The recent turn towards the study of live music has in many ways been a welcome one. As the post-Napster recording industry struggles to come to terms with the world of streaming and declining physical sales, the live music sector attracts growing amounts of academic interest. Where that interest should be focused is one of the questions raised by this disparate collection.

Within the covers of this book are 20 chapters, plus an introduction spread across five parts: Prehistories, Arena Concerts Now, Perspectives – Personal and Professional, Arena Media and The Arena Experience. Perhaps of necessity such demarcations are somewhat porous. Some writers get more than one chapter; others make fleeting appearances. Some chapters end before they've really begun. The writers themselves are drawn from a range of disciplines described by the authors as ‘minority concern’ (p. 3) within Popular Music, such as celebrity studies and theology. However, the extent to which the authors here see themselves as within Popular Music Studies is opaque, with Film Studies ultimately being more to the fore.

The editors start the volume with the bold claim that ‘the arena concert … evidences a radical reshaping of the landscape of popular music’ (p. 1), noting how recorded music now serves as a promotional tool for concerts. They also note that gigs at such places can ‘be a misery’ (p. 2) before going on to claim again that arena concerts are involved in a ‘reconfiguring of the musical landscape’ (p. 3). The editors also note that the book ‘does not aim to assemble the history of the arena concert but, rather, to engage with it as a contemporary phenomenon’ (p. 9). Such an approach does, of course, run the risk of becoming somewhat ahistorical. If the musical landscape is being reconfigured, one surely needs to know what it was before.

More problematically it is unclear what exactly is being discussed here as being an arena. The editors’ definition of an arena is given as being, in part, ‘an enclosed space (i.e under a roof) that can hold a few tens of thousands of people’ (p. 10). By ‘few’, it can be reasonably assumed, three or more is meant. However, only four indoor arenas in the word accommodate 30,000 or more (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_indoor_arenas_by_capacity, accessed 15 February 2016). Of these, only one, the Philippine Arena in Manila, gets a mention here. So, by the editors’ own criteria, the venues discussed in the chapters which follow do not seem to qualify as arenas: perhaps a few thousand was meant, rather than a few tens of thousands. However, the authors are clear that they differentiate between arenas and stadiums (pp. 10–11) – and rightly so.

Despite the editors’ focus on the contemporary, some historical perspective is offered in the Prehsitories section, which begins with two chapters on a stadium, rather than an arena. Jeffery Roesnner's chapter on the Beatles’ first appearance at Shea Stadium in 1965 opens the book and provides an insightful account of the band's biggest gig, noting the tensions of intimacy and distance (p. 20) and how the size of the concert entailed the band's moving from show to spectacle, from being heard to being seen (p. 21). While this is a good account, its relation to arenas – i.e. the book's focus – is not spelt out. The second chapter, by Mark Duffett, also deals with this gig and in particular how it is remembered and used as a discursive construct, in part looking at how fans of The Beatles were characterised as religious fanatics or insane. Duffett's suggestion that the gig is now often seen as being ‘both a commercial triumph and a sonic disaster’ (p. 35, emphasis Duffett) will surely resonate with the experience of many arena shows. His discussion of Shea as a totemic event, however, marks a difference from many arena shows.

Kevin Holm-Hudson's discussion of four films by prog rock acts (ELP, Yes and two by Pink Floyd) does a good job in showing how the aesthetics of live popular music changed through bigger shows, sometimes resulting in audience alienation. Kimi Kärki's chapter on Pink Floyd's The Wall usefully outlines changing characteristics from 1979 to 2013, but also contains a slippage between arena and stadium shows (p. 61). Furthermore, the chapter's end in 2013 brings into question the idea that Part One, which this chapter concludes, is actually about prehistories.

Part Two begins with Robert Kronenburg's discussion of the arena as space, noting the links between the rise of arenas and sport. He suggests that for promoters poor acoustics may not be as important as logistics and closeness to transport hubs (pp. 78–9) and astutely points out the importance of branding venues and their role in the regeneration of cities. Lukasz Swiatek offers a different take by examining arena concerts for good causes, while Emma Webster offers a detailed ethnography of a Stereophonics gig at Glasgow's SECC, suggesting that arena shows diminish the importance of the concert promoters who stage them. Thus if such gigs can alienate audiences, they can also undermine the roles of key intermediaries. Alice O'Grady concludes this part by revisiting some of Kronenburg's territories, but also questioning the commodification of creative expression inherent in arenas.

Jon Stewart opens Part Three with his own and five others’ reflections on playing arena shows, before Stewart returns (this time with Benjamin Halligan) in the next chapter to discuss the visual aspects of such events via interviews with four key practitioners. The personal theme continues with Peter Smith's reflections on over 40 years of attending arena gigs and Robert Edgar's co-written chapter on going to one's first arena gig. In the latter case this includes reflections from 12-year-old Evan Shelton.

Part Four begins with Edgar's own chapter on aesthetics and authenticity at arena gigs which draws on aesthetic theory, but says little about the (great deal of) work on authenticity which has taken place in Popular Music Studies. Neil Fox then discusses the Beastie Boys’ concert film ‘Awesome: I Fuckin’ Shot That’ and the etiquette of fans filming shows on mobile devices, something also discussed, this time through a Frankfurtian lens in Erich Hertz's brief chapter.

Nicola Spelman begins Part Five with a discussion of audience participation, noting that this can divide as well as unite audiences. Sunil Manghani then discusses Kylie Minogue and especially her connections with her audience. Jos Mulder addresses questions of intimacy in arenas, with a refreshingly historical approach. Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs examines Beyoncé’s Mrs Carter Show tour, again referencing her connections with her audiences. Benjamin Halligan finishes the volume with another reflection – this time on intimacy – through Miley Cyrus and the use of a ‘kiss cam’ in audience participation as being part of the spectacle of intimacy in arenas.

While aesthetics, place and content are addressed here, the big lacuna is political economy. While alluded to in passing by some chapters, the economics of arena gigs gets scant attention. The world's leading concert promoter, Live Nation, makes brief appearances and little mention is made of the fact that in the UK (which is the focus here) many of the country's arenas were built via public–private partnerships.

What is important here is not so much the new musical landscape (if such a thing exists) as the new political economy of the music industries. Arenas not only reconfigure the experience of live music, they have transformed the economics of the live circuit. Playing one night in a city's 10,000 capacity arena makes more economic sense than five nights in the same city's 2000 capacity concert hall. Another side to the economic story is that of the aspirations of local politicians. For a major city today not to have an arena is almost an embarrassment. However, economic benefits for promoters and artists, as well as cultural capital for local politicians, may also come at some aesthetic cost. I know of lots of venues which have acquired the epithet legendary. None of them are arenas.

Overall, this book is something less than the sum of its parts. It lacks cohesion and oversight, with its articles being inconsistent in approach and, despite some interesting interventions, too varied to leave a compelling picture. The lack of a concluding chapter which brings the disparate parts together is glaring. Meanwhile the generally celebratory tone means that one key question remains unanswered: ever get the feeling you've been cheated?