Michael Jackson isn’t a name we all have not heard of already. Being the king of Pop to this day even after his death. There are people out there who aren’t Jackson fans, yet they know some of the lyrics to songs like Thriller, Bad, Smooth Criminal, etc (to put into perspective how much people know him). In 1993, Jackson was the one who performed at the super bowl, performing songs like Black and white, Smooth Criminal, Jam, and everyone’s favorite, Heal the world. I personally am a huge Jackson fan, so when I saw this concert for the first time, I got absolute goosebumps. Seeing his 2 beautiful entrances, then to him performing all the songs and lastly bringing a bunch of children on stage to csing Heal the World, a song about advocating for a better world for children. Within the concert, Jackson had a different outfit after his Jam performance. After Jam, Jacksons took off his golden like blazer to fit into the setting of the rest of the concert. Also, Jackson is widely known for his famous dance moves like the spins and moonwalks, so you best believe he added the most choreography in all his songs (Except heal the world because he wanted to get his message across more). Not only that, but Jackson also has a couple of backup dancers, who really didn’t do much because Jackson was stealing the shows. This concert was a big one to remember because at the end, a whole bunch of people in the audience started running up to the stage screaming at the top of their lungs. 

Compared to our concerts, we acknowledge that this is a public concert. One where the audience and performers are clearly separated from the performers. However, this is also a commercial concert where people are paying for super bowl tickets with Jackson getting a cut. After all, the biggest performer at the time was Jackson, combining that with the ever so known super bowl, giving us an overflowed stadium. Also this was a live performance by dancers and singers, meaning there was no orchestra to be heard or play to be performed. This was an authentic, very big concert.

A concert that I have attended previously is a concert by Atif Aslam. Atif Aslam is a well-known Pakistani singer. The genre of music that his songs mostly focus on is pop music. The concert took place in a performance center like hall. I attended this concert because I grew up listening to Atif Aslam’s music at weddings and during family parties and just in general as well. Most of Atif aslams songs are slow love songs, and so the audience was mostly seated and recording while swaying back and forth. There were some songs which hyphened up the crowd. This concert met my expectations because it was a calm and reasonable concert for the way he sings. To compare this concert with the one we saw of Coachella in class, this one was indoors, and the crowd was not as hyped up and dancing.

When I think about concerts I think about one of the concerts in the One Direction “Where We Are” movie. I remember when I watched this I wished I could’ve gone to this concert. One Direction was a worldwide famous pop boyband. In this film, they performed at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy. The performers dressed casually, not in your typically matching boyband outfits, and the audience dressed casually as well. Throughout the concert, the members of the band would take some time to interact and talk to the crowd as much as they could. Due to the size of the stadium, they couldn’t interact with everyone but in the film, you can see them try to talk to people farther away than just the first few front rows. As a One Direction fan, this didn’t really surprise me because I know this is common for them to do, and this definitely matched my expectations. This concert compared to The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky is completely different. Stravinsky’s concert had way fewer people, but most importantly his concert had people who went in with expectations that weren’t fulfilled by the end of the night. Something that One Direction didn’t do, the fans had an expectation and they gave it to them always.

The concert I attended was a Laufey concert. She considers her music style modern jazz, and her music is often soft and follows a slow tempo. The performance took place in Bowery Ballroom in New York city. Because her music caters to a younger audience, the audience was cheering loudly but not to the point where they were yelling but everyone was excited. I decided to attend her concert because I discovered her music during quarantine and related to a lot of it. During this time, I also wanted to expand my music taste from just regular pop. Laufey’s music is slower and gives off a chill vibe compared to my music before, which was often fast tempo and very loud. She is the reason why I decided to get more into jazz and now I love jazz.  

Because her audience is a much younger group, the audiences’ outfits followed a certain aesthetic like chic but although it was chic, it was still very casual such as long flowy skirts, crop tops with soft colors, jeans, etc. The fashion at her concert is what is considered popular nowadays with teens and young adults. Bowery Ballroom is a mostly standing hall because there is limited space, and it was packed with her fans. While Shes performing, the audience is swaying to the melody of her song. Laufey doesn’t really use a call and respond but the whole time the audience is singing along. Nothing really surprised me because the vibe of fans fit her music. It’s not hype music to where you can jump and yell but it’s a nice melody with the crowd singing along and cheering when she performs her songs.  

