who surprised and who disappointed


what artists, groups, etc.. (all types of music) surprised you at how much better they were in person than recorded, and vice versa...who disappointed you big time in person versus their recorded work?
desoto
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
SNS - Have you seen Seinfeld's "Bizarro Universe Episode"?

I saw The Who's Quadraphenia tour at the Pontiac Silverdome ca. 1975. Much of the music was on tape, Keith Moon had just died, and the crowd booed the opening act (Toots and The Maytalls) off the stage. In particular, the less than accepting suburban Detroit crowd may have pissed off the band, which sleepwalked through the concert. While this may have been one tour after the one you so enjoyed, this was a TERRIBLE show.

OTOH, Todd Rundgren NEVER fails to delight me, even when his choice of material roams into the margin (quite often, actually).

Is this an official bizarro inversion of the time-space continuum?