It's really difficult to watch these iconic stars and our music legends age and become less adept at recreating those amazing times in our past. Sometimes they can still hit the notes and sometimes they can't. Especially the high vocal parts are going to be tough. But losing control of pitch in such finely woven harmonies .... is heartbreaking.
Different type of music, all together, but when I went last month to see The Beach Boys at Red Rock, I was amazed and surprised. It's their 50th Anniversary tour, and they sounded amazing. Part of that is that just their voices are still in good form. Singing those high parts in falsetto are ESPECIALLY difficult, at any age. The age range of the original 5 Beach Boys is 68 to 72.
Even Brian's voice is strong, and that guy is a capital "M" MESS!!
But what they did that I think is the correct thing to do in this situation, is to surround themselves with 10 band members who are amazing in their own right, and get support on difficult parts and turn some parts over to them so they could last the over 120 minutes of the concert. Granted, they didn't do it on their own. But what you HEARD was pretty much what you heard back in the day and on their recordings. And what you walked away with was a great feeling that the Beach Boys can still make amazing music, and that possibly for that one evening, time was suspended for a bit and it was like being 18 again.
My feeling is, if you can do it, then do it. If you can't, get HELP. Hearing our legends sound bad or not hold a tune or hit the notes is devastating..... at least to me it is.
I have a lot of respect for the way the Beach Boys recreated a time and place in their concert. Sure, we're all moving a little more slowly now.... but our cars are better and faster now...... :wink: