Concerts, Crowds and Serendipity (some band comes to town and i leave town and vice versa)

I was expecting to go to a lot of concerts in February. Back in December I was already writing down lists of which Toronto concerts I would attend. The list grew from one to two then five and then seven artists: The Decemberists, the Radio Dept., Cold War Kids (March), Yann Tiersen, Hey Rosetta!...and now I am going to none of them because I waited too long and the tickets are all but sold out. Other than the cost of the tickets, which are already an impedance since my income is not that great at this time, I'm asking why I hesitated to buy the tickets and that led into a question of what I expect from concerts.

My first concert was Apocalyptica and it was awesomeness! The crowd was easy-going, I had a great view, there were smoke machines, the band came out sitting on thrones, the opening act got booed off the stage, and the venue in general was good. My first concert set a high standard for what I expect from concerts.

Now that there's Youtube, I feel the value of concertgoing has gone downhill. I find that if I go to a concert that has not met my expectations from the get go, I zone out during the show and waste all my money. So what AM I expecting nowadays when I pay for and go to a concert? I think I'm longing for the serendipity that came with walking into venues without the expectations or anticipation. Maybe I'm expecting too much - the most memorable shows are theatrical and include confetti, props and backdrops. Most of the bands I see again and again interact with the crowd instead of just playing their set and going offstage as if the audience were not even there. The problem with Toronto shows, and I regret to say this because if there's one city that artists go to in Canada then it's here, is that the crowd can be a bit pretentious. And that absolutely ruins the spirit of comaraderie that I've come to expect from great concerts.

At best, music festivals offer a diverse array of good bands in a short amount of time and within a small geographic area. At worst they are a distraction and like film festivals, make you want to throw up.