[David]

The prerecorded approach is impossible to generalize about. Sometimes it actually works best, I would imagine. If the audio doesn’t sound exactly like a studio track, it’s okay. In that case, there isn’t much difference between prerecorded audio and a stage full of backup guys, especially if the backup guys are playing prerecorded audio (because nobody is really looking at them very closely).

There have been times in the last twenty years when I would have preferred listening to a prerecorded Stevie or Lindsey lead vocal instead of a live one.