Was just asking another dude about this possibility and I figured I'd throw it up on here and just have a nice discussion about something mild... :Spin:
Back in the day I went to the Milwaukee Summerfest with a couple of friends of mine. In case you are not familiar with this, this is basically a massive outdoor carnival/musical festival/eating/drinking/getting stoned extravanganza that happens every year in Milwaukee in the middle of Summer for about two solid weeks. During this sheebang they draw all sorts of national touring acts, mostly being comprised of the pop variety. The park that this is usually held at has the Marcus Ampitheater in it, which is a major outdoor venue. So it is a really interesting setting with multiple stages to enjoy whatever act might float your boat at the time.
Well when we went (1994), we bought tickets to see Yes for $10 on the first day, and for the next day our stubs allowed us to get in the next day and get free lawn tickets to see Metallica/Suicidal Tendencies/Danzig. Free was a pretty good price to be paying for that show :Spin:
Yes were touring on their "reunion" album Talk with the classic OU812 lineup (notably Trevor Rabin on guitar-what a talent!) So there were five members of Yes, all very talented musicians. But what was new (at the time) for me was seeing a sixth member, who was introduced by Jon Anderson as "our helper Billy Sherwood". Billy was still on the stage, but over to the right and slightly more towards the back of the stage as to not overshadow any of the official members. Sherwood played rythym guitar, keyboards, and sung backing vocal harmonies with the rest of the band. I thought that was such a cool idea, get somebody who is still not a member of the group but pay him to tour and present the songs a lot closer to their actual album versions.
So the basic point of my post is: as a fan, would you be open to the idea of adding an extra touring musician to certain bands to create the sound of the albums live better? As I mentioned already, I think it is a cool idea. And the band that first comes to my mind as a perfect candidate would be Rush. If you have ever seen Rush, they are a phenomenally tallented group with a massive catalog of classic songs. But it always bothers me a bit when they pull out a song with all sorts of backing taped keyboard parts, but all you see is guitar, bass, and drums being played by the band.
What do you guys think?
Back in the day I went to the Milwaukee Summerfest with a couple of friends of mine. In case you are not familiar with this, this is basically a massive outdoor carnival/musical festival/eating/drinking/getting stoned extravanganza that happens every year in Milwaukee in the middle of Summer for about two solid weeks. During this sheebang they draw all sorts of national touring acts, mostly being comprised of the pop variety. The park that this is usually held at has the Marcus Ampitheater in it, which is a major outdoor venue. So it is a really interesting setting with multiple stages to enjoy whatever act might float your boat at the time.
Well when we went (1994), we bought tickets to see Yes for $10 on the first day, and for the next day our stubs allowed us to get in the next day and get free lawn tickets to see Metallica/Suicidal Tendencies/Danzig. Free was a pretty good price to be paying for that show :Spin:
Yes were touring on their "reunion" album Talk with the classic OU812 lineup (notably Trevor Rabin on guitar-what a talent!) So there were five members of Yes, all very talented musicians. But what was new (at the time) for me was seeing a sixth member, who was introduced by Jon Anderson as "our helper Billy Sherwood". Billy was still on the stage, but over to the right and slightly more towards the back of the stage as to not overshadow any of the official members. Sherwood played rythym guitar, keyboards, and sung backing vocal harmonies with the rest of the band. I thought that was such a cool idea, get somebody who is still not a member of the group but pay him to tour and present the songs a lot closer to their actual album versions.
So the basic point of my post is: as a fan, would you be open to the idea of adding an extra touring musician to certain bands to create the sound of the albums live better? As I mentioned already, I think it is a cool idea. And the band that first comes to my mind as a perfect candidate would be Rush. If you have ever seen Rush, they are a phenomenally tallented group with a massive catalog of classic songs. But it always bothers me a bit when they pull out a song with all sorts of backing taped keyboard parts, but all you see is guitar, bass, and drums being played by the band.
What do you guys think?