Why, asks Guardian luvvie Shaad D’Souza, have live music tickets become status symbols? With a blizzard of flowery prose, D’Souza suggests the reason why so many superstars are playing long residencies at vast sold out stadiums and arenas is not so much down to the quality of music or even the performer, but of the status symbol aspect and ‘fomo’, fear of missing out. Maybe he’s right, although there is nothing scientific in his article; just a couple of fan anecdotes, an anonymous source (of course) and a high-up in the music industry. But is he right and, anyway, does it matter?
It is obvious that the superstar performers are not looking in my direction for custom. I am full of admiration for the likes of Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Olivia Dean, who are hugely talented singers and performers. I am unlikely to be attending their concerts anytime soon because their music doesn’t particularly appeal to me. I’ll pay to see artists whose music does appeal to me. The suggestion in D’Souza’s article is that those going to The Big Shows are not going there for that reason.
Well, it could be true. Who am I to argue? This is not the world I grew up in, that’s for sure, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. Mine was a simpler, pre internet world where if you heard a song you liked, you bought it in ‘hard’ form and if the act toured you might go to see them at your pre arena, pre stadium theatre. I certainly didn’t regard going to gigs as being some kind of status symbol, or for the fear of missing out. The world today, in terms of nearly everything, looks very different.
Would someone really pay over £400 for a standing ticket at Wembley Stadium for one of Harry Styles’ 12 night residency shows just to impress people on social media? Well, maybe they would? I am not exactly au fait with how the world of social media ‘influencers’ works. Could it be that they too are fuelling the boom at the top end of live concerts? I find it hard to believe that people would pay a fortune just to see an artist they don’t much care about, but then, maybe I’m not supposed to understand what younger folk get up to for their fun?
In stark contrast to the mega shows, I was at The Thekla last night, Bristol’s own floating venue, to see the brilliant Texan band Midlake. There was an element of fomo on my part because I genuinely adore the band and love to see and hear them perform, but it was a personal feeling. Quite why I shared my attendance at the gig on Facebook, I have no idea. It’s because that’s what I do when I go to gigs and it’s utterly brainless, a bit like me, then. I was in a packed room of elderly and semi-elderly folk, enjoying some lovely folky rock – and I knew all the songs. Whether the fans of Harry Styles know all of his songs – and I suspect that many do – or just want to be there, watching him perform via a big screen at least a hundred yards away, it doesn’t matter.
And anyway, if it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad. I was happy at the Midlake gig, the fans of Harry Styles will be happy at theirs. Isn’t that enough?
