Live Grammy Discussion Thread

[Ron]

but he's not a guitarist by trade, he's a bassist

Just stop with this line, it's ridiculous.  There is no sense in which Paul McCartney is "not a guitarist".  He's always been a guitarist.  He has a level of skill on guitar that any novice should grovel to attain.  The fact that he has an equal level of skill on drums, keys, and vocals, or the fact that you've seen him more often with a bass in his hand in public appearances doesn't make him "not a guitarist".  He ended up on bass in the Beatles as a matter of convenience, and he's happy to oblige the public's desire for his Beatles image in an ongoing way, but he has never not been a guitarist.

Let me spell it out for you since you still don't understand.

Bruce Springsteen gets acclaim for playing guitar.  He ONLY plays guitar.  He played lead last night on "The End", like Harrison/McCartney/Lennon did.  

Standing next to him was Paul McCartney.  Paul McCartney is known as being one of the greatest *BASS* players of all time.  Paul is known, worldwide, for his piano playing.  The THIRD instrument Paul is good at, is GUITAR.  On the instrument he's THIRD best at, he's MUCH better than Bruce Springsteen.

How you and others can't get the comparison I'm making is beyond me.  Paul is a better bassist than he is a guitarist.  THATS A FACT.

Paul is a better pianist than he is a guitarist.  

THAT IS A FACT.

Third, Paul is so great on guitar he ate Bruce Springsteen ALIVE at 70 years old.

Bruce let a 70 year old BILLIONAIRE roll him up and smoke him on stage last night.  

That is all.  

[Ron]

Why are you guys giving Ron a hard time about this. His point is simple: Paul is a great guitar player. He's always been a great guitar player. You can hear evidence of his great guitar playing on all those songs. And what's funny about all that is that ultimately he is known for being the bass player while John and George were known for being the guitar player. Put it this way, if you were to draw a picture of The Beatles with them each playing an instrument, would it be more likely that you draw Paul playing a guitar than either a bass or a piano? If you were to see a mock Beatles band live, would you find it unquestionable if the Paul character played guitar through the whole show, not playing a bass or a piano once?

Exactly, that's the whole point, I'm saying Paul is so fucking great at guitar, his THIRD instrument, that he just owned one of the most beloved guitarists around. 

If Paul played piano, he's even better, and if by chance he played bass, nobody could touch him. 

I'm not dissing Paul, I'm a huge Paul fan, always have been, know many of his songs on guitar and love them all.  Guys I ride around playing "C Moon" in my car.  My McCartney credentials don't need to be suspect. 

[anazgnos]

Paul is a better bassist than he is a guitarist.  THATS A FACT.

Paul is a better pianist than he is a guitarist.  

THAT IS A FACT.

Those are opinions.

THAT IS A FACT.

[Ron]

Ugh. f*cking terrible performance.

Oh, it wasn't that bad.  Strange, but then, what isn't?  Not going to win any new fans, but Dave certainly looked cool up there.

I heard Brian OK, but it could have been a better mix.  Grammy engineers probably not used to whoo-whoo machines.  Cannot get used to hearing WIBN in the key of D.

Foster the People did a more acceptable job, but like said above they sang it three keys low, and the lead singer has no power or strength to his voice.  Al Jardine would have murdered this song, he sings it very well and in my opinion was the best person on stage to sing it.  I liked Foster the People's vibe and the way they handled the song, but it was a bit out of their league.

I'm pretty sure Wouldn't It Be Nice it out of the league of 99% of all groups ever.

FTP's lead singer does have power and strength to his voice, he just didn't use it and along with being subdued with the lead, was nervous on top of it (vibrato didn't help on a song that doesn't need it) because of it being the biggest stage they have ever been on. Really, FTP has only been touring big stages like this for about a year and to top it off, they are playing a song off an album of a group and person the lead singer idolizes. The nerves had to be unbelievable.

Like I said I liked the vibe they gave it, and deep respect to them for the striped shirts.  I would have been scared to death!

[Ron]

Paul is a better bassist than he is a guitarist.  THATS A FACT.

Paul is a better pianist than he is a guitarist.  

THAT IS A FACT.

Those are opinions.

THAT IS A FACT.

What's your problem, Bro?  Would it make you feel better about Brucie if I said Paul McCartney is abetter guitarist than he is a bass player?

What fucking world do you live in when you think Paul plays guitar better than bass?  He's ONE OF (I'm just saying this to appease people, in my opinion he's hands down the greatest bassist of all time) ONE OF the best bass players ever.  He invented the bass sound you hear on records today, you haven't heard about the grooves ?

Bruce Springsteen sucks.  That's just what it comes down to.  Paul, McCartney is old and feebile, he may even be dead already and he ate Bruce alive last night.  I can still see it.  It was beautiful.  Paul was running across the stage pumping his hands up in the air like a 4 year old, somebody brought him out a guitar, he stood around letting Bruce try, and then used his feebile old billionaire fingers to outplay Bruce, over, and over, and over, and over again.  I think it was 5 times.  So, Over, and Over, and Over, and Over, and Over again. 

