It was placed by two graduates with a trust fund, Joel Rosenman and John Roberts – and led, 40 years ago, to their backing Woodstock Music and Art Fair, perhaps the most renowned pop concert of all. Millions turned up and there was a lot of peace and love, but it still showed a net loss of $100,000.

Since then, live performance has waxed and waned as a business, but it seems to be holding up so far during this recession. Be they music, comedy, literature or theatre, stage shows of all varieties seem to be in decent health, considering the overall state of discretionary spending. In spite of the ubiquity of video and music online, audiences still appreciate the experience of being there in person – witnessing an artistic happening in the flesh – and are willing to pay for the privilege.

Nowadays, tours by rock groups are their biggest source of earnings: ticket prices have risen and venues have grown larger even as sales of recorded music have sharply declined, thanks to illegal downloading.