rdnzl
I'll Be On My Way
Pastor Of Muppets
Posts: 251
|
Post by rdnzl on May 30, 2013 1:03:16 GMT
Apart from the few one off concerts John Lennon performed at, I really do wish he had done a concert tour at least once. Naturally, I wish that he wasn't murdered. I have a feeling that he'd have done some amazing things on stage in the '80's & '90's. And who knows; we may have even had another go at The Beatles at some point. Maybe even a few more albums??? I don't think they'd have reunited just to cash in. It would have been for the right reasons.
Maybe I'm wrong about John Lennon doing concert tours. It seemed to me that he was more comfortable in the studio. But when fantasy takes over and reason takes a back seat, I think, wouldn't the "Walls & Bridges" tour have been something? Wouldn't the "Imagine" tour have been amazing? What about the "Double Fantasy" tour?
Would he have eventually "rediscovered" his contributions to The Beatles and maybe played a set that included songs like "Dear Prudence", "Rain", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Dig A Pony"? Would he have had a keyboard player with synthesizers who was able to pull off the ambiance of "Tomorrow Never Knows"?
And if The Beatles had reunited and actually toured, would they have added a 5th member to supply the keyboards for the complicated bits like on "Penny Lane" and "A Day In The Life"?
I guess it just saddens me to think of what could have been. The Beatles' story is an exciting and happy story until they let it fall apart. They should have been able to "work it out". I think they just needed a break. But then again, I'm just an outsider who's never been inside their circle. Maybe if I had known them personally I might have said "You guys need to get away from each other!"
When I realize that the Rolling Stones have been together pretty much non-stop for fifty years, why couldn't The Beatles last as long? Maybe across the alternate universe things worked out differently. These are just thoughts I occasionally have. I just listened to the "Wings Over America" remaster, and I was compelled to follow that with John's "Live In New York City". That's when these thoughts came into my mind and brought me to this "place".
Am I alone thinking these thoughts? Don't get me wrong; I often think about people, places and things from my personal life in this way. I'm not a nut job obsessed with famous people. But The Beatles' story has been part of my life from the beginning. It's almost like a biblical story passed down from generation to generation. As much as I think it's good that they ended on a high note, I can't help wondering what might have been. I guess we all sometimes feel that way about our own lives.
Any thoughts on this?
What might John's setlist have been if he toured for the "Plastic Ono Band" album, and how much of his show would have featured the wonderful vocals of Yoko? Personally, I think "Isolation" would have been great performed live.
|
|
|
Post by Amadeus on May 30, 2013 1:34:34 GMT
I wonder if John would've gone a bit plastic/new wave a bit in the early '80s, or if he would've done a Julian Lennon style record. I think he might've gotten into the spirit of things a bit more in the initial grunge/ scene. Isn't that what Plastic Ono Band is?
I bet he would've gotten back on the road again in the '80s because it was sort of like he was coming back to life. I'm nearly certain that John wasn't so weak that he couldn't have made the decision to do a proper John Lennon album and tour. I think he would've remembered the past much more fondly as he got older and his interviews wouldn't have been so matter of fact and cynical.
maybe the Beatles could've played a one off show on Saturday Night Live for $100. Of course Ringo would get paid less.
|
|
klang
What Goes On In Your Heart
Posts: 65
|
Post by klang on May 30, 2013 18:36:05 GMT
I like to think a Beatles reunion just might have happened at Live Aid,Wembley,1985.From what I understand,Paul,George,and Ringo nearly did a set,but backed out at the last minute because they felt being up on stage with their bespectacled leader wouldn;t have felt right.The same reasoning was probably employed when they were offered one or two hundred American dollars to perform at Shea Stadium in New York in 1996.Isn't it a pity......
|
|
|
Post by ROCKY on May 31, 2013 1:06:22 GMT
I think a tour was in the works for John & Yoko for the Double Fantasy lp in Jan. 1981, but that idiot changed all that. It's hard to think what John would have done, he always amazed me. And his concerts just seemed to pop up out of nowhere! lol I don't think John like the touring bit at all, like George, may have done just little ones and special events. As for Beatle reunions I doubt we would have had that '94 thing at all. -"Let the sleeping dog lay".
|
|
klang
What Goes On In Your Heart
Posts: 65
|
Post by klang on May 31, 2013 19:25:37 GMT
Ah,but what a night it would have been!The more modern equivalent of the Roman Empire having been re-constructed!Just months before John's tragic demise,I was intensely thrilled one afternoon when a local radio station announced that Lennon had been spotted shopping on Newbury Street,Boston just twelve miles from my home in a town called Saugus.The high was surpassed when at a 1983 Beatles Convention,I met and got an autograph from Beatles' confidant Peter Brown.He signed my hardcopy edition of this then current tome,"The Love You Make:An Insider's Intimate Story of the Beatles".Or something like that title......
|
|
henryj
For A Number Of Things
Posts: 792
|
Post by henryj on Jun 18, 2013 23:06:27 GMT
"And if The Beatles had reunited and actually toured, would they have added a 5th member to supply the keyboards for the complicated bits like on "Penny Lane" and "A Day In The Life"?"
