Hard-Fi (and a Question)

I went out a couple of nights ago to see Hard-Fi, a new band from the outskirts of London. I'd heard their song "Tied Up Too Tight" on the Q year-end CD and liked it, so I figured I'd give them a try. Although their album is available here on import (at what seem to be particularly high prices, by the way), it won't be available as a domestic until March. They had a real Clash-during-a-dub-phase thing going on (think "Armagideon Time," "Bankrobber," much of Sandanista!), so I guess I can't hold it against frontman Richard Archer for doing his best Joe Strummer. Although they claim the Specials and Joy Division as influences, as well, those were harder to spot at the show. Their energy was high, the songs were decent (though not incredibly catchy--I can't bring anything but "Tied Up Too Tight" to mind at the moment), and it was a fun show. I'm looking forward to the album. If I can find it here, I may even pick up their DIY first run-through of the album on import.

But I've got a question about what's acceptable when playing live these days. Computers make it easier than ever to reproduce sounds manufactured elsewhere, so where's the line on what's appropriate and what's not at a concert? There are four members of Hard-Fi (only three of whom are touring the States), and they all seemed to actually be singing and playing the guitars, bass, drums, and melodica. But their music also includes keyboards and synths, and there were no keyboards anywhere in evidence. The sounds seemed to have been reproduced by a roadie on a soundboard at the side of the stage (although I'm assuming that the actual live mix went through the normal soundboard at the back of the room). Performers get criticized for using taped or augmented vocals all the time (for a little while, it even looked like Ashley Simpson's whole career might be taken down by her Saturday Night Live tape faux pas), but what's the story on reproducing electronic sounds? If you've got recordings in your computer, do you have to be a full-fledged member of the band to hit Alt-Control-G or whatever at the right moment on stage? Or do we have an ethos in which the "organic" sounds should be reproduced live but the "inorganic" electronic instrumentation doesn't matter?

I'm not intending to single out Hard-Fi for this question, it was just their show that brought it to mind. I imagine this applies to anybody who uses a synth in live shows, which I suspect is pretty much everybody nowadays. Even a boy and his acoustic guitar can get sidetracked through a phase shifter.