The biggest bands ever!

[PeterG]

By that, I mean by number of members. Sit down big bands and orchestras do not count.

How can you not love the sounds punched out by the TSPO, they range from about 9 to 12 members depending on gig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbsVLwOFVfI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBCn6KT665w


Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart. Here with 10. I've seen him live twice, once with 12 people playing & singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAzvry448Lk


And of course here's Bob Marley & The Wailers (3) as usual with The Wailers Band (10) and the I Threes (3), so that's 16 people on stage performing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZrNoFT7OTY&feature=fvwrel

[KIPMEISTER]

Ten Wheel Drive with Genya Ravan, this band kicked major ass!

[ronmac]

Bachmann Turner Overweight.

Didn't Frank's last tour have 13 players with that horn section of his?

[mogrooves]

Fela Kuti. About 30 including his wives/back-up singers.....

[walt]

Keith Tippett's Centipede had at least 50 members,maybe more.

[PeterG]

Fela Kuti. About 30 including his wives/back-up singers.....

Yes, I've seen that. great stuff.

[PeterG]

Keith Tippett's Centipede had at least 50 members,maybe more.

Sorry, who and what? Never heard of it/them, I'll have to go and see if I can find some Keith Tippett's Centipede on Youtube now!

[PeterG]

Sorry, who and what? Never heard of it/them, I'll have to go and see if I can find some Keith Tippett's Centipede on Youtube now!

hhmmm....as I said in opening "sit down big bands and orchestras do not count." KT's ensembles, form the little I'vej ust seen on YT seem to be more avantgarde orchestras or jazz big bands reading music rather than groups standing up playing popular music by ear....so for me they don't count!

[trurl]

Well, Polyphonic Spree had about 10 musicians and a boat-load of singers, right?? And bonus points for looking like a cult...

[rcarlberg]

Osibisa has been an 8- or 9-piece off and on
There was a seven piece Soft Machine for a few months, if memory serves
X-Legged Sally included up to 10 members on stage
This is less common in rock -- most rock is not multi-voice, and the cost of supporting a big band is prohibitive

[GuitarGeek]

King Sunny Ade And His African Beats typically had over a dozen people onstage, including 4 or 5 guitarists, multiple percusssionists, back up singers/dancers, a pedal steel player, a drummer, and a bassist.

[rcarlberg]

Keith Tippett's Centipede had at least 50 members,maybe more.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/Centipede_%28band%29.jpg

[PeterG]

Exactly RC, that is an orchestra, look at the instrumentation and you can see they have music on music stands and are arranged as an orchestra, so for me that doesn't count as a band. A band doesn't sit down and play from sheet music.

[walt]

FYI,improvisation was a component of what Centipede was all about in performance.

[PeterG]

FYI,improvisation was a component of what Centipede was all about in performance.

The subject of this thread aside though, I'm quite interested in the bits I've heard since yesterday but I still can't quite get a handle on them, sometimes it sounds like fusion, sometimes like modern classical other times like avant-garde experimentation. So how would you categorise them muscially? If you had to say "Keith Tippett's Centipede are a................."

[NogbadTheBad]

Once Upon A Time In Belgium (UZ-Present-Aranis) had 17 people on stage for RIO '11. Mindblowingly good.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPGuWYUAuNM

Uz Jsme Doma have played with a pretty big choir at times.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNaGF_Gz5T8

[Jerjo]

Springsteen is touring with 17 onstage with him, a full horn section, Roy Bittan and some other dude on keys, Clarence's nephew on sax, Soozie on violin, and four backup singers.

http://brucespringsteen.net/category/the-band

And if you want to talk about improvising, they're doing audience requests every night.

[m.k]

Gilbert Artman's Urban Sax

From wiki: ... by the early 21st century, the group consisted of 52 musicians (with saxophones ranging from the soprano to bass registers). Artman frequently integrates local musicians and dancers into his performances, and thus the ensemble can encompass as many as 200 performers.

[Jay G]

Wu Tan Clan and Slipknot are both 8 or more I believe. Chicago was minimum of 7 back in the day with horns and sometimes 8 with the addition of another percussionist.

[Progbear]

Lighthouse were originally a 13-piece band, incorporating a brass section and a string quartet. The string section was scaled down to just two guys on viola and cello by 1971, though. That’s still an 11-piece group!

-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"Siento que debemos saber para el sueño de quién brillará esta luz
o consagrar una propia estrella" --Alberto Felici

N.P.:“Tanz der Götter”-Flaming Bess

[rcarlberg]

Exactly RC, that is an orchestra, look at the instrumentation and you can see they have music on music stands and are arranged as an orchestra, so for me that doesn't count as a band. A band doesn't sit down and play from sheet music.No different from TSPO.

[rcarlberg]

So how would you categorise them muscially? If you had to say "Keith Tippett's Centipede are a................."Improvising big band jazz-rock ensemble.

Other examples, similar dynamic:
Ginger Baker's Air Force (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger_Baker%27s_Air_Force)
Baird Hersey's Year of the Ear (http://www.starsend.org/bairdhersey.html)
Ian Carr's Nucleus (http://www.iancarrsnucleus.net/)
United Jazz + Rock Ensemble (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Jazz_%2B_Rock_Ensemble)
Colosseum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum_%28band%29)

[Big Ears]

Yes Union had a big lineup (x8) and so did The Tubes (x9).

[GuitarGeek]

About King Sunny Ade: if the picture that appeared in the February 1984 issue of Guitar Player (which I just got done perusing) is accurate, he typically had more like 20 guys in his band.

[rcarlberg]

About King Sunny Ade: if the picture that appeared in the February 1984 issue of Guitar Player (which I just got done perusing) is accurate, he typically had more like 20 guys in his band.This version has 13.
http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_images/mnmusicfan_1271261645_KSA_2.jpg
This version has 17.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/2690267292_079b81e76a.jpg
I think I count 21 here.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pPo19HKki1Y/Tdmt5pGYXEI/AAAAAAAAAMA/NQghxdcTLTU/s1600/King+Sunny+Ade+and+His+African+Beats.jpg

[GuitarGeek]

This version has 13.
http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_images/mnmusicfan_1271261645_KSA_2.jpg
This version has 17.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/2690267292_079b81e76a.jpg
I think I count 21 here.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pPo19HKki1Y/Tdmt5pGYXEI/AAAAAAAAAMA/NQghxdcTLTU/s1600/King+Sunny+Ade+and+His+African+Beats.jpg

SWEET! Where did you get those pictures from? Any good performance photos?

[Brad to the Bone]

By that, I mean by number of members. Sit down big bands and orchestras do not count.

I'm From Barcelona (an indie rock band from Sweden) is/was a 20-member band.

[Facelift]

I saw Arcade Fire a couple of years ago and there had to be at least 8 or 9 of them onstage. That's definitely big for one of the more popular bands, especially these days.

[PeterG]

No different from TSPO.


eeerr...yes, it is very different, as you can see in the 2 links I provided ,none of them are sitting down (except the drummer of course) and none of them are reading sheet music. There is no comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbsVLwOFVfI&feature=related

[Lopez]

The Ike and Tina Turner Revue had at least 10 when I saw them in '72.

Roy Wood's Wizzo Band had about 10 members, but that was a true sit-down big band with fancy music stands and all.

[Ten Thumbs]

Parliament and Funkadelic always seemed to have a load of people whenever I would see them do a spot on tv.