Bands/Artists That Brought Bad Crowds?

This was before "Long Road"!

 

Only saw them once....for "Touch Of Grey". I should have known what I was in for when I went to get tickets. Could get nothing but behind stage...their network scooped everything good up FAST. After being in line a few hours. After they sold to the crowd waiting, the hippies left their rotten clothes behind they wore the whole week!

Night of show....pull into the area of UNO Lakefront Arena. Upon driving through, I thought I jumped into a time warp - back to Woodstock! One grassy area...selling crystals. Another...selling tye-dye shirts. One joker chasing me around the parking lot until I parked my car, making a rotating motion for me to roll my window down!. I'm getting out - "hey man, wanna take a trip"? Told him, no dude, I'm fine.....

Walk in....many groups in meditation groups. I had to go to the bathroom...some of the conversations.....WOW.

I walk into the doors to my seat. I get to my seat. Settle in. On the other side, I see the Antenna farm by the mixing board. Thought that was great! At least a hundred were hooked in. NOW....I look higher up....2 hours before the gig, and the acid heads are ALREADY grooving. Damn glad I was on the other end.

Honestly, the majority of the sound was the vibration from the amp cabinets cranked up. First show I ever left early. I used to live close to the Arena....I wanted to be off the streets before those party animals hit the streets. Three weeks later, I had a doctor's appointment. Saw a few still straggling around town, probably broke from seeing the show.

 

I was getting read to write basically the same thing. Family member is a retired fire fighter and used to volunteer to do security at a local venue. He always said, of all the bands that went through there, the Buffett shows were the worst in terms of crowd behavior. Exactly as you described.

 

There was a stabbing death following a Black Flag show I saw in 82 or 83. It was the 5 piece band that never recorded ( a lawsuit with a record company, I think). The crowd didn’t seem any worse than normal for 80’s punk concerts.

 

The crowd was great for America here in 2002, but there were a large group of very big security men, surrounding the stage. The band
even mentioned it, saying it must be due to Christopher Cross riots from the year before.

Honestly, the worst I remember was at Riverdance in Dallas. Many..many drunk folks yelling "WHOOOO"a lot.
Security took a lady in front of us, outside.

 

Probably could have made a fortune selling deodorant and hemp soap.

 

worst crowds while working concessions in an arena 88-89:
Hank Williams Jr.: angry, rude, dishonest crowd. Hated every minute of it.
Poison: fans with poofy hair trying to act tough and start fights because they are asked for proof of ID?

Worst crowds as a concertgoer:

LCD Soundsystem, (or most indie rock hipster bands in the 2000s) rude, douchey, overly PC but not exactly a diverse crowd.
Tool: around 5 shows from 93-97, very stupid fans who loved to pick fights, or pretentious pseudo intellectual jerks. Much worst than rap-metal morons because they thought they were superior.
Trip hop shows like Massive Attack and Thievery Corporation: seriously, who would think to start drunken fist fights with music like this?
King Crimson 1995 Thrak tour: openly racist and prone to throw things at the stage? Thank goodness they aren't like that anymore.
Jethro Tull: very cold and unfriendly. Never could figure out why.
Pink Floyd 1994: just like the song, Sheep. Terrible vibe. Who screams and curses out fellow concert goers to stand up because they are playing songs from Dark Side?
Widespread Panic: mix in cokeheads/tweekers, drunken rednecks, frat guys, and other people who hate the jazz and blues side of jam bands with politics like Ted Nugent. Not what I expected at all.
Paul McCartney: was very surprised. pushing, shoving, and insults before the show, you'd swear it was rush hour on a subway. Stadium shows are terrible.

