The Worst Concert You've Seen

[OmahaBlueDog]

I saw this

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getback/7793/ever-get-the-feeling-youve-been-cheated-i-want-my-money-back-from-these-concerts

and I got to wondering what was the worst show you've seen.


I saw Bonnie Raitt at the old Miami Marine Stadium in '90. I'm a big Bonnie fan, and the tix were a major splurge back then. Let's just say the crowd wanted to rock, and Bonnie wanted to go a different way, and ended up arguingg with the crowd. It wasn't fun.

[charlie and algernon]

1. "celtic-Mongral" rock band

Celtic rock band called Brother. First two times I saw them, they brought down the house, just an incredible amount of energy. Third time I saw them, they were without their lead singer.... Started out with the same energy as before, but then the intro took a little too long. Then the backup singer started singing... yuck! Couldn't understand him, certianly wasn't the same celtic band I saw before. My family planned our day at this festival around seeing this band and we ended up staring at eachother trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It started out a packed house, but people started leaving in droves, eventually we left before their 5th song.

[PassingFair]

2. I saw Bonnie Raitt once, and she was GREAT!

On the other hand, I saw the Rolling Stones one
time near the end of a tour and they SUCKED ASS.

Saw them again a few years later, a little "fresher"
and they were fantastic.

You take your chances with live performances, that's
for sure!

[JVS]

3. hey. I was at a pop-mart tour concert. I had no complaints.

[Giant Robot]

10. I read the title of this and Pop Mart was my first thought

Aside from no name bands in bars. It wasn't bad, but it could have been so much better based on who was playing. The irony and kitsch of it all was neat, but somehow it detracted from the music, and was not really entertaining to me. And I was one of those people that got tickets through MTV during their promotion of it, and it was said that these were going to be primo seats that MTV had. Well, needless to say, they weren't. And it was on Halloween in Detroit, and I guess I was expecting some fun or something exciting based on that. I'm sure you did not want my review of Pop Mart when you made that comment.

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. Review to your heart's content

:-)

[CreekDog]

4. Los Lobos

and they are probably my favorite band. but New Year's Eve in San Francisco several years back, it was basically a loud 60 minute guitar riff with a couple short breaks where a song was played. :eyes:

i was told that this is how their concerts are in SF.

[darkstar]

9. So it was jammy?

I've heard they do that, even w/ space/noice.

But in the two times I've seen them, my face hurt the next day from smiling. They do those authentic Tex/Mex what-have-you songs and then do this Beefheart/Zappa sickness and Marvin Gaye grooves and quiet acoustic numbers. Amazing. But you've seen those kind of shows in addition to SF, I hope?

[CreekDog]

11. it was over an hour of wwowowowbrwoooonnggggeeeyryr

i've never seen anything that bad here, but it's not like i seek out those kind of shows anyway.

[kwassa]

41. I saw Los Lobos on New Year's Eve, and they were great.

Pantages Theatre, Hollywood. early 90s

[Mike Daniels]

62. I've never seen a bad LL show but they've always done a real concert each time

not what you experienced. I'd be a little P.O.'ed if I got that type of show based on what I've seen them do in the past.

[CreekDog]

65. friend of mine didn't like the show either and she said LL does different shows

according to the location. i had no idea.

but she suggested seeing them in Austin would be a whole lot better than in SF.

but i pretty much don't like LL unless David Hidalgo is singing and when they are rocking out, that is not happening.

[snailly]

118. I saw them in Florida a few years ago

It was really bad. The sound and just everything was a huge mess.

[darkstar]

5. In my top 3

Cheap Trick--When they were really popular. Awful, distorted sound. Probably not their fault, but it was atrocious.

B-52s--Awful playing and singing. When they were Love Shack big. Nice sound that revealed a lot of bad bad playing and *way* off key singing, especially from Pearson.

Violent Femmes--First album, blister days. Appallingly bad and precious. And literally a hub cap or garbage lid mic'ed up as their snare. Punishingly bad.

[amyrose2712]

92. Cheap Trick. When they were NOT popular.

[AlCzervik]

6. The Cars and Aerosmith.

both terrible for different reasons. The Cars are great on an album but live, just awful, maybe they skipped the sound check but it was the worst sounding concert ever. Aerosmith circe early 1980's at the cape cod coliseum, Steven Tyler does one song and the pukes and passes out on stage. I think i was maybe 13 or 14 and saved up all my babysitting money to buy that ticket and one song was all we got.

