@TheEmu said:

@TheLizard said: [quote] I can't tell you how many times I have left a show with me and many of the other show goes feeling that the show was absolutely stellar, only to read a review back at the hotel that the show had been lack-luster or just average.

But this only becomes a problem, IMO, if you take what the reviewer says about the "show" being average to mean that the experience must have been average, or that having the time of your life at that show is dumb because the music was average. Maybe the recaps come across that way sometimes; maybe all reviews need to state clearly up top that whether or not the reviewer is talking about the live experience or the recorded music. [/i]

I obviously do not take a reviewers word over my opinion of a show if I was there. Even if someone else who was there thought the show was terrible and I thought it was amazing then I continue to believe it was just as amazing as I had experienced it to be. For instance, the Boardwalk Music Hall shows, I thought, were fantastic!! The Boys were dead on the whole run. I absolutely loved the venue and it still remains one of my favorite venues for sound quality and general layout. And strictly musically speaking, I thought it was incredible. Especially the 30th, they were ON FIRE!!! Especially with the Tweezer> Heartbreaker> Tweezer> Ramble On> Thank You> Tweezer> Stairway. Historical!! However, I had run into a few people throughout the run in bathroom lines and such who were complaining about how awful both the shows and the venue were. I told them that they were out of their minds and not to infect me with their bad attitudes. I do agree that it is very important for a reviewer to note whether or not they had attended the show. But as for the argument that some others have been making about how people at the shows may be jaded or swayed by their actual show experience, positive or negative, people listening at home may also be jaded by many factors. Maybe they had a bad connection, pet pissing on the rug, fight with significant other, lost their job or the fact that they were upset that they couldn't attend the show. Yes, all people's reviews are strictly their opinions and you can take what you want, but to imply that people attending the shows can not give an objective musical review as others have said is absurd. And it's not just about your show experience, you simply can not hear the music through your computer or home speakers the way you can hear it through speakers at any concert venue.