Arena rock sucks
I've seen a couple of shows in the aforementioned Target Center (Minneapolis) and the Xcel (St. Paul). The acoustics, while good for sporting events, have waaaaayyy too much reverb. If you're wearing earplugs, you can almost make out harmonies and melodies.
My favorite local place to see music is the
Quest, which used to be owned in part by Prince. Granted, they play the kind of music that I like, but the acoustics are really good for most shows and the ability of the space to change based on need is pretty impressive.
And...speaking of enormous speaker stacks, has anyone else seen/heard/remember the Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound? It isn't too often that the sound system will bankrupt a group, but there ya go.