23 March

Another aspect of gig culture that is bizarre, but is missed because our own culture is usually invisible, as culture, is the idea of music being ‘performed’. A tiny number of musicians, on a stage, performing music to thousands. Imagine painting, or sculpture, or photography, or ceramics, performed to a stadium full of people. It would seem ridiculous, art as performance. Gig culture is an encounter between music and the theatre, in this way. Theatre is performed. That’s the secret sauce to understanding gig culture. We watch theatre to imagine ourselves in the situations being performed on stage. Gig culture is the same. Not so much about music, but about the worship of celebrity. That’s what’s on show, what we imagine ourselves as in theatre terms. The music is a soundtrack to that worship, of fame and social status.