It doesn’t sound like you’ll ever enjoy live music but let me help you understand the many appealing things to me as someone who does: Drugs. Just kidding, you can do those at home, too.

Anyway, first off “cleaner” doesn’t necessarily mean better because music is very subjective. There are songs I’ve thought I didn’t like until I saw them live…turns out I just didn’t like the album version. Live audio also depends heavily on who is running the board. I’ve been to shows that sounded so good I focused on the instruments to confirm they werent just playing an mp3.

It’s a rendition but there’s a million ways to play a song. And sometimes the enjoyment is just hearing an artist play the song differently.

Then there’s the energy. I don’t really dance and generally avoid crowds but there’s something about everyone being all hyped for the same thing that’s just…energetic. Then add to that the music physically synchronizing everyone, it’s great. It’s a real feeling of “oneness”, like the crowd is one big animal. And that energy feeds the artists making for an even better performance

And the “live” aspect can’t be discounted. You might hear a new song, you might hear a cover, you might hear a deep cut from their first EP! They might play a bizarre interlude that confuses you until it all comes together into a song you know! A lot of artists interact with the crowd in fun ways, too.

Damn now I want to go to a show but I don’t have tickets until May