Know just what you mean. For years and years I had this habit of some time during a show get up and walk around checking out how it sounds in different locations. Started young, thought next time I will know where to sit. Dumb kid, like everything isn’t completely different each time! But then even after I figured that out it was still interesting to hear the differences. All these thousands of people paying big money, and some of them getting pure crap for sound.
One time, Steely Dan at The Gorge a beautiful outdoor venue on the Columbia River, was some of the most atrocious sound I ever heard! In some places. In others it was quite good. The sound guys were set up on a big platform dead center in front of the stage about 1/3 of the way back. I went and stood as close to them as I could get. Within maybe 10 feet of where they were standing in front of their big console.
The sound from there was the best I ever heard at a show! Audiophiles love to argue about soundstage being fake. Let me tell you, those guys had to be mixing for it because the sound there was total holo-3D! Rich and full and dynamic and smooth and balanced, everything you want it to be. For them. For the paying schlubs, some of them were treated to screechy dreck so bad I do not for the life of me know how they sit there and take it. But from the sweet spot, damn!
Years later I went to see the Eagles. This time there was no good seat. There was no good sound. I was in the bathroom getting tissue to shove in my ears. At some point they fixed something and the sound went to almost okay. But this is where we get to the thing about live music: It was the Eagles. Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey.... and I never saw them before and let me tell you that much talent produces a vibe and you feel it and for the first time in my life it was like who the f--k cares about the sound it’s the fricken Eagles!
One time, Steely Dan at The Gorge a beautiful outdoor venue on the Columbia River, was some of the most atrocious sound I ever heard! In some places. In others it was quite good. The sound guys were set up on a big platform dead center in front of the stage about 1/3 of the way back. I went and stood as close to them as I could get. Within maybe 10 feet of where they were standing in front of their big console.
The sound from there was the best I ever heard at a show! Audiophiles love to argue about soundstage being fake. Let me tell you, those guys had to be mixing for it because the sound there was total holo-3D! Rich and full and dynamic and smooth and balanced, everything you want it to be. For them. For the paying schlubs, some of them were treated to screechy dreck so bad I do not for the life of me know how they sit there and take it. But from the sweet spot, damn!
Years later I went to see the Eagles. This time there was no good seat. There was no good sound. I was in the bathroom getting tissue to shove in my ears. At some point they fixed something and the sound went to almost okay. But this is where we get to the thing about live music: It was the Eagles. Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey.... and I never saw them before and let me tell you that much talent produces a vibe and you feel it and for the first time in my life it was like who the f--k cares about the sound it’s the fricken Eagles!