The ‘liveness’ of live music performance is often understood as a sensibility or effect – a ‘magic’ or ‘energy’ – produced through a dynamic attachment between performer and audience. However, this popular meaning is elusive and offers a narrow account of the actors, dynamics and relationships involved in its production. Academic debates about ‘liveness’ have tended to reproduce and rely upon existing discursive frameworks of meaning pertaining to its dynamics and constitution that overlook other actors that are also crucial in producing liveness: the cultural and technical worker. This article develops a more sociological account of liveness that acknowledges a wider constituency of actors, objects and temporalities. By drawing on qualitative interviews with festival workers in Britain and the Netherlands, our sociological analysis of festival work demonstrates that liveness is an entangled set of relations that involves performers, audiences, technologies/objects and cultural and technical workers. We also show how the meaning of liveness should be temporally extended to include linear, cyclical and fluid modes. We argue that liveness is better understood as a type of human and technical achievement produced through a more complex set of experiences and participation of actors and objects. Through this examination of liveness, we also contribute to a better sociological understanding of the appeal of cultural work.

现场音乐表演的“活力”通常被理解为一种情感或效果——一种“魔力”或“能量”——通过表演者和观众之间的动态依恋而产生。然而，这种流行的含义是难以捉摸的，并且对其生产中涉及的参与者、动态和关系提供了狭隘的描述。关于“活力”的学术辩论倾向于复制并依赖于与其动态和构成相关的现有意义话语框架，而忽视了对产生活力也至关重要的其他参与者：文化和技术工作者。本文对活力进行了更加社会学的解释，承认更广泛的参与者、物体和时间性。通过对英国和荷兰音乐节工作人员的定性采访，我们对节日工作的社会学分析表明，活力是一组相互纠缠的关系，涉及表演者、观众、技术/物品以及文化和技术工作者。我们还展示了活性的含义如何在时间上扩展以包括线性、循环和流体模式。我们认为，活性可以更好地理解为一种人类和技术成就，通过一系列更复杂的经验以及参与者和物体的参与而产生。通过对活力的考察，我们还有助于更好地从社会学角度理解文化工作的吸引力。我们还展示了活性的含义如何在时间上扩展以包括线性、循环和流体模式。我们认为，活性可以更好地理解为一种人类和技术成就，通过一系列更复杂的经验以及参与者和物体的参与而产生。通过对活力的考察，我们还有助于更好地从社会学角度理解文化工作的吸引力。我们还展示了活性的含义如何在时间上扩展以包括线性、循环和流体模式。我们认为，活性可以更好地理解为一种人类和技术成就，通过一系列更复杂的经验以及参与者和物体的参与而产生。通过对活力的考察，我们还有助于更好地从社会学角度理解文化工作的吸引力。