Garth Brooks Says He Might Lip Sync at the ACM Awards
In a move that is so patently and unflinchingly Garth, the recently-unretired superstar says he might lip sync at Sunday night’s 50th Anniversary ACM Awards show in Dallas at Cowboys (AT&T) Stadium.
The decision was revealed in a SiriusXM Town Hall interview that is set to air Wednesday (4-15) on the satellite provider’s The Highway station at 11 a.m. Eastern; so reports Brian Mansfield of USA Today.
The apparent reason for the potential lip syncing is because Garth Brooks is currently in the midst of a multi-concert run at Portland’s Moda Center, and his voice might not make it the distance. He told Town Hall host Storme Warren, “Just in case we have to lip-sync, we taped a performance that was solely made for the awards show. So we don’t know if we’re lip-syncing or not, but my bet is, if I know Portland, we’re not going to get out of here with anything. And then you’ve got to fly down and do that show immediately. So we’ll see how that’s going to go.”
However the run of Portland shows ends on Thursday, and the ACM’s aren’t for another three days. Garth says however, “After the first show ”¦ I won’t have a voice anyway.”
Huh. I guess that sucks for everyone with tickets to later shows.
There’s so many different ways this missive from Mr. Brooks can be taken. So Garth Brooks is a lip syncer? Though it would be silly to conclude the superstar has never engaged in the subversive activity throughout his illustrious career, Garth never came across as one who lip synced regularly. Garth may be considered by many as a poser and the poster boy for country music commercialization, and one of the reasons country music is in the state it is today, but who knew he was so flippant with singing live?
In fact one of Garth’s most notorious moments came at the 1993 Super Bowl when he was scheduled to perform the National Anthem. Garth was requested to turn in a pre-recorded rendition of the song just in case for some reason he couldn’t sing it live, and Garth refused. However this was part of a plan to strong arm Super Bowl producers into showing a controversial video with “disturbing imagery” set to his song “We Shall Be Free.” When NBC first baulked at airing the video, Garth Brooks left the stadium, refusing to sing the anthem, and sending producers into a panic. Eventually the kickoff was moved back to accommodate the airing of Garth’s video.
That same year during Garth’s notorious three night stand where he was suspended in mid air on cables like Peter Pan above old Dallas Cowboys stadium in Irving, TX , fans didn’t have to pay admission for the third show of the series because among other reasons, Garth was expected to lip sync some of the songs to later be part of an NBC special, and he didn’t want to mislead paying customers.
I guess you have to appreciate Garth’s candidness about his upcoming ACM performance, but it still seems like a strange move that he would admit to lip-syncing before he even does. Isn’t the idea to fool people, or at least leave some doubt in the minds of viewers that what they’re seeing is live?
Last year the ACM Awards were tainted by a lip sync controversy when it was revealed Rascal Flatts had performed to a pre-recorded track. Trying to spin the news in a positive direction, ACM representative RAC Clark admitted, “There have been plenty of people who have lip-synced on our show.”
So much for authenticity I guess. One thing is for sure, Garth Brooks will have the most-watched lips on Sunday night’s extravaganza, and if they’re not synced with the music, his pre-show allocution may not matter much to many fans.
Klancy
April 14, 2015 @ 5:33 pm
This is exactly what i want to read the day before i see him in Portland.
Trigger
April 14, 2015 @ 5:34 pm
Some house cleaning on comments:
Upon request, if you are signed in when you comment, you will now have 5 minutes to edit your comment after it is originally posted if you accidentally misspell something or have second thoughts.
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Albert
April 14, 2015 @ 8:25 pm
This will be very helpful …thanks Trigger
Liza
April 14, 2015 @ 5:36 pm
I miss the good old days when people cancelled live performances if they couldn’t sing.
garth25
April 14, 2015 @ 5:46 pm
So to be clear. With one comment he’s assured he’ll be the most closely watched and reported performance on Sunday.
A genius at PR.
TheCheapSeats
April 14, 2015 @ 5:48 pm
I’m not a big Garth Brooks fan, much less a Garth Brooks apologist, but I like this move.
