who surprised and who disappointed

Leedistad
By far the best live concert I've been to was a small gig where australian alternative act Shriekback played the small campus theatre at my Uni in 1987. They were positively electric, and brought the house down. You had to have been there.

You lucky devil! One of my favorite, underrated bands of all time. Some of the best talent in the business, but they were actually from England. Where's that machine from "Brainstorm" when you need it?

Jamscience, why did I think they were from AUS? It's not as if I didn't have a thwack of their stuff on vinyl AND on CD at one point. Oh well.

Martyki, no, not a case of Bizrro Universe. The concert I'm speaking of was late 73 or early 74, Keith Moon still with band. I suppose we could never make a peep as one song went right into the next, this show still stands as perhaps the best I ever attended.
Todd Rungren, yes, his band was terrible, Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor mid 70's, perhaps half the crowd left prior to the end of the concert.

SNS: I guess today we learned that "Timing is everything in life"!

BTW Every time I see The Who (once in each of the lasr four decades) they are better than the last. The most recent show was last year at The Hollywood Bowl and I thought PT really upped his game on the leads.

FWIW Music choices aside, Rundgren is a fantastic player and usually surrounds himself with very capable accompaniment. It's unfortunate that you seem to have caught an exception to that rule.