Music is the direct transfer of energy from musicians and singers to bodies through air. All else is reproduction. Most of the passionate "Music" lovers including reviewers listen to reproduction more than music and forget what it sounds like.

BUT, most venues starting circa 1800AD put a premium on loudness that can't be achieved in the home, and most people equate loud with distortion - that is, if it is not distorted, it isn't loud enough. And by distortion I include equalization, compression, reverb and delays, auto-tune and even close miking.

The audiences are just as much at fault. Not only do they respond positively to ear-damaging distortion, they can't be still to receive the message. Even in high-brow venues they fidget, cough, forget to silence their personal electronics. Of course, some music MAKES you dance, scream and shout - but that is paying attention.

So do I go to concerts? Of course. Over 60 a year. Discs and streaming never gave me goose bumps or made tears of joy flow.

And I was one of those 40,000 people in Woodstock on Monday morning. I was about 100 feet from the stage for Jimi's set. Music through the night vigil is a primal experience, whether it is Jefferson Airplane, John Tavener's "The Veil of the Temple" or Paul Winter's Solstice Concerts.

Interesting someone mentioned live streaming. At present in the UK we have the ITunes Festival in London. As I am currently not in London, due to caring for an elderly relative, I find it amazing that I have been able to stream the whole ongoing festival to my ITouch.

How about live acoustic music through a live webcast?????

Kicking off the "After Dinner Live" series on July 28, 2011 featuring Marci Geller.
www.whereforearts.com/concert

I was happy to hear this story. I used to go to a concert a week, then fessed up and realized I was bored most of the time. I love music, but like it better when I can do other things while listening to it at home. I also much prefer the polish of the studio.

To Gary from Greenwich Village - When Jimi Hendrix came on stage at Woodstock, there were still 40 thousand people in the crowd. See Woodstock Now & Then.

Why does it have to be one or the other? Seeing a good band at a well chosen venue can be a great experience. I prefer to keep my venues on the small theater or club side. I do not like going to large venue or outdoor shows, especially the large summer time outdoor festivals with 30 bands playing often with bands playing at the same time, with poor sound, in the heat, with crowds of people talking through the bands.

Not going to concerts. Claustrophobic and a bit agoraphobic. But, also, lazy and cheap.

Personal issues aside, long form videocasts from NYPR like those from the Greene Space, ICELab at LPR, and from WBGO "live" from the Village Vanguard make it really not too bad.

why do i get the impression, that derek thompson; probably, could not dance his way out of a wet tissue box...

Listening to a live music event is about more than just making money, as Derek suggested. It's about hearing music, experiencing live music in all it's nuances. Every performance is fresh raw and real.

My social community is made up primarily of acoustic musicians and while I love their brand of coffee-house music, I don't love coffee houses...or bars, for that matter. House concerts are a reasonable alternative - both attending and hosting. We went one step further. We put up a lighting grid in our living room and began a webseries with performances by and conversation with singer/songwriters. We're going live at the end of July - so wish us luck!

Live concerts, especially in large venues, tap into the same mass energy that is present in any large crowd that is being addressed by any variety of entertainer. This form of delivery covers all the bases... the entertainment could be anything from a mass culture music performance in a large size venue, any major sporting event, large scale religious events (for example the Promise Keepers' rallies or Billy Graham type evangelism), right down to the dark, creepy and sinister messaging of the Nuremberg rallies.

High visibility performers have great power available to them, but the majority of mass culture entertainers, probably due to their tender years (amongst other factors) tend not to apply them. As Mark Twain once observed: "Its too bad that youth is wasted on the young". This quality is not lost on the grey-haired older men in the boardrooms of the military-entertainment-media-industrial complex; the memories of the effectiveness of John Lennon alone, as a rare example of a single person's drive to try to change the world for the better, is still a bad dream for the "powers-that-be".

