Performing Under The Influence: Worst Concert Performances *

We finally got MHD in NYC on TWC and so far it's a great channel for watching concerts in HD. I digress.

One of the concert videos is Amy Winehouse Live in London, and her performance was one of the worst shows I have ever seen. She was drunk and could barely talk and her vocal delivery was 1 long slur with absolutely no charisma or energy. I deleted it after watching a few songs as I couldn't stand it.

It's appalling that a performer comes to a concert and cannot perform. People paid good money to see her and she gives a wretched alcohol laden performance. She should be ashamed of herself.

That's not to say I haven't seen musicians perform drunk; Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, Tom Waits, etc., but at least they gave a good performance despite being under the influence.

Some musicians I saw didn't fare quite as well such as Hendrix, Chris Wood and Joe Cocker on another occasion (after the IRS presented him with a tax bill before the concert, in fact he threw up on stage).

So what are your worst concert experiences with drunk/high performers?

 

That's funny. I have that DVD and it's the total opposite of what you say it is.

 

Well, I wouldn't say it's the total opposite.

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd in NYC (year escapes me) . . . Ronnie Van Zandt so drunk he had to be propped up on Collins and Rossington's shoulders . . they played fifteen minutes and "Good Night, everybody!"

Second runner up was Lou Reed around the time of Sally Can't Dance . . a roadie led him onstage, strapped his guitar on him and it fell off with a sickening crunch. Lou just stood there and looked at it until someone else picked it up and strapped him back in. Love Lou, but that was pathetic.

 

very easily Cat Power, in between You Are Here and The Greatest, at Fat Cats in Houston.

I've heard of her meltdown shows, in fact saw her at SXSW where she left the set mid song. But a friend wanted to see her, despite my warnings and we went. I actually love her albums (not so much lately, but Moon Pix, stuff like that). She played about two notes over and over on the guitar and mushed together about 10 songs. Moved to the piano and did the same thing to the same two notes over and over but on the piano. When she started, the crowd was shooshing each other, but 15 minutes in, people were loudly talking and leaving. She didn't care and neither did we.

 

Crash Test Dummies headlining the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 2001.

Singer Brad Roberts was clearly drunk and put on a terrible performance. 'Sloppy and foul mouthed' was how the local media described it. People were leaving in droves. This had a particular impact since the band was originally from Winnipeg as well-kinda made it all the more insulting. I'm no moral purist but this wasn't a show at a bar, but an outdoor folk festival with many children in the audience. He carried on like an obnoxious *** onstage.

He did publicly apoligzie for it two years later though.

 

Johnny Cash, Chapel Hill NC, mid 1960s. Johnny appeared drunk and gave a lousy performance. June Carter and The Statler Brothers were great though.

 

REM in Chicago in '84. Drunken, useless Stipe MIA (literally) for most of the show...wandering drunkenly off stage leaving the rest of the band to "jam."

At least Dream Syndicate got their live record out of that night's events.

 

Eric Clapton, Roosevelt Stadium, NJ, 1974, 461 Ocean Blvd tour. He was completely wasted, spending half of the concert mumbling & yelling out at Yvonne Elliman, "Yvonne, Yvonne, Yvonne". Even guest appearances by Freddie King & Ringo didn't help. It had rained before the show & the field was a bog, and it was already the worst concert venue ever.

 

by far, rod stewart, and star lake in pittsburgh.

he was at least twice as old as every member of his band,

constant pictures of his then wife, rachel hunter, on a screen behind him.

and he must have lifted the mike stand up off stage at least 50 times.

it was horrible.

 

I can't attribute it to drinking/drugs, but the show I saw on REM's Fables of the Reconstruction tour was the worst I've seen. As now well-documented, the band's internal chemistry/relations were being tried, they had a downbeat album to feature, and there was no attempt made to connect to the audience. This tour was the height of Stipe's "sing with back to the crowd" phase and apparently when the band started to make a consicious effort to stay away from fan favorites (e.g. Radio Free Europe did not make any appearance). When the house lights came up to end the concert, the boobirds did a nice job making their feelings known.

In the end, it is funny to see people get misty-eyed about REM's IRS years. While there were of course many great albums and shows, there were also some live efforts that were not, um, deserving of getting misty-eyed over.

 

Gordon Lightfoot, mid-70s. He staggers on, drunkenly cusses out the audience for a minute or so, staggers off. G'night, folks, drive safely!

 

Here's an earlier thread on the same subject - lots of interesting reports.


