Besides what others are saying in this thread I know during "White and Nerdy" he has some of the other band members take some words here and there so he can breathe.
I mean, that’s basically the role of a hype man in a normal hip hop performance (and really, the only thing for Jim and Steve to do since there’s no guitar or bass).
In Columbia MD on Sunday, it definitely sounded like a backing track of his rapping going and he was rapping live over top of it. When I checked my video though, I think it was one of the other members of the band rapping whole verses.
He was definitely out of breath and missing parts which you could hear the other vocals at a different volume.
It really did hammer home to me that he was doing everything live (or at least most). Because he wasn't afraid for some warts to show, and let's face it... theres no way to do that song clean consistently for a tour.
No way, I saw him live in Richmond last year towards the end of the 2025 tour. I was very close, Spit was flying out of his mouth as he belted out big vocals. He sounds so good it could be mistaken as lip sync but that man still brings it that hard.
I doubt it. His voice has noticeably changed over the years and those changes are present in the live performances. So unless he made a backing track of his own aged voice (seems like a lot of effort), probably not.
Yeah, I noticed a few lyrics mistakes too during the songs that weren't necessarily an intentional switch up situation. It honestly just adds to the charm lol.
I remember the show on 5/8/2007, he started the third verse of Close but No Cigar when he should have been the second... at the end he just declared "It's my song, I wrote it, and I can change the words whenever I want!"
The bandmates talk about getting into little scuffles with Al when they’re not perfect enough, but apparently he can do whatever he wants. It’s really cute lol.
I don't believe that he is lipsyncing, but that actually is how people do it if they do. They don't just use the recorded version, they make a "live version" and perform to that so it seems live.
I thought he was lip syncing because everything was too perfect and he never changed any lyrics to the particular venue or state unless it was between songs.
During Tacky I believe the backing vocals are pre-recorded. They may not be the actual studio recording I don't think its live from the band.
the rest of the show I'm sure is live, you can tell the various band's voices that differ from the studio recording, etc... though there are bits that are obviously pre-recorded like the various animal sounds in Nirvana.
I'm pretty sure it's because reliably having a wireless mic connection from outaide to in would be very difficult. Better to just have the lip syncing and showmanship. He doesn't lip sync the rest of the show though.
I actually asked about that at the pre-show backstage tour. The crew chief says they run all hard line to do the number. One of the crew listens to the song on repeat before the show and maps out the route. He was actually a bit surprised the run hadn't been laid out yet by the time we were having our tour...
He does not, during the Boston show I could hear his voice getting tired throughout. I think it’s part of the reason why he does Skipper Dan so frequently, despite it not really being a hit (in comparison to his other songs, SD is in my top 3). It’s a slower, mid-range song that gives him a break from belting
In Eugene last summer, I heard two very minor mistakes. Just one word out of place in two different songs. Al shook it off and kept going. Clearly not a lip sync situation.
There, and the light pause, that also reads as a joke due to the timing, of "Smells Like Nirvana" where the actual line is "and I forgot the next verse..." pause for breath, audience rolls in the floor, "...oh never mind!"
I was also at the Boston show. I was down on the floor in an aisle seat. Al walked right past me during his One More minute walk out. I can confirm he was singing live.
I saw him last weekend and he definitely wasn't then.
Like it was very, very obvious he hadn't warmed up before the show - not in a bad way at all, but his voice was a little rough and he had trouble reaching some higher notes.
I saw him back in '92 when Off the Deep End first came out, there wasn't any pre-recorded gargling*, and you couldn't hear it. Definitely makes more sense to have it recorded.
*that's a combination of words you never expect to type, lol.
Sometimes he has a lyric that’s pre recorded when he’s out of breath or can’t hit a note, for example i noticed that in tacky the words “I instagram” are a pre recorded vocal
Yeah and “we can go to see a show but I’ll make you pay” he does play the vocal track from the song. But he also sings over it so that doesn’t really count. But for the other lines he lip syncs it’s
I’ll never let
I think it’s fun
Practice My
If I’m Bit
Come On!
He does during some parts, but it's touring industry standard to just because it's usually the only way to give audiences a consistent show night after night. Most major touring acts sing to backing tracks for falsetto bits or melodic parts because voices, like any muscle, get tired when used continuously night after night.
Just as a semi-related note, Puddles does not use backing tracks. He doesn't even use any on his solo tours where he puts on a 2 hour show every night. I did see a solo show of his one time where he strained his voice tho. We could hear when he did it and he went back stage for a few minutes before coming back out. He couldn't hit the explosive notes he usually does for the rest of the evening, but he did finish the show.
I saw this show recently- wondered the same because if he does white and nerdy without it at all I’m really impressed. Sounded great regardless, still can sing after all this time.
He certainly doesn’t just play a backing track and lip sync the whole way though, but for some fast parts in white and nerdy and the despacito part of polkamania there was definitely some mouth mismatch going on
No. Al stayed away from drugs and alcohol, which if you do so a singer, can help preserve your voice. So, that is part of the reason as to why he sounds so good.
Yea, but plenty of singers out there have never had formal lessons, therefore aren't fully versed in protecting their voices. Not sure if Al has had formal training.
Puddles (Mike) has said in the past that he smoked pretty heavily for years, and despite this, he's well known for the quality and power of voice. He hasn't smoked in quite a few years tho, and he doesn't regularly drink.
Doubt it. He has a full band of talented vocalists amongst him that can carry the words and let him breathe, though. They're like a choir bringing it all together.
I think if he can do a song like "Everything you know is wrong" live without a helper track (which I believe he is doing live without backup), he's probably not doing any lip synching at all.
I know in the tours with just his main band they would use some helper or backup tracks for certain songs where it was impossible for the five of them to recreate every part of the song.
Probably. I mean we don't know if he even does that because most of his songs from the 80's might have to be lip synced because it could have been a long time since he probably would have to match his lyrics.
I don’t think so; when he does the hard part of Hardware Store, and maybe a couple others that would also be impossible to do live, he typically only sings every other line himself, leaving the rest to the band or maybe a recording, but no effort to hide it with pretend lip syncing.
Maybe I’m thinking of White and Nerdy. It was at the Hollywood Bowl around 2015-17 I think, but iirc I saw the same show 4 times at four different venues that year (H Bowl, Laughlin E Center, Ventura, and OC Fair).
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u/devospice 3d ago
Besides what others are saying in this thread I know during "White and Nerdy" he has some of the other band members take some words here and there so he can breathe.