12-12-12 telethon

[PopaWoody]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

Considering Kanye's comments during the 9/11 telethon 11 years ago and then ripping the microphone out of Taylor Swift's hand when she was accepting a VMA, I'm shocked that he would be invited to do anything.

It only makes sense if you consider the fact that he reaches a totally different audience than the aging rockers.

As much as he did not fit in, it makes sense when you consider the cause.

FWIW he was on mute the entire time in this household.

[pasta4lnch]

Originally Posted by MarkMgibson

Clapton usually steals the show at those type of things. He's also a hell of a singer, something he's not given enough credit for.

Fwiw, while I thought there were some GREAT performances, Clapton was the only 50+singer I didn't think was going to blow up his larynx. Not hating…if I can still talk at that age ill be psyched. But he just looked like awesome biz as usual where others looked like they were struggling.

Fortunately I missed Kanye! Saw a pic of the skirt today…fool.

A +1 to anyone knowing some good links to the show? Only found small clips today. There was a lot I missed I'd like to check out.

I do dig shows like these. It's good to see live music in general ... and so widely talked about. I guess people still do dig it!

Oh, and Grohl…every time he plays w music Royalty he has this look about him that he just got to scratch another BIG entry off his bucket list. It conveys to the audience. I get an overwhelming feeling of awesomeness every time I see it. Even if the performances are just ok. Still rocks.

[fjadams]

I thought they said the whole concert was being released on iTunes.

Kan ye be a bigger dick face was absolutely horrendous, but I suppose if I was 12 and liked that kind of mewsick it'd be ok.

Alicia Keys was boring. Sorry, just not my thing.

The Roger Waters set was way too long, but am not a fan of him or Pink Floyd.

Clapton was, well, Clapton. What else to say? He has to be seen live to appreciate just how good he is.

The Who, had a hell of a performance.

The Stones were exactly what you'd expect, and that's not a bad thing.

Unfortunately, I get up at 5am for work, so I fell asleep before Paul, damn.

Was mildly annoyed with the comic relief between acts.

Liked the personal profiles, it was what the show was all about.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by fjadams

Alicia Keys was boring. Sorry, just not my thing.

I missed her set, but I DVRed the whole concert.

I hope she didn't hide behind the keyboard the whole time.

Blue

[k-Plunk]

I stayed up for Paul's set. He did Helter Skelter on the Hofner. Held it up at the end of the song for a little "fan service". His 'baby' as he calls it can still thump out the rock and roll. The rest of the set he bounced between guitars and piano. He played his 64 Epiphone Texan acoustic on 'Jenny Wren'.

When on guitar, his bassist played an Epiphone Jack Casady.

I was in hollow body heaven.

Nirvana reunion with McCartney seemed to confuse folks on twitter, but McCartney has always been able to rock when he wants.

He finale'd with Live and Let Die and the pyrotechnics nearly let him on fire.

He put on quite a show, but considering his lead off acts, he knew he had to bring it.

[PopaWoody]

I stayed up and watched....totally missed Novaselic. Paul was his usual self. He is an icon and a knighted englishman. Not too many other musicians can say that. Elton and ????

[Pet Sounds]

I fully expect to be trashed for saying this, but while I far from "hate" Clapton, I sure have been disappointed with him over the years. If you read his book, it's appalling how little care he seemed to put into his albums for a long period when drinking was more important to him than not squandering his extraordinary gifts. And some of his material, while mega-commercial, has been absolute treacle. He seems to be trying harder these days, and there's no denying that he's an amazing guitarist. Those of us of a certain age, though, were taken aback by the post-Derek Eric.

[rmayer]

Originally Posted by bluewine

No he's not.

He's Eric Clapton.

Blue

He's also no Ginger Baker!

OK, Now that we've established who played what instruments, now what???

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by Pet Sounds

I fully expect to be trashed for saying this, but while I far from "hate" Clapton, I sure have been disappointed with him over the years. If you read his book, it's appalling how little care he seemed to put into his albums for a long period when drinking was more important to him than not squandering his extraordinary gifts. And some of his material, while mega-commercial, has been absolute treacle. He seems to be trying harder these days, and there's no denying that he's an amazing guitarist. Those of us of a certain age, though, were taken aback by the post-Derek Eric.

Those dark days are well behind Eric.

Look at it this way, a lot of talented musicians never beat their demons and fall off the face of the earth.

Were lucky to have a productive Eric back. He "killed" last night.

Blue

[mjac28]

Originally Posted by Nev375

Does Paul McCartney age?

No sir Sir Paul will never age.

[pasta4lnch]

Originally Posted by fjadams

I thought they said the whole concert was being released on iTunes.

that'd be cool - be nice to hear this on better speaker then my tv . . .