Oh, you know they would have. By the '80s all the rock groups were augmenting their live concerts with people not actually in the band. They could have had Billy Preston on keyboards and perhaps Klaus Voorman playing the bass so the Paul could play lead guitar or piano. And of course the ubiquitous Ray Cooper on tambourine and other percussion.
It's all just hypothetical speculation. What could have been.
|
|
klang
What Goes On In Your Heart
Posts: 65
|
Post by klang on Jun 19, 2013 12:11:02 GMT
And let's not forget the omnipotable Mr. Eric Clapton.They could have done a stellar live performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"a song which would have greatly fit the benevolent mood of Live Aid.For an encore,perhaps they could have roused the audience with a massive Wembley sing-a-long of "Yellow Submarine".....
|
|
ranger
I'll Be On My Way
Posts: 153
|
Post by ranger on Jun 19, 2013 18:47:26 GMT
I shiver at the thought of 'The Beatles' at Live Aid, or at any time after the 60s.
The joy of them breaking up when they did was they didn't end up with a bottom heavy back catalogue of unlistenable dirge, like Dylan and The Stones and The Who who all seem to have amassed the stuff in spades!
And rest assured, in 1985 some bright spark would have loaded their set with 1980s technology, and it would have sounded awful.
Just thinking about a Beatles' double LP from 1975 or 1980 or 1987.....urgh, nasty!
|
|
|
Post by ROCKY on Jun 20, 2013 11:13:13 GMT
Yep, don't kick a sleeping dog.
|
|
klang
What Goes On In Your Heart
Posts: 65
|
Post by klang on Jun 20, 2013 12:23:09 GMT
Point well taken.1995's "Free As A Bird" single was nice,but the sort of reunited Beatles did appear to be a bit out of sorts with the technologies by then in place.The Beatles truly were a thing of the '60's....
|
|
|
Post by Amadeus on Jun 20, 2013 13:39:07 GMT
I think that any huge and influential band that has ended years ago shouldn't get back together, especially to make new albums. With all that weight of expectation, it can only be anti-climactic. There's no way they could recapture the same excitement that they generated in the first place. If they were truly ground breaking then, we'll be expecting something groundbreaking now which would be virtually impossible to pull off now.
They would either have had to never broken up or reformed within five years of the breakup. Would the fans love to see a new Led Zeppelin album? Sure, but they're fooling themselves. It would be a disappointment. The radio stations would play the new tracks for a month or two then go back to Stairway To Heaven. Free As A Bird? I don't recall EVER hearing it on the radio more than once.
Who here would say that The Who's Endless Wire was a great album?
Actually, come to think of it, even a band that hasn't broken up, maybe they should have. The Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang was their first great album in decades but after decades of hit and miss, people only ever request Satisfaction and Start Me Up. Who here can hum a song off of A Bigger Bang? Even the people who own a copy?
If the Beatles were to reform now, what could they possibly do that is groundbreaking as the earlier stuff? Industrial music with country and western fiddle on top of it? That would be ground breaking but the fans would be extremely disappointed. They would be expecting more of the same (i.e. sixties pop music). And then they would be let down because The Beatles already covered that ground in the sixties and the fans would go back to Hey Jude anyhow.
BTW, I would like the industrial C&W album.
Ummm,,,,,,I forget what I was trying to say.....
|
|
|
Post by mrmustard on Jun 20, 2013 17:46:45 GMT
The 'would The Beatles have played Live Aid' question has been discussed at length on the forum in the past. When I'm on a more suitable device I will find it and put the link here.
There is no way The Beatles could have done Live Aid as a one-off show. Amadeus is right, it would have been built up into an historic event that would never have been lived up to. Thinking back to Live Aid UK, who were the stand out acts? It was Queen and U2. These were bands who were constantly touring at that time. They were gig-ready. The Beatles would had to have rehearsed for six months then done a stadium tour for six months to get anywhere near a level of live performance close to expectation. Even then it still would have fell below expectation.
|
|
|
Post by ROCKY on Jun 20, 2013 17:51:09 GMT
I like not to think of John back in the 80's touring, but what if he were still alive today and touring, who would he have in his band? Of course Yoko would be up there doing something. lol How about Julian and Sean and maybe Eric, he was good friends with Clapton. Keith Richards? Ringo on drums. I'm trying to think of some of the guys he was friends with back then. Klus Voorman. I do think Paul and him would have mended their differences, but would never tour again together. That's too much like saying the Beatles are back together. Anyone else?
