Bands that have the "mystery" guitar player

[SuiteMadameBlue]

What about bands that have the "mystery" guitar player? The one that plays off to the side because the main one is too drunk or drugged up to play? The "main" guitarists guitar is turned off, but still "playing" on stage.

Is that okay?

[Magwheels]

Only if he's getting paid.

[JrnySuxBalls]

What about bands that have the "mystery" guitar player? The one that plays off to the side because the main one is too drunk or drugged up to play? The "main" guitarists guitar is turned off, but still "playing" on stage.

Is that okay?

I don't know who you mean, but I can think of a band that could have benefitted from a "mystery" guitar player a couple years ago.

[Journey/Survivor]

What about bands that have the "mystery" guitar player? The one that plays off to the side because the main one is too drunk or drugged up to play? The "main" guitarists guitar is turned off, but still "playing" on stage.

Is that okay?

I know it's not a guitar player, but Alan "Fitz" Gerald the keyboardist for Night Ranger used to be off stage out of the view of the fans and would play the keyboards for Eddie Van Halen during Van Halen's shows while Eddie was playing guitar. And that is something that Eddie did not want the fans to know either.

Also Blackie Lawless of Wasp has been lip-syncing some at some of Wasp's shows for several years now.

[Marabelle]

well what happened to singers who could sing or musicians who could play an instrument? i'm done with concerts. i can name a few who i believe actually perform all their songs live...prince is one..that i'd pay money to see. lip synchers are an insult to music.

[JrnySuxBalls]

i can name a few who i believe actually perform all their songs live...prince is one..that i'd pay money to see. lip synchers are an insult to music.

Prince is killer live, and it's a different performance every night. And after a 2 1/2 hour show, he & the band go find an "after hours" club and do another set of tunes in every city they play. So they're probably doing
around 4 hours a night.

He never complains about how touring wrecked his voice. Even after almost 30 years.

[WalrusOct9]

I know it's not a guitar player, but Alan "Fitz" Gerald the keyboardist for Night Ranger used to be off stage out of the view of the fans and would play the keyboards for Eddie Van Halen during Van Halen's shows while Eddie was playing guitar. And that is something that Eddie did not want the fans to know either.

It's not exactly a secret...VH had prominent keyboards in several of their songs, everyone knew they were on a tape or being played offstage. I remember reading an interview with Eddie around the time of "Balance" or "III" where he talked about how he considered getting a 5th guy onstage but stuck with the tapes (since, according to him, it was Eddie playing the keys anyway, just on tape). Also, during the III tour, Gary would frequently say something like "okay JJ"...JJ presumably being the off-stage keyboard guy.

I've never heard of an "off-stage" guitarist...presumably any technical guitar player will have a bunch of amateur guitarists in the audience who would instantly know when the sound didn't match the guitarists' fingers. That's a lot harder to fake than vocals, IMO.

[conversationpc]

I remember Rush being accused of using an offstage guitarist during their "Test for Echo" tour. I read a review that asserted this but the dunce of a reviewer didn't bother to do his homework because Lifeson was using some kind of an effect that double tracked his guitar, making the second guitar sound like an acoustic. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the effect but it was definitely all Alex.

[ohsherrie]

I don't think it's the same thing unless the musician is the focal point of the band. When a frontman is singing he is the focal point and the performance centers around him. If a prominent musician in the band is doing a solo and it's faked, that's comparable, but not necessarily as damaging to the reputation of the band as the frontman faking it. Now if Eric Clapton were to fake his guitar work, that would be as damaging because he's known more for his playing than his singing. JMO

[NealIsGod]

I remember Rush being accused of using an offstage guitarist during their "Test for Echo" tour. I read a review that asserted this but the dunce of a reviewer didn't bother to do his homework because Lifeson was using some kind of an effect that double tracked his guitar, making the second guitar sound like an acoustic. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the effect but it was definitely all Alex.

Lifeson has never met an effect he didn't like.

[conversationpc]

[quote="NealIsGod]Lifeson has never met an effect he didn't like. [/quote]

Lifeson has never gotten the credit he's due but you're probably right.

[Angiekay]

Lifeson has never gotten the credit he's due but you're probably right.

It's hard to live under the shadow of the professor.

