What is the worst live show you have attended?

Deep Purple around the late eighties Blackmore and Gillan really didn't get on while Gillan was singing Blackmore walked to the far side of the stage almost out of sight and during Blackmores solo's Gillan would walk off stage.Lord,Glover and Paice looked really embarrassed by it all,they were like kids.N.E.C Birmingham UK.Most people walked out.

 

Heck, I think the first clue should've been Badfinger being on the bill in the late '80s, almost a decade past their sell-by date. What was the lineup, Joey Molland and a few pick-up musicians?

 

should I mention warrant?

 

I would think so if indeed this is true.

 

Frank Black. I was bored to tears.

 

Nog Chompa. They didn't play 'And She Farted'.

 

Okay, I'll play.

I've been lucky enough to be spared a lot of stinkers over the years. That said...

I love Bonnie Raitt and saw her with my wife at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin about 10 years ago, maybe more. It's a terrible venue (a sports arena on the University of Texas campus) and the sound was terrible and pointlessly loud. There was also something "by the numbers" about her show that night, and about how she kept talking about how much she loved Austin to extract cheap applause from the audience. We left early.

We also went to see James Taylor at the Bass Concert Hall on the U.T. campus a few years ago -- wonderful venue with great acoustics. I adore James Taylor and had seen him live before, but this show was, dare I say it, dull. The highlight was a rendition of "Oh What A Beautiful Morning" from the "Other Covers" CD he did for Hear Music, the now defunct Starbucks label. Other than that, he played the most tired, overplayed "greatest hits" type material. With such a great, deep back catalogue, did we really need to hear "Mexico" again? It was just disappointing, although far from terrible.

I recently went to see Chicago and Earth Wind And Fire at Austin 360, the Formula 1 racing venue and outdoor theater. For once I got great seats, fourth row near the center. Both bands were actually terrific, but the sound was punishingly loud, and there was something way off in the mix for EWF. The bass (electric bass and kick drum) was so far up in the mix that it felt like my internal organs were being rearranged. Yikes. I actually moved back to cheaper seats because the rattling sensation was freaking me out.

I also want to share that way back in the mid-1970's, I saw Bruce Springsteen as the opening act for Chicago at the Spectrum in Philadelphia! The crowd was not kind to Bruce; nobody knew who he was yet - well, hardly anyone - and while he wasn't booed off the stage, it was close.

 

We have a guy here in the valley, Jackie Greene, who apparently likens himself to be a young Dylan and his fans are pretty rabid. I guess he has even released an album or two. One of my hipster friends dragged me to his show, thinking I guess, that since I was a music fan, I would appreciate his depth and artistry even though I am not even a particular Dylan fan myself. Well even if I overlooked the empty calorie folk meanderings of the actual music, the indifference and contempt with which he treated his fans was just hard to watch. He and his band were out of tune and out of sync for most of the show, something which he found endlessly hilarious and after he disappeared from the stage to clearly burn one, his playing was even more worthless and he started inviting old musician buddies onstage who were even more f'd up than he was to jam and noodle and ignore everyone who had plunked down $35 to see his show. By the end, my friend and all the other fans around us were very bummed out. Any musician can have a bad night but blatant contempt is inexcusable, especially for an up and comer. Just a complete, self-important a-hole.

 

The Black Crows, opening for Page & Plant. Not so much because they sounded bad, in fact I don't really remember how they sounded, but the whole band were in a super foul mood, they seemed to hate each other and hate being on stage, no interaction with each other or the audience, except for Chris Robinson who tried to drag the show along on his own, it was uncomfortable to watch.

I collect ZZ live recordings, and interestingly it was around this time they transformed their live presentation quite drastically from being a band that jammed, improvised and stretched out a lot, to playing their songs very strictly and rigidly the same way each night, in fact many old songs are still played nowadays pretty much note-for-note the exact same way as back in the mid/late 7o's, just at half the speed. I find the very early live shows more interesting because of this, especially because Billy improvises his solos instead of just going through the motions, but I guess maybe it didn't translate that way in real life.

 

i walked out off a todd rundgren concert once.if i remember correctly it was just him and he might have have tapes etc.forget when this was must have been early 80's.i also saw angel once and they were terrible but don't count that as i was working and did not buy a ticket.

 

I love it when people sitting close to the stage complain about the volume. Folks, you're not on your couch watching The Antiques Roadshow...

 

Dylan show. Tempest tour. Mark Knopfler opened - sound was fine for an arena show. Dylan's sound started out bad and got worse - worst sound I've ever heard in that venue bar none. His voice was hellaciously bad. We stuck it out but left before the encore was over - yes, there was an encore. We heard it as we left the box we were in - it was godawful. Nothing if not consistent.

