AFTER-THOUGHT: Live Earth & The PCDs

As I was plodding along on the treadmill this morning, shaking my butt to the Pussycat Doll's Buttons, I remembered something I wanted to talk about in my review of the Live Earth Concert. (See below for review.) Despite what the Los Angeles Times said in this morning's paper, it was not, I repeat not, an uplifting experience. An interesting experiment in multi-continent concerts and global awareness, but I didn't feel like running out and recycling (I do that anyway), and I most certainly didn't feel like voting for Al Gore, or any other tree-hugger.

But what really left a bitter (confused) taste in my mouth was the Pussycat Dolls performance, from London. Don't get me wrong, I loved that they performed a hybrid slow-to-fast version of Buttons, including the Dave Aude remix I highlighted in this month's tunes. No, what annoyed me was the fact that they were the only group to use backing tracks. (If you don't know what backing tracks are, it is a polite way of saying, "lip syncing.") While lead singer, What's Her Name did her best, it ended up being an out of breath, out of tune performance. At one point, the PCDs didn't even bother trying to match the music; they just danced around, holding their microphones as music magically poured out of the sound system.

But what really chapped my hide was the type of backing tracks used: full vocals. Why bother singing live, over a full set of vocals. I mean, I can forgive the back-up dancers (read: the rest of the group) for not singing: they were busting their barely dressed humps all over the huge stage. But the lead singer also had backing tracks, and gave a huffy, flat performance. The crowd seemed to enjoy it enough (this is usually the best way to judge of a performance), but why bother? Even lifetime lip sync artist Madonna went all-out, both singing, dancing, and even playing the guitar on one track. She had the crowd jumping up and down on her first song, Ray of Light, and had them singing along to the breakdown of Hung Up. Her voice wobbled a few times, and during her extended guitar solo, she made the mistake of running up and down the stage, which left her out of breath when returning to the mike. But at least she tried. Pussycat Dolls: try harder, please!