Best Crowds:
Grateful Dead: very friendly, polite, asked me if I wanted to join them on the road, explained what "drums/space" meant. Much better than the deadheads I met in the 90s who were rude, snobby, and new every setlist but couldn't remember what they had for breakfast.
Sinatra/Sammy Davis Jr.: very classy, and they tipped!
as a patron:
Lollapalooza 1991. Very much a generational "we're all in this together" vibe before the jock-ish grunge fad started. Outsiders who suddenly didn't feel outside anymore.
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets (2018): very laid back, knowledgeable and friendly crowd of psych/prog fans. No cell phones or conversations during the gig without being prompted!
Black Sabbath 13 tour (2014): friendly crowd who were just happy to see the guys one last time, very forgiving of Ozzy's sub par performance.

Flip a coin: Bob Dylan and post-Garcia Dead shows. Found very nice folks and complete jerks at these shows. Can be confusing and amusing at the same time.

 

ONLY 5'10? Dude, I'm 5'5....

 

Easily Insane Clown Posse.

 

I'm noticing there seems to be more chaos in North America.

 

I went to see Matt Taylor and Chain at a pub on the River in Perth, whose name escapes me for the moment ...
There were a couple of Bikie gangs present ... and I have played gigs at their venues, so I am not against them per say....
Anyhow the two gangs were set on opposite sides of the venue. There were a couple of small altercations on the middle ground ... but as the night went on and the booze flowed more freely, some of the members started randomly punching people ....
We left, as it just seemed like a lot of unnecessary stuff was going to go down.

 

Never had a problem at a Motley Crue show, though the last time I saw them was in '84.

Punk shows in San Diego were notorious for being violent, though you can't blame any one band for the bad crowds. Itsjust the way it was. (See the It's Gonna Blow documentary. They ask all the bands in it to describe the SD scene in the early days and they all say "violent").

The only band I can single out at the top of my head that drew a bad crowd all three times I've seen them was, believe it or not, Nomeansno. Fights all the time, police called, death thteats, etc... I met one of the guys from Nomeansno up in LA once and asked him if that's what their audience is like (because I gave up on seeing them because of the crowds) and he said "Nope. Only in San Diego. "

 

Oasis. Some of their fans seemed to think they had to be as big of a dickhead as Liam.

 

I still hate late 80's, early 90's rave music because of the type of people who were into it. Gougers.

 

The National Football League's Raiders:

 

I don't think the Oakland/LA/Las Vegas Raiders are a band!

 

One night a couple years back, a buddy and I were on the South Side in Pittsburgh, and the Steelers had a home game against the Raiders that day. Two Raiders fans stopped us and asked for directions to a certain bar. Then they immediately began insulting us and wanted to start some #%$&. Nothing happened mainly because my buddy and I were like, “wait, what?” and barely processed what just happened. Then they laughed, called us a word I can’t use here and went on their way.

 

Not a bad crowd, but actually one of the funniest I ever witnessed was when I went to a Verdi opera in the ancient Colosseum amphitheatre in Rome (Italy). We were on the top row, which were the cheapest seats, and people up there were noisy, drinking, chatting through the music, singing along loudly... And mind, this was a classical music concert.

 

Originator of the NFL's Raiders (joke) post above here.

Last Raider game I went to, they had one big, bad-ass bouncer assigned for about every three rows of seats.

It was hilarious to witness (as long as one was able to make it home with no broken bones and with teeth intact!)


I've been to Normandie and Florence (the cross streets where the infamous Rodney King riots emanated) and I felt safer than at a Raiders game!
.

 

Slade, once huge in the UK, are now generally figured as glam rock - but it took quite a while for them to shake their initial skinhead fanbase. Bovver boots, Paki-bashing and football hooligans.

 

There was some six and a half foot tall black dude, built like a linebacker, with the Superman logo tattooed in the middle of his back standing in front of me. I was very happy that he was not a mosher. In fact his presence may have dissuaded other smaller guys who may have been so inclined.

 

Going to the CBGB hardcore matinee when a big local band like Agnostic Front or the Cro-Mags were playing was terrifying as a teenaged kid. If you wanted to be near the stage you had to have your head on a swivel. Scary and exhilarating at the same time.

 

My brother saw someone get stabbed at a Hank Williams Jr. show in the 80's

 

GNR......what a bunch of A-holes

 

Already explained why that's crap.