Ah, yes. Imaging in real life.Of course, a high school auditorium or worse a gymnasium is about as bad a venue as you can get. The reflections and reverberations are substantially stronger than the direct sound, so imaging is next to impossible. Same thing to a lesser degree in a good concert hall. In those expensive "orchestra" seats, most of the direct sound goes over your head and all you hear is reflections. The best seats in the house are usually the first row of the balcony, where you do get direct sound. But still, the best you get for imaging is violins on the left, 'cellos/basses on the right and everything else in the middle. You will not be able to pick where the oboe or bassoon is. Then there are those orchestras that put the second violins on the right and move the 'cellos to the center. Now there is NO imaging.
Alas, imaging is engineered into recordings. A good 2-mic recording does wonders for the presentation of a performance and I prefer them when available, which is not often. Audiophiles demand pin-point imaging which is just not there in a live performance. So the engineer takes a multi-mic multi-track recording and creates imaging. Presto, an audiophile recording.
Slam is missing in your high school concert for the same reasons. Slam is not in the bass, it is in the mid-bass, low treble. The slam is getting smeared by all of the reflections and all you get is boooooooooom.
Bob