by MartcasterJunior » Mon May 22, 2017 5:21 pm
I know bits of his concerts in China were played live (although I have heard that the album of those concerts went through a lot of post-production "fixing" before release). Given how unreliable early electronic instruments were in terms of tuning, and the amount of effort required to make the depth of sounds in his music, it sort of makes sense to rely on recorded versions, then you know what the audience are going to get. By the time he got to the concerts in Houston, Lyon and London, the concerts were so huge and the stages so far from the audience, it really didn't make any difference. I'm not accusing him of "cheating" - I don't think anyone who attended (or watched) those concerts could accuse him of selling people short, I just think the spectacle became more important than the "liveness" of the music. Plus you add the unpredictability of the weather and the need to sync lights, fireworks and music together, and having the bulk of your sound being pre-recorded with a few live additions makes much more sense in terms of delivering the best experience.