Spoilers: Mandatory World Tour Setlist

[remmy]

I don't think it sounds that bad. To my ear, what's making it sound the most "off" is just the quality of the live backing vocals as compared to the studio version. The band's vocals are usually a great complement to Al live but they kind of swallow him up during Foil. The best parts of the performance for me are when it's just him singing by himself. If you look at Lorde's live performances of Royals on Youtube, she sings along with a pre-recorded backing track of her voice, no live backup singers or anything. There might be something to that. I think if Al switched to 100% pre-recorded backing vocals it would bring back more of that bombastic quality that seems to have been lost. But then of course, Jim and Steve would have nothing to do.

There's not a lot to the song, it's very bare bones -- which makes it deceptively tricky to pull off live. I think they've done a great job with it all things considered.

[bizarreblair]

I was at the Bloomington show, and it sounded great live. I haven't seen the clip on YouTube, but my guess is that the sound quality recorded from a phone at a live concert is probably a little lacking. The only sound issues I noticed were Al's mic dropping out a little when he goes into the crowd. His falsetto in "Word Crimes" I thought sounded good. Loved the "unplugged" set. Looking forward to the UHF screening tonight!

[mellow weasel]

I was at the Bloomington show, and it sounded great live. I haven't seen the clip on YouTube, but my guess is that the sound quality recorded from a phone at a live concert is probably a little lacking. The only sound issues I noticed were Al's mic dropping out a little when he goes into the crowd. His falsetto in "Word Crimes" I thought sounded good. Loved the "unplugged" set. Looking forward to the UHF screening tonight!

Actually the quality of both video and audio is quite high. That person made a lot of videos from that show. Some of them are incomplete songs, but some are really good. I've spent my evening watching them.

So far the unplugged set is the best thing I've seen. It's funny, it looks good, and it sounds amazing!

[Muppetboy09]

I just saw a higher quality version of it, and it actually sounds better than what I originally heard. Also, I would MUCH rather have the band do the backing vocals than have pre-recorded tracks of Al. I like it having a more "acoustic" sound to it, rather than trying to make it sound just like the original recording. I mean, with too many backing tracks, he would just be lip syncing his entire show!

[remmy]

I totally agree with you there, Muppetboy. I don't think that singing along with something pre-recorded would be better, at all. It would just bring it a little closer to the studio recording -- as it sounds like most of the criticism of the live version boils down to "it doesn't sound like the album version". Which, in this song's case, it never will unless they do something artificial like pre-recorded backing vocals. At which point, you'll lose a lot of the charm of the live performance.

I'm just thinking out loud, basically.

[HappyGilmore]

Color me disappointed, but I'd rather him not do Lame Claim to Fame. I'd throw My Own Eyes in it's place.

[joseyklein]

Although after several videos is does seem he is lipsynching the chorus to handy!

[joseyklein]

I just saw a higher quality version of it, and it actually sounds better than what I originally heard. Also, I would MUCH rather have the band do the backing vocals than have pre-recorded tracks of Al. I like it having a more "acoustic" sound to it, rather than trying to make it sound just like the original recording. I mean, with too many backing tracks, he would just be lip syncing his entire show!

What did you search to find the high quality version? All I can find is the one we've all seen

[QuantumError]

Although after several videos is does seem he is lipsynching the chorus to handy!

It's awfully high pitched, maybe it's to save his voice a bit.

[Muppetboy09]

If you listen very carefully, you can here him singing along, sometimes singing the lower harmony, but yes, it was obvious from the first moment I saw it that the chorus of Handy is lip synced. He should have just brought it down a couple of bars, but hey, whatever, as long as he isn't lip syncing his whole show!