Paul McCartney Super Bowl haftime lipsynch?

It didnt look like any lipsynching was going on to my ears/eyes. Do you guys think Paul vocals were too good to be true? I dont think his singing was that exceptional, it was kind of rough sometimes. If it had been pre recorded, it would have been perfect. This is not Ashlee Simpson, this is McCartney and some of the best session musicians money can buy playing some pretty easy songs. Why lipsynch? Doesnt make sense to me.

 

I saw Paul 2 years ago in concert. The Superbowl show sounded every bit as live as that show did. Lipsynch issues are common in the digital world, get used to it. Paul was live, I don't think you could pay him enough to lipsynch.

 

There are a lot of repetitive notes in some parts of those songs....that's why the lack of right hand (his fretting hand) movement. Get Back is a..a..a..a..a..a d..d..d...d..d..d... Drive My Car vamps on D for a few notes just before the chorus....that could be why.

 

Lip-syncing doesn't seem likely at all, but maybe a backing track that fit time contstraints? The only anomaly I noticed was that the transition from song to song seemed a tad too slick, but didn't get the impression of anything else amiss.

 

Paul's fingers did move during "Drive My Car". I was looking for it because it's a cool bass part. I don't think you have to change hand positions to play the bass line to that song.

"Get Back" is a much simpler bass line & the hand position does not change.

 

As I posted elsewhere, in one closeup I saw of Paul it did look like he was lip-synching (or at least out-of-sync somewhere). I Tivo'd this and will look at it again more closely. Quite frankly, though, I don't really care. There are almost always prerecords done for these type of events in case of any equipment malfunctions.

Of course it's okay for our idols to lipsynch now and then when the need arises. But if it's a teeniebopper that we old farts all despise...

 

Heh, is the game getting this much debate?

 

There was a massive amount of stadium sound at my house, all of those fireworks going off in synch to the music, the crowd cheering, and the audience singing. There was a massive amount of stadium sounds in my system, but the performance was nice. The only real problem at my house was the 5.1 mix of Gretchen, there was a slight mix problem that was corrected soon enough. Daniels had a few technical difficulties, but the technicans fixed that pretty quickly.

 

Sorry......that would be an A he vamps on for DMC

 

Sir Paul!

I doubt seriously that it was a lipsync. Too many raw and wonderful moments. Paul was in absolutely spectacular voice! As far as I'm concerned, he earned every cent that he was paid.

I sat watching the SB in a room *full* of Macca-bashers. Each one waiting to pounce on any little thing to condemn. They each thought it was absolutely incredibly great. This was a moment I will treasure.

 

He was paid???

 

Was McCartney wearing headphones? I don't remember.

Hey Jude seamed to be more live singing than Baby you can drive my car. The production just seemed too slick for a live performance. And the vocals were spot on in Baby You Can Drive my car. A little to good for a sixty year old guy.

 

He is too good!!!!! He is freaking Paul McCartney from the freaking Beatles!!!

 

It sounded to me like the vocals were something like 80% prerecorded and 20% live Paul. His mouth movements were VERY obviously out of sync at one point. When his performance began, about half the 7 people at my party said he was lipsyncing, and the other half were indignant that anyone suggest that Paul McCartney would do such a thing.

By the end of the performance, the indignant people had stopped talking.

 

It looked live to me, especially his "woos" and other vocal "noises" that were not lyrics. Would have been a masterful job if it was. I also DVR'd it and will go back and watch.

 

Wow, I guess I started a good debate. I will go on record as saying (and I'm not lip-synching when I say,...say this) Paul can do whatver he damn well pleases!! It's OK with me.

Seriously, I realize that doing a halftime SB concert must be a little like that commerical where they change the guys tires while he's driving his car (no pun intended). A little technology to round off the edges is ok....I'd never infer he'd do any of this in a "real" concert, anyway.

It looks like some folks over on AVSForum agree with me, however; especially the backing music fills like the cowbell (need more) on Drive My Car.

Anyway, hell, I like the 5.1 surrounds in Anthology and YS, so I'm open to technology-assisted Beatles, if that's what it was. If it was ALL live, then I apologize for shouting "fire"; surely Paul and band can play 4 songs live unassisted...it just didn't look that way to me.

 

Without being knowledgable about all the technicalities.....there must be some "delay" problems inherent with big time, big venue performances.....where the picture sometimes might not look like it's perfectly in synch with the audio. I've seen it happen with concerts where you see the singer on the screen, but the audio is naturally delayed a split second due to the distance between you and the speakers.

 

Actually, that $280,000 per minute. But who's counting?

 

I agree.
It didn't look totally live to me either.

 

Well, I just watched it - real closely - and now I have changed my mind. I think he WAS lip syncing.

First off, they used really large foam mic wind screens which obscured his mouth both while he was on guitar and at the piano.

Whoever mentioned the count in to LALD, yes! I saw that now. In fact, it sounds suspiciously like Paul himself doing the counting!!

His vocal levels remain clear and at a constant level throughout each song, even when he moves away from the mics. I always suspect stuff when the volume of the voice remains the same.

Still, watching it again, I still enjoyed it. His tour band is great, and since he's outside in a huge arena, getting the sound right must be very difficult.

So, I am now firmly in the "LIP SYNC'd" column, not that it matters much.

 

I'm surprised there hasn't been any mention of the performance he did at the 2002
Super Bowl in New Orleans.

It was a less prominent spot (pre-game celebration - not the half time show)
and only one song.... but there is an earlier example of him playing
at a show of this scale...

In 2002 I think it was clear he was using some sort of backing track.
I remember him having a live mic - but I seem to recall transitions where
it went from pre-recorded to live - and vice versa...

Yesterday - I had a hard time detecting transitions - so it SEEMED live -
but I'm not certain...

I think the reality is there is some sort of pre-recorded vocal that they
CAN switch to - if necessary - but it doesn't get used in the absence
of acid reflux ( )

I think he sang live yesterday - and I think the band was playing along
live - but I think we heard a live vocal over a pre-recorded backing
track... which is pretty standard for a gig with 2.5 billion people
watching and 3 minutes to construct a stage...


Listening to sports radio today - I found two highly polarized
opinions of the performance:

1.) The self-professed "clones" who contribute to the Jim
Rome jungle are extremely upset with Paulie. They are
moaning that Donny and Marie will be performing next
year. Listening to these idiots, you'd think they had
hired Pat Boone - LOL

2.) The football writer in Houston who has been to almost
every Super Bowl said that this was the only time he has
ever seen the press boys stop and take notice. He said
the crowd reaction was unlike any other he has ever seen.


The differences there are probably best explained
by an age gap

 

My whole family watched Paul, and on a 20' TV in the kitchen it didn't appear to us that he was lip syncing If he was, then shame on him. At least Ashlee Simpson does a jig for the audience when she lip syncs on TV!

 

I watched it on a 82" wide screen in hi def with my home theatre audio system. His voice sounded great, possibly too good. His vocals appeared to be generally well-synched; I saw no indisputable problems (in large arena shows there will always be same timing vagaries) and, if he was totally lip-synched, he fooled me. I figure he was probably getting some pre-recorded support but, if so, it was done extremely well. I am not really a McCartney fan, but IMO he performed better than both of the teams.

 

Parts were definitely lip synced. No question about it. In fact there are rumors from a studio here in LA that he recorded parts of his performance here in November of last year.

 

I didn't listen that carefully, but I thought his vocal sounded somewhat ragged (as I expected) on Drive My Car, and a little too good on Get Back.