trevgreg
Rock n' Roll Doggie
I'm as cynical as the next guy, but these media outlet writers get free press tickets. They WANT to see the show. Why would they make up stuff when they'll be able to write from a legitimate POV after having seen it?
As someone who worked in journalism and reviews before… I don’t think it’d be unheard of to have a chunk of the article written already, if you’re on a strict deadline. But that would probably be for basic information to fill in the gaps with what you’re watching (ie, background on the Sphere, Bram filling in for Larry, Achtung being a landmark album from 30+ years ago, etc.). Once the show ends, you can start to fill in the rest with what you saw, the little details you noted, and the clever lines you thought of when you saw the show.
There’s certainly articles out there that ARE basically PR and written beforehand. But I’d probably think that most of the concert reviews follow some version of the above scenario.