Why do people like concerts?

A

AmateurFilmmaker

The following is a performance by the musical artist "Beyonce". It was performed at a concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuHEAKRkJAQ

They aren't nearly as entertaining as they are in the video above for example, but as can be shown in the video people show up by the thousands to see them. Most of the crowd won't be able to see a thing going on on stage --if that's something of value to them-- if they aren't front row and center --and even then they still won't always get a good view since the performers on stage move around regularly to different areas of it out of their line of sight. The performance is displayed on giant monitors usually, but mainly viewing them defeats the purpose of gong to a concert --as the "experience" is supposed to be about the live performance being in front of the audience member.

Are concert goers naive? Mindless? Hopeless? Fanatics who don't care if they have a bad time? Concerts better than I presume? Worst than I presume?
 
Why not? I am actually what might be described as and introvert and concerts are the only place I really feel comfortable in crowds. It's about the music. The vibe. I just love it. I mainly go to hard rock/metal and it just works for me, also being real rock concerts don't have to worry about no damn fake ass lip syncing. The last concert I went to I got right on the rail, under the speakers and was late to work the next day cause I did not hear my alarm go off. If I could I would go to concerts every week or more. A co-worker went to (and I wish I could have) a Def Leppard / Styx concert this weekend. BTW I am in my 50's and LOVE concerts.
 
I've been to over 200 live concerts. Maybe I'm naive and mindless. Maybe I
was such a fanatic I didn't know I was having a bad time. Or maybe I didn't
care if I had a bad time. Never thought of it like that.

I know you'll never answer because you pose these questions and never join
in the conversation or even acknowledge those who take the time to respond
but... You have never been to a live music concert? Have you ever been to
a play?
 
The right performer will by far supersede what can be achieved in a studio. They are able to instil this invigorating, indescribable energy in the crowd. They create a rapport with the audience, where the crowd and artist are mutually feeding off and responding to one another. A studio recording is temporally and spatially removed from the listener, it's not possible to achieve the same raw intimacy a live performance creates.

Those kinds of concerts (they tend to be smaller gigs, but great performers can do this with huge crowds) are my favourite. Spectacle can play a part with larger concert (I saw Roger Waters' The Wall a few years ago - it wasn't exactly intimate, though had a certain charisma, but it was the spectacle that made that memorable).

More pragmatically, as someone who obsessively listens to music, live performances (and merch) are the way artists make most of their income these days. I like to support artists that influence my life.
 
I've been to probably over 300 concerts, and probably performed close to 6,000- give or take a few hundred - in everything from small clubs to arenas to stadiums. (Call it 300 gigs a year times 20 years.)

It's all about the "tribal" or communal experience - a group of people gathered together for a single purpose, everything from a concert to sports to a political rally.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
I've been to probably over 300 concerts, and probably performed close to 12,000- give or take a few hundred - in everything from small clubs to arenas to stadiums. (Call it 300 gigs a year times 20 years.)
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wow
It's all about the "tribal" or communal experience - a group of people gathered together for a single purpose, everything from a concert to sports to a political rally.
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yeah. Nothing quite like live music. Haven't been to that many concerts, but I really love live music. I'd rather listen to live versions of songs than the studio versions. There's something natural about the music. Live Sports is awesome too. It's just a whole different feel to the game.
 
I can't stand country music - when it's recorded. Give me a great country band and a sunny summer afternoon and I'm there for hours. Same with jazz, although a dark, smokey club is a much preferred venue for jazz.


TrueIndie - for some of us music is/was a "job," no matter how much fun it is/was.
 
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trueindie said:
You got a favorite live band?
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I'd say The Ramones. But Sparks are truly amazing live (8 times) and
I saw Oingo Boingo the most times (22) but I'm going to say my all
time fave was The Traveling Wilburys at an unannounced show at the
Hollywood Palladium in June of 1988. It's hard to beat “Cheap Trick”
doing the entire Sgt. Pepper album live at the Hollywood Bowl.
 
@OP: did you ever go to a concert?

I think it's about the 'energy'.
I've been to little gigs of local punkbands where only 2 dozen of people showed up till shows of Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Foo Fighters, The Prodigy, etc with 10,000 to 20,000 people dancing, singing, headbanging together. (Iron Maiden's 'Fear of the Dark' with an audience choir of 10,000 people is amazing.)

The best concert I've been: Sigur Ros in 2006 or 2007. It was intense and so beautiful I actually had tears in my eyes.
I once saw Massive Attack on a festival: I didn't know their music, but it sounded great and the show was great as well: the fact that I was 200ft from the stage didn't matter anymore.
It never does if the show carries you away.

Ha, that reminds my of the comeback tour of Claw Boys Claw. Being 200ft away from the stage didn't prevent me from seeing the singer right in front of me: he jumped in the audience and walked all the way to the back while singing.

Unfortunately I was too young to see Queen and Nirvana live...
 
