Posted by CtCrowe (50.176.123.156) on January 29, 2017 at 17:20:05:
In Reply to: Re: What do you all think of John Hogg on vocals posted by Opus on January 29, 2017 at 11:38:05:
When the Magpie Salute announcement happened I was expecting more Rich / Marc / Covers content to the setlist with some selected TBC material, that would not necessitate a true 'front man'. Basically re- launching the band with this lineup caught me by surprise but what I have seen on you tube has been good by me.
If Magpie does not tour extensively this summer I would be surprised.
One thing that Rich commented on early was a '2 drummers' concept. Did that not pan out? was it supposed to be his drummer and Steve, and Steve decided to focus on the Fox Sports gig which is the explanation I saw.
: I've seen a bunch of people voicing dissent about him. He's copying Chris mannerisms, he's forgetting lyrics, they should've picked "insert singer's name" instead, they should've gotten Chris, etc.
: I personally have little issue with him. The reasons why:
: - If you want to get on him for whiffing on the lyrics of Conspiracy or Wings, that's fair. That said, he gets a pass from me. If Rich wanted a super tight show, he'd have given them a list of 14 songs and played them four nights in a row. Instead he went with four nights of 20 songs each with virtually no repeats,in which John had to sing about half for the first time in front of a big crowd. That's tough to do and I have to cut him slack with that pressure. If they played the same set every night and he was flubbing lyrics, that's different. For what he had to do, he did very well.
: - Chris Robinson ain't coming back. He doesn't want to do these songs anymore. And judging by video of the last Crowes tours, his vocals aren't what they used to be. CRB is both more his style of music and more in his vocal range. And even if he did come back, it's never gonna be the same for one reason: no Eddie Harsch.
: -The band's only had four shows. The music is on point because it's Rich's touring band, plus Marc, they're road tested. And Rich, Marc, Sven, and Joe have lots of experience playing Crowes songs. If it was more spontaneously put together, the music would be dodgy at times as well.
: So yeah, I'm not worried about him at this stage of the game.