If not for seeing live bands, I'd probably have close to no social life. No kidding. Going to see a band I like is one of only a few things I do where I can be pretty sure I'll meet people of like mind and perhaps form lasting personal bonds. And I think it's really exciting to hear the sound coming right out of the amps, to witness the physicality of musicians and audiences. Love it. It's absolutely addictive. I'll probably go to 10 or so shows this month. But when it comes to large theaters and arenas, I'm totally with Mr. Thompson when it comes to rock and pop music. As a listener, I feel alienated and annoyed in a large venue. Lines are the pits. Ticket surcharges are the pits. Being unable to see the musicians' faces unless they appear on a giant screen at the side of the room is the pits. Anything suggesting mob mentality is the pits. And let's face it -- most rock and pop acts don't really know how to use the space a large venue allows, which makes the whole thing visually unappealing. I'm fine with a large venue if I'm seeing one of my all-time favorite acts or orchestral music (the live setting places all the sounds of an orchestra in strata no recording can capture). But if it's four dudes with guitars, if I'm more than 30 feet away, I might as well have just stayed home and listened to the record.

From the first time I went to the Fillmore at 14 till last night seeing Rickie Lee Jones... there is nothing like GREAT LIVE MUSIC!

support your small local bands too!

I’m a 40-something mom, and way past my younger club-going years. But I still try to make it to a live club show every few months. Despite feeling like the oldest person in the room most of the time, I finally realized that this is my way of experiencing art, and that it is vital to my soul to do this on a semi-regular basis. Being surrounded by the music, the lights and the crowd, connecting with the collective energy…. I will often get goosebumps at a live show but rarely when I’m listening to recorded music.

There are few things worse than seeing the RIGHT band in the WRONG venue! Example? Beirut at Bowery Ballroom? Perfect! Beirut at the BAM Opera House? Too devastatingly large a space for their sound AND their "act," for that matter. I wish bookers and agents were more thoughtful about the space/sound relationship.

i think a major reason for the lack of desire to see live bands is that digital technology has greatly reduced the amount of actual musicianship required these days.
a band can sound great on record, but are often unable to reproduce it live, mostly because the recording is usually polished, manipulated, tuned(especially vocals), etc, in order for it to be of a decent quality.
back as late as the nineties, bands still had to generally be able to play their instruments at some acceptable level.
that is no longer the case. incompetence is no longer a barrier. and sadly so...

I'm an "old" and still love live music. I prefer loud shows in smaller venues (and don't mind crowds). My only complaint is the inconsistency of set times; I don't have time to stand in your establishment for 4 hours, and would really love a reasonable time window.

We love live music, especially live music from local bands at small venues. To THAT end, everyone should go see The Ladybug Transistor's record release show at the Knitting Factory tonight. Hella good.

As a long-time concertgoer, I'm sorry to hear all the folks who have had such negative experiences. While I agree the LiveNation/Ticketmaster corporate music era has changed things from when I was a teenager in the 1970s, there are still plenty of amazing performers who still know how to electrify an audience. This winter my wife and I saw Prince at MSG and were totally blown away. As we were leaving I said "I want to go again." She agreed and we got tickets to another show 3 weeks later. It was a completely different set-list with different guest musicians - and again amazing, something that could never be replicated in a recording. Similarly, Wilco at Coney Island 2 summers ago was joyous. Paul Simon at the Beacon this spring was also special.

Pro: Performers talking between songs. Enjoy getting to know their personalities.

Con: Getting good seats --very,very difficult. You have to be an internet wizard.

listening alone has its limitations,but being in the fray of a crowd, is a mixed bag. a lot of it is contingent upon the quality of that crowd. and, there are so many ways to define, what that means. it also has to do with one's mood. it could be a great concert,but that does not always mean, that i would want to be there.

Concerts should not be a "community experience". Concerts are music. So each person should be left alone to experience the music in his own way, and not be annoyed by other concert goers. This insistence on concerts being a kumbaya thing is so infantile.

With the digital revolution, and so many people listening to music on those white iPod earphones, fewer and fewer record labels are willing to invest in high quality productions. Often, concerts are the only way to hear the music the way it should sound.

I wonder if the caller that just complained about music nowadays realizes that he just getting old and turning into his parents. "Back in my day..."

GBV @ McCarren Pool was great....except for all the idiots on facebook. Truly pathetic.

