[Frank I]

After going to the Roger Waters concert and being part of a concert that words cannot describe I realized how far away we are from reproducing the live event. The bass pounding in your chest and a crackerjack set of musicians on the stage in 37 years of attending concerts the show was the best concert I ever attended and as much as I love my high end systems it is only a blip of what real music sounds like. The impact of those musicians was unmatched and spectacular in feeling the power of a rock band. Feeling and hearing everything that the performance offered. Amazing A million dollar system would not be able to do what is done live.

 

[TheWuss]

sad but true, Frank.
one caveat:  just as with recorded material, you are still at the mercy of a mixer / engineer to get the best sound to your ears.
the "sound man" at a live event is perhaps the most important person there (to us audiophiles, anyway).
i've been to some shows that sounded deplorably bad, and been to some that made me want to throw my equipment out the window...
 
cheers,
wuss

 

[AirForceTeacher]

Quote:

sad but true, Frank.
one caveat:  just as with recorded material, you are still at the mercy of a mixer / engineer to get the best sound to your ears.
the "sound man" at a live event is perhaps the most important person there (to us audiophiles, anyway).
i've been to some shows that sounded deplorably bad, and been to some that made me want to throw my equipment out the window...
 
cheers,
wuss

As a former sound man it warms my heart to hear you say that.  Point of fact, when I was in charge of my church youth group's sound crew, my ultimate goal was to never be noticed-to let whatever was happening on stage be presented to the best of the equipment's abilities.
 

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

sad but true, Frank.
one caveat:  just as with recorded material, you are still at the mercy of a mixer / engineer to get the best sound to your ears.
the "sound man" at a live event is perhaps the most important person there (to us audiophiles, anyway).
i've been to some shows that sounded deplorably bad, and been to some that made me want to throw my equipment out the window...
 
cheers,
wuss

If you get a chance to see this show. GO. The sound in the Wells Fargo comcast Center in Philly was stunning. The power and performance was just unbelievable. It helps when the musician is an audiophile as you can tell by most of the Pink Floyd albums all well recorded and mixed properly.

 

[Vaughn]

I've heard plenty of shows that were worse sounding than my home stereo, but then there were those that were so good they became a transcendental experience...Radiohead comes to mind...
 
Speakers for me come much closer to that experience than headphones, which I also enjoy but are much more intimate.

 

[Sarah]

Not that I disagree with the premise, but I'm confused: if speakers can't do live music, then why are you telling us about a concert where you heard all of the music through speakers?

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Not that I disagree with the premise, but I'm confused: if speakers can't do live music, then why are you telling us about a concert where you heard all of the music through speakers?

Good point. I think it is more about the venue. Try and have the volume, separation and density of speakers at most live events. It ain't easy to do. My home system can replicate small live music better than most any live music I have heard. Some large well recorded music that has the correct distance also works as my system throws a very deep and wide stage (beyond the sides of the speakers). Live is just plain fun though and yes, some performance transcend all and isn't that what it is all about?

 

[kboe]

True, but my headphones system can do things a live event cant.  Play any music, at any time, and if portable, any where.

 

[Frank I]

I have never heard any home system duplicate the live performance with the power and fidelity of the live show and I do not care how expensive it was and yes the venue is important and the sound in the Comcast Center is super. I have also heard bad sounding concerts but what I heard last night was the best in 37 years I evwer heard and was in awe. Give me live music anytime.

 

[Frank I]

Maybe I should said headphone and speakers cannot do recorded music  even close to the live event. In a proper venue its just cannot be duplicated with a recording.

 

[Sarah]

There are certainly a lot of qualities in a great live show that you will never get at home - the energy, the crowd, the interplay between the musicians... the knowledge that you are seeing a unique and transient performance that will never be repeated. And for the vast majority of people, the sound we achieve at home will never be equal to the sound you get in a large venue like that (when it's done right). Although I think we'd all be deaf by now if we had that kind of sound in our livingroom...

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

There are certainly a lot of qualities in a great live show that you will never get at home - the energy, the crowd, the interplay between the musicians... the knowledge that you are seeing a unique and transient performance that will never be repeated. And for the vast majority of people, the sound we achieve at home will never be equal to the sound you get in a large venue like that (when it's done right). Although I think we'd all be deaf by now if we had that kind of sound in our livingroom...

Loud it was. LOL But it was worth it and the sound system  they have and acoustics of the Comcast Center is really very very good. I also had seen Springsteen at Licoln Financial Field and the sound system sucked so thus it was a disappointment. In Philly we have three good venues the Tower and the old Tweeter Center and the Comcast all with excellent acoustics.

 

[LapTop006]

Quote:

...The bass pounding in your chest and a crackerjack set of musicians on the stage...

Amen, I was at the Crowded House gig on Friday (Classic aus/kiwi band) and that thump in your chest from the kick is something you just can't do at home, at least not if you have neighbours (I live in the suburbs and still can't turn my mains up). I was at one of the last ACDC Aussie shows this last tour, and had, literally the *worst* seat in the house, but the bass was still giving me a massage. I actually wear moulded 15dB earplugs at concerts as I find them all too loud and hate the hours/days recovering from hearing loss.
 
A good lighting design can help as well, but that's even rarer then great musicians, sound guys, system and acoustics.

 

[Kreisleriana]

Classical Music.. well, I mean, Chamber Music doesn't suffer too much from this.
Now, concertos, that's a different matter. However, you really have to pay a lot in live venue to experience 'crowd-pleaser' in limited setting (Honestly, I don't want another performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto No. 1...". Instead of going to the live concert of Beethoven's 9th, I'd rather buy 15 CDs and enjoy them thoroughly. I so wish that classical music weren't so mutated into one direction.

 

[TobaccoRoad]

Well there IS a difference between a concert music and a recording studio..