I'm currently having quite a heated argument with our singer about this....
We all agreed to learn November Rain for our set, and had a rehearsal on Monday. While it certainly needs some polish, we got through the entire song, and I think it sounded damn good for a first attempt!
However, the singer was moaning ahead of this saying it was too long and should be trimmed; I argued that if you trim it, you lose the whole purpose of the song as it has a lot of different elements and parts.
He's now come back after rehearsal saying we 'definitely' need to trim it. I'm standing firm - we either do the whole thing, or we don't play it. What's the f'ing point in doing an abridged version??
Has anyone else encountered this or a similar issue before? Which stance do you take? Maybe it's because I'm playing lead and the solos in this are bloody awesome - but I refuse to shorten it.
Comments
if it’s a cover in a concert environment there’s more space for longer instrumentals I guess.
You could give it a go I guess but I can only imagine the tumbleweed rolling across the dancefloor for this one.
Kudos for not doing the obvious Sweet Child cover though (which we ourselves do !!)
I'd also consider a way to segue it into something else at the halfway point in case people aren't into it
sometimes we have been proven correct….other times (surprisingly perhaps) we have been proven wrong
Another option is a medley, a bit if NR, then Nightrain, then Paradise city.
Our singer wanted to do "Are Friends Electric" for ages and we all said it would go down like shit. We tried it and everyone loved it. (I think half the crowd thought it was new wave the other half probably thought it was by the sugar babes)
Plenty of long songs still get played at bar gigs especially if it’s an audience who appreciate & live that type of music
For it to work probably needs strings, assume keyboard player will be doing those along with the piano. Obviously backing vocals are a big part as well so for the full song all those parts need to be covered.
There's no reason why you can't do it but it's the most un-bicker bar friendly G&R song and 9 minutes is a long time for a live ballad imo.
Re-arrange it into a sing-a-long for the punters and bin the solos.
I’m so bored I might as well be listening to Pink Floyd
flanging_fed “