I LOVE going to shows! Getting everyone's sweat on me at a rowdy show? Nothing like it. (And now that smoking has been mostly banned, at least I just come home smelling like sweat.) Screaming along with your favorite band, whether it is a giant arena, or a small room venue, house, or basement? Nothing to rival that experience. Plus, why would you want risk-less renditions of the recording sounding exactly like you expect? I am a lady of a certain age. Staying out late? Come on! There's nothing that enough coffee or 5 hr energy can't cure. Plus, yes - am with you Ellen from Brooklyn. Concert vs. show. Concerts seem to be established artists, larger venues, frat-boy culture. Shows, to me, perhaps a bit smaller, but everyone is so passionate and curious and into the performers! Am thinking Ida @ Union Pool, or upcoming Tombs @ St. Vitus...

As an indie musician, I loved what Mara had to say about paying for streaming concerts. Fans should know that live concerts are a musician's bread and butter now that everyone thinks their music should be free. If fans aren't going to pay for a live show, they should be willing to pay for the music in a recording or stream. Thanks for that idea, Mara!

The main reason I hate live concerts these days is absolutely terrible live sound. Live engineers are completely clueless. You don't need to mike every single drum on a drum kit. Just awful.

p.s. don't even get me started about spending $200-$300 a ticket for any show, just for the privilege of getting beer spilled on me by some fratboy who's trying to hold his cell phone aloft at the same time. i want to support the artists i love, but am convinced that buying the music is probably the better way to go, sadly.

Concerts have been and will continue to be a huge part of my life, and I still love it when a new band catches me by surprise, though the state of live music has definitely taken a turn for the worst as we've all become zombies holding reasonably priced electronics in our hands. We don't watch the stage any more, we watch our cameras and phones.

And this is coming from a concert photographer!

I have also become disinclined to go to concerts - partly because you don't have control over which songs are played. I recently saw Natalie Merchant and the concert hall was terribly hot, and she played nothing but the new material off her poetry album. Fair enough, but c'mon. Not ONE song that the audience could sing along too? We were practically asleep by the end of it.

fyi-the allman brothers offer real time on line of their concerts that you can subscribe to called moogis. it's great. u can hook up to digital projector and watch on living room wall .no heads in the way or drunks, etc.

Jaron Lanier predicts in the future, we will be able to purchase hologram concerts of our favorite bands to play in our living rooms. It'll be like having The Rolling Stones play live at your birthday party.

Glenn Gould and Jimi Hendrix preferred recording to performing. Gould spoke at length about his aversion to concerts. I enjoy both recordings & live performances, but stay away from super-large venues which remind me of Nuremberg rallies etc.

Big Springsteen fan, but at my age of 50, I hate concerts. It is the age thing.

For me, there is a distinction between the word concert and show. A concert is big, with thousands of people, not necessarily there for the music, advertising, etc. A show is intimate, engaging and attracts music lovers. A concert is more mainstream, a show is cutting edge, hopefully. I HATE concerts but love to be at a show.

I agree with your guest. I'm definitely older than he is, but I have tired of the concert scene as well, and I also find music extremely personal. However, I slightly disagree with him on one point. I don't care as much for listening to music on headphones as I do listening to it through a great set of speakers. I enjoy the mix of the music with the natural sounds of the room I am in. Okay, I'm weird!

Derek seems to be talking about large shows in particular, generally indie rock by artists he already knows very well. I'm not too interested in spending 30 bucks on a show at Terminal Five, but there are a plenty of small shows where the live experience is more enjoyable than the recordings. I enjoy small bands I haven't heard of at cheap or free shows. Bora Yoon performing “The Body Electric” at a River to River show with live visuals was just amazing. Certain kinds of genres feel amazing in person. I don't generally listen to pure noise on headphones, but at a live noise show can take me over. In fact, I'm going to a show at Shea Stadium tonight!

I love going to concerts and I try to make to many shows a month, ranging from the small clubs to big arenas. Although there is a risk of getting lousy venues, bad P.A. sound and as well just bad performances.

But today everybody seems to be recording the concerts in their cellphones or drunk dialing to dedicate a song to their loved ones. Trust us, they won't hear a thing.

Derek Thompson should go to a concert by himself. It is entirely possible to be comfortable and ignore the other people around, much like riding the subway. Nothing compares to live performances particularly with bands that shine live or groups that play improvisational music.

One exception. Avoiding the aggressive shirtless sweaty hairy smelly dancer types can be impossible if you want to be anywhere near the stage at most seatless NYC venues.

