DK and I took in a concert a bit ago. I now have the album that the band was touring (Blue Wave by Operators), and I have two observations.

1. It's always just a little bit disappointing when you realize that there's just no way to translate the energy or the muscle from the live setting to a little disc. In a live setting, the drums exploded throughout the room, the synthesizers nearly deafened me, it was a sound that enveloped everything. Much as I like the album (and I do like the album quite a bit - it's my favorite of the young year, I think), there's just no way it can hold up.
2. It's really fun the extra stuff you notice on the album that you wouldn't otherwise notice without having seen the show. For example, the drumming on this record is great, but it's great in a way that I might not have noticed without having seen it performed in front of me. Likewise, I quite sure that I wouldn't have appreciated the difference between the synth sounds that are on this album without seeing it live.

All of this makes me pretty disappointed that the Sigur Rós show is on my anniversary.