You know tons of people are looking for lip-syncing during these things. Garth is basically just saying “If it looks like it, it is. Screw it. I already told you it might be.”
Better than having to defend yourself afterwards, IMO.
Bear
April 15, 2015 @ 12:50 am
Now if he could just defend or rather explain that horrid album cover.
Scott
April 14, 2015 @ 6:34 pm
Although I’m a traditional country fan, Garth is a helluva singer/writer/performer. If you can’t perform at your expected potential, why disappoint your fans and stain your reputation? Lip sync, Hell No!
dukes
April 15, 2015 @ 3:25 pm
Because it isn’t HIS show. He’s contractually obligated to be there for the ACMs and turn in “a performance” of one of his songs. He’ll be doing everything else that is Garth, and he’ll be singing … but we may not hear his actual vocals.
The other situations are ones where it was HIS dime, and he could make the decision to cancel a show, or put on a free show, as not to disappoint fans. In this situation, he ain’t the boss. There are very few times in his career where that’s the case – but this is one.
Scott
April 15, 2015 @ 4:41 pm
dukes, you sound like a contract man. Definitely not a singer.
dukes
April 15, 2015 @ 5:14 pm
In this business, you have to be both.
Scott
April 15, 2015 @ 5:22 pm
Agreed. I believe the country music industry has gotten away from its roots. Like many American traditions which have been ruined by the love of money.
Andrew
April 14, 2015 @ 7:21 pm
I’m guessing he won’t actually need to do it. It’s really kind of amazing how well his voice has held up on this tour. He was doing two shows a night in Denver and still sounded perfectly fine the night I saw him.
BwareDWare94
April 14, 2015 @ 7:22 pm
I’d rather see a show that sounded good than worry about if they’re actually singing every little thing. It’s almost impossible for there not to be some sampling of vocals in a varied show. Lots of artists lose their range as they get older and are forced to do it. I would venture to guess that most artists are forced to do it at one point or cancel a boatload of shows. Relax, folks.
Acca Dacca
April 14, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
I’m thinking he’s saying this for attention and will actually just sing on the show.
Off topic, but when are you going to upload your review for Dwight Yoakam’s new album Second Hand Heart, Trigger? I highly doubt you’ll be skipping that one, so my question is when.
Trigger
April 14, 2015 @ 7:55 pm
Oh, well it’s just sitting here on my desktop, and I torturing everyone for a little longer until I post it. 🙂
Like all reviews and articles, I will post it when it’s ready and the time is appropriate. And as far as what albums I decide to review, it really has nothing to do with the albums I like or don’t, or the albums I want to review or don’t. It has almost solely to do with if I feel inspired and can come up with something to say about it that contributes something to the public.
Acca Dacca
April 15, 2015 @ 9:15 am
Ha! 😛
And I remember that you prefer to be inspired to write as opposed to just cranking something out. By the same token, however, I feel like the more major or important the release in your circles the easier it is for you to find something to say. Hence Dwight, who seems on the cusp of regaining some of his mainstream prominence after 3 Pears. Heck, this album even had a retailer exclusive version for Target with three bonus tracks. If that’s not a sign of appeal for an older artist I don’t know what is. Obviously some folks are expecting this one to be decently big.
Truth No. 2
April 14, 2015 @ 7:45 pm
I am coming of age now, well past Garth’s prime. I have heard only a few of his songs due to his business practices, and with each word out of his mouth, he gives me little incentive to hear more. I have liked what I’ve heard though.
sir topemhat
April 14, 2015 @ 7:52 pm
Even lip-syncing involves some effort. I’ve watched some performances on shows where the music is ‘lip-synced’ (meaning they’re using the studio track) and I often wonder how the drummer especially is just playing to a track. Wouldn’t you hear them hitting the drum-heads? Anyone in the biz who knows how that works fill us all in. I’m all curious now about how all that works.
