I'm not a fan of seeing a live performance and hearing a major part of the sound as backing track. It seems to happen frequently whenever the guitarist/bassist is the one doing studio keyboards for the album, and the band doesn't think it's worth it to get a live keyboard player. There is also the issue of the keyboards having so many programmed tracks and layers where a live keyboard player cannot possibly recreate the sound in a concert setting. What can be done to make the live experience more genuine and less heavy on the playback?

Playback is just part of the live show these days, and it isn't just keyboards. Often, there are additional layers of guitars in there, potentially some vocals.

I'd rather see keyboards live, but I think we have to acknowledge the main issue - it's very difficult for starting bands to actually find a keyboardist to begin with. So another member fills in on keys in studio, or programs them via MIDI. By the time a band gets somewhere (which tends to take years these days), they've likely been thinking 'it ain't broke, so don't fix it' for quite some time and just stick to the backing tracks.

A band will probably have to put up with their drummer being in anywhere from 2-5 other bands, so having to juggle things around one member is bad enough. While it's certainly not universal, I've found metal's dedicated keyboardists to be infuriatingly fussy. It's much easier just to program them instead, whereas it's difficult, nigh on impossible for most types of metal bands, to have programmed drums live.

I'd prefer for a band with lots of keys and synths to also have a musician playing it live rather than from a backing track, but there are two reasons why this is unfeasable.
Basically I agree with Dr_Funf. Firstly there are very very few dedicated musicians playing keys in the metal space. I've played in bands for quite a while, and I have never met a keyboardist/pianist who plays metal. Secondly, most would end up programming it and just never end up adding a keyboard player, for the same reasons that Funf mentioned.

there's a certain tier where bands can and should be able to find someone willing to play their keyboard parts on tour for them, but then you have to consider whether it's worth it to pay an entire extra salary to someone to play parts that many times are in the background, and/or were never actually played by a human or written with the intention of being played. that's why you'll find the bands who DO have keys players who tour with the bands (guys like Dream Theater, Symphony X, or Gloryhammer, for instance) really make them prominent in the sound; having solos or riffs to themselves vs. just being background noise filling out the mids.

I think it depends. If a band uses keyboards heavily then I do think it's odd that they don't have a keyboardist in the band. But as a backing track I'm usually fine with it. Same if a band uses orchestrion. Having an orchestra on stage probably isn't feasible so that makes sense. Where I draw the line though is anything other than keyboards/orchestra. If you're using guitar tracks/vocals then I begin to question if everything else is even live in the first place. I think there's some bands out there that definitely overuse backing tracks as a crutch for shoddy musicianship.

I never knew if Edguy was joking or not when they said their keyboardist was off the stage. Maybe it was a backing track? If it was an actual human playing back there, it makes you wonder why they'd be left off stage (unless the person themselves had some sort of performance anxiety?)

Iron Maiden has done this for decades. I don’t think performance anxiety plays any part of it, I think it’s the idea of the band acknowledging the visual representation of what fans expect the band to be. If I had to guess.

On topic, call me an old man, don’t care, I am against backing tracks in general principle. Hire a keyboardist. I am 100% a proponent of the idea of including on the ticket broker site and tickets themselves a disclaimer along the lines of “portions of the performance contain pre-recorded material”. I think consumers need to know this in advance so that informed decisions can be made. Once tracks are introduced, it’s not a “live” performance because pre-recorded material is inherently not “live”. It’s a multimedia entertainment show at that point. I’m not interested in any rebuttals to this and can’t/won’t be convinced otherwise.

That said, I do begrudgingly suck it up if I see a band and it’s obvious they use tracks and I’m not already aware it’s the case; I’m not really given a much of a choice, am I? Most times though, if I am aware going in that a band uses tracks, I skip going entirely. And if I do go, I accept I will be taking in a multimedia entertainment show rather than a live performance.

EDIT for further clarification: While I’m not the hugest fan of it per se, I do not consider what Rush did-triggering short audio samples with carefully timed individual hits-to be analogous to playing along to tracks. At least in this case, hitting each triggering mechanism at the right time over and over again requires some degree of performative aspect, or physical consideration as to when the triggering mechanism(s) need to be hit. I know Rush isn’t the only example of this approach, but might be the most famous.

2nd EDIT: I only make these considerations for rock and metal bands who primarily hold themselves to or present themselves as an otherwise organic bass/drums/guitar/vocal bands. I don’t consider this for bands or artists whose music is primarily electronic/industrial/synthetic in nature. I would not expect bands like Nine Inch Nails, Garbage, Perturbator, etc. to have musicians cover every single part during live shows as I do not view bands like these as organic rock/metal bands, these bands are electronic/synthetic in nature with occasional rock/metal elements.

Not that many Maiden songs feature keyboards (especially the ones they play live), so maybe Michael Kenney being offstage was to eliminate the awkwardness of either idly standing there during some songs or continuously exiting and re-entering the stage when needed.

Yeah me too. Maybe why I'm more into newer bands that are more stripped down. I doubt Necrot is going to need to play some backing tracks.

Live isn't quite as live as it used to be.

Type O pulled it off very well. Josh was excellent live and was able to recreate the album synths near perfectly on stage. And Type O are VERY synth heavy.

I always found it odd that bands like Paradise Lost and Anathema eschewed a permanent keyboard player given how integral their sound synths are. Same for Fear Factory. Not sure if these bands have a live keyboard player, but the one time I saw PL live it was just the five of them which was disappointing.

If backing tracks aren't for you, then it's fair enough if you don't want to watch bands live if they're using them. Saying they should hire a keyboardist isn't that simple when hiring a keyboardist is exactly the problem. As I said in my earlier post, dedicated metal keyboardists are sparse, and anything other than an established band is going to have some difficulty finding one to begin with. By the time a band is established, they'd be questioning why they'd need to add an additional member, further dividing their already meagre earnings, when backing keyboard tracks have been fine in getting them that far. I don't think enough people would share your viewpoint that it would make a considerable difference in expanding a band's fanbase.

Certain sub-genres, yes. It is a bit silly if a symphonic metal band or a keys-heavy power metal band had backing tracks.



Yeah, Type O could never have worked without Josh. Paradise Lost, though, while I haven't listened to their entire discography, from the albums I do have, I don't think they need a permanent keyboardist at all. Gregor apparently briefly switched to playing keys live during their electronic era in the late 90s, so I guess that counts as having one when it really mattered.

I don't really understand the obsession with perfectly recreating your music live. Unless keyboards are absolutely key (!) to your sound like Type O Negative or one of those embarrassing Eurometal bands with a singer that dresses like Galadriel, who cares? Get creative, rearrange shit, play it differently. Have fun with it, live a little you cowards. If you're gonna give me a live experience that just sounds like the record, I'd rather stay at home and listen to the record. It's cheaper for me and a lot less tiring because I'm old and can't stay up late anymore.