best digital cameras for concerts/poor lighting

hey all
I have a nixon cool pix and it is great for daytime pictures but when I take pictures of shows...usually in bars with pretty bad lighting the pictures come out looking like crap..lots of "noise" I think they call it? even when it's a little dark you have to stay super still and even then its near impossible.. anyway can any of you suggest a better digital camera for this type of situation?
I attached some pictures so you can see what I am talking about
thanks in advance for any info!

good daytime pictures:





dark outside:



show pictures:

 

Wow,Just wanted to say Nice pics you got there.
I'm really new to this subject but I wanted to know how much money you were willing to spend on a new camera?
Also Did you try differnt Settings for nighttime maybe a higher ISO setting.

 

Thanks!
Actually, I don’t know much about cameras, I pretty much know nothing but point and shoot =P … I did try the night setting and the dark setting and that is what you see there, I also tried to change the “exposure” I don’t know if that is what you mean by ISO ???

 

Nikon cool-pic does not have a shoe for external flash-hard to find an inexpensive camera today w/ ext shoe. My old Sony has shoe for external flash-I can shoot 26' in dark places.
Look around-you may get lucky....
Internal flash on most cameras is good for 6' if you are lucky..

 

ps: I don't really mean to spend your $$$$.
Way back when I was the photo nut, all the jerk relatives had me take their wedding pics. guess who paid for film & processing?
I had Nikon w/ 400 side flash good for 65' in dark church.
Thank god for dig cameras-no more weddings for grandkids.
No more $$$ for processing--I love it........

 

These were taken with a Fuji Finepix Z1.
No Flash!!!
It’s smaller than a pack of cigarettes.


1/80 sec F 4 ISO 640



1/51 sec F4.1 ISO 640



1/64 sec F4.1 ISO 640

You need an old broom handle cut to about 4 feet or a monopod to rest the camera on.
At these shutter speeds and zoomed out you can’t afford to shake.

 

i use the canon power shot s3 is. i have no probs with it

 

You may have better luck with this - shut your flash off for one. Use the sport setting to bump up the shutter speed.