I understand the concert-going haters, but I personally will make the effort for bands I love or want to learn more about. That said - now that I'm a lady of a certain age, I go out a lot less than I did when I was younger, and I really, really wish venues would bump the time of the shows up to happening early in the evening.

There's nothing worst than having to struggle to stay occupied until 10:30PM on a work night UNTIL a band is scheduled to play (especially if you live outside of Manhattan, and it's inconvenient to go home after work, and back out again for socializing). I don't always want to go have drinks for 4 hours (and absorb that expense), and I would be much happier - and much more likely to see more shows - if I could to grab a drink or dinner and then check out a band by 8:30. Art openings happen at 6PM - and get huge crowds because people can go straight from work.

Bands should think seriously about having 2 sets - one for the late-night 20-somethings, and one for everyone else. They might find they'd get many more people to commit to going out.

Your guest mentioned going to concerts when he was in college. Now that I am way past college age, I don't really enjoy hanging out with college or just-post-college kids and their tendency to drink too much, spill their drink on me (just happened last weekend), and spend their time recording the scene on their phone, posting to FB, checking FB for comments, etc etc. That bright screen is really distracting! Maybe I'm just too old for that scene, but there's a lot of "young" music I'd love to hear live.

I have to say that I partially agree with the anti-concert guest. I recently attended a James Blake concert at the Poisson Rouge and I was amazed by how painful the experience was. Blake's style is subtle and exquisite, and I was so annoyed by the number of drunk, chatty people at the venue. People kept moving around, going to the bar and bathrooms, which I found extremely disturbing. A few people were ever smoking at the indoor hall.

On the other hand, I have seen U2 and Bruce Springsteen live and have had amazing times. I think it completely depends on the type of music.

after horrid experiences going to concerts for steely dan, dweezil zappa, and elvis costello, we've determined one thing: if we don't get seats within the first 20 rows, it's not worth it.

not only are all the boomers too fat to stand or dance during what would otherwise be a lively show, they fault you for blocking their view when you decide to respond to the music. they spend half the time behind their blackberries, either trying to take video, or answering email during the show--or talking through the entire thing.

this isn't limited to pop or rock music--we were at the philharmonic a couple of weeks back, and 1/4 of the audience got up to leave before the end of the final number, making us wonder if traffic was their only concern. a discussion with a performer following the show confirmed that their new york audience tended to be the rudest they have.

seriously, people--if a concert experience doesn't afford you all the comfort and convenience of sitting at home with a DVD, then just stay home.

Like many other comments, I can't help but wonder how much of the distaste for concerts is the fact that very few people seem to go to listen these days.

"Magical stillness" only if people come to listen instead of talk.

Aren't most of the concerts Derek mentioned attending over the last few years of the frat-boy/college town show variety (Ben Folds, Lupe Fiasco, Kayne West, Coldplay)? These are shows where college students go to party the same way they would in their dorm rooms.

Radiohead is an example of a band that is an amazing headphone AND live band. It becomes a real community/spiritual experience when they play live.

Man! Soundcheck needs some new producers. This is junk radio.

I just got back from a three-day Phish festival in Watkins Glen. As always, a Phish festival is much more than a traditional concert or festival, it is an event, complete with amazing artwork, eclectic events (inclduing Bocce, a 5k race and a Wiffle Ball tournament) and lots and lots of live music. Derek mentions spirituality. I would think most people who attend Phish concerts love the communal spirituality of these events.

Like many other comments, I can't help but wonder how much of the distaste for concerts is the fact that very few people seem to go to listen these days.

"Magical stillness" only if people come to listen instead of talk.

I grew up in the 70's and I loved going to concerts back then, plus they were really cheap. The few shows that I went too recently were awful and a waste of money. The new groups just don’t cut it anymore, maybe that’s the problem..

for rock concerts, i completely agree, the individual experience in stronger on headphones, the concerts are too expensive and i'm too short for standing only halls to see anything, so now i only go to see classical concerts, where the musical experience can't be matched by a recording, the room is civilized and the costs are reasonable.

I have a feeling the reason he hates concerts is because the list of concerts he went to in "college" is just plain crappy.
If i only went to the most obvious and trendy concerts around it would only take me about a week before i moved to an ice flow.

