@RicheyJames:
"...the three "good" gigs were all fairly intimate, small-scale secret/fanclub shows"
@Ziggy:
In my experience, whether or not a band's excellent, mediocre, or just plain bad, the audience's behavior and the general atmosphere at a live show can often make or break the event, at least for me. Case in point - I saw Peter Murphy twice on his "Deep" tour, whenever the hell that was, heh. I remember virtually nothing good about the show at the Ritz in NYC (with NIN opening), because the crowd behaved abominably. People were getting shoved and trampled to the point that they literally had to claw their way out of the sweaty, violent mass; girls were crying, etc. This behavior was still going on when Pete took the stage; at one point he actually *stopped the show* to plead with the audience to knock it off. In complete contrast, I saw Pete again at a show later that summer, this time at a rather small amusement park venue in Connecticut, USA. It seemed as though practically no one had even heard of him or the opening act (this time around, it was House of Love), because there were *tons* of empty seats at the venue. Guess what? Pete had people move down to the front area near the stage; it ended up being an amazingly respectful, intimate show for about 300 people (if that). That was one of the most wonderful concerts I've ever been to in my life, and I'll never forget the beauty of that evening.
In TSOM's case, I first saw them in March '91, and was completely blown away (partially owing to the fact that I met half the band afterwards, but that's a different story, hehehe

). Recently, I went to see them again on their "To the Planet Edge" tour. I was incredibly disgusted with much of the audience; people who weren't down on the floor by the stage stood around gabbing and blabbing all night, not dancing, acting as though they were doing someone a favor by simply being there, and disrupting the show for those who were there to actually, you know, *see the band*!!! I ranted about this afterward; my rant's actually on one of the main TSOM fansites, but, as you all say, I "can't be arsed" to go find it, hahaha!!!