Going Home again

[quizzaciously]

He's 71 years old.

Being 71 years old is not a diagnosis, every man ages differently. One can be older In 17 that somebody in 71...

I'm curious if the motorcycle crash and the back problems he had in 2010 (?) have any effect on his hands/arms and therefore his playing. Once your back is hurt, all kinds of weird things can happen in other parts of your body.

It could be connected. Even minor accident can leave a huge footprint in the body, let alone a major car accident and a year-long treatment involving surgery. As much as I love people who loves motorcycles, almost every one of them suffered from some kind of accident, major or minor. Dangerous stuff!

[rmarques821]

He's 71 years old.

Being 71 years old is not a diagnosis, every man ages differently. One can be older In 17 that somebody in 71...

I'm curious if the motorcycle crash and the back problems he had in 2010 (?) have any effect on his hands/arms and therefore his playing. Once your back is hurt, all kinds of weird things can happen in other parts of your body.

It could be connected. Even minor accident can leave a huge footprint in the body, let alone a major car accident and a year-long treatment involving surgery. As much as I love people who loves motorcycles, almost every one of them suffered from some kind of accident, major or minor. Dangerous stuff!

I'm not trying to diagnose anything. I'm just pointing out a fact that many people seem to be oblivious to. Obviously, every man ages differently but we all know that's not the case with MK as he's suffered from various accidents/malaises over the years. I'm actually surprised he managed to put out a quite decent and lenghty tour at 70.

[dmg]

OK, I think we all agree that Mark isn't as fleet-fingered as he used to be, due to age and who knows if there's some arthritis or other stuff going on. The cold certainly doesn't help. Then there's the fact that he has done it all, several times over, so to expect him to be really excited to perform and pour a ton of emotions into his playing, well, we might have to adjust our expectations. We certainly can't blame him for any of this. I'm guessing, he probably could practice more guitar to keep his chops up, but if he's not really into it, then what's the point. The guitar hero thing is old hat to him anyway.

cold obviously doesn't help but this was a very short perfomance, few minutes of playing in a very slow song, not a full concert, it's really ingenuous to think cold is the issue here, especially after an avalanche of errors in the 2019 tour

I'm pretty sure that Mark suffer from some degenerative disease or a Parkinson variations.

Since 2013, seeing some tour videos, its cleary that Mark has tremor in his hands. Probably he uses a lot of medications so he was abble to play without major problems. Not the guitar hero that he used to be, but with strong hands.

During the passing years, he barely play a decent electric guitar but he was abble to play some acoustics very well. Observing the Brian Johnson interview, Mark almost didn't play the guitar during STP or any song. Just bad playing and fractions of songs.

In other recent interviews, Mark was hiding his hands or holding his leg almost all the time. Based on my observations, i believe that he loses his fingers strenght. For me, the proof of this was the DTRW album. He play mostly electric because he cannot play acoustics properly. Matchsick Man is not well played.

During the 2019 tour, he barely can play R&J or TR. Of course that was some good moments during Speedway and Why Aye Man. OUATIW was a disaster.

But our hero keeps his passion to the music and refuses to stop playing. But nowadays, for him,  the art of playng guitar is very hard to achieve. Even if he practices guitar every day, this fisical condition is a nightmare.

Sorry about my poor english.

I don't like to speculate about people and their medical issues, but there is no doubt Mark has something wrong.  It could just be a side effect of a drug he is taking - we don't know.  Your observations are spot on though Rolo and exactly what I have been thinking but didn't want to say.

Even the songs you mention I would have mentioned too as examples.  R&J solo shortened because he struggles and barely any 2019 examples are played smoothly.  If you watch when he plays it his hands are all over the place.  It's painful to watch. 

I know he loves touring and we all love going to his shows but he's earned his retirement and legend status.  Bring on more new albums and unreleased stuff!

[Jules]

I know he loves touring and we all love going to his shows but he's earned his retirement and legend status.  Bring on more new albums and unreleased stuff!

I remember we talked about this when in 2011 MK toured with Dylan, and we saw in which conditions was Dylan touring, they way he growl his songs, I recall someone telling that never wanted to see MK touring like that...

