Teleprompters and backing tracks: some bands swear at them, some swear by them.
The reality of live music means many musicians use teleprompters to remember their lyrics and backing tracks to either enhance the live sound or to fill in for people who are not onstage.
Kiss caused a furore during a recent concert in Belgium when drummer Eric Singer made a mistake during "Detroit Rock City" that threw the performance out of sync and revealed an apparent vocal backing track when nobody was in front of a microphone. After the fact, Gene Simmons said backing tracks are part of the show and help to entertain.
However, in 2015, Simmons spoke strongly against the use of backing tracks, telling news.com.au that it is not giving the fans what they paid for.
"I have a problem when you charge $100 to see a live show and the artist uses backing tracks," Simmons said.
"It's like the ingredients in food, if the first ingredient on the label is sugar that's at least honest. It should be on every ticket -- you're paying $100, 30 to 50 per cent of the show is (on) backing tracks and they'll sing sometimes, sometimes they'll lip synch."
"At least be honest. It's not about backing tracks, it's about dishonesty," he finished, which led to some fans calling him a hypocrite due to the recent backing track debacle.
Other bands such as Motley Crue have used backing tracks/teleprompters.
Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan told RockFM that he is against backing tracks.
"Well, personally, I think that's cheating. I don't like it," he said in November of 2022.
"I know lots of people — people I've met in the last three months — that absolutely shocked me, saying, 'Yeah, we're relying on something else now.' It used to be drugs — now it's tape," he added.
Would you care if the band you saw live had some of this tech running behind the show?
