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February 04, 2009

Not Playing Live: The E Street Band Was Faking It At The Superbowl... 'Only Springsteen’s vocals were live'

Chicago Tribune | Read Full Story >

First it was Yo-Yo Ma at the Inauguration.

Then it was Jennifer Hudson at the Superbowl.

Now comes the word that even though Bruce’s vocals we’re live, the E Street Band’s music was all on tape!

Chicago Tribune:

“The Super Bowl performances are all on tape,” said Hank Neuberger, a Grammy winning producer who is supervisor of the broadcast audio for the Grammy Awards telecast. Minor is music director of the Grammys in addition to his duties as producer of the pre-game entertainment at the Super Bowl.

Neuberger said not only Hudson and Hill recorded their performances in advance, but so did halftime performers Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Only Springsteen’s vocals were live, he said.

“There is no way you can set up a full band in five minutes with microphones, get all the settings right, and expect to get quality sound,” Neuberger said. “The Super Bowl has been doing that for years with virtually all the bands.”

Still, what about alerting viewers that portions of a broadcast have been pre-recorded if backing tapes are being used? Live sound mixers say the practice is so commonplace that such disclaimers aren’t necessary.

“C’mon, it’s a given,” Neuberger said. “Television and music are not always a happy marriage. It’s hard to present music of the highest quality on television, and you want the audience to hear an artist at their best. It’s not like anybody paid to see Milli Vanilli sing, and found out later they aren’t even on the recording, let along singing on stage.”


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Previous comments include

#1 DayTripper says:

Well, that is the case, then you can't call him The Boss anymore. Just another poseur. --As I always thought he was to begin with

#2 andy k says:

That's pretty funny. Weinberg took a week off Conan's show to "rehearse" for the Superbowl! WTF!

#3 ironlung says:

Whatever happened to live music? If you can't perform a live set properly, don't perform at all. Just press "play" on the cd player and entertain the crowd that way.

#4 kyle l says:

if this is the case in this situation, are the grammys going to be the same way? i can't see radiohead faking a performance; they would have just denied the invite, from what i have learned about thePr

#5 CH says:

A Pitchfork writer had an excellent counter to this today. Worth reading. Also, just because the songs were not performed live does not mean that they were not recorded specially for the game. Not that I'm the world's biggest Boss fan, but I think it's a ridiculous stretch to call him a "poseur". Please. Poseur of what?

#6 Evan says:

that's pathetic.
really.
bring back janet's tit.
or was that fake too?

#7 frank says:

Regarding CH's #5 comment about the Pitchfork opinion, I totally disagree. I also don't think that the Pitchfork take on this ("America's self-righteous obsession with real-time musical integrity never ceases to surprise me.") was very persuasive at all . . .

Maybe somebody who has done live sound set-ups (there's prob a better term for this) could chime in here. I agree that time-constraints might make a live performance impracticable. That said though, it seems to me that we're all expected to throw up our hands and agree that it's no big deal. I think it IS a big deal. When a performance is presented as live, it should be live. It's true for Ashlee Simpson on SNL, and it's true for Springsteen at the Super Bowl.

'Thought Pitchfork placed a premium on integrity . . .

#8 enrique says:

i totally agree with pitchfork. having a football game that big means you will never have time to properly rig everything.

on the other hand, grammys and snl are shows with stages set up with the sole purpose of having live music, they spend days, even weeks preparing them so i think there's no exuse.

besides, who the fuck thinks live music in a sport event is important? come on people, first go to a concert, then complain.

#9 enrique says:

add:

this paragraph got it for me: The trade-off is a great-sounding performance with Bruce keeping it relatively spontaneous versus a logistically inescapable shitty-sounding halftime show with sub-par music no matter how well Little Steven picks at his guitar. I mean, arguably the worst part of the performance-- that "guacamole" line-- was totally live.

Basically it would have been an engineering stunt, not a musical one.

#10 Shishky says:

There is not adequate time to set up a show like that, give yourselfs a break. The choice between a poor "live" show and a great half canned show should not ruin the event, it insures the quality the sponsors pay for, it's a gaurantee that it will be the best it can be.

#11 San Iker says:

ok Kids, They rehearse/record what they are to play at the actual show, then use the resulting backing tracks at the actual show... Do you know how long it would take to mic, set-up and dial-in such a setup properly ? the pure logistics are practically impossible given the short time they have at SPHF... Speaking from experience, not opining based on feelings as most of you are... They sure as shit don't fake it on tour, they actually knock yer socks off...

#12 Stephen A. says:

Does anybody recall Top of the Pops, Ed Sullivan, American Bandstand? Surf You Tube and there are hundreds of "classic" performances all either lip synched or pre recorded music for the broadcast with live vocals. Stones, Beatles, Joplin, Petty, Clash, Sex Pistols to name a few. Those are still awesome to watch. Bands doing this is an art genre unto it's self.

#13 soundman says:

THAT WHAT SOUND CHECKS ARE FOR AND WITH DIGITAL CONSOLES, ONE PUSH OF A BUTTON AND THE PERFECT MIX FROM SOUNDCHECK IS THERE - LIVE $HOW CAN BE DONE

#14 Justin says:

As a live sound engineer with over ten years' experience, I can absolutely say that it is possible to have a mix ready for a live show like this if the stage is a single, mobile unit which is not broken down before the set. The whole stage should be pre-miked with levels set the day before and then they can roll it in, connect the stage snakes, and do a signal check in about 7-10 minutes. There are only a few unknowns like crowd noise that could tamper with your mix, but the sound engineers that the superbowl can afford should know how to manage that. This is a case of laziness, not necessarily on Springsteen's part, but of the halftime show's producers.

#15 Been There Before says:

The pre-recording of the 12-minute performance also ensures that everything runs according to schedule.

#16 Mark says:

You are full of it!!!!

I was on the crew that set up the super bowl halftime show. And YES they performed "Live Live" there was no pretaped music at all...

#17 Rose says:

I was a volunteer for the half time show and I can tell you that it was a LIVE LIVE performance.

#18 Dayna says:

As a volunteer for the Halftime Superbowl stage crew I can tell you first hand that it is possible to set up a stage/full band with all the wiring within 5 minutes....because that is exactly what we (400 volunteers) did. Neuberger has no idea what he is talking about and shouldn't be spreading false accusations if he wasn't there to prove it all night! Having been a part of all the rehearsals, as well as being on the field for the show and watching the steps to setting up not only the stage but all the live wiring.....I can assure you it was a live performance by all members of the band..and they ROCK!

#19 JD says:

Like the article says...you cannot set up a full band in 5 minutes. Should half time take several hours so that bands have time to set up? That would give some of you more to complain about. The Boss rocked the house as he always does.

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