Sound-stage, imaging, focus......

I don't feel that these descriptive terms are limited only to audio, and feel that what your are hearing at the actual event is more diffuse, because you are further away, further back into the reverberent field than microphones usually are when most recordings are made. Look, if you're really as curious about this as you think you are, you should buy a portable recorder like a DAT, and a one point condensor microphone. You could then ask if you could make your own recording the next time you go to a performance. That way, you could listen to it later on your system, and see what differences there are. You'll never really know until you do this.

This might be a bit tangential, so apologies in advance. Music can be an emotional or energetic experience at the level of the bare, naked soul. It is actually a sort of gentle transformational experience, not unlike deep meditation. This can happen live or with reproduced music, and with any kind of music you are energetically in tune with. The most basic thing is to get the timbre right, because the emotion of the music is hidden in the nuances of timbral richness and shading. In a sense, music is in the space between the notes. Soundstaging can add to the experience or be superfluous - it's more an individual thing. Your heart speaks the language of truth, in music or in anything else. When you listen, take a little time to listen with your heart, and you will be subtly changed by the experience. I get the impression, Rayd, that you already do this.

Soundstaging is an artifact of the recording process and multi-channel reproduction. At real, unamplified, musical events there's little perception of soundstage. Imaging does occur in real life, but it's typically not as starkly defined as via high-end systems. A system's ability to soundstage is indicative of other things being done right. Wide band frequency response, smooth phase and quick transient are some of the things that must be done right in order to have proper soundstaging. An interesting test for stereo systems is to go mono. Very few high end systems sound real when played mono. It eliminates all the soundstage/imaging considerations. It's a very tough test.