[Menace Wilson]

I thought Adam Levine sounded terrible on Surfer Girl.  Foster The People did a decent job though, and the striped shirts were a nice touch.

[joshferrell]

here is an interview with Al at the grammys...she asks him to give her his tax advice and it seems to have caught him off guard...lol..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QRJGeD1Ebc

[Cam Mott]

To me it was live so I expect a lttle rough. Love the Boys' segment rough and all. Looked like the youngsters were properly gobsmacked in the elder's presence.

I have to agree that Springsteen really muffed it during "The End" to the point I thought his guitar was broken.

[pixletwin]

I thought Adam Levine sounded terrible on Surfer Girl.  Foster The People did a decent job though, and the striped shirts were a nice touch.

When I hear his voice it reminds me of a wiggly strip of a spaghetti noodle.

[anazgnos]

Paul is a better bassist than he is a guitarist.  THATS A FACT.

Paul is a better pianist than he is a guitarist.  

THAT IS A FACT.

Those are opinions.

THAT IS A FACT.

What's your problem, Bro?  Would it make you feel better about Brucie if I said Paul McCartney is abetter guitarist than he is a bass player?

What f*cking world do you live in when you think Paul plays guitar better than bass?  He's ONE OF (I'm just saying this to appease people, in my opinion he's hands down the greatest bassist of all time) ONE OF the best bass players ever.  He invented the bass sound you hear on records today, you haven't heard about the grooves ?

Bruce Springsteen sucks.  That's just what it comes down to.  Paul, McCartney is old and feebile, he may even be dead already and he ate Bruce alive last night.  I can still see it.  It was beautiful.  Paul was running across the stage pumping his hands up in the air like a 4 year old, somebody brought him out a guitar, he stood around letting Bruce try, and then used his feebile old billionaire fingers to outplay Bruce, over, and over, and over, and over again.  I think it was 5 times.  So, Over, and Over, and Over, and Over, and Over again. 

I don't care one way or another about how much Bruce did or didn't suck, I didn't watch it.  I'm saying that there is not, to my knowledge, some official certifying board which has granted that McCartney's "third best" instrument is guitar, and acting like it is somehow surprising that Paul can shred on the instrument he has, in 2012, been shredding on and off for 50-some years, is a ridiculous position to put yourself in.  I grant that he is generally fixed in the public eye as a bassist, but this is neither here nor there with regards to his instrumental skill: if your McCartney credentials are not in question, you know as well as I that the dude is a musical polymath of the highest order, that he can shred on pretty much whatever instrument he wants, and however much Bruce sucked, using Paul's alleged "third best' status on guitar is a torturous hoop to watch you jump through just to score some weak points on Bruce.

[Malc]

Hmmm - most noticeable thing for me was how Al's hair changed colour between the rehearsal pictures and the actual performance 

[Jon Stebbins]

Wow...did I just walk into a sports bar mid NFL game? Is this a Rush message board? I'm waiting for an Yngwie Malmstein reference. If Steve Vai had been there he would have kicked everybody's butt...who gives a rat's nut sack? This isn't the rock and roll olympics...no medals are given out. Anybody who thinks Springteen is supposed to be a technically gifted guitar player and that its somehow noteworthy that McCartney can play a  better solo must have not seen the last several decades of Bruce playing his obligatory Duane Eddy turtle paced five note runs which are all his song's require, while McCartney has given the world some of the tastiest melodic guitar moments in rock history. Was Bruce the favorite going into this knife fight? I think not. Should we remind everyone that Dweezil Zappa can probably play faster and cleaner than Hubert Sumlin? He could smoke him, roll him, toast him...is that important? I bet Bruce could bench more weight than Paul...should we take that into account? Is this a soccer riot or a BB's message board? Bruce can't jam, Paul can...they both have done pretty well with their lives. I doubt they were taking it all that seriously, just having some silly, loose fun. Nothing takes the fun out of a rock and roll party more than a hard a*s keeping score.

[Mikie]

I didn't think Bruce was bad at all last night. I thought he boogied! And I'll bet New York/Jersey fans were estatic.

[JohnMill]

Paul is a better bassist than he is a guitarist.  THATS A FACT.

Paul is a better pianist than he is a guitarist.  

THAT IS A FACT.

Those are opinions.

THAT IS A FACT.

Bruce Springsteen sucks. 

Justin Bieber sucks.  A great deal of music that comes off that "American Idol" program sucks.  Please don't even think about putting Springsteen in that category.  You may dislike his music but lets have a little perspective here.

[rogerlancelot]

Paul is a better bassist than he is a guitarist.  THATS A FACT.

Paul is a better pianist than he is a guitarist.  

THAT IS A FACT.

Those are opinions.

THAT IS A FACT.

Bruce Springsteen sucks. 

Justin Bieber sucks.  A great deal of music that comes off that "American Idol" program sucks.  Please don't even think about putting Springsteen in that category.  You may dislike his music but lets have a little perspective here.

