If I see an 8 foot folding table with an M8 tracker and a BlackBox divided by a dj mixer in the middle of it, I get intrigued.
Did an open mic night a few weeks ago where one of the acts set up all their gear all over the floor of the stage then left it there for the rest of the night, so anyone setting up/taking down their gear had to step over it all constantly. What made it worse was it was basically a few volcas, a bastl dude and a tiny little Beringer mixer. Would have taken all of about 30 seconds to get it off the stage and in a bag.
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What I don’t get is that is BEGGING to be stepped on. Not even talking about being malicious. If someone breaks your shit because you left it in the middle of everyone, that’s on you.
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My boss at my last job did techno in the 90s and told me that once at a show he got in an argument with another act and they cut the power to his rig as he was performing, so he plugged a CD player with a pre-recorded set straight into the house mixer and mimed the rest of the performance, pretty much no one could tell the difference.
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DJ set > live performance with or without laptop. Espcially those 10 years ago Ableton Live performance where artista added a small live near their name and played with effects over an hour of pre recorded best offs and charged the venue more.
There are some exeptions and of course I m not talking about live concerts with a band.
However I love hardware and modular performances especially at modular meets or at any kind of music geeky events where people are there to learn and see hardware.
However at real parties/festivals a good dj set is my jam. There are multiple reasons:
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a live set is shorter due to effort and material. Usually the artist will perform his best tracks remixed live and maybe testing some new material for an hour/ an hour and a half. That’s to short and sometimes too long due to boring material. No story, no time to mesmerize the audience.
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A good live set has to be balanced. Most of them are either too boring either too ‘performed’ where the performer abuses effects and live editing to the point he breaks the flow.
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Both laptops and hardware are a mess at parties. You forgot one cable and you are screwed. A rogue electricity buzz or hundred of other reasons something may fail.
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Couldn’t agree more!
Not one bit.
What matters to me is if I am having fun doing what I am doing. If I like my gear and it sounds good to me I’m having fun and that translates to the audience to decide whatever tf they want about it.
I’m trying to scratch my own itch, no one else’s. If I get paid or someone says good show I like your stuff thats just a bonus that fades fairly quick.
One of my favorite local electronic artists is E.R.P aka Convextion.
He brings his laptop and nothing more, looks like he’s scrolling facebook.
He’s having a good time although it’s hard to tell, nevertheless his music is fucking incredible.
I’m usually more concerned if the venue has a proper system.
A personal pet peeve is people who cant set up in 15mins, and cant tear down in 15mins and want to play long ass sets when 30-40mins would have been plenty.
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typically takes me less than 10 mins 
but that’s RK-006, took significantly longer before i got one.
so gear does matter.
also, having a mixer in my setup leads to much easier and shorter sound checks – i just connect everything, recall stored settings, and give my master out to venue sound guy.
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I REALLY wish i could have seen Lightning Bolt play back when they set up in the middle of the floor and had everyone in a circle around them.
I did (twice, I think) and it was great.
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I saw them on stage. It was fucking amazing. I can only imagine that it was way fucking cooler with the circle.
Drums/mask Bass/pedals
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I think if its a club and people are there to dance and have a good time then its the music that’s important, no the equipment. If its a showcase or themed performance the equipment is important but that could be ableton with a controller or a huge modular system. What you are doing is important as people are watching as much as listening.
Gear doesn’t matter but some gear like the OT makes your live performances way easier! In this video Moe plays the Modular and I make the drums and Mixing with OT and DT. Years ago we had a ton of gear but atm we have a very compact setup and concentrate more on the crowd (you can hear the reactions in the video how people go nuts )
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Definitely caught up in these questions personally at the moment. I’m torn between two set ups for my live show. One set up is the OT and Boss RC-505 playing everything live(live looping, guitar and singing) and the other set up is Software based with a mix of stems and live looping. I’m a singer songwriter at heart but love using electronic and hip hop textures in my music. What I’m getting out of this conversation is that what matters most is not the gear but owning and enjoying your performance so I will keep that in mind going forward.
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If I go to a drum n bass night with a proper sound system, I always make a point of going over to thank the sound guy making it all sound good. Usually later in the night when I’m a bit more… chatty 
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Nice, sound people deserve all the recognition they can get :0)
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If it’s all just prerecorded, and there’s no gear, is it really even a performance?