I will preface this with saying that while I miss live events, far too many cannot be enjoyed safely right now. Going to an unsafe live event during the pandemic is never worth the lives it could cost.
Seeing live events is so special to me. There's something about seeing a person in front of me that just makes the experience so amazing. Everyone has a palpable presence. And they're there for you. You get to form a brief parasocial relationship where you're watching something wonderful, performed exclusively for the audience there in front of them.
No matter who's onstage, I become their biggest fan. At every local improv show, ren faire, or community theatre play, there's always someone so brilliant and magnetic that I can't help but gush about them for the rest of the year. I've become the #1 fan of John, some dude from a local improv show who works there part-time. I've become the #1 fan of Scaramouche Tortuga, a member of a pirate comedy act only known across certain American ren faires. I've become a the #1 fan of Angelica, a local drag queen who know one else seemed to know about (unfortunately for them! She was amazing!) I'm my D&D dungeon master's absolute number one fan, hands down.
Very few of the people I've seen live were famous. I got to say hello to most of them after their acts. I got to walk away feeling warm, and entertained. I enjoyed someone's presence and acting in person, live, right in front of me! Part of a special audience of less than one hundred, sometimes less than ten!
Seeing performances live elevates them for me. I always leave feeling inspired, refreshed, and positive. Performances on any screen will never give me the same feeling that I do from seeing something live. When it's live, I feel as if I can add something to my own library of experience. Like it was so unique, and so effervescent, that I want to hold it close to my heart forever.
Don't misinterpret me- I love film and tv. I love them so much that if someone performs something anything like acting or music in front of me, I go apeshit because it's like my favorite screen-bound mediums, but real! Live mediums are obviously their own things, but I think I just adore human performance so much that the closer I get to it, the more my soul fills up with joy.
I suspect that maybe this is why I love tabletop roleplay games and improvisation. I love storytelling above all else in life, I love being a part of it, and I love being immersed in it. I love seeing it and I love sharing it. Stories make up my being so much that I make art for a living, in spite of how hard that is.
And when someone presents a story in front of me? Live? In person?
It doesn't get any better than that.