Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

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Fortress1988
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Fortress1988 »

shakes51 wrote:Anyone else effected from Napalm's shipping delay? Received an email explaining due to an unforeseen delay in freight delivery, my order will arrive later than the street date. I'm dying to watch this show :)


They shipped my order after the same excuse on 7th September and now they have no idea where is the parcel at !
Horrible !

Fortress1988
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Fortress1988 »

Sugar Blade wrote: And here I want to express my opinion, that may be very unpopular, but I feel that it needs to be said: the weakest part of the whole project was Myles.
- His stage presence in most of the show is at near zero levels. When The Last Hero tour started in 2016, I was watching their live concert streaming and I've noticed that Myles looked numb like he is seriously ill or have no interest in anything that is happening. It was strange to see him like that after live shows with Slash a few months before where he is pretty much alive, well and highly energetic. In this show he comes to his senses only during several, not very obvious songs. I would seriously consider that he is tired of Alter Bridge, because he is full of life with his solo-project live perfomances and he never stopped touring, IIRC.
- His stupid mannerisms with not fully singing his lines or to break them with uneccesary crowd interactions - these are ruining a lot of potentially great moments every time he does it. And you can see that it's not because of being overwhelmed by emotions at the moment, these are habits developed through years that you can notice in previous live shows too.
- Oh boy, that infamous high pitched nasal "AH" sound that he makes... I fully understand that most people just won't have an issue with this, but for all of those with trained ears and personal interest in vocals, this live show will be a genuine torture to listen through. It's like listening to a cat, that wants to get laid, meowing under your window every 5-10 seconds for 3 hours straight. It's ugly, it dissonates with Mark's backing vocals, it's ear-piercing. And there is literally no excuse for this - it's just wrong technique, a bad habit that he adopted while touring with Slash to be able to sing G'n'R songs. 10 classes with competent vocal coach (he took lessons from Ron Anderson, so he knows who to reach out) and he will be singing like he is still 30 years old.
- Additionally, there is also a low nasal sound, that he did rarely before (you can hear it in verses of Broken Wings' live perfomances), but sings with it a lot during this show. It approaches mouth marbles levels of Mr. Scott Stapp sometimes.
- In general, Myles' voice sounds inconsistent, all over the place. When you will hear Water Rising, you will notice that Mark sounds almost like on the record - it's not perfectly the same, but it's the same notes, same tone, but with some injections of additional energy because from the high that show gave him. And when Myles enters pre-verse, you'll hear that he is ruining the song with his mosquito nasal sound.

In the end, this show really felt like a warm farewell to the certain phase of their career. They've made four very different quality albums (and one that was not that different and not that quality). I really hope that success of Myles's and Mark's personal artistic success will revitalise their interest in Alter Bridge, so they will commit to it 100% percent not just in studio, but also live. We can't ignore obvious problems with Myles' voice and Mark's guitar sound/sloppy technique, so I hope that they know about these too and are willing to improve.
P.S. Something is wrong with the orchestration of This Side of Fate. The bar before verse sounds off.


100% agreed to every single word you said !!
Agreed that Myles has to do a lot of touring and sometimes it may take a toll on his voice, body , and mind but seriously hate it when he skips lines and that nasal tone !

shakes51
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by shakes51 »

Fortress1988 wrote:
shakes51 wrote:Anyone else effected from Napalm's shipping delay? Received an email explaining due to an unforeseen delay in freight delivery, my order will arrive later than the street date. I'm dying to watch this show :)


They shipped my order after the same excuse on 7th September and now they have no idea where is the parcel at !
Horrible !

Geeze, why is this so tough for them. I received a email today with a tracking number.

