Why does rock concert sound suck?

I remember I went to a "YELLOWJACKETS" concert at the Berklee performance center in Boston 88. They had just released their album "Four Corners". The back up artist was Larry Carlton who played lead guitar on Kid Charlemagne. He had his set up SOO loud it hurt my ears so rather than get a ringing too early in the show I sat there mid 10th row with my fingers in my ears throughout his entire set. His volume just overloaded the hall. The Yellowjackets on the other hand, had their volume set at a lower volume. The drummer was on the back of the stage left side at a 45 dgree angle facing the mid hall with a oriental rug under his drumset, Which I believe helped to soften the kickdrum's reverberation off of the stage and into the hall. All in all the sound was much more evenly balanced. And yes their performance was I thought very close to the recording.

WAY too loud.  That is my major complaint.  I could deal with the distortion if it was at 90 db or less.  Plus, if was less loud the distortion would drop considerably.   We see concerts that are not "rock" and big venues and they are amazing and very clear.  

I don't go to rock concerts for sound quality it just needs to be loud. And I've found MSG to be a good sounding venue.

Been to plenty of rock concerts in my years. I no longer attend many of them, as they're way overpriced these days (for my budget), and yeah, IMO, with all of the latest fancy sound gear that's out these days, I'll chime in also saying that I think 95% of the time the sound is not to my liking. Summerfest in Milwaukee WI comes to mind. Plenty of outdoor stages where you can walk from one to the other. Almost all of the time the subs are overly emphasized, and the rest of the mix is muddy. I've thought this numerous times when being there. I happened to see Nick Lowe in the past few years at another location, and my friend and I both thought the sound was horrible, so much so, we didn't even stick around for the whole show. I happened to be at a State Fair this summer and heard a stage where a 12 piece big band was playing along with dancers and singers (lots of wireless mics for the singers dancing around). There was probably a crowd of 1,000 that was there for this performance. The sound was absolutely perfect and amazing. Spectral balance and loudness level was just right (IMO). Sometimes, for my taste, some get it right, although these days, I'm most times much happier simply enjoying my system at home.  

Most venues are multi- purpose. I find older venues sound worse. Heavy metal is difficult to mix, Saw Iron Maiden on their last tour and sound was great even with a loud crowd. Saw Judas priest and it was not near as good. After touring 40 to 50 years Iron Maiden has it perfected.