Posts by Gabbleratchet

For my money, the only song from IT that doesn't suffer from key changes is Land of Con

Quote from absinthe_boy

What really surprised me was that there was nothing from Supper's Ready. Nic appeared to confirm that Apocalypse onwards had made the cut in several interviews, but now it appears that it was dropped quite early in rehearsals.

I'm not surprised. I recall having a recording from radio of them doing those sections after In the Cage on the IT tour and Phil struggled with the vocals (in 9/8 as I recall), which I suspect is why when I saw them we got In that Cage->Quiet Earth ->Afterglow.

I'm not sure how far they'd have to drop the key, but it'd be significant.

Quote from Titangas

Seeing Hackett in Durham in April.

Just got tix to see Steve in Boulder in May. Haven't seen him since he was in GTR, so that will be a treat as will hearing Second Out.

Quote from choccy

No idea, depends if they can all do a show without making mistakes.

That never stopped them before. There are mistakes on the Mama video (can’t recall if there are on IT or 3 Sides)

MSG2 and the Friday Long Island show (I think that's LI 1)

Quote from drw4d

100% with Abacab '87; way too fast. I definitely prefer the earlier versions of that when it's slowed down a bit.

Both the 3SL and Mama Tour were good versions of Abacab. TBH, I wasn't a big fan of the IT tour. I much preferred the WCD tour (though I liked the light design of Mama and IT over it). Anyone know what happned to Alan Owen? As I recall, he wasn't involved on WCD, though someone else with his surname was credited with lighting.

Quote from Mild Mannered Superman

Mick Jagger, with some exceptions ("Paint It Black") still handles just about every song in their original key, and his falsetto is very strong even at 78. Paul Stanley is in worse shape vocally than Phil is, in my opinion. Phil at least knows his limitations.

Didn't mick use to tune down a lot? I swear every live recording I heard in the 80s and early 90s he sounded significantly lower than the album version...even on satisfaction, which seems like a pretty easy song to me.

Quote from pcontos

If they did rehearse [Abacab] though, I fear that it would be the edited version since that again is what is on the CD set. That to me would be worse than not playing it at all

That would be worse. I'm not a big fan of the single edit, but if I was doing a compilation, Abacab would either be a live version or the Single. I've never liked the sparse instrumental section on the album.

Quote from Sentinel

I’ve only seen the last few tours and they seem to swap between ‘dark and moody’ intros, like Mama, and ‘bright and confident’ starters like Abacab or the Duke suite. Like you, I think I prefer a moody start. Going back, historically they’d start with numbers like Watcher or Squonk, so there doesn’t seem to be a pattern.

I wonder what thinking goes on when they’re planning the order?

FWIW, From 77 - 1998 (excluding festival gigs and the 3SL tour), they opened shows with a song from the previous album (respectively Squonk, 11th Earl, Motherlode, Behind the Lines, Dodo/Lurker, Mama, Land, No Son)

Quote from Dr. John

I thought they only did Mama at the beginning of the tour and then dropped it because it was too difficult vocally for Phil.

That is correct (and Dreaming was played for all of them, except Foxboro). I saw it in Houston, and I don’t recall him struggling on it, but that was only show 2.

Quote from choccy

Mike usually was the guy who didn't want to play Suppers Ready especially in it's full form, but there was no way Phil could have got through A9/8 - he struggled enough with Home by the Sea in parts last night.

The recording I heard of them doing that part on the IT tour was really rough, so I can’t even imagine Phil singing. OTOH, if they could somehow segue in after 9/8, he might have been able to pull it off in a lower key. But I’m perfectly happy to listen to Seconds out or a live recording from 82.