I don't want to see MK touring like Dylan does, Dylan to me was painful to see and listen, but I think MK is still in good shape to do something more like the acoustic part of the concert than the rocker one... The rocker one is more demanding, but in the intimate he could deliver top quality!

[superval99]

No, I definitely don't want to see MK touring in the condition that Dylan was in 2011/12.  I would much rather he retired with dignity and continued to make albums.   Maybe some small intimate concerts now and again would be nice! 

[hunter]

No, I definitely don't want to see MK touring in the condition that Dylan was in 2011/12.  I would much rather he retired with dignity and continued to make albums.   Maybe some small intimate concerts now and again would be nice!

I couldn't agree more.

[skydiver]

No, I definitely don't want to see MK touring in the condition that Dylan was in 2011/12.  I would much rather he retired with dignity and continued to make albums.   Maybe some small intimate concerts now and again would be nice!

I couldn't agree more.

if only all those not wanting to see him touring again would actually stay away and not taking all the good seats away from those for whom it is still one of the most precious and most beautiful things on earth to see him play live...

[border_reiver]

I know he loves touring and we all love going to his shows but he's earned his retirement and legend status.  Bring on more new albums and unreleased stuff!

I remember we talked about this when in 2011 MK toured with Dylan, and we saw in which conditions was Dylan touring, they way he growl his songs, I recall someone telling that never wanted to see MK touring like that...

I don't want to see MK touring like Dylan does, Dylan to me was painful to see and listen, but I think MK is still in good shape to do something more like the acoustic part of the concert than the rocker one... The rocker one is more demanding, but in the intimate he could deliver top quality!

Oh so true.

All I can remember is that me and my mate laughed so hard at Dylan's croaking. Especially during Things have changed.

*Mumble mumble RRRAAAH
Mumble mumble BRRREEEH*

[superval99]

I know he loves touring and we all love going to his shows but he's earned his retirement and legend status.  Bring on more new albums and unreleased stuff!

I remember we talked about this when in 2011 MK toured with Dylan, and we saw in which conditions was Dylan touring, they way he growl his songs, I recall someone telling that never wanted to see MK touring like that...

I don't want to see MK touring like Dylan does, Dylan to me was painful to see and listen, but I think MK is still in good shape to do something more like the acoustic part of the concert than the rocker one... The rocker one is more demanding, but in the intimate he could deliver top quality!

Oh so true.

All I can remember is that me and my mate laughed so hard at Dylan's croaking. Especially during Things have changed.

*Mumble mumble RRRAAAH
Mumble mumble BRRREEEH*

Oh, I remember it well!     

[rmarques821]

I know he loves touring and we all love going to his shows but he's earned his retirement and legend status.  Bring on more new albums and unreleased stuff!

I remember we talked about this when in 2011 MK toured with Dylan, and we saw in which conditions was Dylan touring, they way he growl his songs, I recall someone telling that never wanted to see MK touring like that...

I don't want to see MK touring like Dylan does, Dylan to me was painful to see and listen, but I think MK is still in good shape to do something more like the acoustic part of the concert than the rocker one... The rocker one is more demanding, but in the intimate he could deliver top quality!

I agree. I would pay good money to see Mark play a more intimate, acoustic tour, the way David Gilmour did in 2002, I believe.

Sent from my Redmi 4A using Tapatalk

[2manyguitars]

I was thinking about this on the way to work today (walking and talking to myself - I know, first sign of madness!).

There's no doubt that the concerts miss something if he cant  play sultans, tr, and wont play tol (understandable noble reasons). It lacks the defining crescendo.

However I think there is still room for him to tour. I'd like to see him tackle some of the great songs that were never, or only occasionally played live. There are loads of candidates from both DS and solo, Mans to strong, Hand in hand, Portobello Belle, and some of the more atmospheric solo stuff like Sands of Nevada, So far from the Clyde, Gas and TV, I could go on....

I'd certainly pay good money to see a show with some unusual/unplayed gems...   

[quizzaciously]

I was thinking about this on the way to work today (walking and talking to myself - I know, first sign of madness!).

There's no doubt that the concerts miss something if he cant  play sultans, tr, and wont play tol (understandable noble reasons). It lacks the defining crescendo.