I chose to focus on the Khalid concert. While they are both popular artists striving in our modern day, their vibes are very different. Khalid’s music does follow a chill vibe but its more of an upbeat melody. In Khalid’s concert, he used a call and response with his audience while Laufey mostly sang and smiled at the audience. In Laufey’s concert, her audience swayed to the music and sang on pitch but for Khalid’s concert, his audience members did sway to the music too but there were more cheers before and during the song while Laufey’s audience tended to cheer before and after the songs.  It is clear that despite them being current popular artists, the genre really affects the way the concert plays out and the audience reacts.

I went to see Chase Atlantic perform in the summer of 2022. Chase Atlantic is a dark alternative pop group with elements of rock and R&B. They performed at Pier 17 which is a rooftop venue in Manhattan. There was a stage and the rest of the roof was full of people. I bought tickets for this concert 4 months before the actual day, because they sold out really fast. I really love Chase Atlantic’s songs, and 2 of my friends also did, so we all decided to go. The audience dressed how I assumed they would. Some had very emo/goth outfits, meaning a lot of fishnets, big black eyeliner, layered silver jewelry, lace, etc. Chase Atlantic consists of 3 guys, and they all dressed very causally, however, the lead eventually just wore pants. As for the interactions, all the fans screamed when the band performed, and there was a point where someone fainted and the band stopped playing and waited for the person to be brought to safety. What surprised me was that the band also threw water bottles at the crowd because it was really hot. Other than that it went as I expected. 

In comparison to the Khalid performance, they were similar because everyone had their phones out, sang along, and screamed when they started a new song. However, they are different because the performers had no dancers and the lead was jumping around a lot, unlike Khalid since it’s a different genre of music.

A concert that I attended was a (G)I-DLE concert a few months ago in New York. This concert was their first world tour ever since their debut in 2018. Their style of music is Pop and they performed in a live music venue (Terminal 5). I attended this concert because I am a fan of theirs and this is the only time where they had a concert in New York since it’s pretty rare for Kpop Idols to open a concert in NYC. When I was attending the concert, one thing that shocked me the most was the interactions between the artists and fans. For example, when the idols were performing each song, the fan would sing along with then just like a fan chant. Also, the artist spoke in English throughout the entire concert because most of the times, there would usually be a translator. I also never thought there would be an actual interaction between the fans, but when there was a segment called “dance battle,” it includes the audience and the artists to dance and compete for the winning place. I would shocked and it was truly the best concert I had ever attended. Comparing to the concert that we went through in class, I feel like the most difference was the costumes and the music itself. The costume and music was more historical whereas in (G)I-DLE’s concert, their clothes and music was more modern and fits the Pop era.

When it comes to concerts I had only attended one concert when I was younger and that was a Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas concert. They performed together with one another at their “Future Now” tour which was held indoors. The genre of music they performed during that performance was pop. This concert took place back in 2016 in Brooklyn New York at the Barclays Center. The reason behind attending this concert was because it was a surprise gift for my sister, cousins and me. My aunt, uncle, and parents had purchased these tickets and told us the day of when we hurriedly headed over to see the concert. During the whole show, it consisted of just Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, a few backup singers, and musicians towards the back of the stage.  For the attire Demi had black outfits but also changed during the concert to a pantsuit, Nick was wearing a green plaid jacket with a black shirt, jeans, and a pair of black shoes. Their backup singers and musicians wore the opposite of them which was white attire. 

When it comes to how they were performing the audience was screaming their names as they were beginning to start the show and when the moment came when Nick Jonas also came out on stage to sing along beside Demi and later on by himself. They moved around the whole stage as well as down the middle to be in the center. They would pause and let the audience sing the lyrics along with them. The audience was very lively as they sang along, were recording, and cheered/screamed. Everything did match my expectations because it was a very fun show where I was able to have fun and sing along with the artists.

While compared to the “First movement of symphony No. 5, composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Performed by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim”, The performers are dressed in all black professionally and are shown to be focused on their instruments and their song sheets. The conductor is also very focused and dressed accordingly. As we can see from behind them is a quiet audience who is focusing on the show happening in front of them. There are no sudden or crazy movements from the audience. Additionally, from the comparison, one is more intense but calm as the audience sits there watching and listening. While the other concert I attended could be described as more freely as people are screaming, dancing around, and singing along. 

