Concerts you were surprised were actually good/great?

I’ve enjoyed Priest the last couple of times I’ve seen them. Halford is still great.
Saw a triple bill of Soul Asylum, Live and STP recently. Hell of a good show, I thought.

When I was living in Houston, I went to the VA and they were offering free tickets to the rodeo. The only tickets they had left were the ones with Barry Manilow as the featured musical guest, but I like Rodeos, so I took them.
It turns out Barry Manilow puts on a hell of a good show.

I went to a journey show about 15 years ago and expected to hate it and they sounded great. Band was pretty unassuming and I expected them to be douches. Really enjoyed it

Del Amitri and Guster are two that come to mind.

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Bob Segar in BR in 2019.

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Wife and I went this concert as well, it was fantastic. Seger was a hit writing machine.

Los Lobos

Caught what I expected to be a bit of a snoozer-nostalgia show at the Imperial Palace in Biloxi back in 2017.

Backstory: I owe a large portion of my love of music to my mom. She always has some playing regardless of her location: house, car, beach...wherever she is, she's playing some music in the background. One of the earliest names I can put with this constant soundtrack is Tommy James and the Shondells. Mom had a "greatest hits" tape that she kept in the car and we (my sisters and I) were subjected to about 100 Million listens of this string of songs: Mony Mony, Crimson and Clover, Hanky Panky, I Think We're Alone Now, etc.

Since my dad passed, mom hadn't been getting out much and when I saw the TJ was playing a venue so close to home, I decided to take her over for the show.

I figured that we'd get a retread act with a resigned, county-fair level effort. At 70, the dude's voice is still top notch. The energy level of both James and the backing act (although not original Shondells, still obvious road-touring lifers) was contagious and you could tell that they were enjoying themselves. They launched into "Crystal Blue Persuasion" to open the show and had the crowd on their feet throughout.

James paused the show four songs in to tell a story to introduce an alternate version of "I Think We're Alone Now" (he played the original version later in the show as well): Apparently his first label (responsible for the bulk of his hits), Roulette Records, was a front for the Genovese crime family. The family member who ran the label was Tommy's primary point of contact since TJatS was the label's biggest act. He claims that they had a love/hate relationship and that he was surprised at how much he misses the guy now that he's passed away. The story of the band/label was written by Tommy in a book called "Me, the Mob and the Music" and is now being adapted for film*. The alternate version of the song that Tommy played is the track that leads into the closing credits as Tommy is having a last "conversation" with his mob-boss...uh, boss.

About 3/4 of the way through the show, TJ turns the band onto a groove/jam and hops off the stage into the pit area to give hugs, high-fives and take pics with anyone who wanted to join him. He walked back and forth across the stage front and took time with anyone who wanted to meet him (gave security fits with people hopping the rail to get into the pit.)

Finished glad-handing, jumped on stage for the last two songs. Came back for a three-song encore and then spent another two hours at the merch table signing autographs.

Impressed the hell out of me for a guy who could be coasting with any of his remaining peers. Best part was watching mom enjoy the show and get her dancing groove on. Found out on the ride home it was her first concert ever.

TL/DR: Go see these aging rock pioneers while you can. You'll get disappointed sometimes, but occasionally you'll see a performance worthy of their status in the annals of music.

*Note: the film is being produced by Barbara De Fina (Goodfellas, Casino, The Color of Money, etc)

My folks dragged me to The Carpenters in the early '70's at the Assembly Center. They were incredible.

My family and I saw Tommy James about a year and half - two years in Joliet Illinois. The concert was going really well until he decided to do some sort of meet and greet with the audience that lasted about 15 minutes. He was walking through the crowd while his band continued to play. It was really strange.

Pretty good concert regardless. ....and his band, especially his lead guitarist is phenomenal.

REO Speedwagon / Train was way better than I was expecting