Well said Derek. I couldn't agree more. Strange how people can be satisfied with the like

I remember back in 86 in Blackpool and the guest artist in the hotel was Berni Flint yeh come on you all remember I Dont Want To Put a Hold On You .Well here was i waiting on the band to set up and lo and behold Bernie walks on presses a few buttons and there was the invisible orchestra not band.I says to my present wife god i hope this does not catch on.Now you have the DJ coming on late at night with his record collection in his top pocket.Where does it end.Thank god i am a vinyl junkie and proud of it.Today i just bought 47 singles yes those little things with the hole in the middle.

Hi,

Personally I think "Bands" who use backing tracks are insulting the people who pay in to see them.

It is nothing more than glorified karaoke

Barry

Hi Celebrity,

Your story reminded me of something that happened to me earlier this year.
We were playing at a wedding in a well known Dublin hotel when we noticed the bride in  animated conversation with ANOTHER BRIDE !!
What had happened was, Bride 2 had booked one of those 'backing track' bands to play at her wedding which was taking place in another function room.
This 'band' consisted of two mulleted individuals with a prop accoustic guitar and a mocked-up keyboard plus their backing track gear.
Twenty minutes into the gig their equipment packed in, apparently skipping from track to track exposing these 'musicians' as the frauds they were, it must have been hilarious. Bride 2 was absolutely distraught as these guys had no back-up player and DEFINATELY no plan B so she could only stand and watch as her wedding disappeared down the tube.
She begged Bride 1 to allow her guests to come in to our wedding and share the dancing part of the night, They asked  if it was okay with us if they joined in the celebrations and we were happy to oblige and everybody had a great night.

The moral of the story is that if you are consdering booking one of these alleged bands remember that in general they produce a  remote soulless sound with no possibility of change of programme if what they are doing is not going down well. This is something that every musician who contributes to this forum will understand : You've got to have a Plan B AND if needs be a Plan C these chancers can't provide that.

BTW, At the  end of the night we were given the other 'band's' fee as a bonus, I can tell you, That felt good.

A blow for LIVE MUSIC.

Regards

Barry

I think Derek has hit the nail on the head here regarding the way the music business has gone nowadays. Its all down to how GOOD the entertainer is, whatever system or instrument he uses. Lets face it  there's so called LIVE acts out there as well, playing 3 chord tricks who sound absolute rubbish.
AND 3 and 4 piece bands who sound equally as bad!! Just because they play live does not mean they are good!!
But, lets go back to using tracks or not as the case may be.
Ray Lynam uses backing tracks as somebody pointed out , as does a lot of professional entertainers these days If a performer can play his instrument or instruments live on stage then the audience WILL notice. In the same way they will notice if he CANNOT play his instrument. And this performer will be have a lot more credibility than the karaoke merchants--even if he uses a certain form of backing from files or tracks or whatever.Of course you have the chancers out there pressing buttons and pretending to play a guitar or keyboard and these are the ones who have given the business a bad name at the moment in my opinion. They go out for small money and are quite happy to undercut other bands just to get the gig. Most of this lot will have regular day jobs and do not depend on the money they earn from music. So, they really dont have to put their heart and soul into the gig as they dont really see why they should i suppose--they get paid anyway!!
However, there are other acts who, even though they boost their sound with some form of technology- be it tracks or samples-they can also PLAY!! And thats the difference in my opinion. How many so called live players out there do not use some form of technologhy to enchance their sound?? Stomp boxes, delays, reverbs , distortion pedals are all the rage and have been for years with live guitarists, bass players and even drummers nowadays. Technology can be a good thing if used properly. And in moderation.A lot of live bands out there will have a keyboard player these days. And look at the functions available to a keyboard player on these modern keyboards. Who needs an accordion player when they have a keyboard player who can make it sound like an accordion -or banjo -or flute--OMG.   Back to the backing tracks. the internet type that you download for free are not good to say the least. Then theres the Karaoke type tracks --all sounding exactly the same with no variety of sounds or arrangements.Lets face it back in the old days of the showbands there were bands who were good and there were bands who were awful as well. And that has certainly not changed 35 years later.But, the show must go on and the good will prevail--I hope!
Just my opinion!!











]im not complaining about backing tracks.....just please don't all use the same ones.  Record your own with a bit of individuality.  There are other songs other than Brown eyed Girl and Amerillo.  Top performers have sang to backing tracks on television for years but they can still make it entertaining.  it's the lack of entertainment I'm complining about.
Elvis once sang to a dog and managed to make it entertaining.

golden rule..I the audience ain't looking at you...you ain't entertaining.  They may as well put on the juke box.

[/quote]