Is it possible to mix things up on this tour live?

[Q.L.M.]

I've read an awful lot of comments regarding how the tour could get boring for the members of the tour and how BIlly himself even seems a bit tired of promotiing thefutureembrace the way he has been.
Now when the Pumpkins did exist (and even during the zwan era) I've heard performances of Billy playing classic songs that sound nothing like they do in context of the album. Things are played faster or in acoustic, or just in whole new arrangments as in the storytellers performance. You all know what he can do (he has even played bullet with butterfly wings acoustic, although it didnt sound too good).
Is BIlly's current group of musicians capable of playing insturments so we could hear acoustic takes on things. Or could he just play different versions of songs if he wanted? Why wouldnt he try this? I know he wants to stay true to the album and represent it live, however, in times like when the screen was sent to korea or whatever that cvould have been a great opportunity. I'm not saying this is possible but its just an idea to toss around and discuss. Has anyone heard any acoustic demos or anything?

[Quiet CD]

I think much of the music that is *******d in the live performance is pre-recorded (i think mostly for the giant screen to sync properly) and the musicians have the ability to play on top of that, but it doesn't allow for pace changes etc so freely like pure live music does....

I also believe that most of the music isn't composed with the notion of humans reproducing it fully, it largely depends machines to help transition movements to rythm into sound so the machines would have to smart enough to play with the humans and not play for them necessarily...

Billy has only played Now and Then out of the context of the album, in an acoustic format, and even at those points it seems like he has to really think hard while playing them (most of the TFE songs seems like he is focusing very hard on small nuances in his playing because of their importance)...

Just because the screen was missing doesn't mean that hey they can just play an accoustic show, considering that pretty much all of the instruments being played are electronic based... thought it would be rad if Billy came out with an acoustic guitar, Linda on a traditional piano and Matt on some hand drums.... wow that sounds like it would be pretty bad ass actually... Not sure if its the songs or what but it seems like Zwan was capable of doing this transition (e.g. Paris 2003.02.08 show)

[Q.L.M.]

I think you are right, Quite CD. By the way I thought that Zwan show in Paris was unbelievable, it had such good sound quality too.

[TuralyonW3]

Originally posted by Q.L.M.
I think you are right, Quite CD. By the way I thought that Zwan show in Paris was unbelievable, it had such good sound quality too.

TheDjaliEmbrace, perhaps?

[Nimrod's Son]

a synchronized live show with giant video screens is a recipe for the most boring show ever

[Q.L.M.]

I just read that Billy said they are going to do an acoustic show in syndney the day after their regular show. SO I guess this question wasn't too unrealistic.

[DeviousJ]

What's weird is that Billy apparently used to have a really complex rackmount setup in his SP days, where instead of having to manually step on switches or rely on timed changes he could actually control his effects by hitting certain notes on the guitar. So he was free to extend a part as and when he liked without relying on someone to recognize the changeover and switch his effects chain to the next section. So the idea isn't exactly out there.

Here's the thing though - aside from that, there are so many possibilities for making a more dynamic experience. There are 3 other people on stage playing midi-equipped instruments. Drummers often handle triggers (for sounds or to send a 'next part' signal in this case), it would be trivial for any of them to handle these. What about the guy who sits at his computer running the sequencer? Couldn't he watch and say 'oh, this bit' and move the light show onto the next section? What about the lighting engineer?

Seems to me Billy's all about this being his solo project, all him. He has other people on stage, but they're more about decoration (hence the importance of the lightshow) than actually performing the music, which is why there seems to be such heavy automation going on with them playing a little over a main backing track. It sounds like Billy wants the music to come out exactly as he created it, with little outside influence other than his own. And if each performance is like this, it's no wonder people say he looks bored or dejected all the time, or that he's talking about getting his band back together

[Esotarious]

Originally posted by DeviousJ
What's weird is that Billy apparently used to have a really complex rackmount setup in his SP days, where instead of having to manually step on switches or rely on timed changes he could actually control his effects by hitting certain notes on the guitar. So he was free to extend a part as and when he liked without relying on someone to recognize the changeover and switch his effects chain to the next section. So the idea isn't exactly out there.

The Lake Butler Midigator did that for him. I have one.