Trigger
April 14, 2015 @ 8:04 pm
You can have a singer lip sync but the band be live. You can also have the band be pre-recorded, but the singer be live. You can also have just the rhythm section be pre-recorded, but let’s say the guitarist be live for his solo. So it’s not the same for every performance. Sometimes you’ll notice on live performances, the drummer is behind a plexiglass box. The reason is because drums notoriously bleed into other mics. But if there’s enough separation on stage, and the drummer is ostensibly playing right to the recorded track, the drum hits aren’t going to clash. But with almost every pre-recorded performance, if you pay close attention, you will see things out of sync. I remember The Band Perry a couple of years back, the drummer started the song off a second before the pre-recorded track kicked in and it was blatantly obvious. But you still didn’t hear the live drums, even though he was beating the hell out of them.
Here’s the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVfB8Nlsduo#t=21
sir topemhat
April 14, 2015 @ 7:53 pm
I know that almost always, the music videos (which is different from live performances) are lip-synched.
J
April 14, 2015 @ 8:10 pm
Wasn’t he caught lip syncing twice before he retired way back or am I getting him mixed up with someone else?
Albert
April 14, 2015 @ 8:26 pm
Maybe Aldean should consider lip-syncing. He could have a REAL singer lay down the vocal tracks – IN PITCH
Chris
April 14, 2015 @ 9:20 pm
Still beats bro-country acts butt synching.
Tom
April 15, 2015 @ 8:29 am
I get why artists do it, and don’t really blame them despite the fact that I might not like it myself.
But I think it’s a little hypocritical that an artist who claims to be so organic in his recording that he won’t allow a metronome in the studio would give in to something like this.
In situations like this I’d rather see a video played of the artist actually performing the song live.
John Conquest
April 15, 2015 @ 9:19 am
One of the guys in George Strait’s band told me “we used to bitch about miming to studio tracks, but now we bitch when we have to play live.” I remember being shocked, shocked I tell you, when I found out that every single note, not just the vocals, at a Shania Twain performance went through Auto-Tune, but I guess I have to give her points for actually singing rather then lip-syncing.
MC
April 15, 2015 @ 9:36 am
The way I interpret this is that Garth, in order to be in good vocal shape for live shows on his continuing world tour, may choose to rest his voice and lip sync for the dog and pony show that is the ACM’s. We all know that Garth Brooks can sing and does his own singing without the aide of auto-tune so what’s the difference if he is prerecorded on a national TV broadcast that is all smoke and mirrors anyway? That being said, I DO agree that’s it’s a brilliant PR move. We’ll all watch to see if we can catch him at it.
Trigger
April 15, 2015 @ 9:46 am
Interesting theory, but what’s one song and maybe a couple of run throughs in rehearsals to singing for a nearly two hour show? You may be right though. What is he getting for performing on the ACM’s, scale? Meanwhile he’s probably pocketing $150,000 to $250,000 net off each live concert. Of course, the ACM’s will be good publicity,…unless he lip syncs poorly and has folks turning against him.
I’m not buying the PR thing though. I think this is Garth being the folksy and candid guy he is, and thinking out loud instead of saying what his publicist team would prefer.
MC
April 15, 2015 @ 10:06 am
Yeah Trig I can see that, too. He seems to be a pretty regular guy. I interviewed him before the Portland shows and he was very candid about being back on the road and said he was a little worried about how he would be accepted after 13 years out of the game. Of course, there was nothing to worry about, as we know.
dukes
April 15, 2015 @ 5:23 pm
I was in Vegas for Garth’s live CBS show. Every moment was Live. What’s better, is that in his rehearsal (which I also saw), he spoke every word, and sang every song. He didn’t just do the spoken part of it and say “and then we do Turn the Page/Thunder Rolls” and go through the motions. He did every word. Every moment. His shows are extremely important and extremely personal to him.
And, he’s signed up to do this ACM thing. And he’s being real – if he can’t sing it, he won’t sing it, but he also won’t back out of it. A ton of purists out here saying “we’d rather hear him sing it live” – well yes, and he’d rather sing it live … but I’ve been at shows where the singer’s voice gave out, and it really isn’t fun for anyone. You watch the artist you love struggle, and you don’t hear what you want to hear, and it just plain sucks. You want to believe that in that moment, you’d have the artist’s back…but most of you wouldn’t. Most of you would say, “Man, Garth’s really gone down hill” … and that’s a horrible thing for a nationally televised event … especially if it’s going to be seen by a bunch of people who AREN’T Garth fans.
