Speaking of forgetting lyrics, I got ruined on Fleetwood Mac when I went to see them on their reunion tour. We had kind of a bird's eye view of the stage and we could see that Stevie Nicks was singing off a teleprompter.
She helped to write the songs. She'd been singing them for 30 years. 12000 people in the audience can remember the words, but she can't. I haven't listened to Fleetwood Mac since.
That's a very common practice nowadays. I hate going to see a show and catch the singer glancing down at the prompter. Jeez, if you forget the words, just ad lib something or flub it outright - it adds to the fun. I saw Jerry Garcia do this probably 50 times and it was always funny.
Speaking of forgetting lyrics, I got ruined on Fleetwood Mac when I went to see them on their reunion tour. We had kind of a bird's eye view of the stage and we could see that Stevie Nicks was singing off a teleprompter."
Most performers use them now, all you need is a monitor and a laptop. It's standard equipment now - or like Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society), he has the lyrics on large 24x30 posters at his feet, swapped out by his guitar tech every song. Axl Rose has thrown a fit and stomped off stage when his went out.
I know how you feel, tho, I remember seeing George Carlin in concert and seeing his act scroll across digital signs on the balcony where only he could see it. I got over it, tho.
"She helped to write the songs. She'd been singing them for 30 years. 12000 people in the audience can remember the words, but she can't. I haven't listened to Fleetwood Mac since."
She also had a middling to severe cocaine habit for decades, which blows out your memory, and is getting older, which doesnt help. I'd bet she only refers to them once in a while, anyway.
Does an orchestra play less well for having the sheet music in front of them? Do you enjoy a movie less if you know the lines are printed out and placed around the set? Or in a play?
Cut them some slack, bands like Fleetwood Mac paid their dues long, long ago - if they need a hand, so what, as long as it sounds good, and you enjoy the show.
You must really look down on classical musicians who sit there in the orchestra with all that sheet music right in front of them...out in the open....