Non-Performable Tracks

Questions & Answers with the one and only Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, Weird Al's drummer since 1980!

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Non-Performable Tracks

Post by Muppetboy09 »

I know that previously, you stated in an interview that you would never do "Genius in France" live in concert, as it would eat up too much time in the set, and would have to use a lot of backing tracks. Are there any other songs that you think would be either impossible to perform live or you just don't want to do for one reason or another? :accordion:
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Re: Non-Performable Tracks

Post by bermuda »

These days, with 14 albums' worth of material and a fairly finite length for the show - 2hrs 10min or so - the longer songs definitely take up time that could be devoted to 2 or 3 other songs instead. Song choices in general are always a little tricky, there are fan favorites, classics, and new material to try and squeeze into a show.

Above everything else, the need to play a particular song is most important. So, the hot singles/videos are obvious candidates, and will get played in whichever manner necessary. This concept goes all the way back to the first tour, where the single, Ricky, couldn't be done properly without the female vocals. Oh, we tried, by having me sing the parts! Large mistake. But it was necessary to represent the current single, so we simply showed the video on the screen.

Today, it's quite simple to do almost anything with the use of tracks, but we try to keep that extra help to a minimum. A song like Genius In France would require more backing tracks than we'd prefer, so along with the length, that's two strikes against that one. I can't guarantee we'll never play it, but it's highly unlikely.

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Re: Non-Performable Tracks

Post by TMBJon »

bermuda wrote:This concept goes all the way back to the first tour, where the single, Ricky, couldn't be done properly without the female vocals. Oh, we tried, by having me sing the parts! Large mistake. But it was necessary to represent the current single, so we simply showed the video on the screen
Wow, this is really interesting!!
As a follow-up, approximately how many times do you think you did the Lucy parts live, and how many times did Tress herself join the band on stage?
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Re: Non-Performable Tracks

Post by haroldwaide »

Sure would love to see, or hear, Bermuda singing those parts. We could even make it a bonus feature on one of the upcoming releases to spark sales.
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Re: Non-Performable Tracks

Post by bermuda »

Tress joined us in New York City on May 21, 1983, and Rick Derringer also sat-in on a few songs! (Buckingham Blues for sure, I forget what else.) Tress also sang with us on Rock Palace, taped Feb 21, 1984. I don't recall any other times where she sang with us in a live setting.

I know I tried to sing Ricky on just a few occasions, somewhere there's a tape. :(

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Re: Non-Performable Tracks

Post by Muppetboy09 »

Alright, new mission: Find the tape of Bermuda singing the Lucy parts :)
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