Billboard Women in Music 2025
UK electronic duo Disclosure — who released their debut LP “Settle” last week to heavy praise — are under fire for performing live with their gear unplugged, along to a backing track.
The above photo was posted yesterday (June 9) to I Love Bass Music’s Facebook page, showing the duo playing Capital FM’s Summertime Ball in London’s Wembley Stadium with their CDJ equipment clearly unplugged. Once an online controversy brewed over the duo’s artistic integrity, Guy Lawrence (half of Disclosure along with his older brother Howard) entered the conversation to set matters straight.
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Here’s a closer look at Disclosure’s controversial performance:
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According to Lawrence, those in charge of the concert allowed vocalists to sing live, but forced Disclosure to play along to a pre-recorded backing track. “We pleaded with them for weeks and weeks to let us play fully live or at least let us mix but they just weren’t having it,” said Lawrence, who offered links to footage of Disclosure performing completely on their own. He explained that they chose to not use headphones and make the unplugged cord obvious so as not to mislead the audience.
Disclosure, ‘Settle’: Track-By-Track Review
He went on to compare their situation to other DJs faced with the same situation:
“I would also like to point out that people like David Guetta etc who have also been accused of pretending to mix, actually try and cover it up and pretend to blend tracks into one another and hide it… but with us, we played three songs with vocalists b2b with gaps in between, so even if we had been mixing, there would have been no beat matching involved anyway.”
In closing, Lawrence reflected, “It was a very strange experience and one we will not be going through again.”
Beginning with a June 20 date in Paris, Disclosure will be on the road through the end of November, playing gigs across Europe and North America. Today, “Settle” beat out Queens of the Stone Age’s “…Like Clockwork” as the U.K.’s No. 1 album for the week.