Alcove Audio said:
I've been to probably over 300 concerts, and probably performed close to 6,000- give or take a few hundred - in everything from small clubs to arenas to stadiums. (Call it 300 gigs a year times 20 years.)
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That is a lot! For me it's closer to about 900, about 500 as a performer and 400 as the live sound engineer. The vast majority were in specific concert halls/venues though, mostly around 40 gigs a year but with a number of years doing 100 or so, the most being about 130. I've probably been to around 200 as an audience member but a pretty wide variety, from Kodo in Japan, Madness, Queen, U2 and others in their heyday in the UK, the Berlin Phil, NY Phil, Dave Brubeck, Poncho Sanchez, etc.

As others have said, it's about the communal experience and the best performers build a personal rapport with each audience, an interaction where there is a sort of feedback loop between the audience and the performers, giving the audience some influence over the performance. This interaction is less possible with the more heavily produced/canned gigs and is even a feature of classical music gigs, although more with recitals than orchestral gigs. None of this is possible with a recording of course but then with a recording one has far more control over the fine details.

G
 
I couldn't even count how many shows I've been to (played over 100, but probably not much more. We'll see how the new project goes). I go because I like to dance. I go because I like to hear music played live. I go because I like music more than anything else in the world. I don't really like stadium shows, or festivals, but I've been to both. I prefer a good sounding mid-sized venue or a small hole-in-the-wall bar/gallery/punk basement. I don't care if I can't really see the band, because I'm there to listen (the sound is never as good in the front anyway). Not that I won't go in the pit if it's that kind of show, or wherever the dance floor takes me (or not, if it's not a dancey show). I don't go to as many shows as I used to, but I try to when I have the time (local space-rock show on Friday, Godspeed You Black Emperor in September and Skinny Puppy in November! )

directorik said:
I saw Oingo Boingo the most times (22)
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ENVY. They are still one of my favorites, but I never got to see them live (too young/wrong coast). Would have loved to see them at the end. That last album still blows my mind!

I don't think I could pick a top 10 shows, though earlier this year I saw Peter Hook do both Joy Division albums in full. That was a near religious experience for me. And can't fully describe what its like to see Swans live. You don't so much listen as try to survive (I never pass up a chance to see them! ) seeing Goblin do music from Susperia was amazing, and Current 93 in a room of 100 was perfect. I love live music and will be going to shows until I physically can't anymore!
 
Concerts are a good place to do drugs in public.
That's why a lot of people like them.

Especially Phish


It was nice when Bush got back together that I was able to see them live.
After listening to each album over 400x it was a great experience to see them perform.
 
there's a different energy about live performance in any art form. More often than not, it's usually a better performance
 
This is a question I've often pondered too. I'm a big fan of live music, and the bands I've seen have been in small venues - but I can't comprehend the attraction of giant stadium concerts, when you're so far away you're effectively looking at dots in the distance or watching on TV anyway.

One of the biggest regrets in my thoroughly regret-filled life is that I didn't manage to catch some of my favourite bands in such venues. They only seem to play in stadia these days. *sigh*
 
maz said:
the bands I've seen have been in small venues - but I can't comprehend the attraction of giant stadium concerts...
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If you've never been to one then you can't judge. Again, it's about the "communal" or "tribal" experience, a whole group of disparate people gathered in one place for a single purpose.

How many wish they had been at Woodstock, or Monterey Pop, or CalJam, or Live Aid, or (add your own)?
 
Lang Lang in London. Like a drug. His Schumann sent me to sleep, his Bach was like trying to reverse an oil tanker in a paddling pool but his Chopin. Just out of this world. Caught the mood - never seen / heard anything like it in the classical world but he just caught it right.

Whenever the musician catches that indefinable 'mood,' then they rock. Green Day in London - just wow. Harry Connick Jr in Switzerland - out of this world. Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall. All nights I will remember forever.

When they catch that indefinable 'feel,' then the world just lights up. That's the beauty of the live concert. Just wow.
 
Alcove Audio said:
If you've never been to one then you can't judge. Again, it's about the "communal" or "tribal" experience, a whole group of disparate people gathered in one place for a single purpose.

How many wish they had been at Woodstock, or Monterey Pop, or CalJam, or Live Aid, or (add your own)?
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A festival is a different thing though, where you're spending several days in a certain location and a certain atmosphere, and the music is almost secondary to the experience. I can see why that would appeal to some (even though it really doesn't to me).

But turning up to a sports stadium for two hours, standing at the back of 50000 people watching distant dots, and various nicely edited close ups on a big screen. Nah, not for me :)
 
gorillaonabike said:
Lang Lang in London. Like a drug. His Schumann sent me to sleep, his Bach was like trying to reverse an oil tanker in a paddling pool but his Chopin. Just out of this world. Caught the mood - never seen / heard anything like it in the classical world but he just caught it right.
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He is playing rachmaninoff in baltimore soon, although not my favorite rachmaninoff or I'd seriously consider. But probably still wouldn't go since my GF lives in boston now and I wouldn't want to go alone.
 
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