Introduction

A successful Hip Hop concert is a dynamic event that overwhelms the senses. The music is loud enough to damage your hearing, the bass can be felt as well as heard and the whirling lights create a dramatic atmosphere. Hands are thrown in the air, heads are nodded to the beat, and people yell, clap and cheer their appreciation. Yet not all Hip Hop concerts evoke these kinds of reactions and emotions. Hip Hop concerts can be exciting and inspiring, but they can also be tedious and tiring. In this chapter, I draw on data compiled from participation observation at various Hip Hop shows in Adelaide and Melbourne, Australia, to explore the mutually constitutive relationship between space, emotion and cultural context. I demonstrate that the senses are engaged in specific ways at Hip Hop concerts to foster certain audience reactions and to create what Hip Hoppers colloquially refer to as the ‘vibe’. Creating the right vibe is an important factor that contributes to the perceived ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of Hip Hop events. Concert organisers, promoters, performers and venue staff try to control the concert space and, therefore, the emotional and sensorial experiences of the audience. In particular, they harness light, sound and venue layout to try to promote particular emotional states and bodily movements. I argue that our understanding of the relationship between musical performance and emotion can be enhanced by research that accounts for spatial and cultural context in order to consider how the nature of particular spaces can both constrain and evoke emotion.