I think that vampires suck. Except for the Count from Sesame Street.

[Paulos]

Great performance from the Boys I thought, Brian looked a bit scared but that's how he always looks when playing live and people need to stop acting like they don't know this. It was great to see them all together on stage, David looked the coolest by far and even Bruce looked good, no more shorts for Bruce please!

Also was Ricky Fataar playing with Bonnie Rait? I haven't seen the whole show.

[guitarfool2002]

Two points I needed to restate, and mention about Wouldn't It Be Nice.

A few pages back, Ron posted something which *nailed it* for me about the lead vocal on that song. Brian sang it which such force, such intensity...it's something I did not notice for a long time until the Pet Sounds Sessions and SOT let us hear the bare vocal tracks. Brian is going all out, he sounds young, enthusiastic, and he's "belting it out" to use a vocal term. Full voice, in that glorious high range of his. It fits the perspective of the lyrics, a young man looking ahead with a lot of positive, wishful vibes.

I've heard covers, I've tried covers, and that power of the original lead vocal falls through the cracks. A lot of singers can't help but try to do the precious side of that falsetto, trying to equate a softer, gentle delivery with the sentiment of the song. I don't think it works as well. Al Jardine, on quite a few live shows, belted out the song as it should be done, and I almost wish Al had contributed a lead last night. He understood what the vocal was all about, as did Ron who posted a lot of my sentiments on it.

Not taking away from Foster's vocal - I'd be nervous as hell singing that song next to one of my musical idols, too, as anyone! He was probably living a dream he's had since getting into the BB's music...that's pretty intense stuff. His love for the band showed in other ways last night.

It's a vocal performance that I think cannot be equaled, it's that powerful and that well-delivered, and it is also my favorite song and probably favorite recording of all time. It's a massive order to fill when trying to cover that one.

[Mike's Beard]

I thought The Beach Boys sounded great! For a bunch of 70 year olds you could not ask for more. It's also a little ironic that as the guy who was not allowed to sing on the records all those years ago, David Marks may now be the best vocalist in the band.

[Smilin Ed H]

"Wow...did I just walk into a sports bar mid NFL game? Is this a Rush message board? I'm waiting for an Yngwie Malmstein reference. If Steve Vai had been there he would have kicked everybody's butt...who gives a rat's nut sack? This isn't the rock and roll olympics...no medals are given out. Anybody who thinks Springteen is supposed to be a technically gifted guitar player and that its somehow noteworthy that McCartney can play a  better solo must have not seen the last several decades of Bruce playing his obligatory Duane Eddy turtle paced five note runs which are all his song's require, while McCartney has given the world some of the tastiest melodic guitar moments in rock history. Was Bruce the favorite going into this knife fight? I think not. Should we remind everyone that Dweezil Zappa can probably play faster and cleaner than Hubert Sumlin? He could smoke him, roll him, toast him...is that important? I bet Bruce could bench more weight than Paul...should we take that into account? Is this a soccer riot or a BB's message board? Bruce can't jam, Paul can...they both have done pretty well with their lives. I doubt they were taking it all that seriously, just having some silly, loose fun. Nothing takes the fun out of a rock and roll party more than a hard a*s keeping score."

Thank God someone is keeping it real.

[Newguy562]

I hate Taylor Swift's little, "Oh my God!  I can't believe they really love me!" act after every standing ovation she gets.  It's old.  You know that you are one of the biggest stars on the face of the planet right now, stop acting surprised by it.  Her music is neither here nor there for me.  I don't like it, but it isn't as cringe worthy as the two performers listed above.

It's so corny and full of sh*t...she's talented but i'm tired of her.

[Emdeeh]

Also was Ricky Fataar playing with Bonnie Rait? I haven't seen the whole show.

It was just Bonnie Raitt (guitar) and Alicia Keys (keyboard) playing a tribute to Etta James. No backing group to be seen.

[Paulos]

Also was Ricky Fataar playing with Bonnie Rait? I haven't seen the whole show.

It was just Bonnie Raitt (guitar) and Alicia Keys (keyboard) playing a tribute to Etta James. No backing group to be seen.

Thanks for that.

[Smilin Ed H]

"I mean, imagine on the Academy Awards this year: "Now, we have Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, to re-enact your favorite scenes from Midnight Cowboy!!!"

These days, Voight would probably blow him away.

[Mikie]

Granted, Wouldn't It Be Nice is not an easy song to sing, but I was really surprised that guy didn't sing with a little more intensity. Very non-ballsy - kinda boring. Maybe that's his style, like Eddie Vedder or something - no emotion at all. Reminded me of how Christian Love sings.....In contrast to the very good version of Surfer Girl, not that good. Really liked the nJ.C. Penney's vintage Beach Boys striped shirts, though. Gotta get me one of those!

As far as the little blonde girl, Taylor. I don't think she's fake at all - very real in fact. I like the way she sang "God Only Knows" during her California concerts. It's on YouTube. Very nice. I like her.

[Paulos]

I like Taylor Swift, but not for her musical ability...