Artists Changing their Songs in Live Performances

[paul jh]

This morning Coldplay performed on The Today Show. They sang their new single Paradise which was great. Then they did Viva La Vida. Chris Martin changed the melody of that line "it was a wicked and wild wind". He went up instead of down and it really affected the feel of the entire song. That melody is continually repeated and everytime he changed it; why did he do that!? This is not the first time I've heard him make this change to the melody.

Similarly in her live shows Gabrielle doesn't sing a line of Should I Stay like the recording and it always bothers me. Is it possible that we know the songs better than the artists as we've probably played their music more than they have? In the Australia concert Matt Monro spoke "goodbye my love" in Walk Away and I feel he should have sung it like the record; it's so much more emotional. Sometimes artists totally change the arrangement which I find unacceptable. Coldplay converted The Scientist to a guitar-driven ballad; the piano is what makes the song. And Alicia Keys has been known to totally change her arrangements for her live shows.

I know it's all about artistic freedom. But I feel artists should deliver what the audience is familiar with hearing.

Do you like it when artists change their arrangements or the melodies of their songs when performing live?

[mariana44]

Speaking personally, I love it when the artist changes something in a live performance.