The Sybian wrote:
Other than JLo, I don't think you'll get any argument on Kiss. I'm not an expert, but Bob Weir never struck me as being talented. I love the Dead, but there are a lot of concerts where they sound like shit. Not sure if it was bad equipment, bad recordings or bad drugs, but they had a lot of off nights. Donna, OTOH, had very few nights in which she was on. She is great on studio albums, but always off key and off beat.
I was way into Phish 20 years ago. Much more than the Dead, I totally get why people would hate their music, but believe their talent has to be respected.
Donna gets a bad rap in my mind. Yes she sounds way off, but they didn't really set her up to succeed. Hardly had her own monitor so couldn't hear herself, the shows she did you can hear the difference.
Weir was actually fired because he was a bad guitarist. He just showed up at the next show and kept on playing.
A lot of their concerts are crap, and I think its a combination of all the things you listed, plus the amount of shows they played. A lot of bands play the exact same thing at every show and do 30 shows a tour. The Dead had a different setlist every night and did 3 or 4 30 show tours a year. The rarified air that Cornell '77 resides in (as well as that entire Spring Tour) was that everything was right and they sounded fucking incredible.
I was the same with Phish 20 years ago. I saw my first show in '89 and was hooked. Stopped about '98 or so and have been to a few show since I'm no longer enamored. I don't like the new songs, don't like the new fans, etc., etc.
With Phish I think the guitarist is the weak link. Machine gun solos, and a bad choice to be "Jerry" in the farewell shows.