On the 9th of February 2026, I had the chance to attend one of Australia’s most iconic music festivals, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival held at Centennial Park in Sydney. This year, the festival known to showcase mostly indie and alternative artists had a lineup stacked with both Australian and international acts including Pinkpantheress, Role Model, Wolf Alice and grammy winning pop star Chappell Roan. As a huge fan of live music and a fan of many of the artists on the lineup I was excited to be a part of the audience for the festival this year.

As stated by British communication theorist Denis Mcquail (1997), the term “audience” “simply refers to the readers of, viewers of, listeners to one or other media channel or of this or that type of content or performance”. During an experience like a festival, an individual would arguably have a much better experience being a present or active audience member in comparison to being a disconnected or passive audience member.

An important part of the live music experience to me is being able to be more present and therefore, being more of an active audience member. During my time at laneway, as an active member of the audience I was singing, dancing and connecting to the music. By being present,  I was able to discover new music and artists I now love. This would not have happened if I was being more of a passive member of the audience and instead talking through the performances and focusing more on recording videos on my phones than being an active member of the audience. Whilst throughout most of the day I was able to be present, there was unfortunately one part of the day in particular where I felt quite disconnected. 

This was something I noticed during British singer Pinkpantheress’s set. I usually find that during a festival one of the best parts is being in a big, enthusiastic crowd. Being able to connect with other members of the audience and enjoy the experience as a collective usually makes the experience more enjoyable and exciting. This time, however, this was not the case. Unfortunately the stage was so overcrowded that I felt I was not able to enjoy the music and instead was focused more on how uncomfortable I felt. In this case, I felt like much more of a passive audience member as instead of being able to sing, dance and enjoy the experience I was unable to even pay attention to the performance because of how overcrowded the stage was.

Therefore, It is important to be an active member of an audience in a setting like a festival as it makes the experience more enjoyable.

Bibliography

McQuail, D 1997, Audience analysis 1st edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.