who surprised and who disappointed

Don't go to many concerts anymore but here are a few from my archives. Hope you younger folks remember some of them:

Surprised:
Pink Floyd (saw them 3 times over 30 years ago and each show was stunning. I think the "medicine" helped)
Linda Ronstadt
Keb Mo
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Yes (w/Wakeman)
Deep Purple (w/ Ian Gillian)
Jethro Tull
REM
Billy Joel
Mountain

Disappointed compared to studio:
Led Zeppelin (Plant's voice blew out in 1971)
Rolling Stones (good show but marginal music)
Free
Fleetwood Mac (Buckingham/Nicks)
Moody Blues
Jefferson Airplane (w/ Marty Balin)
Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Surprising:
Perhaps the best concert I ever attended, The Who, just after releasing Quadrophenia, we had never even heard these songs yet. Cobo Hall in Detroit, I think the crowd was in shock, couldn't even make a peep of noise.
Alice Cooper, early 70's, the shows were fabulous.
Many of the SE Michigan bands of the late 60's, early 70's, Mitch Ryder and Detroit Wheels, MC5, Up, Sunday Funnies, SRC and others.
Cyndi Lauper, with Rick Derringer, pretty damn nice!
Disappointments:
Todd Rungren and Utopia, I've seen high school bands play better, perhaps a bad night?
Moody Blues, probably could never sound like their recordings.
Patti Smith, 1st half of the concert they were awesome, took an hour break and couldn't play, probably heroin and/or the coca with the alcohol chaser.

From my ''vintage'' years!

Big let down:

Elton John 1984 (got the bootleg tape to prove it!)

Big surprise:

The Eagles (Hotel California) Toronto 1976

Men at Work Quebec 1982

Paul McCartney (Wings over America) 1976

The Police 1977 at a small college pub with only about 100 students packed in.

Biggest surprise:

The Rolling Stones at the El Mocambo in Toronto 1977.

This was a surprise act. The sign above the club's entrance was '' Appearing tonight, the Cockroaches ''

When the club owner announced them onstage, here came Mick and the Stones in the flesh.

I was priviledged to be there. The following evening, you had a line-up 3 city blocks long.

They played for two nights in this small club, and you can hear the results on the ''Love you Live'' reissued cd. The atmosphere was electrifying. Compared to the cd, the live event was raw and full of rough around the edges, very much in the spirit of the Stones themselves. I became a Stones fan that evening, and found their cd's too slick and overproduced since.

My definition of Stones music: A bunch of guys player music just for fun and un-structured - anyone pitching in with vocals when they felt like it and all together also- while someone forgot to shut the tape recording machine down.

suprisingly great concerts...paul revere and the raiders, redbone, china crisis, the grassroots in 67(upstaging cream) oh yeah....cliff richard

John Hiat. Small club in Cleveland about 4 years ago.