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LOUSY SOUND AT LIVE CONCERTS

I went to a concert at Bank America Pavillion in Boston last night. I saw Tedeschi and Trucks, and The Black Crows. A terrific concert; The Tedeschi and Trucks Band was especially terrific.

Unfortunately, these bands sound better in my living room than at this beautiful, outdoor venue.

Many venues have extremely poor acoustics and/or poor sound systems. The music is often terribly distorted, details and nuances of the instrumentals and voices are lost. The sound presents as a congealed distorted mess. The art of these incredibly talented musicians cannot be fully appreciated without clear sound. Listening to music in these crappy venues is like looking at masterpiece paintings in dimly lit museums with dirty glasses. The colors, details and brush strokes are indistinct. The artistic genius cannot be fully appreciated. The Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA., Fenway Park and The Boston Garden are just as bad as The Bank Of America Pavillion, if not worse.

I am frustrated with these venues that cannot provide great sound to accompany the great music. What is the sense of attending live concerts if the sound quality sucks. Does anyone else share my frustration?
matjet
notec
407 posts
 
You've obviously never been to Pickathon
tubegroover
2,279 posts
 
This topic has been covered before. All I can say from my experiences and perspective, attended hundreds of concerts over the years is that lousy sound appreciably diminishes the enjoyment of the music and most importantly, connection to the performance. Some of the most anticipated concerts I have attended were very disappointing because of lousy sound more notably rock concerts, much less so symphonic and jazz venues. It's really about sound guys that don't have a clue or care in getting the sound right so that the audience can both hear and enjoy the performance. The bands are at fault as well. It is an unforgivable sin of commission to me, spending hard earned money to be so disappointed.
donjr
1,311 posts
 
I saw Momentary Lapse of Reason tour in '88. That sounded good because of what Pink Floyd deemed as 'quadraphonics'. It works well for them, especially the tunes with helicopters flying in from behind you.
mapman's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
mapman
15,679 posts
 
Yes, lots of plain out bad venues out there. Some good ones too. Sound crew and specific seats within also make a difference. It can be very hit or miss...and expensive. Bigger problems in the world do exist though I suppose so I don't loose any sleep over it. There's always my rig at home which I have total control over though. If it doesn't sound good there, I have only me to blame.
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos
1,096 posts
 
Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead have long (since early 70's) been the exception regarding quality of live sound. Those two bands set the standard for what is possible in a large venue.
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