My worst one, as noted in the earlier thread, was Lou Reed at the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle back in 2003. He was playing to an open-air festival crowd, so what better time to preview the dull, plodding songs from his then-current album, The Raven? These abortions were followed by lame, rushed versions of various classics from this solo/VU catalog. Severely disappointing.

 

It was a country phase I was going through in the early 80's, but I saw Hank Williams, Jr. sloppy, slurry drunk twice. The second show - the only concert I've ever walked out on.

 

Richie Havens at Cornell in the late 60s. Richie was high and he just kept talking and talking in a long rambling stream of conciousness rather than playing. His thoughts were not very interesting and he played very few songs

 

One of the worst shows was something called the "Leslie West Wild West Show". I saw the show at the Masonic in Detroit. This was after Mountain had broken up.
Leslie is one of my all time guitar heroes, & have seen him live many many times. But this time round, he was clearly out of his mind drunk, and his playing showed it. He also had Mitch Ryder in the band, and poor Mitch looked lost trying to keep up with the wandering Leslie's playing. He finally gave up, hung the mic back on it's stand & walked off the stage.
There's is actually a boot of this concert popping up on ebay occasionally, but why anyone would want to part with any cash for it is beyond me.

 

Cat Power supporting Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Who were great)......

 

I saw Meatloaf last year, and while the show was tight, his vocals were gone, barely audible on most songs and unable to hit notes higher than his belly button.

My wife hated his vocals too, but thought that the band helped make up for it...she enjoyed the concert as did other fans from the looks of it, but would never see him again.

As a singer, I was mortified and embarassed for him.

 

I wasn't at this particular show but it always stuck out in my mind as an example of a terrible concert. In the late '70s, country singer George Jones, in the depths of cocaine and alcohol abuse, performed an entire concert or maybe even concerts in a Donald Duck voice. Of course this is when he wasn't living up to his reputation of being "No Show Jones". He talks about this in his excellent autobiography, I Lived To Tell It All. Thankfully for him, he got his act together and went on to make his landmark I Am What I Am album in 1980.

http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=18127

 

Well, Michelle Shocked was the worst performance I've ever seen (and yes, I walked out, a long with about half the festival crowd), but if she was under the influence of anything, it was PMS.

 

Worst gig I ever saw was Kevin Ayers at The Cavern in Liverpool in November 2003. I hasten to add Ayers was not drunk and certainly didn't appear to be on any substances but what was clear was that Ayers did not want to be there.

He had a great tight band behind him full of fire and energy but Kevin seemed lifeless and totally disinterested. Worse was his set list. Before the gig I'd read various reports he had recorded a new album and so I was looking forward to hearing some new material. Wishful thinking. What we got pleased nobody since it was basically a batch of tunes from his 1972 to 1978 era, (not quite his "classic" era... that's 1969 to 1972!) and worse, mostly slower tunes.

Ayers did not speak once to the audience and whenever he sang, he had his eyes completely shut and when he wasn't singing he seemed to be staring at the ceiling making his disinterest all the clearer. I took my then girlfriend along and afterwards asked her what she thought and she was real sad to admit she found it had been boring and the high quota of slower songs had almost sent her to sleep.

A hugely disappointing gig and experience. Had Kevin showed at least a little bit of interest and spoke to or looked at his audience or put a bit of enthusiasm into his performance maybe he could had salvaged the gig. It had a disastrous effect in that since then I've barely been able to enjoy the man's music anymore and if he ever comes to town again, I will be staying at home.

 

Way back in 69, My gym coach tried his hand at promoting a concert. At out school on a friday night he had King Harvest opening for Mars Bonfire. King Harvest wow everyone and put on a great show. Mars Bonfire for those who do not know wrote Born To Be Wild and was in Steppenwolf until this show.

He was so wasted. He walked across the stage with his girlfiend during the King Harvest set. When he came on he played a slide guitar and tried to sound "blusey" but did 3 songs and one long slurring mess. You could not understand a thing he sang. The girlfirend banged a tamborine and stood there. I seem to remember he had a solo Lp put at the time. Noone called for a encore.

 

Van Morrison may put on a good show, but his reputation of being a rude a#*&%$^ proceeds him. I have heard this from mupltiple sources.

 

Free, Kossoff was so out of it he kept missing his mouth with a Coke bottle. Paul Rodgers had to go and help him.

It was the worst show I ever saw by a long way.

Had seen them before and they were on fire. Still my favourite band.

 

There are some youtube clips of Vince Neil of Motley Crue embarrassingly drunk on stage.