This study focuses upon the rock concert as a ceremonial or epideictic rhetoric. A major function of rhetoric, Kenneth Burke suggests, is to achieve a symbolic transcendence of the sense of division among men. Rock music, the author contends, fulfills this Burkean definition and serves the dual function of identification and unification for the youth subculture. The rock concert is described as a kind of modern ritual. Associated with rock are prescribed standards of dress, behavior, and performance. A life-style, generally challenging the "official" morality, is established. Messages about human relationships and societal norms are conveyed by the song lyrics of the music and by the progression of the concert itself. These messages are not didactically communicated to the listener, but are open to individual adaptation and interpretation. Thus the music becomes a ritual of self-confirmation. Through the process of sharing the music, youth culture unification is established. (Author/LG)