Being reared by the Winnipeg Arena I am inclined to go to a concert with the inflated hopes of hearing a voice or two amongst the intense reverberations of the amplifiers while cynically believing that most of the time these lowered expectations will not be met.
So when I had last row seats (I kid you not) at the ACC for my childhood loves the New Kids on the Block, I was happy just to know that they stood in the same room as me, even if I couldn't see or hear them. But oddly, I COULD hear them, not only that, they were loud and clear. Apparently my tastes haven't matured since I was making out with my Joey-Joe posters when I was 13 because when I actually heard them sing I got so weak-kneed I nearly fell to my death from our nose-bleeds.
Poor me, so in love and so far away from the NKOTB, but pity me not kind reader, I scored backstage passes from Danny Wood -- a munificent member of the New Kids --the night before. As good as the sound was in the arena, I won't lie, I could hear those boys better when we were face to face.