When I arrived back at college in the fall of 1972, the Ziggy Stardust album was all the rage. It really seemed like Bowie had arrived from space, and was some sort of ultra-smooth, highly polished unique artist. So when he came to town, we all wanted to see him. Accustomed to the slickness of the album, I was shocked how crude he seemed on stage. The sound was distored and awful and the band’s spacey costumes (with the pointy shoulders) seemed like they were worn out and falling apart. It took the shine off the Bowie phenomenon for me. It wasn’t until “Let’s Dance” in 1983 that I became interested in him again.
Not mentioning the costumes or stage presence but the sound technology for large venues was so bad back then.
I love live performances, and went to hundreds of concerts. Most of the pre 1982 shows I came away from disappointed.
I know it wasn’t the performers because Live Albums proved their chops.
It was like their Sound Engineers were all deaf, and wanted it loud above clear.