He’s right to want to put on the best show possible, and in that situation, if it includes singing to a track, he’ll do it. Most likely, it will be a backing vocal underneath his own, and he’d sing every word just like he would normally … but the backing vocal would be brought up in the mix and his live vocal brought down. Happens ALL THE TIME.
But, like many of you, I doubt it. I doubt his voice gives out. I mean, we all like to say he’s been out of the game for 14 years or whatever, but he hasn’t. He’s been performing. He’s done a bunch of dates, and I’ve seen him do hour after hour. I don’t think his voice WILL give out.
But if it does, it won’t prevent him from being on stage.
Tom
April 16, 2015 @ 8:37 am
To that I say, why the smoke and mirrors? If he doesn’t want to risk injuring his voice in the middle of a major tour I get that, but why not just play the recording – maybe with a video of him performing live – while he walks around and greets fans or juggles or spins plates something?
I appreciate him being honest and up front about the fact that he may lip synch the song, but acknowledging it ahead of time just seems to make it even more lame than it really is.
tj
April 15, 2015 @ 11:18 am
Poor excuse for lip syncing. Have to wonder now how many concerts he’s doing this at. Use to love Garth not so much anymore
Mark f
April 15, 2015 @ 2:39 pm
All part of the constant lowering of standards, and what people will find acceptable,
even good. not just in music. In everything.
Maybe we should start getting the recording done in China, by Chinese country musicians, and vocalists. Then the stars can concentrate on their main role, looking HOT!
coming soon
“body syncing”
just to keep looking good, out fairness to the fans, of course.
Eric
April 15, 2015 @ 5:37 pm
I’m sure that the Chinese vocalists will be far superior to the country bros.
Mark f
April 15, 2015 @ 2:41 pm
Another example of lowered standards, classic rock era bands touring with only the name of the original band, or at best one original member.
doesn’t matter.
Lots of them are booked solid, years in advance, and making money hand over fist.
wtf is that?
Topher
April 15, 2015 @ 2:52 pm
So Garth doesn’t sing live at an awards show that is known as a joke anyways. Who cares.
CAH
April 15, 2015 @ 3:21 pm
Will anyone notice or care?
I expect him to enter the stadium on the Goodyear blimp.
Phil
April 15, 2015 @ 3:37 pm
Music (Pop, Country and Rock) use to be so much better in so many ways just two or more decades ago. None of those people had auto tunes and the electronic side of a stage setup didn’t make it so easy to lip sync either.
It’s just weird so many things in the world are getting worse as I get older, not better.
I funny fact article right now would be something like “Garth Brooks decides to replace himself with a hologram at the ACM’s as he’s not yet sure if he’ll be able to fit into his jeans that night”.
Eric
April 15, 2015 @ 5:44 pm
Nonetheless, Milli Vanilli was able to get away with lip syncing for a long time, even though that was over two decades ago. I’m sure lip syncing is as old as recorded music.
Mark f
April 15, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
They didn’t get away with it”¦ they were laughed out of the music business when that was revealed.
These days, nobody would care.
Brett Dale
April 15, 2015 @ 4:39 pm
I hope he doesnt lip sync. His work effort on tour has been amazing, so hats off to him. Hope his voice can hold out for a LIVE ACM performance.
Scott
April 15, 2015 @ 5:01 pm
For all the people commenting about musicians on the road and playing “live”, the musicians in Nashville are the best. Studio or otherwise. People make comments about musicianship all the time. Come and live in Nashville and experience it for yourself. Most all of the musicians, writers, etc. are from all over this great country. They go there because they know they’re great or at least they try. Others merely comment.
Scott Roth
April 15, 2015 @ 6:20 pm
This is simply the difference between being a
professional performing singer or even a backup/studio singer VS a local talent at the corner bar
Matthew
April 16, 2015 @ 6:54 am
I wonder if he’ll be doing something like a medley or if he’s gonna do something from his new album, I don’t mind if he lip synchs because I know he’s already a great singer.