The First Gig: Anselmo Valencia Ampitheater Tucson, AZ 4/24/12 (SETLIST/REVIEWS)

[18thofMay]

BTW Brian really sound sgood on Surfer Girl..... *cough*

That would certainly be nice to hear, wouldn't it?

Just awoke from a massive Anzac day to all this great news. How does one hear this ?

[Runaways]

Where are you guys hearing this???

[seltaeb1012002]

Just out of curiousity, has Brian ever had live autotune on his voice before, and did anybody notice anything weird about Brian's leads from last night?

No, he hasn't used autotune live before based on everything I've seen/heard.

And if he were to start, well, that would suck. Especially if it was obvious.   

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Where are you guys hearing this???

Was wondering as well...

[pixletwin]

Just out of curiousity, has Brian ever had live autotune on his voice before, and did anybody notice anything weird about Brian's leads from last night?

No, he hasn't used autotune live before based on everything I've seen/heard.

And if he were to start, well, that would suck. Especially if it was obvious.   

Only TWGMTR sounded like Brian had some crazy live autotune on his voice.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Just out of curiousity, has Brian ever had live autotune on his voice before, and did anybody notice anything weird about Brian's leads from last night?

No, he hasn't used autotune live before based on everything I've seen/heard.

And if he were to start, well, that would suck. Especially if it was obvious.   

Only TWGMTR sounded like Brian had some crazy live autotune on his voice.

Probably just Jeff... lol

[stack-o-tracks]

Where are you guys hearing this???

Was wondering as well...

Me too.... Hopefully not torrent sites because I still haven't gotten all that set up on my new-ish machine.

[anazgnos]

Just out of curiousity, has Brian ever had live autotune on his voice before, and did anybody notice anything weird about Brian's leads from last night?

No, he hasn't used autotune live before based on everything I've seen/heard.

And if he were to start, well, that would suck. Especially if it was obvious.   

Only TWGMTR sounded like Brian had some crazy live autotune on his voice.

Listen to the ending of Heroes & Villains, "I'm fit with the stuff to ride in the rough".  It sounds like some badly tracking vocoder jittering back & forth between two notes.  I really would like to be wrong, and otherwise I'm hoping it was just an opening night security blanket that all concerned will quickly realize is unnecessary, since Brian really sounds pretty great as far as his enthusiasm level & general presence.

[Craig Boyd]

Where are you guys hearing this?? Let me in ha! 

[JohnMill]

Where are you guys hearing this?? Let me in ha! 

Me too come on I can't wait another month till my show!

[Domino]

Just out of curiousity, has Brian ever had live autotune on his voice before, and did anybody notice anything weird about Brian's leads from last night?

No, he hasn't used autotune live before based on everything I've seen/heard.

And if he were to start, well, that would suck. Especially if it was obvious.   

Only TWGMTR sounded like Brian had some crazy live autotune on his voice.

Listen to the ending of Heroes & Villains, "I'm fit with the stuff to ride in the rough".  It sounds like some badly tracking vocoder jittering back & forth between two notes.

Yeah, that was horrible.

[Shady]

Where are you guys hearing this?? Let me in ha! 

This

[adavidw]

Mike & Bruce have played Tucson several times in recent years (Brian never)...

*koff* 2009 Fiesta Bowl Invitational show.

Andrew, I see your site lists the 2009 show in Tuscon (the town too tough to spell; US joke). However, the Fiesta Bowl is held in Phoenix, where, perhaps by coincidence, The Phoenician is located. Even though I'm 99.99% sure my original statement about Brian not playing here in Tucson is correct, I guess I'll only politely challenge your koff; not sure how to disprove it. I DO know I'd feel terrible if I missed a BW show in my own town.   

I'm just going to get a bit pedantic for a moment. The Phoenician, where Brian played, is actually in Scottsdale. And, the Fiesta Bowl is played at the University of Phoenix Stadium, which, despite its name, is actually in Glendale. For most of its life, the Fiesta Bowl was played at ASU Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.

This is all in the Phoenix area, of course, and to most of us from Tucson, we don't care about the fine points. Anything in that God-forsaken concrete sprawl up north is all "Phoenix" to us.

[adavidw]

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/media/images/medium2/20120425114514854.jpg

Just wanted to mention to AGD that it appears Al is playing a Strat on the tour!  

Al was playing a blue Jaguar at the beginning of the show and many times throughout, but switched to the white Strat frequently. David Marks stayed on his blue Jaguar the entire time. Scott and Jeff switched probably every song, so I lost count of who was playing what there.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Where are you guys hearing this?? Let me in ha! 

This

[adavidw]

There's a *lot* of Brian leads, actually -- he does Little Girl I Once Knew as well as the other ones noted. Someone (Jeff or Cowsill or possibly both) has to cover for him on the first middle eight on Sail On Sailor when he completely forgets the words, but the rest of the lead is as good as I've heard him singing that song. (On Sail On Sailor you *can* hear the backing band singing). He's great on Heroes & Villains, too. This is a *really* good show...

