Offstage musicians and singers in popular music
[2] Some offstage performers are hired solely to play one or more instruments (e.g., synthesizer, rhythm guitar, percussion).
Some offstage performers are hired to play an instrument and sing backup or harmony vocals at the same time.
Iron Maiden offstage keyboardist Michael Kenney's other role is as the bassist's bass tech.
[1] Alan Fitzgerald was the offstage keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen's Devils & Dust Tour.
In all cases, the signal from the instruments and/or microphones are routed to the multicore cable (often nicknamed the "snake") and then plugged into the mixing board.
A CCTV system may be set up, with cameras pointing at the stage, and TV monitors in the offstage performer area; this way, the offstage performers can see cues (head nods, hand signals) made by the lead singer or bandleader onstage.
[1] In other cases, a group has been a trio or a quartet for decades, and the decision is made that having a touring keyboardist, rhythm guitarist or backup singer appear onstage could lead to speculation that the band may be adding a new member; to avoid rumours, the extra touring musician or singer is instructed to play or sing offstage.
In some cases, the session musician who recorded an instrumental part on the album may not be available for an entire tour.
[1] Having offstage musicians and/or singers enables a small group to produce a bigger, richer sound.
If this same power trio were to play live without offstage musicians, the band's sound would not be able to match the instrumentation of the album.
The core band members can then overdub keyboard instruments, lead vocals, guitar solos and other parts over a period of weeks or even months.
New Jersey's Upstage magazine liked Bruce Springsteen's Devils & Dust Tour show in general, but felt that the use of off-stage musicians was unsettling, saying "the idea of a solo acoustic tour loses something when it features other [offstage] musicians who are neither given credit for their work nor seen on stage.
[8] Some bands have an offstage sequencer-programmer who triggers basslines, beats, digitally sampled sounds or backing tracks.
An offstage technician or audio engineer triggers the sequencer, samples or backing tracks at the appropriate time.