AngusWolfe
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by AngusWolfe »

Contrary to my previous post, my Vinyl copy came today. I know I need a new needle and I wasn't using the ideal speakers, but Mark seems a lot higher in the mix, and the orchestra even lower. This is very much to the detriment of the album. The only time I really heard them was in In Loving Memory, Wonderful Life/Watch Over You and the crescendo of The End Is Here. The Spotify version I've been listening to for free had more Orchestra in. Having said that, in the heavy songs, this becomes their best live album to date. The lack of audible orchestra makes it just that though, not the special event it should be. I'm hoping the DVD/BluRay will make up for this, when it eventually arrives. That said, I don't have a 5.1 setup, so the Stereo mix may be the same as the album.

RE: Myles: I really think the dude needs a decent six months to a year off. Not as a result of anything, I just worry about him burning out regardless. With his Solo Album, new Slash Album, and the RAH, we've had a decent dose of him in the last year, if it was to the benefit of his voice, mental and physical health, I'd support it. I think the reason he's not so animated during the show is due to him actually trying to sing how he did on the album to the best of his current abilities, where he's been used to cheating a bit over the last few years. He's singing the best he has since at least the ABIII days on this release, so I'd rather have that than him running around the stage and a repeat of Wembley. But if we could have both by him having some rest then I know what I'd prefer.

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anguyen92
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by anguyen92 »

You know, that's a funny thing, and many people that saw Myles' solo shows this year can vouch for this, but when I saw Myles in LA back in May, he was the most animated that I have ever seen and he was playing guitar the entire show. He was talking a lot, cracking jokes, talking to the crowd on the fly, etc. Some people actually found him goofing off too much for a few songs (a contrast to him being either "too serious" while singing or being "too dull") with the exception of Love Can Only Heal (he was all serious and business). Not only that, he sounded fantastic and for once, he didn't sound like he was on helium in between songs like when I saw him with AB and Slash in 2014.

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Blackbirddd
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Blackbirddd »

I can't stand Mark's tone :(

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Nicklord
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Nicklord »

Just watched it for the first time. Lover is my highlight, quiet part with only Myles and little drums going into full blown chorus is amazing. Especially Myles in the last one, when he goes so high
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by gbruin »

I got my AB order on Saturday (but my Napalm order, which is coming from 35 miles away, is still delayed. Ugh.) but didn't have time to sit down with it until this morning, which was painful since I'd avoided watching any of the previews after the first one and I was dying to get to the real thing.

I played the Blu-ray through a pretty high end 5.1 system. I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said, but I'll just add, since there are some real sound tech nerd/geniuses (said with sincere respect) on here who are far more sophisticated than me who have mentioned their issues with the sound, to my more amateur ears the sound is fantastic. It's the best thing they have done. Loved the set list especially with some of the ODR rarities. The orchestral arrangements really add to the music without overwhelming the songs. You can see how much fun and sense of awe the band is having and the range of emotions on the faces of the fans shows how the concert came through. I was in my damn basement and the show had me standing and head banging, fist pumping, getting chills, cheering, singing, and nearly crying. It is wonderful.

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chtimixeur
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by chtimixeur »

So, I watched it last night.
Here are my thoughts.

Positive:
- Flip killed it. In a show with an orchestra, the drummer is more essential than ever, and he was on point the whole night. Kudos to him!
- Even though the bass was low in the mix, it was nice to hear some BMarsh bass lines here and there. On a couple of occasions, I was impressed by his playing, and it made me even anrgier that we barely him on the records.
- Myles killed it on the solos. This show made me realize he's a much better player than Mark, which would have seemed crazy to me 10 years ago. He has a great tone, he plays everything perfectly, and he's just more creative overall.
- Myles didn't goof too much, he barely "talk-singed", and we almost didn't hear any "that's right" during the show. He really tried his best, and I salute him for that.
- The intro where the orchestra plays the vocal lines at the beginning of Ties That Bind were a great arrangement idea.
- It was beautifully shot.
- It was a great setlist overall. I could nitpick, but if I had made the setlist myself, 80% of the songs would have been the same. I'm especially glad they didn't play Rise Today, Metalingus and Isolation.
- The crowd was barely audible.

