What makes a live show great for you?

[mob roulette]

an artist either at the top of their game live or else one that is about to break big and deserves it and both the audience and the artist themselves know it. some of the best shows i've seen fall into this category...arcade fire anywhere in 05, spoon on the gimme fiction tour, nirvana right before nevermind hit big, jane's addiction in 89 in small clubs and theatres, five dollar fugazi shows, etc. but you get the idea.

[SFChrissy]

Good Sound
Good vibe/Energy
Great Smoke
Great Musician/Showmanship

There's nothing worse than when someone at the show is heckling the performer...that's a total buzz killer!!!

[PsyGuyRy]

When you can see that they donkey really wants to be there, and the twinkle in the ladies eye, because she doing this for more than monetary reasons.

Hilarious. Much like that chick from Giant Drag last year, and the whole "tragic felching accident" thing. Funny stuff.

[keriann]

My very favorite thing is to see a band just completely win over and own a crowd. It's so fun to be a part of that. It's an element of a live show that can make seeing a show at the Troubadour or in the Sahara tent equally as fun. There's something to be said for sharing that experience with a small collection of people, but then there's also something to be said for sharing that experience with a huge crowd.

As far as my own personal enjoyment goes, it's important to me that it sounds good. I agree that perfect lighting and a great atmosphere can really add to the experience. I like unexpected surprises, like random covers that somehow work, or when a band plays a song that they very rarely play live. The first time I saw Mason Jennings, the crowd was going nuts at the end of the show, so he came back for a third encore and did Bulls On Parade. I'm sure that sounds blasphemous to many of you but it was so unexpected and ridiculously cool.

[Disco!]

Is this on a t-shirt? Please please please tell me it is.

[delibot3029]

The threat of being seriously injured by wasted half-naked Norwegian men with sledgehammers, like when I saw Hurra Torpedo.

But twenty plus people doing non-classical music on a stage doing whatever is pretty rad, too.

And reunions that don't suck.

Other things are amongst the qualifiers, and I may highlight those at another period of time.

[Dode BCK]

A great live show is a tough one.
Sometimes you go to a gig,not having heard a lot of the bands/artists stuff,then leave the gig thinking it was f*ckin amazing
( The Black Crowes 1990,The Capitol-Aberdeen,by f*ck they rocked!)
Other times,you go being a massive fan of the band,then leave a wee bit disappointed at the shortness of the gig,and lack of effort from the band
(Oasis 1997,AECC-Aberdeen,still love there music tho.)
For me,my best live show has to be Radiohead 1997,AECC-Aberdeen
Teenage Fanclub on 1st,got the crowd nicely warmed up.
DJ Shadow next,with a lighting rig that looked like some alien mothership or something,and some kick-ass tunes.
Then Radiohead,just having released OK Computer,played the whole album,along with the whole of The Bends,and half of Pablo Honey,played for nearly 3 hours,WOW!