A thought about lead and backing vocals
 

I guess it's pretty obvious for everyone that Jon's voice is too annoying from the first show of the Burning Bridges Tour.

I was listening today to the live version of "The radio saved my life tonight" (2005 I guess) and noticed that Jon sings one octave down and Richie or/and David sing the original high melody. The result is pretty good, and for sure better than Jon's struggling to reach the high notes. It is enjoyable and a great performance!

I wonder, could they transform any other songs in that way? For example, HAND is too difficult for Jon to sing the chorus. David could also sing the same melody with Jon to create a more full and stable vocal sound or, Jon and David could even switch their melodies. David singing the lead and Jon one third lower. Only for the chorus.

Do you think that would be "acceptable", are there any other bands that have experimented with their vocals, and could that make the output sound better than today's?

In order to maintain a more general discussion, what do you think could improve their (vocal) sound? A better mixing? More backing vocals? Something else?

I posted in Tour discussion because it's a problem that we hear only in live performances

Honestly, I don't think it would work. Simply because more and more post 2000 the songs contain more of Jon's lower register than the 80s/90s songs to fit his changing voice. They're lowered to the point where he can't go as low as needed to go one octave below. Dave does cover a lot for Jon, sometimes singing the same notes he is to strengthen the part. Them switching around who sings what part might be an interesting experiment, I'd love to see if it helps. Jon singing Radio that much lower changes the feel of the song entirely.

A few years ago Kiss lowered their tunings a full step down (From 1/2 a step, mind you) and it just makes certain songs sound sluggish but harder.

Aloha !

Yeah... I don't think so. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight is rubbish to me, the way they're performing it. It'd be nice if it was done like that in the acoustic way but as for the current rendition... The verses are a perfect build up and then the chorus lets down the entire song.

They have already started doing this, going back to 2005 when Bobby joined. When Jon's voice was ruined in 2008 early performances of Bed Of Roses had Bobby singing the higher harmony and Jon singing a lower one. To this day Jon sounds as good as he does on the chorus because Bobby backed him up. Nowadays David does a lot of backing vocals for Have A Nice Day because Jon can't carry the tune anymore, and the higher parts of We Don't Run are sung by the band as well. And then there's the samples of Prayer, the band hasn't sung the chorus live in 20 years and has been miming to the same vocal samples the last 10 years.

Aerosmith have had the keyboard player sing the higher parts of certain songs while Steven sang the lower harmony. Steven sings the high part once, and for the rest of the chorus it's the keyboard player. Dude (Looks Like A Lady) is the perfect example of this:


Just check the chorus, it's either a prerecorded sample they're using or it's the keyboard player. Or both. Steven has been known to mime the intro nowadays because his voice has started to break down the last few years. It's however with about 2 or 3 songs with Aerosmith, and Steven Tyler has enough energy left in his voice to make up for it elsewhere.

The problem with Bon Jovi is that David just hasn't got a voice capable of singing lead, or covering for Jon. It just sounds off. And the problem with the state of Jon's voice right now isn't so much the high notes, he's got no range to begin with. You'd wind up with a band singing the chorus, and Jon filling in the verses. It just wouldn't work.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I'm all for more David vocals, better still give him "In These Arms" every night... Just not "Bed Of Roses" :p

Isn't it an example of Jon's double track? Or just the echo due to an open air concert?

Singapore, 9/20
https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hp...05431010_n.mp4
(c)0shee81

I don't know what is double track technically, but what was the thing I witnessed during the 2013 tour ? I was really surprised when in sofia in 2013 Jon left the stage (caught by some serious allergy I think though he was not coughing) and he let Dave sing In These Arms alone and all of sudden you hear extremely clearly Jon scream (not back vocals to me) - Dave was himself quite surprised by it - as it was during a time he was not singing himself and couldn't cover Jon's voice fast enough - he panicked a bit but not many noticed (I recorded the song in full )

Is it a normal practice ? I asked a few friends and they told me they all do it ....

Interesting. Is that online anywhere, I'd love to see it.

Maybe they use a backing track for some vocals of Jon and he left the stage having that forgotten?

I don't think it's the echo since the "second Jon" sings a different melody

It is mine -not from someone else - can put it online I will need time to find it in my numerous external hard drives . I shared back then with a few friends but felt bad as if I was a betrayer so I never put it open to the public :( it think it is something that is always used but not easily removable (like we got Richie back vocals even if he was not on stage)

it somehow broke my vision of the LIVE concept