Negative:
- Mark's clean guitar tone is an absolute mess. It ruined a couple of songs for me (In Loving Memory, Broken Wings). Please fix this ASAP!
- this concert made me realize The Last Hero wasn't a good album. Aside from the Other Side, every other song bored me, and This Side of Fate, which I liked in 2016, now sounds like a complete mess to my ears.
- Myles' nasal tone really annoyed me. For years, I couldn't understand why people didn't like his voice (especially when they said he sounded like a screaming cat), but I totally got it during this concert, especially when they played The Last Hero.
- the orchestra is WAY too low in the mix. I listened to the concert with headphones, and I was really to be blown away, but for the most part, it sounded like an usual AB concert. It's especially obvious when you hear all the work that was done on Blackbird during the end credits. What was the point of doing such a project if you're not gonna mix it properly in the end? It defeats the purpose of such an event. My theory is that they realized during the mixing phase that the orchestra was not always in sync with the band, and as a consequence, they couldn't put it too high in the final mix.
- from what I've heard, the orchestral arrangements seemed kinda bland and generic for the most part. My reference point is S&M, which brought the Metallica songs to another level, and this was never really the case during this Royal Hall performance. Simon Dobson is no Michael Kamen, to say the least.
- I wish we could have watched the concert without all the behind the scenes stuff. There were far too many interruptions.
Last edited by chtimixeur on Wed Sep 12, 2018 4:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Dolo »

chtimixeur wrote: - Myles didn't goof too much, he barely "talk-singed", and we almost didn't hear any "that's right" during the show. He really tried his best, and I salute him for that.
Myles hasn't been performing vocals too well for years IMO. He simplifies his own vocal lines too often and skips certain lines for no reason whatsoever.
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Mr. Slash
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Mr. Slash »

Dolo wrote:
chtimixeur wrote: - Myles didn't goof too much, he barely "talk-singed", and we almost didn't hear any "that's right" during the show. He really tried his best, and I salute him for that.
Myles hasn't been performing vocals too well for years IMO. He simplifies his own vocal lines too often and skips certain lines for no reason whatsoever.
He skips certain lines because he wants to protect his voice. I guess he noticed himself that he can't pull off his energetic singing he had until ~2010.

I think you guys are a little too harsh with Myles. Yes, he lost his special sound over the years and yea he is a little awkward. But at least I like his awkwardness, it's really sympathetic. Still I enjoyed his vocals on the BluRay even though it was pretty obvious that he lacks the power to pull off the more energetic parts. Old Myles won't come back, we need to get over it.

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by MrsPog »

AngusWolfe wrote:Contrary to my previous post, my Vinyl copy came today. I know I need a new needle and I wasn't using the ideal speakers, but Mark seems a lot higher in the mix, and the orchestra even lower. This is very much to the detriment of the album. The only time I really heard them was in In Loving Memory, Wonderful Life/Watch Over You and the crescendo of The End Is Here. The Spotify version I've been listening to for free had more Orchestra in. Having said that, in the heavy songs, this becomes their best live album to date. The lack of audible orchestra makes it just that though, not the special event it should be. I'm hoping the DVD/BluRay will make up for this, when it eventually arrives. That said, I don't have a 5.1 setup, so the Stereo mix may be the same as the album.

RE: Myles: I really think the dude needs a decent six months to a year off. Not as a result of anything, I just worry about him burning out regardless. With his Solo Album, new Slash Album, and the RAH, we've had a decent dose of him in the last year, if it was to the benefit of his voice, mental and physical health, I'd support it. I think the reason he's not so animated during the show is due to him actually trying to sing how he did on the album to the best of his current abilities, where he's been used to cheating a bit over the last few years. He's singing the best he has since at least the ABIII days on this release, so I'd rather have that than him running around the stage and a repeat of Wembley. But if we could have both by him having some rest then I know what I'd prefer.
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Merinda »

It's interesting - the whole nasally thing - watching the End Is Here on Youtube I was like 'ooooh dear' on that last note but I was actually there and at the time he sounded on point. I suppose you get so elated and euphoric being in front of the real band that things like that don't get noticed because from my perspective at the actual gig, he sounded phenomenal.