Why I don't go to concerts: I love music; I hate people.

THE best concerts are personal experiences! Be it Bruce Springsteen (40+ times) or Rahsaan Roland Kirk (the Vanguard in '74), my best music experiences are when and where I feel the artist is communicating directly to me and then looking around and seeing that others are having the same experience.

Man, I hate concerts. They're a waste of money because most bands just try to reproduce the sound of their records (unsuccessfully). It's only worth the hassle if they improvise quite a bit or have a reputation for on-stage antics.

I used to be a 100+ shows-a-year man. I couldn't get enough. The problem I had back then (back then being 2007, 2008), was the out of control mosh-pit-at-anything-remotely-fast craze that frat boys instigated. I learned to stay out of the way.

Then the moshing stopped and the Yuppie Chatting began. Every show I have been to in the last couple years has been plagued with chatty scenester Yuppie Hipsters who just want to be seen and to overennunciate their R's and speak like Corporatized Valley Girls. Remember when the problem was that hipsters just stood there with their arms folded?

Also, inflation has made even cheap shows too expensive. And my back hurts from standing in one spot too long. So I'm pretty much done with concerts.

That being said, I'll be at the FREE Ted Leo/Screaming Females show at the Seaport on Saturday.

I have been to hundreds of shows in my life ranging from heavy metal to folk and have seen U2 37 times and must say there is nothing like being in a place and sharing the performance with so many other people. I love the albums but the live experience is so much better.

I was wondering what Derek Thompson thought of live recordings, whether it be a live release by an artist or a fan recording of a show?

This is an issue? Just stay home!
Your next show should be about people who don't like rhubarb.

During the recent few concerts I went to in 2010 & 2011 I have been nearly blinded by the cell phones being used to photograph and tape the performance. At PJ Harvey I had to ask a 20-something near me to stop since her bright blackberry was preventing me from seeing the stage. At XX I saw a girl in front of me watch the concert on her iphone instead of watching the band. I don't get it. It really detracts from the experience.

I thought I was alone in feeling that way! Sometimes the concert ruins the songs for me. The performer on stage doing everyday human things -drinking water, sweating, scratching his/her head, etc.-often ruins the image of the song I have built in my head. That is why I usually like concerts in comfort of my home...

I am so glad I never went to Woodstock. The rain, the mud, the torturous never-ending drum solos... Three days of that? Yuck!

Even Jimi Hendrix must have hated being there. You could see how pissed off he was, a headliner and the last one to play. Only everyone had left by the time he got on.

Nobody survived three days of peace and love.

Concerts can be very special, and John is right about some contemporary classical composers. I never really got George Crumb until I saw his work at a little church downtown. But I fall on the concerts are superfluous side.

It's time we separate recordings from live performance in music, the way we separate film from theater. And it's time we stop looking suspiciously at musicians who don't tour in the same way we don't expect our novelists to be actors.

A recording can be an intimate communication directly to another person.

A concert can be exciting but it can also entail 20,000 other people, a ton of money, and bleeding eardrums. Not my idea of an ideal hot date.

I would much prefer to go to a concert,Ive seen groups from Devo to Iggy Pop. Get a good spot up front and just let it go. not interested in seeing Stevie Nicks in Westbury, that would be a reason for staying home.

The Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center is just summer heaven. We hear some of the finest musicians in the world. I have tix for 8 concerts this summer.

I love shows at small venues. I particularly like places with a second room where you can take breaks--live shows are intense.

But Hammerstein Ballroom-sized shows are a complete waste of time and money; you're basically paying to not see the band.

I'm so glad you're doing this segment. I keep going to concerts because I like the band, or my friends are going, but always regret it. Its crowded, hot, and in most cases sounds much worse than recordings.
Thanks for doing this segment, so I can stop hiding my silent concert hating shame.

I love concerts, I just never get the good seats. Is there some trick to that

I don't go to many concerts, but the ones I have been lucky enough to see (some Japanese punk bands and Spoon) have definitely been highlights. A good concert, I think, might not have all the production of the album version, but hopefully gives you a different take on the songs you know, and Spoon did an excellent job of that despite (or because of) some pretty steady drinking on stage that I saw. And that's something that the album simply can't give (although a good concert bootleg maybe).