Originally posted by feline1:
Re: the question of what John & Louis are playing live...
At the Brighton gig, I was virtually standing "in the wings" so I could see John's fingers on his MIDI controller keyboard.
It was rather confusing: he definately did appear to be playing some parts in some songs (e.g. in FILM ONE, he seemed to be quite straightforwardly playing the high stringy reverbby synth sound)...
however when he was actually singing, he seemed to be more just using the keyboard as a prop, and busking away on it in time to the music...
For example, when the set reached UNDERPASS, he looked like he was playing the synthreggae bass line, but then when the vocals started, he was more just prodding the keyboard in time to the music...
We wondering if they had an elaborate MIDI thing going on whereby the backing was running on a computer (ie software-based) multitrack, and the destination for John's MIDI notes was dynamically switched in and out to the correct sounds and/or to nothing at appropriate parts of the song ...
then again, perhaps he was sometimes controlling the vocal harmony stuff from his Digitech Vocalist gadget when singing... John also reached over to select some stuff at times on a module to his left.
Louis seemed to be mostly playing lead lines and riffs.
Yes, I noticed a similar thing with John's playing. In all honesty, I have no idea which elements of tracks he was playing or triggering or whatever. Thanks for that fascinating reply, though.
To, perhaps, move nearer to answering the question, what equipment did Joh have on stage and what was that box of tricks to his side?
I was also interested in how Louis twisted the synth sound during 21st Century - very exciting to hear. How was that created?