However I think there is still room for him to tour. I'd like to see him tackle some of the great songs that were never, or only occasionally played live. There are loads of candidates from both DS and solo, Mans to strong, Hand in hand, Portobello Belle, and some of the more atmospheric solo stuff like Sands of Nevada, So far from the Clyde, Gas and TV, I could go on....

I'd certainly pay good money to see a show with some unusual/unplayed gems...   

The unfortunate part here is that a lot of "other" songs are vocally demanding as well, if not for guitar demanding. For this reason, I'm pretty sure songs like "5:15 a.m." was cut from the setlist completely, although Mark was playing just a rhythm part on a guitar, and Richard played all the leads. And I think many tracks that we would want to hear, Taormina and others, are just too demanding to sing. So not only Mark need to strip down his stadium tours, chose less demanding songs to play, but also less demanding songs to sign, and the list is so narrow actually. I might be wrong about this, but there's certainly a bold reasonoing about static setlist and all.

I honestly don't care too much about guitar, Mark was a guitar god to me only when I was in my teens, since then he's always been a singer-songwriter god to me, and the singer part is also crucial. Richard could play all the leads and I wouldn't mind, but the fact that no one can replace Mark's singing and his live singing is getting worse and worse is a huge pain. As was said before, late Bob Dylan's mumbling and growling is NOT what I'd like to hear from Mark.

[Knopflerfan]

No, I definitely don't want to see MK touring in the condition that Dylan was in 2011/12.  I would much rather he retired with dignity and continued to make albums.   Maybe some small intimate concerts now and again would be nice!

Quite agree Superval, I just couldn't go to see MK with perhaps people walking out on him like people did (including us!) with BD at the joint gigs in 2011...
Personally I'd rather he now focus on some albums and perhaps guest appearances or similar...

Sad to say I guess but we can all remember in our hearts our good times at MK concerts and everyone meeting up sharing in some most amazing music performed by the one and only master....

[knopflertom]

Here is the official version of Going home on YouTube:

For he sounds good the mentioned greenie is in my opinion not so carrying weight

[2manyguitars]

I was thinking about this on the way to work today (walking and talking to myself - I know, first sign of madness!).

There's no doubt that the concerts miss something if he cant  play sultans, tr, and wont play tol (understandable noble reasons). It lacks the defining crescendo.

However I think there is still room for him to tour. I'd like to see him tackle some of the great songs that were never, or only occasionally played live. There are loads of candidates from both DS and solo, Mans to strong, Hand in hand, Portobello Belle, and some of the more atmospheric solo stuff like Sands of Nevada, So far from the Clyde, Gas and TV, I could go on....

I'd certainly pay good money to see a show with some unusual/unplayed gems...   

The unfortunate part here is that a lot of "other" songs are vocally demanding as well, if not for guitar demanding. For this reason, I'm pretty sure songs like "5:15 a.m." was cut from the setlist completely, although Mark was playing just a rhythm part on a guitar, and Richard played all the leads. And I think many tracks that we would want to hear, Taormina and others, are just too demanding to sing. So not only Mark need to strip down his stadium tours, chose less demanding songs to play, but also less demanding songs to sign, and the list is so narrow actually. I might be wrong about this, but there's certainly a bold reasonoing about static setlist and all.

I honestly don't care too much about guitar, Mark was a guitar god to me only when I was in my teens, since then he's always been a singer-songwriter god to me, and the singer part is also crucial. Richard could play all the leads and I wouldn't mind, but the fact that no one can replace Mark's singing and his live singing is getting worse and worse is a huge pain. As was said before, late Bob Dylan's mumbling and growling is NOT what I'd like to hear from Mark.

Some good points.

I don't 100% agree about his voice though. There is no doubt that at its best it has become thinner, a higher timbre, with less authority, but his  actual vocal range has improved.

I think the reason he sounds rough at times is the mere demands of touring on the voice. I've taught, sang or performed in some way myself basically every day for nearly 30 years. No matter how well you warm up and warm down it takes its toll and the only cure is rest.

I reckon after 10 dates on a tour his voice is basically gone. Not to mention the damage smoking will have done.

What I find with my voice now is I can sing powerfully for probably 10 minutes and then it's done, side throat, scratchy, and painful.

I did make a few students weap with laughter today with an extremely croaky karaoke performance 😂 the content of which I couldn't possibly divulge due to the resulting extreme loss of credibility! 😀....