|
|
|
Post by mrmustard on Jun 20, 2013 18:47:09 GMT
After watching Rockshow, I started thinking how John and Paul's outlook on live performance totally differed. Paul chose the true band line up of drums, bass, guitars and keyboards. Yet John went for two bass players, two drummers, two guitars, two keyboards etc. why do you think this was? Confidence? The American way? Even then his vocals weren't great (live in NYC for example) but this was purely because he wasn't playing live much and touring. He literally was just out of practise with live singing. Discuss!
|
|
|
Post by The Sun King on Jun 21, 2013 4:51:56 GMT
Oh what if. I never think what if the Beatles would've toured or if John would've have done this or that if he were alive. It's a waste of brain energy. You have got to let it go Beatles finished 70, John dead in 1980. Imagining what John had for breakfast in 92 or sailing up the Mersey in 82. Where does it all end. Don't see the point in debating what might have beens. The season before last LFC hit the woodwork 40 odds times. If all those efforts would've gone in LFC would've won the league instead of finishing 8th. See what I mean . Its all conjecture.
In the 70,s John stopped doin charity concerts. He new the money wasn't going to the right people. Live Aid out the question,oops now I'm at it ,romancing about the Beatles future.
I agree with most of mrmustard ,s comments regarding John,s NYC performances. Except to say I love John,s vocal on Mother. Raw yes but powerful just the same.
|
|
|
Post by ROCKY on Jun 21, 2013 12:18:30 GMT
Brain energy? I must have a ton of that! lol But sometimes I love going back and thinking 'what if' because in reality you'll never have 'what if'. It's all been tried before, a perfect example is Woodstock. Oh 'what if' we could have another Woodstock someone said and they tried and the kids burned the place down! It'll never happen again. The Beatles, Elvis, Buddy and whomever you name will never happen again, they were unique. But you can say and dream 'what if' John toured. It ain't hurtin' nobody to dream. lol
|
|
|
Post by Amadeus on Jun 21, 2013 16:19:46 GMT
John had egg and chips for breakfast on July 7th, 1999. Just before him and Paul got together for the day to go over extra footage of ANTHOLOGY for the bonus DVD version.
I believe that ultimately, John's voice lost it's strength and vitality , compared to the early years because of the lethargy that drugs brought to him. And his lack of interest in playing live never gave him any incentive to keep up his 'craft' in the '70's.
But he sounded like he was coming back to life again on Double Fantasy.
|
|
|
Post by ROCKY on Jun 21, 2013 18:55:03 GMT
I believe that ultimately, John's voice lost it's strength and vitality , compared to the early years because of the lethargy that drugs brought to him. And his lack of interest in playing live never gave him any incentive to keep up his 'craft' in the '70's. But he sounded like he was coming back to life again on Double Fantasy. Exactly, if you listen to Twist and Shout or any of his vocals on the Beatles 2nd Album (USA) and then put on his Rock & Roll album from '74 you can hear his voice has lost something (strength & vitality). If that lp would have been recorded ten years earlier it would have been a smash! And I think he knew that too. I think when he took his leave of absence around '75-'79 he was really waiting for the right moment to come back with fresh material. but first and the upper most important matter to him was making sure he didn't make the same mistakes bringing up Sean as he did with Julian, after all he didn't have to play the record biz game anymore, he was there, done that already.
|
|
|
Post by mrmustard on Jun 21, 2013 20:32:54 GMT
John had egg and chips for breakfast on July 7th, 1999. Just before him and Paul got together for the day to go over extra footage of ANTHOLOGY for the bonus DVD version. I believe that ultimately, John's voice lost it's strength and vitality , compared to the early years because of the lethargy that drugs brought to him. And his lack of interest in playing live never gave him any incentive to keep up his 'craft' in the '70's. But he sounded like he was coming back to life again on Double Fantasy. That's a ridiculous statement! Everyone knows egg and chips does not form part of a macrobiotic diet. I do think if he would have toured, the live voice would have returned to its near former glory. In the studio he recorded some great vocals - Woman Is The Nigger Of The World, Mother, Jealous Guy - to name few) but as I'm sure you will agree Amadeus, a great studio singer does not make a great live singer.
|
|
|
Post by Amadeus on Jun 21, 2013 20:54:18 GMT
That's a ridiculous statement! Everyone knows egg and chips does not form part of a macrobiotic diet. I do think if he would have toured, the live voice would have returned to its near former glory. In the studio he recorded some great vocals - Woman Is The Nigger Of The World, Mother, Jealous Guy - to name few) but as I'm sure you will agree Amadeus, a great studio singer does not make a great live singer. [/quote] Amen. I know that's true. I'm just trying to think of an example. Anyhow, after John survived the attempt on his life by John Hinckley Jr, in Dec '80, he realised that you only live once and he was bloody well going to have his egg and chips!
|
|