This is the authors’ final peer reviewed (post print) version of the item published as: Radbourne, Jennifer, Johanson, Katya and Glow, Hilary 2014, The value of 'being there': How the live experience measures quality for the audience, in Coughing and clapping : investigating audience experience, Ashgate, Surrey, Eng., pp.55-68. Available from Deakin Research Online: http://hdl.handle.net/ͳͲͷ3/DRO/DU:3ͲͲ99Ͳ Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner Copyright: 2014, Ashgate