What does going to a live music show constitute? Where previously it there was a clear delineation between the performance and the performer, such differences are no longer so clear. When we live in a world where people can see videos of past performances remade into holograms to do a “live” performance, where do we draw the line in the sand separating what is real and what is hyperreal.
Jean Baudrillard uses the concepts of simulation and hyperrealism to explain how previously we existed in a modernist world which was based on producing real things. When things are produced and reproduced, we no longer have that reference to the original ‘real thing’. If you have seen a film, and your friend has seen the same film, it isn’t the case that you actually saw the same physical item, but saw what was on those two different copies. You both have seen the simulation of the film. This representation of the film constitutes the hyperreal instead of the real.
When we look at some modern performances of musicians we realize that these are just that, performances. One does not go to see the actual individuals, but the performance put forth by the individuals. In this sense, does it matter at Cochella 2012 Tupac performed a show with Snoop Dogg in 2012, six years after he died? When we have the ability to digitally create something that couldn’t exist, the separation between the real and the hyper real becomes complete.
Storey, J. (2012). Postmodernism. In Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (6nd
ed.). Essex, England: Pearson Education.