[OmahaBlueDog]

14. The Cars keyboard player went to my HS before my time

Greg Hawks. I've always heard the same thing about the cars.

Mrs. OBD, in '81 or '82 , saw a double bill of the Go-gos and A Flock of Seagulls. Beyond "I Ran", AFOS just didn't have enough show worthy material, and the Go-Gos were just plain awful.

[AlCzervik]

16. i saw the Go-go's reunion tour at the Orpheum in Boston and it was really good

When i saw The Cars that already had a ton of songs but it think they just sound better in the studio.

[Mike Daniels]

63. From what I heard the Cars were uniformly bad in concert

No stage presence, no attempt to engage the crowd, and performances that could have easily been a CD playing over the sound system (no deviation at all from the LP versions of the songs).

I saw them for free after their 5th album came out and even at $0 it was pretty close to being a waste of time.

[mitchum]

95. The Cars, Boston, and Aerosmith all in the late 70s...

were horrible live acts.
Audiences in Boston, Mass. must have been very tolerant in those days

[Fenris]

15. That Aerosmith concert sounds like the only acceptable way to hear them.

Sorry you lost your money. But you got to see Steven Tyler vomit and pass out!

[AlCzervik]

18. Well that's true but i'm still holding grudge!

:7 I want my $15 dollars back!

[bbernardini]

72. "The New Cars" were quite good live. (A Cars reunion, sort of.)

Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton from the original band, with Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton (from Utopia and Meat Loaf's band) and Prairie Prince (from The Tubes...and Jefferson Starship...and XTC...and so on). The live album was excellent, and the "stealth" recordings I've heard were also very good. It's scary how well those songs work with Rundgren singing lead vocals.

[Kat45]

120. I also saw "The New Cars" and they were very good.

And you're right, the songs worked quite well with Rundgren. And I'd never realized how good a guitarist Elliot Easton was until I saw him live at that show.

[hunter]

74. I attended one like your Aerosmith concert.

Won't name names, but she was drinking on stage. Right soon she was too drunk to stand or sing, so the concert ended with her sitting on the edge of the stage with her bottle mumbling how she loved everyone like some lonely woman in a bad karaoke bar.

It was the kind of wreck you really wished you'd never seen.

[bluesbassman]

94. Saw Aerosmith at a festival in Germany, circa 1978.

They were the headliner. During the day, the crowd was probably fifty to sixty thousand. By the time Tyler started puking all over the stage, there was maybe two hundred left.

The best part of that show was watching Tyler stumble into Joe Perry, and Perry shoving him off and on to the ground! Good times!

[democracyindanger]

7. Tribe Called Quest

La Luna, Portland, Oregon. Kinda the crowd's fault; Tribe came out and tried to fire the crowd up, crowd didn't respond, Q-Tip got pissed, they did a lackluster, short set and left. Also, my car was stolen while I was at the show.

[Fenris]

8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead

2005 maybe? At Emo's in Austin. Awful sound, awful crowd. Totally upstaged by the opening bands, the Sword and the Octopus Project.

True worst: Beastie Boys at that arena in Austin whose name I can't remember, 2004(?)

Band was great, opening rap act was tolerable. What was my problem? My cousin was high and drunk and got beligerent with some jackass sitting near us and they got into a shouting match. My cousin threatened to "cum in his face" (I still don't understand how that was supposed to be a threat) and then stomped off to get beer. He showed up an hour later with no beer and bloddy knuckles. Apparently someone had said something to him while he was at a urinal and so he decked him. Said he was jerking around on the restroom floor when he walked over him. The next day he couldn't remember any of what had happened.

THAT was a shitty concert experience.

[Archae]

13. The Jerry Schneider Band.

My parents love 'em.

I totally HATE their polkas, that are bad even by polka standards.

[Throd]

17. Ween stole 90 minutes of my life I will never get back

They were opening for the Foo Fighters at UC Irvine in the mid 90's and ruined a most excellent buzz.

[elshiva]

19. The Horny Horns in Rockland, Maine.

No, not the black funk group, a white boy unfunk group. All I can remember is some white guy who could not sing bellowing over some terrible horn playing. The song lyrics were, "Hey, we're the Horny Horns, and if we're making you HORNY..." Nope. :puke:

buffy

[mokawanis]

20. emerson, lake, and palmer

They were touring with an orchestra and it just didn't work for me. They were touring for the Works Volume 1 release at the time.

