Home› Other Music

Best Quality Sound at a Concert

brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,058
in Other Music
The "Loudest Concert" thread is very interesting and I'm enjoying reading it and LOUD is certainly a big factor in rock and roll but loud sound isn't always necessarily good sound. I was recently writing about the first time I saw The Psychedelic Furs (who were known for their loud "wall of sound" approach at the time) at the Warfield in San Francisco and they were massively loud but the music was lost in the muddied roar.

So what concert have you been to that had the best sound quality overall?

My best sounding quality concert so far has been Willie Nelson and his Family Band at the Dixon County Fairgrounds in Dixon, CA, May 2005. The sound was excellent- every note of every instrument and voice was clear and well balanced. Fantastic!

For loud music, the best I've heard live was The Who, San Jose Civic Auditorium, San Jose, CA, February, 1968. The Who were touring after the release of "The Who Sell Out" which was before the cranked it up to the jet engine level. Their sound was fantastic at that show!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













Comments

  • BinFrogBinFrog Posts: 7,309
    Porcupine Tree at the HOB in Boston back in 2009 sounded nearly perfect.
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
  • Thirty Bills UnpaidThirty Bills Unpaid Posts: 16,881
    Muse in Vancouver was splendid. The dave matthews band every year at the gorge is unreal.
    "My brain's a good brain!"
  • Ledbetterman10Ledbetterman10 Posts: 16,882
    Two words: Weird Al

    As for the worst: Pearl Jam at Lollapalooza 2007. The sound mix was a complete mess. Mike was the one that suffered. They churched it up to sound okay for the iTunes release. But in the moment, it was a disaster.
    2000: Camden 1, 2003: Philly, State College, Camden 1, MSG 2, Hershey, 2004: Reading, 2005: Philly, 2006: Camden 1, 2, East Rutherford 1, 2007: Lollapalooza, 2008: Camden 1, Washington D.C., MSG 1, 2, 2009: Philly 1, 2, 3, 4, 2010: Bristol, MSG 2, 2011: PJ20 1, 2, 2012: Made In America, 2013: Brooklyn 2, Philly 2, 2014: Denver, 2015: Global Citizen Festival, 2016: Philly 2, Fenway 1, 2018: Fenway 1, 2, 2021: Sea. Hear. Now. 2022: Camden, 2024: Philly 2

    Pearl Jam bootlegs:
    http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
  • red mosred mos Posts: 4,953
    edited November 2014
    I have to say I think Roger Waters and the Eagles have great crystal clear sound. Those are two I remember the sound just being epic. There is a term for the sound quality, but can't remember what it's called??

    Weird Al has great sound as well.
    Post edited by red mos on
    PJ: 10/14/00 06/09/03 10/4/09 11/15/13 11/16/13 10/08/14
    EV Solo: 7/11/11 11/12/12 11/13/12
  • samjamsamjam Posts: 9,283
    Most recently I was surprised at how amazing Arcade Fire sounded at Barclays Center in August. Hard to make a huge room like that sound good, but it was the perfect amount of loud and crisp.
    "Sometimes you find yourself having to put all your faith in no faith."
    ~not a dude~
    2010: MSGx2
    2012: Made In America
    2013: Pittsburgh, Brooklynx2, Hartford, Baltimore
    2014: Leeds, Milton Keynes, Detroit
    2015: Global Citizen Festival
    2016: Phillyx2, MSGx2, Fenwayx2
    2018: Barcelona, Wrigleyx2
  • BinFrogBinFrog Posts: 7,309
    red mos said:

    I have to say I think Roger Waters and the Eagles have great crystal clear sound. Those are two I remember the sound just being epic. There is a term for the sound quality, but can't remember what it's called??

    Weird Al has great sound as well.

    There are several possible terms...

    Acoustics
    Fidelity
    Clarity
    Aurally accurate

    To name a few.
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
  • he.who.forgetshe.who.forgets Posts: 4,593
    The NIN tour in 2008 could fit into both categories in my opinion. Both LOUD enough to blow your hair back, but at the same time amazingly clear & crisp.
    We were but stones your light made us stars
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,058
    BinFrog said:

    red mos said:

    I have to say I think Roger Waters and the Eagles have great crystal clear sound. Those are two I remember the sound just being epic. There is a term for the sound quality, but can't remember what it's called??

    Weird Al has great sound as well.

    There are several possible terms...

    Acoustics
    Fidelity
    Clarity
    Aurally accurate

    To name a few.
    Possibly "timbre" as well.

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • BinFrogBinFrog Posts: 7,309
    brianlux said:

    BinFrog said:

    red mos said:

    I have to say I think Roger Waters and the Eagles have great crystal clear sound. Those are two I remember the sound just being epic. There is a term for the sound quality, but can't remember what it's called??

    Weird Al has great sound as well.

    There are several possible terms...

    Acoustics
    Fidelity
    Clarity
    Aurally accurate

    To name a few.
    Possibly "timbre" as well.

    Yup
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    Ryan adams benaroya hall oct 2011.
    ryan adams sydney opera house feb 2012
    the drones sydney opera house april 2013
    nick cave sydney opera house feb 2013

    it makes all the djfference in the world when the room you play in is purpose built for superior sound.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • 2-feign-reluctance2-feign-reluctance Posts: 23,308
    Pete Yorn Live From NJ. Best sounding live record I've ever listened to.
    www.cluthelee.com
  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,058
    A friend of mine once told me that he saw the Pat Metheny Group (with Lyle Mayes) live and he said their sound quality was out of this world.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • g under pg under p Posts: 18,196
    For me the shows that have stood out of hundreds has to be jazz musicians Stanley Jordan @ Wolf Trap in VA....when he played Stairway To Heaven I thought I was on my way there....the clarity was amazing.
    The other jazz player was bassist Stanley Clarke in DC. Being he's a bass player at times can make clarity difficult without distortion something I pay constant attention to at concerts. Well on this night he was nailing ESPECIALLY on the song School Days.....he could have played that 10 minute song all night long and I would have been fine with it.

    I try to see all formats of music in concert and I'm not sure if it was my first country music show but Garth Brooks nailed it at the old Capital Centre in MD. I was in the nosebleed, center side 3 rows from the roof. Crystal clear I could hear his acoustic guitar up there and mind you this was in the early 90's....hell of an entertainer too.

    I got in free to all concerts at the Hampton Coliseum in VA and saw The Stones in their Final 2 shows of Tatoo You American Tour 81' I think. It was a big deal cause I heard it was some pay for view event and they made a video live of the song Going To A Go Go. Anyway Hampton Coliseum only holds 14k but the acoustics their are simply the best with its bowl design. That along with what the Stones brought there made these two shows amount the best I've heard.

    Lastly, RUSH just about all of their shows sound great along with their amazing visual effects. However, this one tour stood out among the many and I think it was the Roll The Bones tour (my memory sucks sometimes) and they set up some kind of quad delay sound effect thing.....they might call that suround sound today. All night the I kept wondering if a train was behind me about to run me over.....either that or the smokey haze that was The Capital Centre got to me that night.

    Peace
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • BinFrogBinFrog Posts: 7,309
    Good call. When I saw the Herbie Hancock trio at Boston Symphony Hall the acoustics were phenomenal.
    Bright eyed kid: "Wow Typo Man, you're the best!"
    Typo Man: "Thanks kidz, but remembir, stay in skool!"
Sign In or Register to comment.