I've been to hundreds of of live music events. I realize that this is blasphemy to many in our hobby but my system sounds better than any concert I've ever been to - including classical music. I don't listen to live music for the sound quality because usually, it sucks.
Your interesting post strikes a nerve for me because I've always felt that my objective was not to recreate the sound of live music. In fact, that's laughable. My focus has been on getting the best sound that I can get out of good quality recordings.
Part of my frame of reference is that I had a recording studio for about a decade in the 90's where I recorded local bands ranging from female singer/songwriter to doom metal. I loved going to the shows of the artistst I recorded but I can assure you that my recordings of them had far better sound quality. The recordings also had an added benefit - I could listen without earplugs!
That doesn't mean that I didn't like seeing live music. I love the experience of watching and listening to good musicians play in real time. But listening to my stereo is a different, and equally satisfying, experience.