[NealIsGod]

Oh, I love Lifeson's work. But the effects do take away from the respect because it's hard to tell how much is him and how much is the effects, which is what I'm sure you mean.

[WalrusOct9]

Yeah, Lifeson split the signal out of his guitar, one electric and one into some kind of acoustic simulator. I don't think any of the effects he's used have ever taken away from his playing though, he's still a pretty straightforward, in your face guitar player who happens to play very complex music.

[jimmy19029]

I heard that Alan Fitzgerald was back for VH's 2004 tour.
I once saw an Edgar Winter show in 1998 where he had a guitarist and a drummer and another guy just sort of standing there next to an amp. The bass and keyboards were obviously tapes or programs....
Lots of groups use offstage keyboardists.

[Angiekay]

I heard that Alan Fitzgerald was back for VH's 2004 tour.
I once saw an Edgar Winter show in 1998 where he had a guitarist and a drummer and another guy just sort of standing there next to an amp. The bass and keyboards were obviously tapes or programs....
Lots of groups use offstage keyboardists.

Alan and Sammy have always been close...they were in Montrose together.

[jimmy19029]

I did saw an offstage guy for Rush in 1986. He wasn't playing an instrument he was loading discs into the computer for Geddy's different keyboard effects. This was back when discs didn't hold as much on them. He had to constantly change discs.

[verslibre]

I did saw an offstage guy for Rush in 1986. He wasn't playing an instrument he was loading discs into the computer for Geddy's different keyboard effects. This was back when discs didn't hold as much on them. He had to constantly change discs.

Geddy's keyboard tech, Tony Geranios? Considering Gedd's singing and playing bass, or singing and playing keys (sometimes all three, in a way), I doubt he'd want to fudge with loading diskettes to getting certain sounds for certain songs. Many keyboardists, even in bands that aren't as bigtime as Rush, have a tech who will switch programs in a rack setup as the keyboardist is probably sticking with just an 88-key controller onstage.

[verslibre]

What about bands that have the "mystery" guitar player?

There's a rather famous story of a very drunk Graham Bonnett who, following his stints in Rainbow and before his time in Alcatrazz (no pun intended), got himself fired from the Michael Schenker Group because he exposed his ding-a-ling onstage one night. What he also managed to do was "expose" the second guitar player who was completely obscured by a stack or Marshalls. Or something like that.

[verslibre]

I know it's not a guitar player, but Alan "Fitz" Gerald the keyboardist for Night Ranger used to be off stage out of the view of the fans and would play the keyboards for Eddie Van Halen during Van Halen's shows while Eddie was playing guitar. And that is something that Eddie did not want the fans to know either.

I heard once that some drunk idiot at a show climbed up some structure, then fell RIGHT ON TOP of Alan F and his rig!! Can somebody confirm this? I believe the story was printed somewhere. Man, poor guy!!

Also Blackie Lawless of Wasp has been lip-syncing some at some of Wasp's shows for several years now.

Blackie AND W.A.S.P. f**king suck!!!!!!!!!

[MISTYGREENANDBLUE]

What about bands that have the "mystery" guitar player?

There's a rather famous story of a very drunk Graham Bonnett who, following his stints in Rainbow and before his time in Alcatrazz (no pun intended), got himself fired from the Michael Schenker Group because he exposed his ding-a-ling onstage one night. What he also managed to do was "expose" the second guitar player who was completely obscured by a stack or Marshalls. Or something like that.

The guitarist in question, was Michael's guitar tech at the time, he was situated behind the backline playing rhythm guitar during the soundcheck. Graham Bonnett had indeed been drinking, but his strange behaviour that day wasn't just down to alcohol - he suffers from epilepsy.

[swepett]

Graham Bonnett had indeed been drinking, but his strange behaviour that day wasn't just down to alcohol - he suffers from epilepsy.

Really? Where did you hear that?

Anyway, I saw Toto in the early 90's, I think it was the first tour after Jeff Porcaro had passed away, I noticed that the monitor engineer behind one of the PA stacks had some keybopards, a guitar and a mic to help backing up. Which of course was very weird since the band had a lot of backup players on stage anyway. Why not just hire another guy and take some load off the poor monitor engineer?