Why is Broken Things never played live?

[LaLaLaLaHey]

Does anybody know the answer to this? Has Dave made a comment? It's a great song to hear, and I'm not sure why it is never performed live...

[ajk316]

For me AFTW live is just a shell of music of what could've been. I like the album. I like the songs. But I recently gave it a full listen for the first time in a couple years, and besides a few exceptions, I feel meh about most of the album. They don't get me moving a whole lot. Especially after the new music they've played the past few years (which I really like). The new songs lyrically and musically seem more worked out. I have high hopes for this new album because Dave and the band didn't rush it. There must be a reason Dave hasn't put anything out this long. AFTW to me feels like it never fully found itself.



EDIT: No I do not know why he hasn't played it more.

[alec]

Originally Posted by jake.sager

Does anybody know the answer to this? Has Dave made a comment? It's a great song to hear, and I'm not sure why it is never performed live...

I don’t remember the exact words, but Dave did say something either before or after playing the one and only D&T performance of Broken Things (9.23.12) that made me think it is a hard song for him to play, or he feels uneasy about playing it. Something along those lines. Other than that, I have not heard of him saying anything about it.

[TimHonks]

Would love to see it live, great song. Obviously there is something about it that Dave doesn't like, but I think it sounded solid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3eJaYqCRUY

[camptravisr]

Good question. The version released on the WH disc a few years back sounded a little flat to me, just didn't translate live very well IMO. That being said, it is my favorite song on AFTW and I thought the D&T version sounded pretty good.

[dmbfan4ever]

Well Dave can’t really sing it.....

[Coachman76]

In my personal opinion, DMB has been overproducing their songs in the studio since Everyday.

BTCS was crafted, but it wasn't crafted in such a way to where the songs couldn't sound the same live as they did in the studio.

Off the top of my head, these are DMB songs that are nearly impossible to play full band live and sound even remotely like what they did in the studio;

I Did It
Busted Stuff
If Only
Broken Things
Rooftop
Sleep to Dream Her
Mother Father
Dreams of Our Fathers
Dreamgirl
American Baby
Everybody Wake Up
Hunger for the Great Light
Time Bomb
Kit Kat Jam (Lillywhite Sessions or Busted Stuff version)
Baby Blue
Grux > Shake Me Like A Monkey
Gaucho

A lot of this is just laziness, a lot of this is covering flaws *cough* Boyd *cough*, a lot of this is Dave and idiots like Glen Ballard being Tyrants in the studio and basically handing out parts to people and saying PLAY THIS. Steve Lillywhite couldn't save AFTW because the band refused to work up to the same standards as he demanded during UTTAD, Crash and BTCS. They refused to work, they refused to practice, they refused to tell Dave, Glen Ballard, Stephen Harris and Mark Batson to go fuck themselves and create a collaborative record together.

Pink Floyd had massive production on most of their records and it translated into great live performances of that production because they asked the question "How will this material translate live? Can we reproduce it accurately on stage?" I don't think DMB has ever done that since The Lillywhite Sessions were trashed for Everyday.

[Coachman76]

Originally Posted by dmbfan4ever

Well Dave can’t really sing it.....

Boom.

[crashintonickdm]

Because it’s something fans want

[coolhotwaves]

Dave warbles and scratches through plenty of songs that are hard on his voice. I doubt that's it. It could hurt his wrist playing it or something like that, but who knows. It's good song but hasn't gotten its live legs because of lack of play.

[blumathu]

It's challenging to play that guitar part and sing those lyrics at the same time. Not that fun to play.

[dontdrink36]

I'd love to see it come back.

[Dankguitar]

Originally Posted by Coachman76

In my personal opinion, DMB has been overproducing their songs in the studio since Everyday.

BTCS was crafted, but it wasn't crafted in such a way to where the songs couldn't sound the same live as they did in the studio.

Off the top of my head, these are DMB songs that are nearly impossible to play full band live and sound even remotely like what they did in the studio;

I Did It
Busted Stuff
If Only
Broken Things
Rooftop
Sleep to Dream Her
Mother Father
Dreams of Our Fathers
Dreamgirl
American Baby
Everybody Wake Up
Hunger for the Great Light
Time Bomb
Kit Kat Jam (Lillywhite Sessions or Busted Stuff version)
Baby Blue
Grux > Shake Me Like A Monkey
Gaucho

A lot of this is just laziness, a lot of this is covering flaws *cough* Boyd *cough*, a lot of this is Dave and idiots like Glen Ballard being Tyrants in the studio and basically handing out parts to people and saying PLAY THIS. Steve Lillywhite couldn't save AFTW because the band refused to work up to the same standards as he demanded during UTTAD, Crash and BTCS. They refused to work, they refused to practice, they refused to tell Dave, Glen Ballard, Stephen Harris and Mark Batson to go fuck themselves and create a collaborative record together.

