and they played Getaway normal. Ed sounded normal, as in real good.

But I could certainly see where it would be exceedingly difficult to play in the context of 30+ songs per night in the midst of a tour.

what is this pj lb special?

yeah, i wanna know too

[dkfan9]

some quick research gives me future airings: http://www.palladia.tv/series_sched.php?seriesID=42598

[Release_Me]

Just finished watching the PJ LB special on Palladia and they played Getaway normal. Ed sounded normal, as in real good.

But I could certainly see where it would be exceedingly difficult to play in the context of 30+ songs per night in the midst of a tour.

Yeah, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't play it normally as part of a one-off performance. I'd like to hear this version if possible.

Another possibility is that since they're just debuting these new songs live, they just don't want to set a precedent where they play them in their original key and then downtune later, eventually. This is all speculation, of course. But I can see how they would be hesitant to do this with the classics which have been played in the same key for so long. If Ed has to manage his voice, maybe he feels he'd rather do it with these newer songs which we aren't used to yet.

[Thejambi]

I thought Ed sounded pretty "meh" from the LB special performance. The band has sounded great on all of these.

[Release_Me]

So this is it. An extended version of the promo we heard about a month ago.

http://youtu.be/xjNPBlTQYtk

I think Ed sounds good on most of the tracks, including Getaway. Not perfect, but really good.

[Birds in Hell]

Yeah, it sounds like it's a bit of a stretch for him to reach the notes on that version.

I'm not sure why he keeps writing melodies that he can't sing comfortably. The songs the band plays in a lower key are almost exclusively from their three most recent records which seems kind of perverse.

[Birds in Hell]

I should point out that Stone is playing the shit out of that song in the video; that string-bending he's doing is awesome, I hope he's still doing that in the live versions.

[dprival78]

Yeah, it sounds like it's a bit of a stretch for him to reach the notes on that version.

I'm not sure why he keeps writing melodies that he can't sing comfortably. The songs the band plays in a lower key are almost exclusively from their three most recent records which seems kind of perverse.

I chalk it up to eddie's mid-life crisis. I was hoping it would be over by the time this album came out. ..maybe by the next one.

it's ok to get older eddie, really.

[harmless]

Yeah, it sounds like it's a bit of a stretch for him to reach the notes on that version.

I'm not sure why he keeps writing melodies that he can't sing comfortably. The songs the band plays in a lower key are almost exclusively from their three most recent records which seems kind of perverse.

I chalk it up to eddie's mid-life crisis. I was hoping it would be over by the time this album came out. ..maybe by the next one.

it's ok to get older eddie, really.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

I haven't watched the video from the show, but in person i though getaway sounded great live

[Release_Me]

Ed sounded really good on that version. I'd rather they perform it live like that everytime but lowering the key is something they decided keeping in mind the tour, so I'm fine with it. I'm glad he wrote the song in the key that he did because it's infinitely better that way.

I just don't get the idea that Ed shouldn't write songs which are vocally challenging just because they will be hard to sing live. Songs should be written the way that makes them sound best. If it takes Ed a hundred takes to get right, so be it. If he has to lower the key for live shows, fine. At least I'll have the studio and the one-odd performance of it live (like this one) which sounds really good.

I'd rather Ed push himself for the new albums than sing in his comfort zone. That's primarily why I liked the last three albums after the disappointment of the previous couple.

The only reason I can think of for the newer songs being downtuned in preference to some of the older stuff which is equally taxing is because the old ones will start to sound 'off' if they lower their key. We're used to them being performed the way they are for years and years. That said, Ed doesn't sing some of the more difficult songs from their earlier albums with anywhere near the same intensity every night. Deep, Once, Jeremy, Blood, Glorified G, Leash, RVM, STBC, Corduroy, Given To Fly, etc. are not sung the same way anymore. They might not have lowered the key but Ed doesn't put the same effort into them that he used to night in and night out. He stays within himself.

[harmless]

I just don't get the idea that Ed shouldn't write songs which are vocally challenging just because they will be hard to sing live. Songs should be written the way that makes them sound best.

Songs should be written to Ed's voice. I think Getaway is a pretty good song, but let's not pretend that Ed couldn't be writing similarly great songs that he was capable of singing in recorded and live contexts. Good songs and performable songs are not mutually exclusive concepts.

[evenslow]

I just don't get the idea that Ed shouldn't write songs which are vocally challenging just because they will be hard to sing live.

[Mike]

It would be totally okay to write songs he can't pull off perfectly if they did not talk about "writing songs that would be great live" all the time. "Oh yeah, we're keeping it simpler so it will be good live, blablabalbla live live concerts blablalba but Ed will not write vocal melodies that he can sing live. That would make too much sense"