D.D.

 

Interesting. Over on YouTube someone downloaded that 1987 concert and even wrote a short review. It doesn't seem to match your recollection of the event.

Published on Apr 22, 2013
Unless you were at the gig then this won't hold much interest. It's not a great recording...done on an old sony walkman i think. That said, the gig was wonderful, the arena was absolutely electric. The band were on top form. Blackmore and Gillan interacted well...all smiles and slaps on the back. The setlist was predictable but some of the new ones went over well. I actually like The House of Blue Light...as far as i know the band don't like it, but each to his own. Blackmores solo on here is terrible. It was all about the 'quadraphonic sound' at the time and live it sounded great....on here...not even worth a listen. Great gig...not so great recording...but if you were there you may get something out of it.

 

I've seen hundreds of shows over the past nearly 4 decades and I have to say there's only been a few that I'd call really awful shows for one reason or another. Sometimes just because they weren't my kind of music and I simply wasn't engaged at any level. And even most of the crappy shows at least had some sort of entertainment value. Off the top of my head, these stand out:

Poison - Country Club, Reseda, 1988

I went to this show on my birthday with my friend to see opening band, Cherry Bombz which was made up of former Hanoi Rocks and Lords Of The New Church members. Didn't really know or care who Poison was. After CB's set, we proceeded to get pretty drunk at the bar until Poison came on. Poison seemed to shamelessly steal every riff and move in the book from everyone from Van Halen to Motley Crue and by the 3rd or 4th song, we went up to the empty balcony and folded up flyers for other bands into paper airplanes and kept trying to nail the band members, at one point sticking a paper plane in the guitarist's poofy hair. That got us thrown out, lol!

But karma caught up with me a few years later. By the end of 1990, I was dating a stripper who had the worst taste in hair metal bands and ...er, talked me into taking her to see the amazin' double bill of Warrant and Poison at the Long Beach Arena on NYE. Both bands were utterly boring, by the numbers hair metal and Poison had the balls to finish their set about 15 minutes *before* midnight leaving people to celebrate the New Year as they walked out to their cars.

Guns n' Roses (opening for Lords of the New Church) Fenders Club, Long Beach, 1986

I had no idea who GnR was at the time, but they put on one of the most hilariously disjointed sets I've ever seen a band do. Everyone in the band was f@%$ed up, they missed cues, rarely played in time with each other and were crammed on a tiny stage barely a couple feet off the floor of this club. This was when the band was still in their glam/Hanoi Rocks phase. The high point (literally) was when bass player Duff McKagen passed out during the last song and slumped over in a heap in front of his bass amp while the rest of the band obliviously crashed through the rest of the tune. A roadie dragged the unconscious Duff off stage after their set like he would an amp or drum kit.

Guns n' Roses & Metallica - LA Coliseum, 1993

LOL, GnR was such a crapshoot back in their day. Probably the worst stadium show I ever sat through. Really lifeless vibe among the audience, Metallica was alright but GnR was absolutely terrible. At this point, GnR was using a bunch of back up singers and a huge, bloated production filled with their cheesy ballads off the two Use Your Illusion albums. The set never took off and Axl whined constantly about the lack of enthusiasm in the crowd.

Hole & Jane's Addiction - Hollywood Bowl, 2001

I've always made an effort to separate an artist's music from their persona, thus I'm able to enjoy a band like U2 and Springsteen despite their often annoying politicking even during a show. However, I've never really cared much for Courtney Love *or* her music but wtf, I was willing to give her and her band a chance when they opened for Jane's Addiction this show. Unfortunately, Courtney proved she's one of the few people who it's impossible to separate art from artist. Hole played a decent set, but proceeded to go far beyond their allotted time resulting in the PA power being cut after several "bonus" songs. So Courtney decided to stay on stage, run around playing acoustic guitar (no one could hear her), taunt jeering audience members and general refuse to leave the stage for almost another hour preventing Jane's from going on until she was physically carried off stage by a pair of roadies like a screaming spoiled child. The result was Jane's had to cut short a couple songs for a one-off Porno For Pyros reunion in the middle of their set due to curfew.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - The Observatory, 2013

Now BRMC is one of my more well-liked bands, and I had seen them previous in 2007 opening for The Jesus And Mary Chain in which they were arguably better than the headliner. But this show just seemed really lackluster, poorly paced and lacking some key songs in the setlist. Greatly disappointed.

