I have had a couple of friendly but passionate debates the Gethsemane number already this morning. Couple of things about that:
1. I liked Legend’s performance on every other number better than Neeley’s. On this one, I would give the nod to Neeley even though I preferred how Legend did the end of the song, which is heart breaking. But nobody is going to do the “Watch me die...” part like Neeley. And, to be fair, this song, and scene, is the key to the whole show (and to the whole story), so even if that is the only one Neeley did better on (and lots will disagree with me about that), that is the one song to be better on, if you had to pick one. 2. That classic rock screaming style is not really my lane musically; while Legend’s more soulful pop sound is, which may be why I liked his whole performance so much better. Those who think this show can only be done in 70s power rock style will prefer Neeley - but then they may be as guilty of rigid fundamentalism as those Evangelicals who are whining about the graffiti. (Note: This is not a clap back at Diner, but at a few of my more friendly but intense interlocutors on other platforms this morning). 3. I know Neeley has been touring the show live for years, but I have never seen him do it. It is a little unfair to compare Legend’s live performance, maybe 90 minutes into the show, with a movie soundtrack version, that likely spliced together best takes fro several tries, with plenty of rest and no actual moving around. 4. I grew up with the movie soundtrack to this show, and literally wore the grooves out of the album. I am a fan of Neeley’s performance, though I always had a few quibbles. I just like last night’s better. That certainly comes down to personal taste, or as we say here - YMMV. Both performances are memorable, and, for those so inclined, deeply moving. Here are YouTube clips of both singers doing the same number: Neeley: https://youtu.be/X_mJgVwQ3Qw Legend: https://youtu.be/DJZJcOsHghw On Mon, Apr 2, 2018 at 7:00 AM Diner <[email protected]> wrote: > I had a few quibbles - the vocal mix early on was poor, making it hard to > decipher the lyrics, but was fixed by the second hour; John Legend wasn't > quite up to the vocal demands of "Gethsemane," but worked his way around it > with phrasing; and the cheering of the crowd at inopportune moments was > annoying, intrusive, and contrived. (SNIP) -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
