I used to attend a LOT of live events, pretty much exclusively rock of various forms. Plenty of business travel and three kids put a damper on attending as many concerts as I'd like to but I do go when I can. The ticket prices and lacklustre effort put out by some bands are deplorable. Case in point: I saw the much anticipated (and hyped) U2 show a few months back. No edge (forgive me, no pun intended), no creativity, no improv, no...well, they went through the motions. Depeche Mode, same disappointing effort. There's just too much of this kind of money-grab going on in the rock world. There are several bands I never miss and even try to find out where they're playing to try to match up my travel plans with their tour. The Tragically Hip. Ladies and gents, take a flier and catch this Canadian band when they're in your neck of the woods next. Same goes for Blue Rodeo if yer into country-rock. John Mellencamp and Roger Waters blew me away, incredible shows. Every now and then I'll hear of a good local band doing the bar scene and check-em out, but more often than not they play mostly covers so it gets old in a hurry. Enough about rock...fortunately there's an active blues and jazz scene here in Montreal and plenty to pick from. Small venues, good honest musicians plying their trade. One of the great paradox's in life, when you're younger you have all kinds of leisure time, when you get a little older you have the cash and very little time to enjoy it. Long live LP's to fill in the gap. Jeff
How often do you listen to live music?
I feel that the constant tuning of our ears to a live musical event, no matter what kind of music ( except perhaps to heavy metal at close quarters for health reasons) is essential for an audiophile to rightly assess his and other systems. I myself try to go to a concert at least three to four times a month. How about my fellow audiophiles out there? And especially how about our panel of experts? Albert, Sean et al ??