Abstract
Among the digital hype that dominates the discussions of contemporary popular culture, thriving entertainment forms that predate the digital revolution are easily overlooked. This chapter stands as a reminder that live music-in the old-school sense of the term as a face-to-face meeting between artist and fan-still has a significant role to play in digital culture. Stepping outside of the screen for a moment finds that the increasing ubiquity of digital technology enhances the value of face-to-face, flesh-and-blood encounters. Considering intersections between identity, popular music, and the live concert experience, this chapter searches for reasons why audiences still actively seek out and pay for (at least partially) unmediated musical experiences. Exploring how offline live music concerts function in terms of shaping identity in the age of the Internet finds that the desire to share in a reciprocal musical exchange where artist and fan share not only the same time but also the same physical space is ever-present. Thus, the live concert takes on a potentially greater significance in a musical culture where full and immersive participation is often interrupted by the invisible, yet tangible, barrier of a digital screen.