Although PJCurtis is certainly correct in emphasizing the private party as a major forum for performance I suspect that he is underestimating the extent to which concerts and variety performances of all forms pervaded the country at the end of the 19th century. Johnny Patterson, for example, wrote very much in the music hall tradition – "The garden where the praties grow", "Off to Philadelphia in the morning" and so on. Mind you, I think he actually performed in, of all things, a circus. As a clown. And he also played the pipes. But my point is that every town had a hall (many of which were later converted to cinemas) in which all kinds of entertainment were presented – from straight theatre to musical concerts.