Question of the Day - 05 February 2020

We cast a fairly wide net in search of the answer to this question, but could get only a couple of sources to comment on the record. It's a controversial topic in the entertainment business, primarily for the reason that you state in the question: Fans pay a lot of money to see their favorite stars perform live and they don't want to hear at a concert the same audio they can hear at home or anywhere on a device. 

Indeed, in researching this answer, we found top ten lists of the most "notorious" lip-syncing incidents in pop history; that's how infamous lip syncing (and air guitaring) can make a star. Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Ashlee Simpson, and the most ignominious of them all, Milli Vanilli, have all been outed as lip-syncers, Whitney Houston and Beyonce for miming the National Anthem (the former at a Super Bowl, the latter at President Obama's second inauguration). 

Other singers make a distinct point of refusing to lip sync, even on TV (the history of moving one's mouth to a pre-recorded backing track, after all, is certainly as old as music on television): Iggy Pop, David Lee Roth, Adele, Justin Timberlake, and Miley Cyrus. Most old-time rock bands, and some new ones, wouldn't be caught dead lip-syncing. 

Many fans consider lip-syncing to be a form of fraud. They believe that most singers are a product of audio engineering as much as their own vocal talents. And if their favorite artists can't sing at a live performance, they should pack it in and call their careers over, the thinking goes. 

On the other hand, it's not quite so cut and dried.

"Lip-synching has been associated with something that is typically an egregious offense for a live performer,” arts and entertainment journalist Chuck Taylor told ABC News’ “20/20.” “But understanding whether a performance is live or not is … kind of a delicate thing.”

These shows have become so big, with elaborate production numbers in which the performers dance and spin and swing on trapezes (and the like), that it's physically impossible to sing every note. 

And as former Las Vegas Review-Journal music critic Mike Weatherford tells us, “There’s never a simple answer there. Many will sing the verses live, then sync the chorus, so it varies even within a song. If you count the classic rockers as headliners (Aerosmith, John Fogerty, etc.), they're essentially all live, but even they use ‘click tracks’ that let them pipe in occasional background vocals or orchestrations.

"I don’t know of any of the pop divas who claim it’s a hundred percent live," he adds, "though with Cher, I tend to think her flat singing is because she doesn’t have anything to prove anymore.”

One pop diva who does claim 100% is none other than Lady Gaga, the highest-paid performer in Las Vegas history. Nevada Public Radio’s Mike Prevatt, former music critic for Las Vegas CityLife, assures us that she performs 100% live. Her “Jazz & Piano” show, which unites Her Ladyship with a small instrumental combo, would seem in particular to provide no cover for lip-syncs.

And she's publicly proud of it. "Just in case any of you were wondering if I lip-sync at all during my performances, or if I have been lip-syncing at all while I have been on stage this evening … the answer is no!" she told a crowd recently. "I never lip-sync. Not one word. And I never will! And you’ll never come to see me live, or pay to see my show, or catch me on TV, to watch some bitch lip her way through a set!”

Thank you, Your Ladyship.

And now, here's your link to the new poll: Which of the "Essential 52" restaurants, as identified by John Curtas in Eating Las Vegas 2020, do you like best?