We – the audience – go to concerts. We like the event organizers announcement on Insta, and leave comments expressing our anticipation. We buy the ticket. When we post stories, we tag the artist and add superlatives and emojis. We sing along the chorus if there is one. We applaud, and if appropriate clap for an encore or two re-appearances to receive our gratitude. If we see the artist afterwards, we gently and non-intrusively pat them on the shoulder and look them in the eye and say “thank you”. We consider buying the cassette or t-shirt… or maybe a sticker? We respect the camera policy without exception. We stagedive if appropriate. We smile at other audience members and don’t litter the venue. We are nice to the staff. We admire the artist’s gear setup if appropriate, or ask if we can help carry something. Subscribe to the event organizer newsletter? If there are delays or technical difficulties we remain patient. We laugh if they make some jokes on stage. If they play a wrong note or miss beats, we are supportive. We listen.
We dance, naturally.
I wonder if lines people, everyone with gear and some kind of musical practice and opinions and experience, would be willing to fabulate/speculate/dream/theorize (Althusser, Gramchi, Adorno maybe? Mark Fisher and Kodwo Eshun? Or feminists) what role the audience might have in near or far-future(s), or in some alternative universe, during and around the concert event. What role would you like to (or not) give to your audience, what role you would like to (or not) take as a musician yourself? I hope this prompt makes sense.
This post is inspired by me witnessing someone at a rave 20 years ago with a TR-505 or TR-707 and headphones beat-matching at the dancefloor, having a great time. I have a few times made few second recordings from a concert on the OP-Z and jammed with them on the train back home. As I understand from ethnomusicology etc, where folk music(s) flourish, audience(s) have diverse and interesting roles. Another inspiration for this post is that Kraftwerk had the notion of induestrielle Volksmusic, “industrial folkmusic”.
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tehn
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this came to mind — Sarah Perry - Ritual and the Consciousness Monoculture
(i’ll have to reread it, we had pull quotes from the MCAD lecture but the attribution is all confused)
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davey
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As we are seduced deeper into virtual spaces and experiences with XR, I’d love to see some practices arise that keep us rooted in the real! Maybe everyone at an IRL concert could collectively holds hands or reaches out and touches a nearby shoulder or something so tactile and epicurean that it can’t be replicated thru goggles?.
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It’d shore be nice if the “extended” or “virtual” realities of XR or VR actually “extended” or “virtualized” something meaningful, like presenting viable alternatives to late capitalism. The same goes for music concerts, though, too.
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