Why does rock concert sound suck?

@77jovian , down with that....👍

Living where we do, most concerts are min. 2+ hours away (Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte, Knoxville...Atlanta is an overnight, and it had better be 'early seat pick')

If I expect it to be an issue, we don't go.  So much easier to cue up a file of some source and enjoy it on my own sound reinforcement...and my own 'mix'. ;)

Don't have to tip-toe through the too-tripped with beer at ridiculous $s', can light up something of a non-retail variety without making the 'down-wind' crowd start head swiveling for source, Sal stoner with gal Sally either howling like wolves or loud on the cells...

I often wished for a jar of ether with a battery fan....My version of The Cone of Silence...*L*

That, and aerosol LSD...

"You're not f'd up enough...."  *psssht*

Any further yowls will be far more primal, and we'll 'relocate'....😏

I can accept people commenting on bad sound as hey, people pay for a good experience and they should have one whether it’s an audience that behaves themselves (note that classical concert attendees are very touchy about audience jerkwads, although jerkwads still show up), or clean sound. The goal for mixing should be to have an audience not notice it. I can’t accept pseudo expertise in a field I know something about so I will feel free to share my knowledge because after all...I’m a giver. Feel better teo? Good...I knew you would. Note that sound mixers don’t start with the drums and bass...in large venue mixing you simply get a signal from all the mics or direct line feeds in their respective channels and mix ’em. I mention "large venue" because in smaller shows (under 500) it’s not uncommon for musicians to crank an amp up too much and ruin the mix...about which there’s nothing the sound mixer can do other than anger a musician, and you don’t want to do that.

I have to agree with many posters here that the Grateful Dead sound very good live. U2 sounds like their recorded music are they compressing their sound on purpose? I have been very fortunate to see allot of live music, for me it is usually the treble shelving that is most annoying.  Deep Purple was another great sounding show come to think about it but Alice Cooper's show was just plain weird...

I friend of mine (who also helped me set up my home system) set up the sound system for Hamilton - both for the touring shows and for Broadway.

He explained some of the incredible lengths they went to  make the amplified sound as realistic as possible .

These included adding a small delay to the feed from singers at the back of the stage, so the listeners would perceive a more natural sense of depth.