Was John Cowsill singing? I had a great seat but still couldn't tell. There was no boom mike or anything, so he would have had to have a headset, but I couldn't see anything like that. I suppose with a 10 piece backing band, just about all of whom were singing, his voice isn't strictly needed.

As an aside, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone hit the drums harder than John Cowsill at last night's show.

[adavidw]

From Probyn -- he and Mikey are actually sharing bass guitar duties.

They may be sharing, but from what I could see at last night's show, it's 90% Mikey on bass, 10% Probyn.

[Wirestone]

Just out of curiousity, has Brian ever had live autotune on his voice before, and did anybody notice anything weird about Brian's leads from last night?

No, he hasn't used autotune live before based on everything I've seen/heard.

And if he were to start, well, that would suck. Especially if it was obvious.  

Only TWGMTR sounded like Brian had some crazy live autotune on his voice.

Listen to the ending of Heroes & Villains, "I'm fit with the stuff to ride in the rough".  It sounds like some badly tracking vocoder jittering back & forth between two notes.  I really would like to be wrong, and otherwise I'm hoping it was just an opening night security blanket that all concerned will quickly realize is unnecessary, since Brian really sounds pretty great as far as his enthusiasm level & general presence.

Joe Thomas tried it when he worked with Brian last -- hooking up this weird reverb unit to Brian's voice when he played on Steve Dahl's radio show. This is the one thing I don't like about BW working with the Boys -- I suspect they're still a little embarrassed by him. His own group has never been afraid to push him up in the mix, warts and all.

[Tord]

I'd love to hear something from this show!
I thought there would be plenty of Youtube videos from the first reunion concert, but so far only Kokomo has been uploaded (and it's already gone).

[ontor pertawst]

Hell, hook him up to some pitch shifters and have him howl a LOVE YOU song ala The Residents, fine with me.

[amonomous]

BTW Brian really sound sgood on Surfer Girl..... *cough*

I'll be at the show this Sunday in Raleigh, NC, really enjoying this thread and the new single.. I'm torn though between the "I hope so and so is still there by this time...." type comments and the "they get better/more comfortable & incorporate more deep cuts (seeing IJWMFTT live would be amazing for instance) as they go along"  ones.. :/ I'm just happy to see all five of them together and as long as they don't rotate "Please Let Me Wonder" out of the set I'll be more than satisfied with what I've seen so far setlist-wise. I was too late to see the Kokomo video (it's gone) but I'm definitely Gettin' Hungry (couldn't resist) for more than just still pics (though the pics and updates have been *GREAT*) Thank you to everyone who has contributed, I'm really let down by the no camera policy and hope I can still get some shots but anything I am able to get I will cherish and share afterward.

[anazgnos]

Just out of curiousity, has Brian ever had live autotune on his voice before, and did anybody notice anything weird about Brian's leads from last night?

No, he hasn't used autotune live before based on everything I've seen/heard.

And if he were to start, well, that would suck. Especially if it was obvious.   

Only TWGMTR sounded like Brian had some crazy live autotune on his voice.

Listen to the ending of Heroes & Villains, "I'm fit with the stuff to ride in the rough".  It sounds like some badly tracking vocoder jittering back & forth between two notes.  I really would like to be wrong, and otherwise I'm hoping it was just an opening night security blanket that all concerned will quickly realize is unnecessary, since Brian really sounds pretty great as far as his enthusiasm level & general presence.

Joe Thomas tried it when he worked with Brian last -- hooking up this weird reverb unit to Brian's voice when he played on Steve Dahl's radio show. This is the one thing I don't like about BW working with the broader group -- I suspect they're still a little embarrassed by him. His own group has never been afraid to push him up in the mix, warts and all.

That's really interesting.  It is like hearing him sing through an flanger pedal or something, it's totally unsubtle and doesn't suit the music at all. Somebody in the booth must realize it's not making him sound "better".  Part of me was wondering if Brian actually wants it, like he's gotten so used to using it in the studio that he expects it all the time now.

[AndrewHickey]

Was John Cowsill singing? I had a great seat but still couldn't tell. There was no boom mike or anything, so he would have had to have a headset, but I couldn't see anything like that. I suppose with a 10 piece backing band, just about all of whom were singing, his voice isn't strictly needed.

As an aside, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone hit the drums harder than John Cowsill at last night's show.

I can hear him (I think) on the tag of Sail On Sailor. I'd be amazed if he wasn't singing, as he's probably the single best singer on the stage. He does usually use a headset, and sometimes it's quite hard to see because his hair covers most of it.

[Wirestone]

Part of me was wondering if Brian actually wants it, like he's gotten so used to using it in the studio that he expects it all the time now.

I kinda doubt it. He's never used pitch correction in his live solo shows. And believe me, some of them could have used it!

[HeyJude]

Add me to the list of people who would really love to hear recordings of the show to see what it sounds like!

As for live autotune, it does exist and some bands do use it. Every Brian gig I've been to has had no evident use of autotune. Wouldn't surprise me if they have a really lush, busy mix on this tour if they applied a bit of autotune to Brian here and there.