Here's what you can find out online about tonight's Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour at the Consol Energy Center:

Everything.

You can read the reviews from other cities, see the photos, download the set list, even watch performance clips on YouTube.

Along with revolutionizing the way people consume recorded music, to the near destruction of major record labels, the Internet has changed the live music culture, as well by simply providing a heap of information -- to some, too much information.

These days, concertgoers can walk into the show aware of every costume change, when the explosions go off, what the last song will be and even the between-song rapport almost word for word.

Yes, they do say "[Insert your city], you're the craziest crowd yet!" just about everywhere.

Back in the pre-Internet era of the '70s and '80s, the most you would get about a tour was a glimpse of the stage or costuming from a picture in Circus, Creem or Rolling Stone magazine.

"When I was young, we'd go see Van Halen or a Rush concert," says Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover. "I didn't know what I was going to get. The element of surprise is gone with a lot of stuff now. You can see the production of the show, what kind of backdrop we have. It's kind of a bummer for me because I love that element of surprise. Going to a concert, you had no idea what you were in for because there was no outlet for that back in the late '70s and early '80s. 'I have no idea what's about to happen, but I'm really jacked up about it.' Those days are gone, by and large."

Steve Sciulli, a former member of Carsickness and now a member of the local trance-music duo Life in Balance, recalls a Genesis show he saw here in the '70s.

"The only album I had from them was 'From Genesis to Revelation.' I thought I was going to see a British folk-type band. Boy, what a shock when the lights went down and out of the fog came 'Watchers of the Sky.' Life-changing concert. If we had YouTubes then, well the surprise would have been blown. The impact of seeing/hearing a band for the first time live is very important and almost impossible in this day and age."

"I definitely prefer the surprise," says local hard-rocker Chip DiMonick. "There's something special about the rush of thinking to oneself 'OMG! I can't believe they're playing THAT!' "

"I say I like to be surprised, but I almost always check set lists," says local music blogger Brian Naccarelli, adding, "I try to forget what I read by the time the show starts."

While the artists might not like it, and fans might be mixed, promoters think there's a plus to having so much pre-concert info on the Web.

"I think it helps," says Brian Drusky of the Pittsburgh-based Drusky Entertainment. "It gets people excited for the shows. There is nothing like seeing a live event. You can watch online or on TV, but the fact of being there and feeling the music is what the concert experience is all about. Plus set lists change a lot from city to city, for the most part, with plenty of artists."

The big stage productions, such as Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas and the Jonas Brothers, stick to a fixed set list from city to city. Some tours, like the Paul McCartney one, vary the set lists by three or four songs. And then there are the jam bands who follow the Grateful Dead model of building a loyal following by radically changing the set lists every night.

"Anything jam band -- Phish, String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, Leftover Salmon, etc., -- surprise is always best!" says Neal Topper, a former Pittsburgher now enjoying his jam-band shows in Colorado.

John Buynak, who served for more than a decade as the percussionist for Rusted Root, wonders how much time in this fast-paced society people really have to study for a concert.

"My experience, from both sides of the fence, is no one tends to think that much about the show before they get there, except, of course, if you're in the business -- or the band. [People] have 12 things to do that day, and have had a real hard week in general, and just want to relax for a bit and not 'think.'

"Santana," he says, "once put it ... The fact that you can play, for a moment, their 'favorite song,' and for just a moment they can forget about their worries [and smile] is a powerful thing to offer ... and in truth, a type of meditation.

"The fans don't want to 'know' about the show. They just want to 'be' at it."

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.