# Odd physiological reaction to live performance **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901 "2008-07-18T01:14:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/1 "2008-07-18T01:14:14Z")
For as long as I can remember, a live performance (usually musical, but sometimes theatrical) can evoke a sensation that is very similar to bursting into tears – without the tears, usually, although sometimes tears do come. I feel this mostly in my chest and throat. It’s more a sensation that I would describe as “Such-and-such took my breath away” rather than “Such-and-such made tears spring to my eyes.” Big, rhythmic pieces of music tend to do this to me the most – concert or big band with lots of percussion, for example. I saw an amazing children’s theater production of a Celtic version of the Cinderella tale, and the carriage horses were played by two step-dancers with these huge, sculptural Equus-like horse-head masks. That did it to me. I also sometimes get this reaction to previews in movie theaters, if they have big, majestic music. Does anyone else experience this?!? ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/2 "2008-07-18T01:19:17Z")
There is NOTHING like a Grateful Dead concert! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/3 "2008-07-18T02:44:28Z")
I cry every time I see The Who play live. Tears of both joy and sadness. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/4 "2008-07-18T03:09:42Z")
I understand the feeling. Before my favorite roadhouse closed I went to see live bands every weekend. The bar had a reputation among musicians as a place where the audience appreciated them and they in turn played their hearts out. Many a night the bands exceeded their potential and it was truly a good day to be alive. I miss that bar. ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/5 "2008-07-18T08:55:28Z")
I get the same thing in the same situations. It can be pretty painful. It can also be really annoying, because a lot of the time\* I \*don’t feel particularly moved, but my body does. How does one explain that to people around you? ---
**Author:** ![Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dazzling_White_Diamonds)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/6 "2008-07-18T12:48:35Z")
I had the same thing happen to me when we saw Fantasia 2000 at the IMAX theatre. Something about the music and the animation mixed together with the acoustics and the huge screen evoked this reaction from me that I couldn’t control. I cried through nearly the entire thing. I have to say that when it was over I felt fantastic - drained, but fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/7 "2008-07-18T12:57:55Z")
I had the same when I saw the first part of the LOTR-trilogy in the cinema. It annoyed me to no end as the movie had barely started yet, but I was shaking in my seat and trying to hold back the tears. Thank god it was dark in there. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/8 "2008-07-18T13:27:15Z")
Sounds like a milder form of [Stendhal Syndrome?](http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17289685) ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/9 "2008-07-18T14:00:50Z")
Maybe a sympathetic emotional reaction? One that can’t come from the same performance over a TV or Stereo because enough nuances are missing that you’re unable to forget it’s just a recording? But when you’re IN the theatre, undoubtedly in the physical presence of the scene, and when the performance is exceptionally compelling, you’re “sucked in” to the faux reality of it all? Maybe? I could see the same thing working in the sensory immersion of an Imax theatre. It’s totally what happens to me with LOTR even today. ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/10 "2008-07-18T15:40:03Z")
I think \*\*Sigmagirl \*\*and **Inigo Montoya** are both onto something. What do you make of the fact that I sometimes enter into that state while exercising? The same sensation of constricted throat, tears coming into my eyes, euphoria. Is that what “runner’s high” is, perhaps? And how is it related to being emotionally moved by art? Maybe the same chemicals are triggered in the body. This is really not my area. Ideas? ---
**Author:** ![paffinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@paffinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paffinity)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/11 "2008-07-18T15:53:19Z")
It does happen to me, but I don’t have to be seeing the artist live to get that sensation. It is truly interesting how music almost specifically invokes these emotions for me. ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/12 "2008-07-18T17:49:06Z")
I get this. With live performances and certain recordings, as well as a handful of cinemaic experiences. (Good call on LOTR!) I find that most often, it occurs when the song/movie has deep emotional meaning to me, but it has happened upon seeing/hearing something new. Nothing much to add that hasn’t already been said, but I love this feeling, and strive to experience it as often as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/13 "2008-07-18T18:02:25Z")
I’ve never felt this…I feel like such a philistine. ---
**Author:** ![Whiteknight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whiteknight/32/4962_2.png) [@Whiteknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiteknight)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/14 "2008-07-18T18:08:10Z")
Add me to the list of people that experience this phenomenon. However, I also go through periods where it seems to just happen in my day to day life for no apparent reason. I don’t feel particularly sad or happy, but almost overwhelmed with emotion. Maybe I have some sort of chemical imbalance… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/15 "2008-07-18T18:08:37Z")
I’m not alone! I’m not alone! But what’s really embarrassing is it doesn’t even have to be particularly good performances. Just big. I could get the feeling for the Macy’s day parade. Susan ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/16 "2008-07-18T18:52:32Z")
Totally understand the feeling–I get it too. Particularly for big, bombastic music (“O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana performed by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra absolutely blows me away, as does the end of Peter Gabriel’s “Signal To Noise” live). I love the feeling, and just let it take over me when it hits. I don’t generally have strong emotional responses to things, so when I do (and they’re positive, like this), I let them have me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![queenquimarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/dec6dc/32.png) [@queenquimarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/queenquimarie)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/17 "2008-07-18T19:45:31Z")
I’m a theatre major so this kind of thing happens to me all the time. I’m a huge fan of Les Miserables the musical and when I saw it for the first time I cried at the first note the orchestra played! The very first one! I was just so excited to see it! Another time was for Dolly Parton but that was because I just couldn’t believe I was finally seeing her in person. I also cried a lot both times I went to see the Lord of the Rings Symphony. Howard Shore was the conductor the first time, and Billy Boyd sang for the second plus the music is just so incredible I was bawling through the whole thing. “Music is what feelings sound like” “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”–Plato “Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets that startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-physiological-reaction-to-live-performance/456901/18 "2008-07-18T21:09:01Z")
I get this as well sometimes. It is mostly with big bombastic classic pieces (like Orff) and also sometimes marches (like the changing of the guards at the royal castle). It seems bombastic and/or rhytmic music is a common element for several of us.