Mediated Immediacy: The Relationship between Auditory and Visual Dimensions of Live Performance in Contemporary Technology-Based Popular Music
Anne Grethe Danielsen, Inger Helseth · Rock Music Studies · 2016
Today, a live concert no longer necessarily presents a temporal or physical correspondence between the sound and its production, though it continues to promise an experience characterized by immediacy. In this article, we approach this paradox through analysis, participant observation, and interviews with audience members from a concert with Norwegian artist Susanne Sundfør. We conclude that an audience can accept huge discrepancies between auditory and visual information, as long as the music’s core auditory elements are convincingly communicated and represented visually on stage. This “mediated immediacy” is an important aspect of the live concert experience in contemporary technology-reliant genres.