# Why do people like to hear familiar songs at concert shows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563 "2011-02-07T19:38:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/21 "2011-02-08T05:52:39Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > I’ve always said that the day I stop looking for new music is the day I should be put out to pasture. If I want to hear the same old tunes, I’ll listen to the albums. I go to concerts to hear new music. Does it have to be one or the other? I look for new music to find the songs I’ll love and want to hear over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/22 "2011-02-08T08:20:06Z")
For the same reason that people enjoy seeing original paintings, even if they’ve seen reproductions their entire lives. It’s a much greater experience. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/23 "2011-02-08T08:27:09Z")
I go to old movies at the local art deco theater sometimes because, even if renting would be cheaper, or I already own it, it’s fun to see it in a theater full of people that love it as much as I do. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/24 "2011-02-08T13:44:35Z")
Because they are playing the song you love…for you. Instead of just generically in the studio. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/25 "2011-02-08T14:43:24Z")
I feel like everyone is mostly missing the main point, in this thread. Music doesn’t work like a book or tv series. I’m not exactly sure how it works, but it’s something that rewards you more after multiple listens, but only up to a certain point. You usually don’t appreciate an album/song fully after the first listen. This is true for listening to music at home, as well as for concerts. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/26 "2011-02-09T00:28:04Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > You usually don’t appreciate an album/song fully after the first listen. This is true for listening to music at home, as well as for concerts. I disagree - most of the time I don’t appreciate tracks until I’ve heard them a few times. The ones I like the first time through usually don’t have the staying power that the growers do. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/27 "2011-02-09T00:57:59Z")
There are some people, like Dylan, who will play a song differently nearly every tour. Songs I know let me appreciate the details of what he is doing, since I can compare it to what I know is coming. Then there are people, and Richard Thompson is a good example, where you want to see how the hell they play all those notes. But an artist who has a big catalog is going to select the best stuff from it, mixed with a few more recent things, and this selection means that the quality of the old stuff is going to be higher than that of the new stuff. This goes triple for an act like the Stones whose new stuff is crap. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/28 "2011-02-09T23:51:55Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > I feel like everyone is mostly missing the main point, in this thread. Music doesn’t work like a book or tv series. I’m not exactly sure how it works, but it’s something that rewards you more after multiple listens, but only up to a certain point. You usually don’t appreciate an album/song fully after the first listen. This is true for listening to music at home, as well as for concerts. > [@interface2x](#): > > I disagree - most of the time I don’t appreciate tracks until I’ve heard them a few times. The ones I like the first time through usually don’t have the staying power that the growers do. Dude…you just agreed… ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/29 "2011-02-09T23:58:40Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I disagree - most of the time I don’t appreciate tracks until I’ve heard them a few times. The ones I like the first time through usually don’t have the staying power that the growers do. No, I don’t think so. You’re right. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/30 "2011-02-10T04:18:55Z")
> [@El\_Nene](#): > > I take it you’ve never heard of AC/DC. They sound exactly the same live as in their recordings. Hell, even a new singer didn’t change their sound much. Hell, even moving on from one song to the next doesn’t change their sound much. ---
**Author:** ![Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ee7513/32.png) [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/31 "2011-02-10T04:32:24Z")
It all comes down to familiarity. When you know the song, you can sing along to it, dance to it, etc. If you don’t know it, you can’t even tell if the band is doing a good job of playing it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/32 "2011-02-10T11:30:21Z")
This doesn’t apply for classical music, but if it’s rock or pop and you know it, you can sing along. Haven’t you ever been to one of those concerts where at some point the singer pretty much stops singing and points the microphone at the audience, who go on? Joaquín Sabina has a live record where, after he’s been silent for most of one of his best-known songs, he says “and it’s _you guys_ who are paying _me_?” and the audience laughs. Miguel Ríos could go “boomeraning” for over five minutes: true, that’s a known routine and not a song per se, but still, it’s about connecting with the public - a connection which is sort of premade in the case of known songs. I was in an Amaral concert where they were singing a current hit (“Son mis amigos”), with people singing along, and when the line “we went out to celebrate she’d been fired from her shitty job” came up, people upped the volume and pointed to my brother - who’d been fired two days before to much celebration and merriment (yep, that was one seriously-shitty job): if it had been the first time people heard the song, it would have triggered laughter and looks in his direction, but it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as amazing as it was. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/33 "2011-02-10T13:04:55Z")
As a guitarist in a cover band, I have the following observations: - \*\*You Tap into Something Bigger \*\*- The look of fun familiarity when we kick into a just-obscure-enough-but-great song (e.g., I Got You by Split Enz, or Stuck in the Middle by Stealer’s Wheel) pretty much sums it up - you tap into memories and emotions that are established and bigger than the song itself. - \*\*You Make it Easier to Let Go \*\*- people go to live, crowded rituals in order to open up to emotions. A bit of drinking, some good times and we kick into a super-familiar Ramones/Stones/Pretenders song burned into your DNA? Much easier to lighten up, relax and live a little. - \*\*Part of the Ritual / Power of the Familiar \*\*- why are Latin masses so heavily scripted? Why were Greek plays so ritualistic? Why do sporting events have clear structures, like halftime, 2 minute warnings or the 7th inning stretch. There is power in the familar - it lays the foundation for the unexpected to happen on and be appreciated. A few thoughts… ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563/34 "2011-02-10T14:17:51Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Dude…you just agreed… Oh come on, you can’t expect me to both read _and_ comprehend other people’s posts. (why did I read that as “until after the first listen”?) :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-like-to-hear-familiar-songs-at-concert-shows/570563.md?page=1)