Still waiting for my RAH Blu-Ray to arrive. I can't wait to relive it all over again.
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Blackbirddd »

PEOPLE, HE'S 50 YEARS OLD

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Dan Dando
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Dan Dando »

The orchestra's parts during Brand New Start are so bloody good. Surprised to find that I've listened to that song more than any other.

Also, am I right in assuming that you can't purchase this digitally anywhere? I tend to opt for digital versions of books/music/films nowadays, so it would be a blow to my attempts at minimalism if it meant I had to buy the physical copy :lol

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by TenaciousBe »

Sigh. It pains me to say, but I agree about Myles. Let me preface this by saying that Myles is my number one all time mega babe favorite singer, and I feel like when he's on, nobody can touch him. But when he's off... :/ I don't get why he's going to that soft A vowel sound so much where it's not called for. Calling for crowd interaction is great when you're there, but when you're filming for a live DVD that's going to be watched in perpetuity forever, maybe cut back on that a little. Or at least don't drop out in the middle of a line (or the middle of a word) to tell the crowd to sing it.

Now, I don't have a surround sound system at home, just a Vizio sound bar with a sub. And I haven't listened on that yet, I watched the DVD version on my laptop with some cheap skullcandy headphones. But I feel like the orchestra was barely noticeable throughout most of the show. There were certain places where it really cut through, and that raised the hairs on my arms, but 90% of the show, it felt like the orchestra was just making things louder. And this is Alter Bridge, they don't need to be any louder than they already are.

RIP Mark's clean tone.

Brian and Flip, on the other hand, killed it the whole way through. The part in Cry of Achilles where the band drops out and Brian gets to walk the bass all by himself for a few seconds? Chills!

I'm definitely going to need another watch/listen or five, but I left my first viewing much the same way I feel about The Last Hero -- excited for the buildup, happy for what it was they did, but a little underwhelmed at the execution.
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by riemslag1 »

As far as delivery troubles my experience is quite different as most : Napalm delivered on release date and Alter Bridge website ordered package still in transit today.
For me the sound and orchestra-sound are fabulous on as well my 5.1 as my old eighties-big speakered hifi-set.
I take the sounds of Myles and Mark as they come and enjoy them. Makes no sense keep comparing evolving and aging artists to moments long agoo at your personal-determined highs. Great cd/dvd/bd-set !!!!!!!

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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by DarkKnight12 »

I watched the Blu Ray through an full home cinema 5.1 and the orchestra is really audible. It was even to loud compared to the guitar at some points! So no it’s not mixed way too low. It’s just a matter of owning a great sound system. But I get that for people who do not owns such equipment, they could have tried to mix it so the orchestra is also very audible while listening through classic headphones.

AngusWolfe
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by AngusWolfe »

Blackbirddd wrote:PEOPLE, HE'S 50 YEARS OLD
Which is why I don't think there'd be much cause for any of us to complain if he took a year off touring.

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Sunrunner1
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Re: Alter Bridge - Live At The Royal Albert Hall

Post by Sunrunner1 »

TenaciousBe wrote:I don't get why he's going to that soft A vowel sound so much where it's not called for.
This. Some of my "favorites" include:
"Thaas is not the aand! Thaas is not the aand!" - Cry of Achilles.
"Gaaah, set out towards the sun. Gaaah, soon your day will come" - Words (To be fair, most of the performance was top notch, but that part in the bridge always bugs me.)
"The Oh singalong part" - Open Your Eyes (The sudden switch to aah's in the high part then back to oh's in the lower always sounds so cheap)
"The greatest sin, denied again, when will it aaahnd!" - Writing on the Wall
"Let the wind carry you home, blawckbird fly away" - Blackbird (I think he actually got it as close to the record as he's done in the last few years during the second chorus though)

All that being said, I do have to give Myles some credit. He actually had quite a few strong performances at this show, despite some that fell a bit short.
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