EVE OF THE TOUR
I'm thrilled ! So - I hear on the grapevine - someone thought that for Fat Bottomed Girls at Fancourt we used backing tapes ? !! ha ha! We must be getting good !! We actually had a real concentrated go at polishing up the harmonies the afternoon of the gig, just quietly at the hotel. It must have paid off !! We're lucky - we have six singers in this band. It makes a big difference.
Tonight I'm feeling good - the gig willl not be perfect - we are work in progress, and we're going gently with Paul's voice ...some of the set will still be in development .... but there's a lot of good spirit in there. And a lot of fun. Freddie would have enjoyed the fun; of that I am sure. And it's loud and proud.
In Brixton we have no room for the catwalk and substage which we'll be taking on the tour ... and of course the lighting trusses won't all go in - it's our only theatre gig as such. ... And our ... well, never mind ... this is a transitional show ... but as such it will be unique .... It will be the closest, most intimate, most get-down-sweaty gig you'll probably ever see us do. It's definitely a one-off. I hope yo'all have fun. We will give it our all.
When we get back to Wembley in a few weeks' time a lot of water will have flowed under our bridges, and I imagine we will be comfortable on the big set. But tomorrow? Once more into the breach, Dear Pals !! Or as Eminem would say ....
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime ..... yo !
Now ... I'm ready. I own it. I want it.
see ya out there soon ...
Love
Bri
I heard the Fat Bottomed intro backing tape played on the Friday morning rehearsal at Fancourt. No other part of the song was rehearsed or played that morning. So, the Fat Bottomed Girls backing tracks DID exist and was ready to be used.
In my concert review at Thomas Zeidler's brilliant link I said they sang live over this backing tape intro. The vocal sounded huge and I had no doubt they used the studio material to help them. This was of course speculation, as I did not have access to the mixing desk to see what's really going on.
Now Brian writes that they rehearsed the song heavily hours before the actual show, and says no backing track was used on that one. I believe him and I am sorry if I nearly made them look like less professional than they are.
Thank you so much for your great reviews, Levente! And don't worry if you understood something wrong during the gig, after all, as you say, you had no access to inside information.
Be assured that your review was very important to us, since we were really short of information about the concert.
Cheers,
Ogre-
kohuept wrote: I'm still curious since someone reported backing tapes used on GaGa.
Any further thoughts?
It doesn't seem so from what'd Brian said. And I'm glad for it. Using backing tapes on live gig would be much bigger problem for me, than if they are or aren't Queen.
I think people are geting confused between backing tracks being openly used to augment the performance, and those used 'secretly' in trying to fool people that it is a live track. Yes, These Are The Days Of Our Lives did have the conga percussion part looped through as a backing track as Roger was singing at the front of the stage, but there was no attempt to have anyobody mime the part as if it was live. Radio Ga Ga again had the about half of the song performed with the orginal drum part on tape, with Roger at the front of stage, until he then handed over to PR and then introduced live drums halfway through. I was very dubious of the thought of backing tracks before seeing them, but thought it worked really well. There were certianly no vocals on tape, and all 6 members of the band sang which may have been why people jumped to the wrong conclusion. The harmonies on songs such as I Want It All and Hammer To Fall especially sounded stunning.