What would be a good camera to take to a concert?

I'm going to 2 concerts next week and i'd really like a new camera to take to them. At the moment I have a Canon Powershot SX210IS but it's started to get quite slow when i'm using it.

I would like a camera with a decent zoom, is good in low light situations, can record HD video. I was looking at the Nikon 1 but I was told it wasn't that great in low light and I also looked at the Sony NEX-5N but was told it wasn't very sharp.

Also, the venues i'm going to are very small and they don't normally mind people taking cameras in.

First of all, you may not be allowed to bring a camera into the venue, I'd check first. I know you said they "don't mind", but are you sure they mean REAL cameras or just little pocket toys?

You might get away with smuggling it in, but personally I hate the possibility that I might either have my camera confiscated, or I won't be allowed inside.
Next problem is that concerts are a low light situation, usually also coupled with much movement as well as a fair distance from the subject.

All up, that makes it EXTREMELY challenging. The only hope of half decent concert photos are good DSLR cameras and even for those you need very good and very FAST lenses.

Small P&S cameras have tiny little sensors, so they don't do well with low light situations.
Concert photos are often blurry because there isn't enough light, so the shutter speed is too slow to hand-hold it, even worse when you add the movement of the performers to it.

You could try raising your ISO, but that will add noise to your photos.
You could try using your little flash, but it can't reach very far, and won't do you a whole lot of good other than lighting up the back of the heads directly in front of you.

I'm afraid there are a number of good reasons why the pro's carry around huge, expensive cameras, lenses, and lights.
It would be lovely if a tiny camera could do it all, but the reality is that small P&S's just can't handle concert situations very well. Some places do allow small P&S cameras (but no DSLRs). The reason for that is because they KNOW you will never get any decent shot with a little P&S.

However, I do realize that some of us a lot easier to please than others, so perhaps what is totally unacceptable to me might be fine in YOUR eyes.
If you can't have a good camera with you, at the very least make sure you learn how to you use what you have, so you can make the most out of it. Read your manual several times, attend a class, read some books on photography - it will help a lot.
If you're not interested in learning much, at the very least learn how to turn off the flash. Those tiny on-camera flashes only reach a few feet, so all you do with it is illuminate the bodies in front of you.

As to sound - there's a good reason why the audio pros carry around a lot of very big and very expensive gear. Even a good camcorder can only do so much in that regard - let alone a little P&S still camera! Don't expect miracles - don't even expect anything you'd ever want to listen to again.

I would have thought the camera you use would be great,

explain slow?

remember the sound on concerts is very loud and will distort on your recording.

Your SX210IS is probably slow in these situations because of the low light - slow to focus and then keeps the shutter open too long?

Sony's NEX-5N, not sharp? I may think this market sector is a bit of nonsense, but it's images are very definatly as sharp as any of it's peers save the NEX-7! The one issue being that in low light, and thanks to it's contrast detection Auto-Focus it's not going to be the fastest focusing camera in the world.

Super zoom, and good low light ability rarely go together. A great deal of the time you don't need super zoom in small venues.

If you are looking at Compact Lens Interchangeable Camera (CLICs - it's a better acronmy than EVIL Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens), then the market leaders are Sony and Panasonic, both will perform better in low light than any of the competition.