Pink Floyd had massive production on most of their records and it translated into great live performances of that production because they asked the question "How will this material translate live? Can we reproduce it accurately on stage?" I don't think DMB has ever done that since The Lillywhite Sessions were trashed for Everyday.

Very interesting take. I would even argue that their songs from their first few albums all sound even better live. Better produced yet sound better live.

[artiej1120]

Was lucky enough to see it D&T and full band. Love this song, remember being blown away by it the first time I listened to the album.

[kelchlsm]

Originally Posted by blumathu

It's challenging to play that guitar part and sing those lyrics at the same time. Not that fun to play.

This is what I kind of lean towards to

[Miccius]

Broken Things is my favorite off of AFTW, and would love to see it live. I hope they bring it back in 2018 at a show I go to!

[BruceW]

Dave can’t sing it and he doesn’t really like it.

[rhizingbines]

Originally Posted by Dankguitar

Very interesting take. I would even argue that their songs from their first few albums all sound even better live. Better produced yet sound better live.

I would 110% agree with this. My first introduction to DMB was through live stuff so when I first heard the studio versions of most of the songs off of the big 3, I hated them. Took me a very long time to actually start to enjoy listening to one of their studio albums.

[Balor3012]

Because it's broken duh

[DMBBeav]

Originally Posted by Coachman76

In my personal opinion, DMB has been overproducing their songs in the studio since Everyday.

BTCS was crafted, but it wasn't crafted in such a way to where the songs couldn't sound the same live as they did in the studio.

Off the top of my head, these are DMB songs that are nearly impossible to play full band live and sound even remotely like what they did in the studio;

I Did It
Busted Stuff
If Only
Broken Things
Rooftop
Sleep to Dream Her
Mother Father
Dreams of Our Fathers
Dreamgirl
American Baby
Everybody Wake Up
Hunger for the Great Light
Time Bomb
Kit Kat Jam (Lillywhite Sessions or Busted Stuff version)
Baby Blue
Grux > Shake Me Like A Monkey
Gaucho

A lot of this is just laziness, a lot of this is covering flaws *cough* Boyd *cough*, a lot of this is Dave and idiots like Glen Ballard being Tyrants in the studio and basically handing out parts to people and saying PLAY THIS. Steve Lillywhite couldn't save AFTW because the band refused to work up to the same standards as he demanded during UTTAD, Crash and BTCS. They refused to work, they refused to practice, they refused to tell Dave, Glen Ballard, Stephen Harris and Mark Batson to go fuck themselves and create a collaborative record together.

Pink Floyd had massive production on most of their records and it translated into great live performances of that production because they asked the question "How will this material translate live? Can we reproduce it accurately on stage?" I don't think DMB has ever done that since The Lillywhite Sessions were trashed for Everyday.

I get your point but I don't think the problem is making a studio track that doesn't translate identically to a live show.

For example, I don't listen to Baby Blue live and think "pfft, doesn't sound like the studio." A good song is a good song - almost every band I can think of plays certain songs live differently than in studio. In fact, Two Step sounds very different live than on Crash.

As for Broken Things, he might just flat out not like playing the song and/or it might not be the funnest to play and/or the crowd response isn't particularly strong. For me, it is one of those songs that I would like to hear just to cross it off the list - call it a more updated version of why I would be excited to hear Let You Down at a show.

[rhizingbines]

Originally Posted by DMBBeav

As for Broken Things, he might just flat out not like playing the song and/or it might not be the funnest to play and/or the crowd response isn't particularly strong. For me, it is one of those songs that I would like to hear just to cross it off the list - call it a more updated version of why I would be excited to hear Let You Down at a show.

Exactly. I just think it’s one of the weaker songs off of a very weak album.

[spiza]

Dave plays what he wants whether we like it or not.

[currupt3d**]

Originally Posted by spiza

Dave plays what he wants whether we like it or not.

Unfortunately

[mattyd]

Love that song

[onetwothree]

I love broken things but I don’t see it coming back now that’s Boyd is gone, Tim could fill in but it wouldn’t sound right

[Hilly]

This is why is suggest going to a few shows on Album release tours. It may be your only chance to get to see all those songs live.