Fakers!

November 27, 2008 7:59 AM

Is everyone in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade lip-syncing?

I'm watching it and at least a few of the performers appeared to be blatantly lip-syncing. There was a boy-band just a minute ago that didn't even appear to be actually playing their instruments. Any ideas on how to find out if any of them are actually performing live, like...for real?

posted by allkindsoftime to media & arts (13 comments total)

I thought they were always lip-synching; I've watched every year and I can't ever recall live performances. How would it be possible to do live sound for that many different acts on moving objects?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:10 AM on November 27, 2008 [2 favorites]

Plus, you open the thing up to live performances, you open up the possibility of people saying things they shouldn't on live TV in front of every family in America. Huge potential for PR disaster.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:39 AM on November 27, 2008 [1 favorite]

I guess that makes sense. I've never really watched it before, I've either been in it or out of the country for the last few years. I just feel slightly scandalized is all.
posted by allkindsoftime at 8:39 AM on November 27, 2008

Plus I can imagine trying to get the sound right would be impossible. You've got performers standing outside in the middle of a crowded street that traverses an echoey canyon of skyscrapers, vehicles going by, a noisy crowd surrounding them, in potentially windy conditions... Nightmare for a sound technician. (note: IANAST)
posted by chowflap at 8:59 AM on November 27, 2008

I hope someone comes along with proof (other than our lying eyes) but it seems very clear that everyone is lip synching. Some are very good at it (Miley Cyrus - maybe she just is more used to lip synching?), some are pretty bad (the crab-monster jackass from the Little Mermaid), but I think they are ALL doing it.

Of course, on the other side of things: are the bands not actually playing? Wouldn't they be just as hard to mic?
posted by dirtdirt at 9:46 AM on November 27, 2008

I think James Taylor wasn't lip synching. If not, bravo. He had in-ear monitors and he would sometimes sing just behind the beat.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 9:49 AM on November 27, 2008

The logistics of being on a moving float in the middle of Herald Square do not permit a live performance.

Everyone knows they're lip-synching. It's all done with a nod and a wink. It's not that big a deal to anyone because it's been done for so long. It's become a tradition, really.
posted by Zambrano at 9:53 AM on November 27, 2008

I'm pretty sure you don't need to mic a marching band, they're made to be loud. And you can hear background sounds when they show them, unlike the times the singers 'sing.'
posted by chowflap at 10:10 AM on November 27, 2008

I've attended the parade twice in person, and I can attest to the fact that they're all lip syncing, and none of the guest artists are really playing musical instruments.

That being said, the really talented performers will be up there on the float, belting out their song alongside the recorded track. Compare the performances today by Idina Menzel and James Taylor to ...everyone else, and you can see what I mean. Just watching Idina's throat muscles (wait...no, I'm not watching her, uh, throat) gives you pause to think how loud she's actually singing.
posted by thanotopsis at 10:45 AM on November 27, 2008

I'm pretty sure you don't need to mic a marching band, they're made to be loud. And you can hear background sounds when they show them, unlike the times the singers 'sing.'

Yeah, marching bands are meant to be heard in parades and on football fields, so no need for a microphones. As for the boy band, I didn't know boy bands ever played instruments.
posted by Airhen at 1:43 PM on November 27, 2008

I think James Taylor wasn't lip synching. If not, bravo. He had in-ear monitors and he would sometimes sing just behind the beat.

By no means was he lip synching. He was singing and playing his guitar "live." Watch the video. True talent, while the studio-tweeked musicians (Charice, Miley Cyrus, etc.) of today can't really perform "live."
posted by ericb at 4:13 PM on November 27, 2008

James Taylor doesn't dance.
posted by artychoke at 7:14 PM on November 27, 2008

I'm entirely certain the performer in this clip was lip-syncing.
posted by mmoncur at 2:01 AM on November 28, 2008