Have A Nice Day live

Having heard the Live 8 version and the WMA version I am a little concerned as to how this will sound on tour. The version they first played at the AMA was by far the better. Hopefully, they'll be able to look back at all the promo and warm up gigs and address the problems that have made it sound so average.

I'd agree totaly with you, from the two performances I've heard (Live8 and WMA's) there's something seriously lacking but I don't think it's Jon. I thought his vocal on both performances were very good. They certainly weren't as strong as the studio version but then again they were never gonna be, Jon never gives 100% of his vocal cabability live, simply to protect his voice and it's particularly noticable of strong songs like this. Look at "Hey God" or "Keep The Faith", he never sang them as strong live as he did in the studio but they still sound terrific live because musically there still strong. The problem with HAND live is that is sounds really flat. At the AMA's Richies guitar was really prevelant and the song sounded really strong, at live8 and particularly at the WMA's, his guitar was barley audible.

To be honest I thought Jon sounded very good at the WMA's, like I said before, he certainly could've sang the chorus a bit stonger but overall it was excellent. The funny thing is, he sang the chorus very well at Live8 but the verses were kinda weak and at the WMA's he sang the verses superbly but the chorus was just alright. I've no doubt if they can sort the sound out with Richies guitar they can really make this a killer live song, even if it dosen't have the same strength as the studio version. The same thing happened with Everyday. The first few times they performed it, it wasn't great at all but they finally cracked it and now it sounds really good live.

Just for the record, I vastly prefer IML played live to the studio version. I think it sounds much rockier live then the studio version.

Edited to say that at both performances I mentioned, there were two guitarists, not one. Bobby played at live8 and John Shanks played at the WMA's. The problem is definetly with Richies guitar.


Phil

recording lead vocals goes kinda like this: the singer goes into the recording room and they record several tracks (meaning the song is sung a few times from a-z) then the producer and all the important guys come together to listen to the tracks and they take the best lines from the various tracks and "copy and paste" them to one continous piece. this is the norm- i've seen it several times. it has been done with HAND as well, i'm sure. no-one gets it first take the thing is the HAND is sometimes quite fast and at a very high range so it's really difficult to do it live- maybe they should drop it another half tune...

I have to say but seb thats a nice sig you got there

right, i can see sebs point, but honestly, if we wanted an exact recreation of the album live why dont they just blast the cd out of the PA and have the band mime?!?

Making an album is like working on a piece of art, you can work away at it, rework bits, mould other bits,cut and paste, rub bits out - its the finished product thats important, not how many times you had to try it or how long it took you. Weather a track has layers of guitars, or drum loops etc shouldnt really be a negative aspect, aslong as it is the band members intentional input. We just may not prefer the sound.

And its not as if Jons voice on the new album is some computer generated robot voice is it now, its still him singing on there - its just his best performance of that song captured on cd. Very few people can recreate exactly what is on their records, and to be honest i think that is a good thing - we want something a little different when we hear them live.

That saying, yes some songs just sound pants live and maybe shouldnt be performed such as 'radio' and 'i believe', but thats another topic. I think HAND still sounds fine live, obv better on the album but still acceptable live.



andi

Haven't seen the WMA performance yet, we don't get it until the 13th, but I have seen this song performed live in person twice now. and have seen the live 8 and cmt clips. here's what I get out of all of it.
1) live 8: done a bit slow for some reason, Jon does sing the wrong chorus after the last verse, but his vocals are strong.
2) Cmt clip: Jon's vocals are very strong here, this one may not be a fair example because they are incorporating another singer.
3) Brew ha: the band and Jon nailed this song, the best live version of it I've heard.
4) Soaring Eagle: This wasn't a great show overall but Jon sounded stronger on this song than almost any other.
Overall, I think that making a decision that this song is going to be crap live is premature. The band has done this song live what 4 or 5 times?? I do think it takes Jon a while to get his breathing down on a new song in a live setting. Unlike the band Jon's live performance is very different than him standing in front of the mic in the studio and there is no real way for him to practice it except for doing it live, something they haven't done alot of to this point. The two times I saw it live it was very energetic.
Honestly, i'm not sure they have tuned this one down yet Seb, although I would expect that they will by tour time.
As for doctoring vocals in the studio, don't most artists do several takes and put the best performances of a song on a record?? If you are saying the vocals have been digitally enhanced, that I won't go for. Those vocals are Jon singing, maybe not all the same take but they are Jon singing.

you know- they actually could get together when they've got an evening off and r-e-h-e-a-r-s-e! i know it's not jon's favourite thing to do but it would improve the live appearance a lot!

p.s.: this is not specially towards HAND- it's aimed at all bj songs

Gotta chime in with something that was mentioned. The Distance is brilliant live. That solo at the end really makes the song IMO. Was that meant to be on the album version and if so why was it taken out?

Martin you're right they could but considering that they live in three different places when not working.... They have always used pre-tour appearances as warmups to work the kinks out of songs. And rehearsals don't do much for Jon getting his breathing down, unless he's in front of an audience I doubt he's doing all the jumping/moving around he does live, which changes your breathing.
I just watched the CMT clip again, and on this one Jon does the oohs after the guitar solo, but not the earlier ones, it reminded me that this is how he did it live as well, theres no need for him to do them live both Bobby and Jeff were doing them along with Richie, Dave and Hugh.
I still say it's just too early to say what this is going to be like at tour time, I'm not saying that what Seb said may not end up being true, I just think that critism based on a couple of recorded shows neither one of which was a BJ show is premature.

From what I understand it's not just Jon that doesn't like to rehearse but NONE of the guys.

deb