The ‘lonely raver’: music livestreams during COVID-19 as a hotline to collective consciousness?

This paper offers an explorative analysis of the online social practices of concerts as one of the most popular cultural outlets during the -19 imposed ‘lockdown’ in Europe. Ritual theory is used to investigate potential of these virtual concerts in generating a collective , and the related feelings of social solidarity and resilience, important in times of physical isolation. Through a thematic analysis of the comments (n = 1501) posted during livestreamed concerts in the Netherlands, we find that both old and new ritual are used to form online communities. While these ritual activities mark and remind members of a previous collective feeling, the of visceral elements of a physical audience hampers the of a renewed sense of social solidarity.