[Mugre]

I just finished reading Pete Townsend's autobiography. His ears are wrecked from a monitor malfunction that just about blew his eardrum out. It was so painful at the time that he blacked out for a while. He is very keen to protect his hearing and conscious of the accumulation of damage that occurs with further exposure to loud sound. I'm sure this is the reason for the drum shield.

Mugre

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by k-Plunk

I stayed up for Paul's set. He did Helter Skelter on the Hofner. Held it up at the end of the song for a little "fan service". His 'baby' as he calls it can still thump out the rock and roll. The rest of the set he bounced between guitars and piano. He played his 64 Epiphone Texan acoustic on 'Jenny Wren'.

When on guitar, his bassist played an Epiphone Jack Casady.

I was in hollow body heaven.

Nirvana reunion with McCartney seemed to confuse folks on twitter, but McCartney has always been able to rock when he wants.

He finale'd with Live and Let Die and the pyrotechnics nearly let him on fire.

He put on quite a show, but considering his lead off acts, he knew he had to bring it.

Paul was awesome last night. And yes it was cool to see them use the Jack Casady Epi.

On "live and let die" there must have been a fan blowing towards him because the camera caught him at a bad angle where you could tell he wears a hair piece. I wish that hadn't happened.

Blue

[pedro]

Originally Posted by bluewine

Those dark days are well behind Eric.

Look at it this way, a lot of talented musicians never beat their demons and fall off the face of the earth.

Were lucky to have a productive Eric back. He "killed" last night.

Blue

I'm a little uneasy about continuing to agree with you. Lol.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by pedro

I'm a little uneasy about continuing to agree with you. Lol.

I know what you mean, lol

Blue

[sj_bass]

Originally Posted by fjadams

I thought they said the whole concert was being released on iTunes.

Kan ye be a bigger dick face was absolutely horrendous, but I suppose if I was 12 and liked that kind of mewsick it'd be ok.

Alicia Keys was boring. Sorry, just not my thing.

The Roger Waters set was way too long, but am not a fan of him or Pink Floyd.

Clapton was, well, Clapton. What else to say? He has to be seen live to appreciate just how good he is.

The Who, had a hell of a performance.

The Stones were exactly what you'd expect, and that's not a bad thing.

Unfortunately, I get up at 5am for work, so I fell asleep before Paul, damn.

Was mildly annoyed with the comic relief between acts.

Liked the personal profiles, it was what the show was all about.

Pretty much +1 on all accounts... except I DVR'd and saved myself the icepick-in-the-retina performance by Kanye...

Not enough airtime for Pino or Darryl, and yeah Weeks is da man...

When Macca came out, I was studying the backline - Ampeg SVT, Mesa rig, and two(!) Ashdown rigs, all mixed in with some groovy Vox amps. I was trying to figure out what the heck... Well, the SVT was for Krist Novaselic (who was playing one of his Sig RD Artist basses with the SD Jazz pups), Macca was using the Mesa for his Hofner, and Brian Ray playing his Jack Casady through an Ashdown... Pat Smear would play guitar through the other Ashdown rig as well. (Rusty Anderson was also playing guitar through the Vox amps)...

Great show, and yeah - Dave Grohl always has the Biggest SEG everytime he plays with super-celebs. I remember when he played Kashmir with Page and Plant... Krist however, looked a little uncomfortable being on stage with his childhood idol.

I'll probably watch again to study Weeks and that guy who used to play with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker...

[ShoeManiac]

The 121212 Concert definitely made for an interesting night.

Springsteen's set: He really doesn't disappoint. I don't count myself as a Bruce fan by any measure, but he definitely leaves it all hanging out on the stage. And I've come to respect his work ethic. How many 63 year olds can go out on stage with his energy level? And his singing? The man still has it. And he made Jon Bon Jovi look like a clown while they were duetting on "Born to run". Bruce's vocals were so much more powerful. And all the while, Garry Tallent was just grooving away on his Spector.

Roger Waters placement on the bill was a little curious. Especially since I think he played one of the better sets of the night. Roger's getting up there, but he can put on a hell of a show. It was cool to see him trade bass duties with GE Smith. And truthfully, both of them sounded pretty good. GE Smith sounded pretty awesome on "In the flesh" on his Rick Kelly bass. Those instruments have a great backstory, btw. And when Roger was on bass he genuinely seemed to be enjoying the act of playing bass. Funny though, I've heard people commenting on him handing off vocal duties in some songs to a singer in his band. I don't know if they realize he was doing that in songs where David Gilmour traditionally sang lead. Eddie Vedder sounded pretty good as he sat in on "Comfortably Numb", too.

