that's funny because when I first heard it I thought it was a KROQ technical issue, then listened to it a few more times and was like 'wow, someone is really f'ing up on this song'. Hard to believe but happens to all of us at some point.
Anyone who has played in a band before knows that when you are onstage, you can't just start a song over again like you can in practice. You just suck it up and catch up and hope that nobody noticed. When we were practicing its easy to just start over but When you are in front of 25,000 people, thats not so easy......
Check out Social Distortion at this years KROQ weenie roast. Play "Prison Bound" from that night and you can hear a complete train wreck starting to happen up until about 28 seconds into the intro when Mike and Danny got in time with each other. In my opinion, it wasnt until about "Bad Luck" when the band really started to hit on all cylinders that night.
<font color="#FFFF00" size="1">[ June 02, 2007 01:20 AM: Message edited by: wolfpits ]</font>
that's funny because when I first heard it I thought it was a KROQ technical issue, then listened to it a few more times and was like 'wow, someone is really f'ing up on this song'. Hard to believe but happens to all of us at some point.
I know, I thought it was a technical thing with Kroq also, but i played it over again a few times. Charlie counted them in and The keyboards started on cue, but mike was about one beat behind with the guitar. Mike didnt realize it, but Danny did and you can hear him improvise for a measure or two to get in time with Mike after about 30 seconds.
<font color="#FFFF00" size="1">[ June 02, 2007 12:09 PM: Message edited by: wolfpits ]</font>
Call me crazy, but it (coincidence or not) always seems that Social Distortion is not at their tightest when they're playing those big music "festival" type events. Just listen to some of the festival bootlegs from sdsickboy and compare them to the other bootlegs from that time period, and wyou will notice that they hit all cylinders when they're playing in front of their OWN fans. It seems they allow themselves a margin of error when playing in front of a mixed crowd, because a lot of the time, they're not even the headliners at the event. The mess up on Prison Bound from the KROQ festival was no exception, and maybe there were a lot of people in the audience unfamilair with that song or the band, and they couldn't tell it was a mess up. Call me crazy for thinking this, but do the research for yourselves. I know if I were in their shoes, I'd keep my best performances for the real fans. Just my 2 cents.
<font size="2" face="verdana, arial">as a musician i feel obliged to do my very best at every gig i play, because the people in front of the stage have paid their hard earned dollares (or euros) to get in and see bands on stage. it's a deal and my part is to rock like there is no tomorrow. of course i'm only human and probably not the best guitar player and singer and of course i make mistakes. so can everybody, but when i go to a show i expect the bands to try their best, no matter whether they play in front of their fans or random peopleOriginally posted by Thy_Will_Not_Mine:
Call me crazy, but it (coincidence or not) always seems that Social Distortion is not at their tightest when they're playing those big music "festival" type events. Just listen to some of the festival bootlegs from sdsickboy and compare them to the other bootlegs from that time period, and wyou will notice that they hit all cylinders when they're playing in front of their OWN fans. It seems they allow themselves a margin of error when playing in front of a mixed crowd, because a lot of the time, they're not even the headliners at the event. The mess up on Prison Bound from the KROQ festival was no exception, and maybe there were a lot of people in the audience unfamilair with that song or the band, and they couldn't tell it was a mess up. Call me crazy for thinking this, but do the research for yourselves. I know if I were in their shoes, I'd keep my best performances for the real fans. Just my 2 cents.
Yeah, but Social D. probably don't fuck up that often because they are professionals!
i remember seeing them play in MA a year ago (two years ago? its all become a blur) and mike F'ed up on story of my life, started singing the wrong verse. he blanked, totally froze and oh man did he look pissed! danny saved them again by actually climbing up on the piano and doing a little tap dance thing. the crowd loved it and mike seemed to lighten up and went back into the song.
it seems to me that danny and charlie are the more experienced musicians in the band when it comes to playing with different people, different styles and improvising. they seem to roll with the punches a little easier. about prison bound at the weenie roast... lol i didn't even notice. the majority of the bands i listen to play their songs different every night.
If there is one this I would say about Mike Ness that I've seen, is he takes his job as a musician seriously. He may not be the most talented guitar player in the world, he is never going to be Jimmy Hendrix, but he is good, and wants to do his best and put on a good show.
When I saw them here in New Mexico about a month ago, he was pissed off about something technical. He kept going to the side and back between songs and talking to some tech guys. He looked like he was yelling at them about somthing, and what ever it was it kept going on and he didn't like it. I couldn't tell that there was anything wrong with the sound or lights, etc. but he saw something. We got the set list after the show, which had Story of My Life on it, but they didn't play it. I wondered at the time if it was because of something going wrong and he was still pissed....
On the topic of Story Of My Life, does anyone know why they sometimes don't play the intro solo? On some bootlegs, they just play the beginning chords, and Mike jumps right into the first verse.
I remember several years ago at one of their holiday house of blues shows in Anaheim they tried something really different for Story of My life. I really wish they would do it again. They started the song in kind of like a barber shop quartet singing the vocal intro with backup harmony acapella. it was REALLY cool, but i never heard them do it again since then.
By the way, its one thing to have technical problems, electrical problems, cables shorting out, wireless going out, monitors going out, or the mix wrong, but its another to just fuck up a song. Professional musicians do it too and its no big deal. You just roll with the punches. I remember a few years ago, at the opening night show at the house of blues sunset strip, they played "this time darlin" and they barely made it through. Seems like Charlie had a hard time keeping time with that slow beat and Mike kept turning around to look at him like he was crazy.
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