Why I like my home system better than live music

Drac,

Curious what live venues have you heard that sound bad and what kinds of music there?

For Rock, Live is way too loud to be comfortable.
I would say too loud is the main reason I will never go to another Rock concert. (same problem at movie theaters)
Then throw in the drunks, or the folks who insist on dancing standing up the whole concert right in front of one. The yelling, the ..you get the picture.
As for 'old folks home Rock concerts' (where both the performers and the audience are over 60) who needs the it?
Small Jazz at clubs is OK. Even though you have the same drunks.. (and smoking, but less of that lately)
Classical live is OK too. Big or small. Though I would prefer small venues for the smaller crowd.
The problem with Rock and Classical is also cost. It is very expensive to go. I would rather buy an electronic thing for the costs.
Then the crowds. I hate crowds. Rock concerts ARE THE Worst crowd (only better than a Soccer game crowd)
So I just never go the live music anymore.
I am satisfied With my prerecorded stuff. Knowing thousands of dedicated audiophiles are out there listening to live to compare to thier home systems and reporting on it here and there..

On Sunday I saw three local bands and Theory of Flight at Studio Seven in South Seattle. (Unfortunately I got paged and had to leave before Marcy Playground took the stage --grrr!)

Studio Seven is a great venue that can hold up to 750 although I suspect only half that were at Sunday's show. We sat in the balcony and while possibly attributible to the inexpensive beer, I remember thinking that the sound quality was terrific and visceral. No stereo system I have ever heard remotely approaches that sound...

Rock concerts are the most problematic in general.

Still, I have heard several in recent years by major acts that were quite excellent in regards to sound quality:

Yes (with Symphony Orchestra) at Wolftrap in Vienna, Va
Porcupine Tree at Rams Head Live
The Musical Box also at Rams Head Live
Savoy Brown at Rams Head Tavern (Annapolis)
The Church at rams Head Tavern (twice in recent years)

I love live performances for the performance, but I can't recall ever being fully satisfied with the sonics - whether it be due to my seat location, the venue acoustics, audience distractions, or the performer's poor mix setting - it's never as good as you'd like, with rare exception. In your home, with carefully engineered source material, you can control those things.