The most famous has to be Queen leaving the stage for the middle of Bohemian Rhapsody… it was clearly the only way not to butcher the song and they made it obvious what was happening. Also he Who and the tapes for Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again. Now, stuff like ELO in the late 70s and Def Lepard all through the 80s was a little more sketchy and devious…
And again, my thoughts are- why are you really there? Is it a show? Are you sonic wallpaper for a business? Or are you someone that has a reputation for chops? My expectations of a guy playing while I eat at the Dew Drop Inn are different than say, if I go to see Toto (which, whatever you think of them, have a rep as a bunch of bad-ass studio players and can bring a big enough band along to pull stuff off).
I guess I formed an opinion in the mid-seventies when disco took over and record DJ’s took a lot of work away from live bands. Gigs and pay have been dying a slow death since. For many years I have been of the opinion that I would rather hear a terrible live band than hear a DJ. Now, I have to accept the fact that live music is not dead yet, but it is in hospice.
I am amazed at the fact that many younger people have never seen a live band. I had a guy approach the stage two weeks ago and said, “Wow, you guys are a real live band, this is great!” He had never seen one in his 35 yrs of living. Guitar sales are plummeting because many of the newer generation are showing no interest in playing one.
I realize I am a dinosaur, and nothing stays the same forever. So, tryin my best to keep an open mind, and having a good time doing what I do. At least, I am still gigging, and I am thankful for that.
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It’s all pretty cyclical… In the 80s tech was new and shiny and you had a lot of bands like Human League and Depeche Mode, not to mention Thomas Dolby, OMD, Suicide… sons of acts from every genre jumping into synths and sequencing because it was new and cool. And then along comes grunge and GnR and suddenly the guitar ruled again overnight. And then djs and turntables started turning up in metal bands because it was new and cool… the pendulum will always swing back and forth. Check out bands like Thank You Scientist. It will always be cool to play 
Corky…it’s hard to fathom that people have not ever seen or used a phone booth or a myriad of other things that we take for granted or have experienced. In the 20’s you would hire an orchestra… by the 40’s it was a big band… the 70’s brought 7-9 piece which gave way to 5 piece, 4 piece, then 3. The law has has an effect on all of it… where we used to drive home after having a few, people now call an Uber. Everything is subject to change, including music. We thought it would last forever, but everything changes. And as musicians, we must adapt or become fossils of a bygone era
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Lots of great perspectives here to read through, and, of course, there is really no right answer.
If you are producing music the way you want, playing it live or semi live and the audience are digging what what you are doing, then that is the right answer 
And software like Cantabile gives us the tools and the flexibility we need to tread the paths we wish to.
Just yesterday, I went to a concert at a local venue in my town and there was this couple, him playing bass guitar and her singing. Both did a great job. His bass playing was phenomenal and her voice sounded like a crossover between Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. The problem was they used a backing track that just sounded very boring (no dynamics). The only song I really enjoyed was their rendition of I Can’t Stand The Rain. He played a very jazzy bass, using a lot of high notes, and she didn’t just sing the song, she WAS the song. And there were no backing tracks! Sometimes backing tracks can ruin a performance…
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On the other side of this discussion, there are the “other” live performers. Richard is from my area, and I’ve been following him for years. He does it all by himself, makes his own 2-string guitars, and knows how to work a crowd.
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