As a means to raise the quality of our lives, Huikyong and I regularly attend concerts through a package I bought at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in Cerritos, CA.
http://www.cerritoscenter.com/
One of the reasons is the belief that live performance is the essence of the musical soul. Another is that live music is the standard by which recorded music is measured. However, this does not always turn out to be the case.
More often than not the live sound is not as pleasing as the recorded sound.
Dave Koz, Johnathan Butler, Keiko Matsui, Patti Austin, Norman Brown, and David Benoit sounded superb.
Joyce Cooling, David Sanborn, The Rippingtons, Craig Chaquico, Earl Klugh, Ronnie Laws, The Braxton Brothers, and most recenlty Al Jarreau were very disappointing.
It's not simply a matter of sound, but also a matter of performance and musicality. The tight, coherent, balanced sound of the recorded music devolves into chaos on the stage for some of these performers. And it's not a matter of wanting the performance to mimic the recorded sound; that'd be a rip off. I want live sound; that's why I'm there.
On balance, I'd have to say some performers are better in the studio where they can fuss and tweak and dub until they get all the kinks out and everything sounds great. Others are thwarted by the limitations of studio (or the producer/engineer) and show their true brilliance in a club or on a stage.
The first time I saw The Who, it forever changed how I felt about their albums. Pete, Roger, John, and Keith in the flesh is the best. Same with Deep Purple, Grateful Dead, and Pink Floyd.
With some other big name artists whom I won't name to avoid a fight, I thought, this guy/gal/group should never leave the studio! This sucks.