Fake performances

Good Subject to talk about Grah. I must have seen thousands of buskers in my lifetime. In my experience the really talented ones will get an audience around them.  Out on the street there are always going to be fakes and hustlers as well as real talent.  To me its about the integrity of the performance. When a performer uses tech that's fine providing they are showing talent and are entertaining. A few years back there was a lot of Micheal Jackson impersonators  busking some real good most not that good.  I'm not a Micheal Jackson fan but there was one guy he was brilliant had all the moves and really put on a good show and I liked that. He was lip-syncing to Micheal Jackson tracks but his dance moves and performance was top class.  He had the perfect dance moves right look and cloths plus he did some other cleaver things with a very comedic talk between songs.  I think now to make any money busking you have to be real good and even then the real good ones because of the economics around the world are struggling.Part of the art of busking is securing a good spot where the passerby has money to spend away from the beggars and drug addicts that seem to be appearing everywhere on streets around the world.     

Every week we get an artist in our club on a Sunday night. I especially enjoy the vocal guitarists as that's what I was back in the day. Some acts were top class knocking out sultans of swing or dueling banjos with absolute joy. The following week saw a cretin who pretended to play his guitar usually the same three chords in the wrong place I may add, put me right off the acts that do that and yes the backing tracks are sometimes the lead track as the singers take a step back to allow the vocals on the tape do the work. I've read lately that the Eagles have been miming! You don't pay big bucks to see top class acts mime. And I won't put a quid in a buskers hat if he/she is miming, and I can always tell if that's happening.  Viva le live musique     

Richard ,they  had    a  kareoke   amp   and   wern't bowing or  fingering  the  violins  at  times     it  was  so  obvious ,and  played  the  same  2  tunes  over  and  over  note  perfect . Definetly  fake.     

my  reall  gripe   about  this  is  the  fact  they  are  miming  ,not  that  someone  uses  a  backing  track  . .When  Brian and  I   formed  GB  blues   20  yrs  ago    we    made backing  tracks   and  played  as  a  duo until  we  recruited    the  rest  of  the  band .And  we  played  some  massive  venues back  then but   when  we  were  satisfyed with  the  line  up  we  ditched  the  tracks   and  only  played  live .  In  my  current  solo  shows  I  sometimes   use   a  trio   pedal   or  a  looper   but   generally   its  all  live .I  would  never  consider  miming  guitar  or  vocal  in any  situation .     

Jim our drummer  always  gives me stick  for  playing  an extra bar in the solo , I  tell him I'm old  and Ive  forgot  how  to  count .