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For as long as humans have been around, we have made music. However, it took some time to arrive at the organised events we write about today, where a broad spectrum of artists and musical styles can be represented in the scene. The gig as we know it didn’t come about naturally, and there’s a whole history behind them that’s steeped in celebrations of nature, faith and human connection.
Ancient Gigs
While musical instruments have been around forever, live performances first became culturally important in Egypt, Rome and Greece. These societies were filled with music which accompanied marriages, religious festivals and other social gatherings. In Egypt, sensory pleasures were perceived as gifts. That’s why Hathor, a major goddess also known as the mistress of music, was celebrated with widespread festivals filled with dancing, incense and celebrations of Hathor’s other responsibilities like fertility and the starry sky. This is the closest that antiquity comes to the modern gig.
Ancient Egypt’s influence here shouldn’t be surprising, given how much it still influences modern society. Entertainment uses Egyptian aesthetics all the time, including musicians like Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg in the last decade. Similar aesthetics are popular all over the internet. This is especially apparent in iGaming, where some of its most popular games are inspired by the Old Kingdom. Using iconic historical imagery, many ‘book of’ slots include Egyptian gods, instruments and other cultural objects on their reels. While it’s common to see Egypt represented in some themed entertainment, there’s a deeper connection between Hathor festivals and the modern raves and music gigs of today.
As you might have expected, music was a lot different back then, lacking the technology we have now. That said, these societies honed simple but recognisable instruments like the stringed lute, percussive sistra and tambourines and melodic harps, lyres and flutes, all of which have direct ancestors in 21st Century music. Both Rome and Greece also associated music with divinity, creating myths where gods and goddesses invented these instruments. This is why the pan flute is still named after the Greek hunter god, though you’re less likely to see one of those at a festival nowadays.
The First Gigs
The next development in live musical performance wouldn’t come about until the 1600s, which is when most historians and music experts agree the first concerts were held. It started with royal violinist John Banister, who held concerts out of his London home where he charged for entry. Not long after, a charcoal merchant called Thomas Britton held similar concerts, though patrons paid a yearly subscription instead of paying at the door.
These two cases are the first known instances where attendees paid to witness a live gig. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much variation in performances as orchestral baroque music was the order of the day. This network of paid performances later exhibited Mozart’s classical work in Britain, helping spread the music of one of the earliest celebrity musicians.
Since then, paid gigs have been represented in the changing culture of Western music. Opera emerged from the 1700s, becoming famous for being a high society pastime, a reputation it still hasn’t shaken in some circles. By the end of the 1800s, we get the invention of the microphone and the emergence of jazz, possibly the most influential genre that later brought us rock, hip-hop and modern pop rhythms. The smoky scene of a jazz club is burned into most of our minds, from media set in the early 1900s.
Gigs After the Internet
That brings us to today, where gigs are more common and varied than ever before. There are more active music genres than previous generations, a consequence of the internet allowing fans to find each other and create niche, dedicated spaces. Digital technology has also made it much easier to capture, store and share music, so the microgenres of today aren’t so easily forgotten.
Live gigs have never been more accessible, especially now that travel is cheaper than it was throughout music’s history. Naturally, the largest gigs and festivals focus on pop or rock music genres. However, using the internet, you can find smaller venues that host gigs for every kind of musical style, including throwbacks to older genres. That’s where sites like us come in, showcasing upcoming gigs and highlighting musicians that you may never have discovered in the past.
