you know, i wonder how much of this is a split due to some people on this board being old enough to have actually gotten to *see* JD live back in the day, whereas some of us are too young to have had such a privilege.
i've been listening to Les Bains Douches a lot lately, and it's absolutely BRILLIANT. it's got so much POWER to it...and to me, hearing even a live recording of these songs is so much more powerful than hearing the proper studio recordings. (which is of course not to say that the studio recordings didn't have power of their own, but hearing this live totally floored me.)
and for me, i'd LOVE to see these songs done live. cos, i mean, i was at the tender age of *one* when this show i'm listening to went on. (yes, i know, i wasn't the coolest one-year-old ever, hopping on a jet plane off to France to see JD...so sorry... :D )
so i think a lot of people who didn't get to see them originally (for whatever reason, be it being too young at the time, or not knowing about JD yet, or what have you) are the ones who are all for this, whereas anyone who got to see JD originally are the ones who are screaming bloody murder at the thought of Barney commiting the ultimate sacrilege of sullying Ian's lyrics with his diametrically opposed vocal stylings?
i have to say, i do feel it's a bit silly...i fall into the camp of, "it's their bloody songs, so why can't and/or shouldn't they play them again?" granted, it is very strange hearing Barney's voice even in the few songs they've done so far...his voice is so completely different from Ian's. which is a good thing...i mean, at the beginning, when he was trying too hard to pick up where Ian had left off, he sounded far too nervous and unsure of himself and the music suffered for it. when he found his own voice, that's when it got to be more solid...and NO became its own thing and not so much a shadow of the previous incarnation.
but the songs...the songs are SO good, and SO powerful, i think it would be amazing for them to be played live again.
(besides, if a zillion other people in a zillion other sub-par bands can do a zillion other sub-par covers and/or blatant ripoffs of JD...why can't the remaining three members play their own songs? i think them doing it makes the most sense of all.)