[WinkyDink]

21. Ravi Shankar.

[enigmatic]

22. ELO-1980

Ugh.

[Alexander]

23. The Misfits in Oct 2007, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The opening band was Zombeast - friends of mine.

Zombeast kicked the Misfits' ass all over the place.

You couldn't even tell when the Misfits started a new song, the mix was so horrible.

[Louis Cyphre]

27. There is no Misfits without Glenn Danzig

even Doyle finally figured that out.

[Alexander]

28. Tell that to Jerry Only - he didn't get the message.

I mean it. Please. That shitfest he started is doing horrible things to the Misfits name.

[begin_within]

24. Ted Nugent, Portland Coliseum, 1982

Sammy Hagar opening act (he was decent). Nugent was a complete miasma. We got free tickets somehow, and I still felt ripped off.

[Radical Activist]

25. Radiohead at Lollapalooza this year.

Awful. Just horrible. Even big Radiohead fans were disappointed.

And I disagree with the guy who wrote the post about U2 popmart and Bob Dylan. I've seen and enjoyed both. I liked Popmart better than seeing them on their most recent tour, and you never went to a Bob Dylan show to hear a pretty voice.

[amyrose2712]

93. WOW how were NIN and RATM?

I really wanted to see go to that this year. I couldn't afford to take off work.:-(

[Radical Activist]

96. Both awesome

RATM was one of the most fun and high energy concerts I've ever been to in my life. Great festival overall but they really screwed up booking Radiohead as the main headlining act.

[mwooldri]

26. KC and the Sunshine Band, 2000.

It's the ONLY "pop" concert I have been to, and I only went because a) my employers put on the show, b) it was the company's 150th birthday party (for our location, not the exact day though) and c) attendance was pretty much mandatory for everyone working there that day.

It wasn't that the performance was terribly bad... you had about half the crowd into it and up close and getting into the fun of things and then you had everyone else, just looking on, somewhat bewildered.

I'd prefer to go to a concert because I want to see the group/artist performing, not because I have to.

Mark.

[JCMach1]

30. Saw them in 1976! They were awesome then...

at farkin' Disney World of all places...

[Forkboy]

29. The Cars w/Wang Chung

That was seriously hideous.

And Nirvana opening for the Melvins the day Nevermind came out. Cobain was too fucked up to do anything useful, and the band looked bored as fuck. It didn't make them look any better when the Melvins came out and flattened the place afterwards.

[av8rdave]

31. Billy Squier, Phoenix, 1984

May not have been all his fault. It was an outdoor venue, and I don't think his sound people knew how to set up for that.

[OmahaBlueDog]

35. I saw Squier in '81 or '82 as the front act for Jefferson Starship

It was the "Tale of the Tape" tour, and he was horrid. I, too, saw him at an outdoor venue (Merriweather Post Pavillion - Columbia, MD)

[Roon]

32. Rainbow and Blue Oyster Cult

The concert was so bad,if I wasn't with my friends,I would have left.

[regularguy]

42. Heh, I saw that tour. Brutal! nt

[Seeking Serenity]

33. I don't know what's the worst. I've had several bad ones.

1) Metallica opened up for KISS in the early 80s (1983, I think?). They were terrible! Sound was totally over-modulated and distorted. James Hetfield's vocals were a muddy mess. It just sounded like one giant bucket of mud. I remember thinking to myself, "If this is as good as they can do, we won't be seeing any more of them." I guess they got a wee bit better.

2) .38 Special (late 70s, early 80s, maybe). Cheap Trick opened up for them (or it may have been a dual bill, I don't remember). Cheap Trick was great, but when .38 Special came on, they were so bad, we got up and left.

3) Bob Dylan, 2004. Played a small venue here and played nothing but piano, even many of his old folkie classics, like he was trying to be some lounge singer or something. Not at all good.

[SacredCow]

34. It's a toss-up....

Saw a U2 and Public Enemy double billing (Yeah, you read that right) Years ago in Alabama. Public Enemy isn't really my thing, but I have an open mind so I tried to enjoy it. But it was rough with approximately half of the crowd yelling about how they sucked and the other half wanting to fight over the derision. Then, U2 came on, and they appeared to be blind stinkin' drunk. What's more, they made some off color comments about all southerners being inbred hicks that were pretty inappropriate. TOTAL waste of money.

