Is concert etiquette performative?
It’s certainly mannered. It’s a collection of behaviors that are standardized and repeated across a wide variety of performance situations. Attire, posture, diction, language choice, entrances and exits, onstage decorum…the list is long. But is it just tradition, or is it worthwhile?
I think all of it serves one important purpose: to welcome an audience into your performance.
It tells the audience you take the performance seriously.
It tells the audience what to pay attention to.
It tells the audience when to clap, when to laugh, when to sigh.
In 1,000 large and small ways, concert etiquette creates the audience experience.