Rock Concerts through your rig?


Ok, guys. Having to been to a few concerts in my time going back to, what was it?, Woodstock and up to the present, I still cannot figure out a concert referent. Rock is electronic. Even the drums are miked up the wazoo. Everthing playing through oodles of amps, speakers, wires, relays the whole nine. What it natural about that? Well, maybe naturally electric? What does a naturally sounding miked drum supposed to sound like. Guitar? Percussion? You know what I'm talk'n about? What are the qualities of listening to your home rig playing a live concert, that you equate to a live concert other than ear bleed levels? At least when you're listening to acoustic music, you have (other than the room dynamics)nothing between your ears and the instrument. It would seem to me that spending mega bucks on a home rig to duplicate concert sound shouldn't be necessary. Or do you have to spend the $$ to attain those kind of spl levels to make it happen? Power cords, ICs, speaker cables? Is that necessary for the home concert quest? Hopefully some of you audiophools will know what I'm trying to ask. thanks in advance, warren :)
128x128warrenh
I agree, but I have an exception. This is of course my opinion, but I have always been impressed by Neil Diamond's Hot August Night. I think they miked and mixed, or whatever, that concert very well, and did it years ago.
paul allen (co-founder of microsoft) built a concert venue as part of the 'experience music project' (rock museum basically) which has amazing sound - I equate it to a gigantic high-end stereo. unfortunately the museum has been struggling and doesn't do much in the way of concerts. too bad, because otherwise I agree with the above posts: most rock shows sound pretty bad. the people who record shows know all too well that a recording taken from the floor is far inferior to one taken off the sound board.
I was reminded of the thrill of live at a recent NIN concert, where the grip of dynamics in the gut felt like a heart attack... no home system can pull this off. There are some well recorded rock concerts, tho it's tough to like the CD versions, as few digital front ends can crank it up without sounding flat and hard. You can often tell if you've arrived by the non-mechanical sound of clapping & the presence of differentiated, realist voices in the crowd. My fav live CDs are unplugged albums that combine acoustic instruments with added dynamics of clean amplification:

Pearl Jam "Benaroya Hall/Oct 22nd 2003"
Foo Fighters "Skin & Bones"
Nirvana Unplugged
EC Unplugged
Neil Young Unplugged

and all electric & all fantastic:

King Crimson "The Projects" (4 CDs)
Grateful Dead "Fillmore West 1969" (3 CDs)
reference loudspeakers alow you to enjoy what's on the recording, nothing more or less. electric or not, its just a recording.
Red Rocks, Moody Blues with Denver Symphany Orchestra, the only concert that I would say sounded great.