Just had the same conversation with my boys on saturday. We were talking about the big venues vs the smaller arenas and my homie said the exact same thing you said.
in my opinion the whole allure of going to a show is connecting/vibing with the artist and the audience. You standing 1000 ft away in the nose bleeds with 20k people while paying 100+ for the ticket is fukking dumb. There is a complete emotional disconnect. To this day the best shows I've seen have been the most intimate and I've seen almost everyone. Standing right in front of Pete Rock and CL Smooth in a local bar
this talib show I went to was one of my favorites, Talib was so audible and the whole crowd and band were just vibing something crazy. Homeboy on the drums KILLED it all night, his name is Daru Jones I believe, I added him on twitter after this show and thanked him for his performance and he replied. After the show was over Talib was just DJ'ing on stage while everyone in the audience jumped up and danced/partied.
Hip-Hop is the music I'm passionate about, but even random CAC fukkery that I went to ended up being one of the best shows I've seen, again because of the really intimate venue. The female singer of this band got off stage and gave me a hug and thanked me for coming I was so close to the stage.
The venue is EVERYTHING and it fukking legitimately sucks when you see a great artist at a shytty venue. I saw Kendrick Lamar at the Louisville Palace which is a GREAT venue for comedy and plays but awful for musical performances but it wasn't a hugely memorable experience due to the shyt ass seats.