Ministry - several SoCal area shows between 2004 - 2006

I'll say this, Ministry during this period was consistent - horrible, overdriven live sound at several different venues, crappy setlists and apathetic performances. I kept going, hoping they'd hit some of the peaks I saw back in '90 and '92 but I finally stopped seeing them in 2006 after a string of lousy shows.

 

This is just to easy. Taking a tweenie daughter to a Justin Bieber concert a few years ago.

 

That doesn't sound like the show I'm talking about wonder whether it was 1993 that appears to sound more like the show I attended.

 

Maybe the best way to describe it is not as the worst show, but rather the one I enjoyed the least. Three come immediately to mind, and in order:

The Cure-The Centrum/Worcester, MA. 7 August 1987. Sadly this was a bachelor party gift from a good friend. Horrible surround sound. No front lighting, mostly lit from the side and back. Robert Smith trying to giggle and talk in a sick childish sounding voice. Beyond annoying.

Oasis-The Rave/Milwaukee, WI. 25 March 1995. It's not that they played bad. To the contrary they played well. What screwed this up is that I have never, ever seen a band so utterly disconnected from the audience and each other as performers. The savior of the evening was the opener Velvet Crush (with Tommy Keene) who actually looked like they gave a d@mn.

Finally

The Tubes-The Channel(25 Necco Street)/Boston MA. Approximately 1986. This was right after Fee Waybill was replaced by David Killingsworth. This just torched the chemistry of the band, and being that they were playing a club (albeit a large one) no typical Tubes stage show. Only advantage is they performed the unreleased "Rock and Roll Hospital).

 

I forgot to mention MNDR! Now, I dig MNDR, but she needs to get her live shows under control. I saw her open for Duran Duran, and her equipment was up far too loud to the point where it hurt. It was tinny and really unpleasant to listen to.

Still glad I checked her out, but it was far from a joy to sit there and watch people, including myself, plug their ears in pain.

 

I've seen Buddy live three times, and still you've seen him do "Them Changes" for an audience two more times than I have. I have seen him sound check it once though.

But it was his encore number and I never saw him get an encore call, 'cause his set was so long and self-indulgent that he wore the audience out all three times.

 

Least enjoyable show I have ever attended was a Brian Wilson concert. I was really looking forward to it but unfortunately it was clear he was having one of his tough nights and I thought the show should have been cancelled. His band members had to introduce all of the songs for him and he would just stare at the floor clearly wishing to be anywhere else other than onstage. Some of the audience members also seemed mildly creepy as they appeared to be there more for Brian's mental health problems than for the music to some extent. A very disturbing experience.

I know that when Brian is healthier the concerts can be very different though of course.

 

Gary Wright aka The Dreamweaver (Panama City, FL) back in 1977. I would have fallen asleep but we left early instead.

More recently, Sting a few years ago. He wasn't bad but the crowd kept yelling for Roxanne. And Sting was serious about his art. Also, Annie Lennox opened with a roaring show which left the crowd wanting more. The only decent part of Sting's show was when Annie came out for a couple duets.

 

I left early all three times I saw Smashing Pumpkins. I should have learned my lesson the 1st time. Far and away the worst highly popular band I've ever seen. Just unbelievably bad in every way possible. I've seen drunk incompetent bar bands that were better. Hell, I've played in drunk incompetent bar bands that were better.

 

William Elliott Whitmore. His aesthetic is just so corny to me. He was way too drunk, and (being from rural Arkansas) I have a complicated relationship with banjos.

 

Saw Mick Taylor in a club, shortly after he left the Stones. He just didn't want to be there, cut the set short, the locals who opened the show were so happy to get another set, too bad they sucked. Left the club to see him in profile, in the back of an RV, being driven away like petulant royalty.
If you were a fan of the Dead, you probably saw some lackluster shows, I did too. Part of the deal.
When Steely Dan came back to live performance, they put on an arena show that was totally by-the-numbers, good musicianship and all, but no passion. They had to do some stuff with the lights to let you know when the grand finale was.
Interesting thread. Lots of bad Dylan shows. Chuck Berry too (this thread goes way back).When I saw Van Morrison, he was fantastic unlike some here. Seems to come down to: drunk/drugged performer, performer who wasn't into it, bad sound. Interesting that performers are human, and are often just not into it.
Like I said, this thread goes way back, these days shows are carefully choreographed, and augmented with recorded parts- now that live performance is the bread and butter, less is left up to chance.

 

With you, brother.
Sixth and last time I'll ever go to a Dylan show. Stuck around solely to observe a PBS-aged audience applaud his every move and sound. Sad and Pathetic.