Hey Kathryn-

"Small" is the operant word; "sweaty" the unfortunate byproduct. And I guess I'd add "smoky" to the "con" list as well because most of the venues I'm thinking of where I have had transcendent musical experiences are smoky. (It's only the cigarette smoke that bothers me; all other combustibles are either tolerable or meant to be embraced).

I almost never attend arena-sized concerts anymore. The last two were Bruce Springsteen- the tour behind his last CD- and Radiohead last September. Bruce was in the Tacoma Dome and  I actually had decent seats by arena standards but the big TV screens just made it seem like I was attending a teleconference. He was great and all but there's a big emotional disconnect in a venue that seats 23,000 people. As a friend of mine remarked, "It's like watching other people having fun".

A friend of mine saw the Stones years ago in a huge stadium venue and said that, like baseball games where you see the crack of the bat before you hear it, he was so far away that you would see Charlie Watts hit his drum or Keith hit a chord and there would be a delay before you'd hear it.

Radiohead did a fantastic show and had a terrific set design: the best I've ever seen for an arena venue but I was still a quarter mile away.

Concert venues of 2,000-3,000 seats work very well for connecting with an artist (There are several such places in Seattle). They are generally old theaters and the smoking is curtailed. So too, unfortunately are the dancing and spontaneity. Tickets are sold with seat assignments and Homeland Security sized bouncers are at the ready to reinforce the house rules and property rights.

That leaves the few places where you might see a mid-level band like Spearhead. In Seattle there's a place called the Showbox near the famous Pike Place Market. It's a stand -up bar that barely contains 1,000 people. A former big band venue from the '40's and later the Talmud Torah Bingo Palace, it's now my favorite place to see a band "up close 'n' personal".  I've seen Steve Earle, Midnight Oil, and Spearhead there in the last couple of years. I'm always exhausted, deaf, soaked, and smellin' like an ashtray when I leave but the experience is far, far better for my soul than any arena show I've seen anywhere ever.

I hope your Eagles experience is good (and good for you for taking your kids- my daughter is 21 now and I took her to see Los Lobos, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and many others when she was growing up).

I will still go to a big venue when someone I really want to see comes through but I already know the experience is cut by half because of the surroundings.