The Arena Concert Music, Media and Mass Entertainment

The Arena Concert: Music, Media and Mass Entertainment is the first sustained engagement with what might said to be - in its melding of concert and gathering, in its evolving relationship with digital and social media, in its delivery of event, experience, technology and star - the art form of the 21st century.

This volume offers interviews with key designers, discussions of the practicalities of mounting arena concerts, mixing and performing live to a mass audience, recollections of the giants of late twentieth century music in performance, and critiques of latter-day pretenders to the throne. The authors track the evolution of the arena concert, consider design and architecture, celebrity and fashion, and turn to feminism, ethnographic research, and ideas of humour, liveness and authenticity, in order to explore and frame the arena concert.

The arena concert becomes the “real time” centre of a global digital network, and the gig-goer pays not only for an immersion in (and, indeed, role in) its spectacular nature, but also for a close encounter with the performers, in this contained and exalted space. The spectacular nature of the arena concert raises challenges that have yet to be fully technologically overcome, and has given rise to a reinvention of what live music actually means.

Love it or loathe it, the arena concert is a major presence in the cultural landscape of the 21st century. This volume finds out why.

Dr Robert Edgar is Head of the MA programmes in Film and Documentary at York St John University, UK.
Dr Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs is Lecturer in Media and Performance in the School of Arts and Media at The University of Salford, UK.
Dr Benjamin Halligan is the Director of Postgraduate Research Studies for the College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Salford, UK.
Dr Nicola Spelman is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Salford, UK.

Section 1: History and Evolution
1. Roessner: From Mach Schau to Mock Show: The Beatles, Shea Stadium, and Rock Spectacle
2. Duffett: Beyond Beatlemania: The Shea Stadium Concert as Discursive Construct
3. Holm-Hudson: Through a Lens Darkly: The Changing Performer-Audience Dynamic as Documented by Four Progressive Rock Concert Films
4. Karki: Evolution of The Wall: Reconsidering the Pink Floyd and Roger Waters Live Concerts, 1980–2013
5. Fairclough-Isaacs: Lady Gaga, Pop, Art and Spectacle in The Born This Way Ball
Section 2: Spaces
6. Mulder: Social Distance and the Arena Concert
7. O'Grady: Being There: Crowd Play and the Affective Dimension of Stadium Spectacle
8. Swiatek: Constructing the Cosmopolitan Arena Concert
9. Kronenburg: From Shed to Venue: the Arena Concert Event Space
Section 3: Experiencing and Reflecting
10. Manghani: Towards an Arena of Wit and Irony
11. Polymeri: For Whom The Bell Tolls: How Heavy Metal Concerts Survive in the New Landscape of Recession
12. Webster: 'Roll Up and Shine': A Case Study of Stereophonics at Glasgow's SECC Arena
13. Tulloh: Excess and the Contingency of Pleasure: Gender and Material Experiences of Pop Music Arena Concerts
14. Halligan: Live Girls: The Feminine Turn in Arena Concerts
Section 4: Voices
15. Smith: A Personal History of UK Arena Concerts: Feflections of Gigs Over the Past 40 Years
16. Stewart: “Hello Cleveland..!”: Making Soundtracks for Gatherings
17. Spelman: 'Sing it with me now': Audience Participation in Arena Rock
18. Halligan/Baker/Halpin: Working with Kylie on the X and Aphrodite tours (interview with William Baker); Going Live with Britney and P!nk (interview with Baz Halpin)
Section 5: Media-makers and mediations
19. Edgar: The Aesthetics of the Arena: Legitimacy in the Live and Recorded Event
20. Niebling: Front of House Stars: The Fan-Focused Aesthetics of the Arena Concert Film
21. Schriever: It Is About Being in the Now: Music, Performance and Authenticity According to Prince
22. Fox: How Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!: Foresaw Changes in the Live Concert Experience Brought About by Digital Technologies and Social Media.
23. Hertz: Framing Experience: The Concert and the Postmodern Sublime