Yundi Li also know as ”China’s piano prince” is a famous pianist for the youngest Chinese person to win a price in the chopin piano competition in 2000. Most of the songs that he plays and performed were classical. One performance that called my attention was when he played Chopin nocturne Op.9 No.2. Mostly in the space that he performed were auditoriums, venues, and concert halls. I decided to watch this concert because the song that he plays is one of my favorites, and also because Chopin was a famous composer.

While Yundi Li was performing he closed his eyes in order to concentrate and feel the music while playing. The audience were very respectful towards him by not talking during the performance and they listen to him played all the time until he was finish. The way people were dressed is pretty decent and some people are wearing formal clothes. Something that surprised me was that when he was done playing people didn’t clap right away but they waiting for him to open his eyes, and they also waited for him to stand up. Basically everything from this performance matched my expectations. I can compare this concert with Beethoven’s 1808 concert because in Yundi Li’s performance only a piano was used and it was not seen as a failure as Beethoven’s concert was seen.

(Now, I didn’t exactly go to this concert myself, but my sister did and she has all the video footage to prove it! It’s a pretty good showcase of how the audience looked at the concert since she sat so high, and the POV makes it feel like I’m actually there!)

My sister went to go watch the K-pop group Seventeen perform at the UBS Arena in Elmont, right here in Long Island, NY. The group had become one of her favorites in recent memory, and she was offered to go by some family friends of ours who also got tickets. The prices weren’t all that bad, and this was the only chance to finally see them live as far as she was concerned. (We had watched a documentary/concert type of film about the boys a few weeks beforehand, so we all urged her to take the chance to go to an actual concert before she regrets it later!)

When we picked her and my mother up from the concert, they inevitably had videos to show us. Recording during K-pop concerts is nothing new and anyone could look up a specific concert of a specific group if they wanted to on YouTube, down to the exact day (in case FOMO hits). Arguably, the most important thing to bring to a K-pop concert is the group’s corresponding lightstick. Lightsticks are exactly what they sound like, sticks that the fans hold up and wave around during the performance. But don’t get it confused; these aren’t just any ordinary glow wand. They are specially designed to mimic the on-stage lighting, from its color to how much it flashes. As for performer/audience interaction, my sister remembered their “Snap Shoot” performance, where the gimmick is that the boys will pick out someone in the crowd and ask them to dance. Whatever dance they do, the boys will copy!

I think it’d only be fair to compare this concert to the Khalid Coachella concert we saw in class. Both concerts had people recording, singing along, shouting/screaming in their excitement, and yet, they’re both still different. Popular concerts like Khalid’s were more of what we know; an artist on stage accompanied by a band or some dancers, big screens, stage lights, and a lot of pointing/laughing/vibing with the audience. With K-pop concerts, there seems to be a lot more of an emphasis on the branding, for lack of a better phrase. A usual occurrence at K-pop concert venues is the sheer amount of fans giving out freebies before the event. It’s everything from photocard trading, to free wristbands, free banners, and sometimes fun activities that fans can participate in (an example that comes to mind is the “random dance challenge” a friend of mine participated in while waiting for the BTS concert a while back). There’s the lightsticks that are unique to every group, the “ments” section where the idols get to talk about how thankful they are to have fans like you, etc. You don’t exactly see this kind of behavior at any Western concerts, which is interesting.

Mac Demarco is an Alternative/Indie artist that has created many great albums that have been extremely popular on social media and in general. His 2012 album “2”, was a major success with songs like “Freaking Out the Neighborhood” and “My Kind of Woman” have been extremely successful and has paved the way for his newer music which has gotten better and better. He performed at Primavera Sound 2019, which is a musical festival that takes place in Barcelona yearly. I watched the concert on youtube due to my love of his music and due to the opportunity off of this assignment.

The performers even with the chill, synthwave music still try to vibe out and try to hype up the music. With little gestures like dancing a bit or even moving their hands a little while playing their respective instruments. Mac also has moments where he tunes his guitar and talks to the audience during intermissions. It seems like a very relaxed environment which can also be shown by the fact that the audience sings along and screams a lot during the performances beggining or ends. Also all of the audience are standing as it is a festival outside. People dress in all different varieties but summer clothing seems to be prevalent due to the heat, all different kinds of people come together to enjoy good music. What suprised me was the sheer amount of people during the show, there is at least a couple thousand there and it seems overwhelming to me personally. Compared to the concerts seen in unit 7 like Beethoven and Whiteman, it seems more relaxed and less about composure and preciseness but rather about the feeling and everybody just enjoying themselves while listening to Mac’s music.