I personally couldn't care about the Bon Jovi set. I appreciate what he's trying to do for the people of the Jersey shore. It's his home, and he's trying to do right by the people down there. But as a performer Jon Bon Jovi seemed out of his depth when you compare him with some of the other artists on the bill. And what's funny is that he was one of the younger artists on the bill, but still needed some of his material tuned down to accomodate his diminished vocal range. That, and his drummer looks like someone who was just running for President and decided to grow ridiculous sideburns!

Clapton was in fine form. His fingerpicking on "Nobody knows you when you're down and out" was tremendous. And when he's playing with Willie Weeks and Steve Jordan, what's not to love? I especially liked the fact that they just went on as a trio and played their asses off. Everybody else was on stage with really big bands. Clapton? He just called a couple of buddies and did a trio set, and they nailed it.

As for the Stones set? Seriously?!?!? Just 2 songs? That shocked me beyond belief. And yeah, there was no camera love for Darryl, which was criminal. But then they didn't really show Chuck Leavell much, either. Tis the life of a sideman, even a high profile one.

I totally understood the need for celebrities and comedians to fill time between sets. They had to turn the stage over for the next act. But the break that Steve Buscemi anchored was getting tedious. Still, if they raised a lot of money for charity because of it...then that's what needed to get done.

Alicia Keys set was refreshing. I didn't dig it completely, but it also wasn't a set that revolved around old English rock stars. Plus, she's a true New Yorker, and the show needed her kind of cred. But what sucked for her is who the tickets sold to, and the double edged sword that was the demographics of the ticket buyers. Obviously, the organizers wanted to sell tickets for as much as possible in order to benefit the charity. But those prices kept so many everyday New Yorkers from attending this show As a result you wound up with bands filled with guys who are bordering on Senior Citizen status playing to baby boomers with cash.

Then there's the remaining members of The Who. Why in the world would they start with "Who are you"? It's not a strong song for Roger Daltrey. The backing vocals were strong, but not the lead singer. Might want to rethink that, guys. Be that as it may, I think Pete Townsend sounded good. And I also paid pretty close attention to Pino's playing, since it's been the subject of much debate here when it comes to his gig with The Who. And truthfully, I think he sounded pretty damned good. The Fender Jaguar works. And he's also not trying to be John Entwistle. Still, I wound up being a little perplexed by their decision to work "Bellboy" into the set. I enjoyed the archival footage of Keith Moon singing his parts live, but it was never one of the bands strongest songs. But this seemed like a number that could have afforded to have been cut in order to get the Rolling Stones more than 2 songs in their own set. Oh, and Roger Daltry? You're nearly 70. Keep your shirt buttoned. This isn't the Isle of Wight in 1970.

Kanye? I gotta confess, his timing was perfect. My wife and I wanted to watch the Daily Show, so we turned off Kanye's set in order to watch Jon Stewart.

Billy Joel was solid. He did a lot of the same material he did on the NBC telethon. But he sounded really good considering his state of near-retirement. The band sounded tight, and Billy was singing pretty well. And he also gave a lot of New York cred to the show, too.

Chris Martin's set was eh. It was nice to see him duet with Michael Stipe, but beyond that I was not terribly impressed.

As for Paul McCartney's set? His band is great. And "Helter Skelter" was pretty good. Appropriate to the night? I don't know. I was surprised that was the only song Macca played bass on, because Brian Ray took over bass duties for the rest of the set. He's solid, and the Jack Casady bass sounds good with his Ashdown rig. Paul's next turn with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic & Pat Smear of Nirvana was definitely interesting. I was kind of puzzled about whether or not they were going to do one of the hits from the Nirvana catalog or what. The new song was actually pretty cool. And I wasn't expecting Sir Paul to break out the cigar box guitar along with the slide. As for the closer? The pyro during "Live and let die" was a little over the top. Especially if anyone from Breezy Point was in the house.

All in all though, I don't know where you could ever see a lineup like this. I'm glad to see artists come together to help when it's needed like this.

[fourstringdrums]

Originally Posted by Mugre

I just finished reading Pete Townsend's autobiography. His ears are wrecked from a monitor malfunction that just about blew his eardrum out. It was so painful at the time that he blacked out for a while. He is very keen to protect his hearing and conscious of the accumulation of damage that occurs with further exposure to loud sound. I'm sure this is the reason for the drum shield.

Mugre

Oh really, I thought the reason for his hearing damage was from when Keith Moon packed his bass drum full of explosives and blew it up on the Smother's Brothers and didn't warn anyone that it was going to happen. Pete was right next to it and the explosion damaged his hearing from what I heard.

[fourstringdrums]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

Considering Kanye's comments during the 9/11 telethon 11 years ago

It was the Hurricane Katrina telethon actually.

[pedro]

Still no links to Willie and Eric's set?