It's a funny argument.

When you first start gigging, backing tracks are 'cheating'.
Then eventually you realize the most expensive, choreographed/produced shows are all run on a click/backing track/whatever you want to call it.
Lights and lasers, keyboards, guitar sounds, all run by computers.
It's true from Rock to Broadway.

Are they cheating? Or producing?

To the audience, it doesn't matter when it is done right.
If you need to see a true live music performance, go to the local symphony or local HS band concert.
Otherwise it's entertainment, which is a business, with many different models.

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM9SHDNAbPw
If you believe the boombox is playing drums (as implied) I think you may be wrong.
In the next song there are female vocals, but the only female on stage is not singing ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYzRzHwHGKs

This is a highly regarded/critiqued 'live show'. This particular video version on YouTube has timing issues and the actual performance was much more accurate, but the underlying points remain.
I have the DVD and highly recommend any performer watch this movie at least once; the planning/performance/artistry is very impressive, a true 'production'.

/"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
<grin>


Last edited by rharv; 06/17/17 08:19 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!