Full Band and Solo

[Ken Byng]

The thing that really gets me going is when these muppets turn up with their karaoke tracks and a guitar that they patently cannot play.

I just think how long will it will be before we get someone who actually has a lead vocal along with the tracks and mimes to it!! Grrrrr. Keep music LIVE.

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

Some time ago I put a reminder on the local gig page on Facebook saying that our band were playing a certain club.
I said something like.... Five piece "Live" band playing at ...club name.
In a very short time there were several posts saying I was disrespecting duo and solo acts which used trax. There were also some posts saying that I was doing nowt wrong by saying We were "Live"
I wonder why these Trackies don't advertise themselves as having trax ?

[RonMc]

We got a new neighbour one time and after introducing himself he said he was a musician, so we invited him in and I did a couple of tunes on the keyboard and guitar, after listening he said "I really wish I could play an instrument" to which I replied " I thought you said you were a musician".
"I make tunes on the computer" he said, I asked if he had ever considered getting a record player and he stormed off, didn't speak to me for several months.
Margaret thought it was a nasty thing for me to say.

[Jif]

Like most people here, I think music should be kept live. The backing tracks explosion seems to be endemic no matter what style of music is being "played".

But as Shaun has said people going to clubs aren't particularily bothered as long as there is some form of music with a star and as the night goes on and more alcohol is consumed, they care even less. Hard to understand when you are a musician, but I guess a lot of people don't hear music quite the same way as a musician would.

How can this be changed, well as long as people going to clubs etc don't care it's difficult to see how, I'd like to think that if a decent band is performing enough people will come out to enjoy. Problem is that Club owners can make more profit using "trackers" and are not keen to employ a full band as for most of them it comes down to hard cash.

Being an optimistic type of fellow, I'd like to think that people will get fed up with the tedious monotony of it and real live music will rise from the ashes.

[WineRider]

OK guys, I'm showing my age now. All music was live when I was growing up, then a prat came along called Jimmy Saville, who worked for the dreaded Mecca Bingo empire and created Disco. Live music died on that day, and has never been re-born. But it will happen because of History, all things go in cycles and cycles are at best just circles, fashion has followed the same pattern and what has gone round will come round. In my experience many musicians think they are worth more than they are being offered. This I fully understand and agree with the musicians to a certain degree, but the underlying problem for promoters is profit and loss, but the UK is getting greedy, here in France we can spend three days paying at the most 50 euros and see more than five groups a night...that is 15 groups or acts for 50 euros. Someone somewhere is subsidising the acts / groups / or Bands.

It cost me 10 euros for two to watch a French Country Band 'Cowboy Deluxe' at an out of the way country weekend, OK we've heard Marie Dazzler (the lead singer) before but her act is electric and that is all it cost to see and listen to a Frog sing in english and who had recorded in Nashbille, in the middle of nowhere in rural France.

How much is it to see acts/groups/or Bands at Glastonbury for 3 days????

Is Mark Knoppfler still doing his folk playing in pubs ?

Are some musicians pricing themselves out of the market?