The notion of so-called blockbuster concerts--in which musical groups play for tens of thousands of people at once in a large auditorium, such as Madison Square Garden or Wembley Arena--is a modern invention. Prior to the 1960s, these behemoths events were exceptionally rare. So how did these huge concerts come to be, and what do emerging music trends imply for their continued existence? During the 1960s, a cocktail of population growth, rising countercultural movements, and the availability of large arenas all conspired to gather young people in ever-larger places to watch bands. The famous Woodstock summer music festival of 1969 brought a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people. Leading bands of the day, such as Crosby Stills and Nash, The Who, and Joni Mitchell, built up enormous fan bases. The astounding popularity of these artists fueled the need for large concert spaces. While the rock bands started the trend, other musicians soon took to the practice as well. Country music, folk music, and even classical music stars contracted to play at newly constructed amphitheaters, like the Hollywood Bowl. Recently, however, the notion of concert-going as a communal event has come under siege, thanks to the advent of home theater and internet music trading technologies. Some in the music industry postulate that, inevitably, ticket sales will decline across the board as fans turn to home theaters and iPods for immersion. Statistics don't yet bear out this trend, perhaps because attending a concert yields a very different experience than listening to music in private. Concerts create shared experiences, and no amount of technology can replace human-to-human contact.
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