Heartland

I am not signing anyone's paychecks but a live bassist would be a good addition to the lineup. Sound-wise, I think that the result is better (pending audio at the venue) than the current situation. Visually, the benefits are similarly noticeable. With the VT lineup, Tony would wander from side to side and add to the performance. For example, he and Andreas in synch, side by side -- that was cool. That was a rock (and rocking) performance. That is something which has not been offered since the 1990-1991 quartet.

I like the current lineup, but much like the past decade, it comes across as Andrew and two bookends. I tended to be on the right side of the stage as you face it when I saw them last year, so I can not comment too much on Ben. However, Chris puts on an energetic show with his jumping around and fading back a bit into the smoke at imes. It definitely adds to the atmosphere and performance. He and Ben do switch sides for one song, but otherwise they are fixed to their positions for much of the night. Having an added element of a fourth live member on stage would heighten the presentation visually. I think that the sound too would be better than what the solely pre-programmed bass offers.

I much prefer the Doktor to handle bass duties. It really thickens the sound up, in a good way. I recall certain gigs - e.g. London Forum 1998 - where, standing a way away from the stage, the bass seemed to erupt from the front and then be pushed out to the back on a wave of noise. You could physically feel it hit you. Awesome. Certain songs like Crash And Burn and War On Drugs are not really do-able with a live bass player anyway, although I suppose that the Doktor could take over for these few songs in theory. If there were to be a bass player again (which there won't, I'm sure), I'd hope they'd go for a big, heavy, Craig Adams style rather than the anaemic bass sound of the early 90s.

I saw them in 90 and 91 in Hamburg and while 91 was really disappointing, the 3rd evening at hamburg docks was one of the best gigs i've ever seen. great voice, tons of guitars, lots of smoke and a fantastic setlist.

full stop.

Tim's 'moment' in Gimme Shelter would be a highlight of any gig

Talking about play-back, I am also asking myself if some parts of the guitars in the current line-up are not pre-recorded too, for example the intro of FALAA is not played live I think, same with Dominion, This Corrosion ...

Saw them the first night at wembly and the sense of euphoria at seeing the sisters - following the crushing disappointment of missing the Speed Kings because I hadn't anyway of getting up to Drogheda - was almost enough to carry what was a great event but fairly lack lustre show... However, at Reading in 91 they were awesome...
They towered over what was in parts a fairly strong line up and totally rocked. They looked fantastic too!