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You can get fairly decent photos of a gig, even if you are sitting a fair bit back and you don't have an SLR. A few tips:

Switch the camera to it's M setting.

Forget using Flash. Turn it off. Turn off Macro if it is on (Flower icon)

Set your ISO to the highest setting. On a Canon IXUS, this is typically 800

Play around with the Exposure setting. On the image above, I deliberately moved it back 2/3 Ev stops. This tells the camera to underexpose, or in other words it's saying to the camera: 'don't worry that it's too dark, there is enough concert lighting so that it will turn out OK anyway'.

Zoom in so that you get a decent photo

Hold down the focus button and wait till the band/band member is in focus. Press the shutter down fully only when you've got this right, and the green boxes light up

Here's another one from Trivium @ the UNSW Roundhouse 2009, taken using Mandy's Canon IXUS 100 something:

Trivium, Sydney, UNSW Roundhouse