The Cure back in the late 80's would be my second choice. No "appeared" about it- they WERE utterly drunk (or something else) out of their minds. They were stumbling around laughing uncontrollably... They started songs and Robert Smith would forget the lyrics and just start babbling randomly so they'd all stop and laugh some more. Since I was pretty tanked, too, it was kind of amusing in a small way. But had I been sober, I'd have surely wanted my money back.

[OmahaBlueDog]

37. I had a somewhat (though not quite as extreme) experience

I saw a double billing of Black Sabbath (fronted, at that time, by Ronnie James Dio) and the Donnie Van Zandt (of Lynyrd Skynyrd fame). It was not a good crowd mix. Hard core, dope smoking metal heads and Jack Daniels drinking rednecks.

[SacredCow]

39. I'll never understand concerts like that....

who is it that looks at 2 completely different bands and says, "Oh, this would be a good idea!" :shrug:

[speedoo]

48. I saw a bad U2 concert in the late eighties.

Roseland, Chicago. Worst acoustics I have ever experienced. I've never quite forgiven them for that.

[SacredCow]

49. when I saw U2 previously, for the Joshua Tree....

it was an excellent show. It's been a long time since I've been to a phenomenal "big" concert. I much prefer smaller club shows these days.

[snailly]

123. That's kind of upsetting to hear about U2

I've been to four concerts over 20 years by them and never experienced anything like that. I don't doubt you at all. I just think it's a shame they acted like that.

[meegbear]

36. Starship 1988 ...

they opened AND closed with "We Built This City" and "White Rabbit" was performed like a Vegas lounge act.

The backdrop and stage was supposed to look like a grimy city street and "The Nine Line" toll free number was "spary painted" on a wall. Between one of the songs Mickey gives us a talking about how "Hey, if you ran away from home and need a hug, give the Nine Line a call." BUZZ KILL!

[JVS]

53. LOL! Starship!

[meegbear]

57. They were free!

Thank God!

[JVS]

54. LOL! Starship!

[livetohike]

38. A tie between "Little Feat" and "John McClaughlin and

the Mahavishnu Orchestra". With Little Feat, we walked out and went to a party after the first song. With John McClaughlin we found a fire exit and sat out on the fire escape with some other people and partied. This was back in 1973 or 1974. I doubt you could go out a fire exit door today without attracting notice :-).

[MrCoffee]

40. 10,000 Maniacs - far and away the worst concert I ever saw

It was an outdoor show in Houston in August, and Natalie Merchant spent every break between songs complaining about the heat and the bugs.


No shit, Natalie. It's hot and there are a fuckload of mosquitos...well, why'd you book an outdoor show in Houston in August? And guess what? The rest of us standing here are hot and getting eaten by bugs too, except that we paid you for the privilege. Now shut the fuck up and sing Hey Jack Kerouac before I climb up there and beat you with your microphone.

[OmahaBlueDog]

51. This was kind of like my Bonnie Raitt experience

Prelude: Bonnie is coming off "Luck of the Draw" and is a monster huge act. She's playing Miami Marine Stadium,a not-oft used venue alongside Biscayne Bay where a fairly successful Jimmy Buffet concert film had been shot a few years before. She has 2 front acts for this tour, Chris Issak (who'd just landed a hit with "Wicked Game") and John Prine (who sang "Angel from Montgomery" with Bonnie)John Prine is the front act: this is not great news for many, as Issak is (at the time) wildly popular in Miami.

The show: The stage floats on the water, so the front "row" are actually folks on rafts and inner tubes. John Prine opens. About 10% of the audience know who he is; the other 90% are already sick of him, and he's going on, and on, and on. Then Bonnie comes out. The show starts OK, but now she wants to slow down and do ballads. The problem: the crowd up front wants to party. They're frolicking in the water, and now Bonnie is yelling at us because she can't concentrate. Well, excuse me -- you chose the venue, we paid you (not the other way around), and you brought the wrong front act.

Everyone settled down, the show went on, and Bonnie put on a competent performance -- but the whole evening was strained after that.

[HughBeaumont]

43. hole.

1995. Nautica Stage. Opening for NIN. So fucking bad I refuse to boldface or capitalize their name. Shitbad songs. Crapola sound. Poor lighting. The heroin and fake tit laced abomination called Courtney Love. I can think of five BAD local bands that deserve to be signed before hole and I live in CLEVELAND, ferchrissakes. That was without a doubt the worst goddamned disgrace of a show I've ever seen, bar none, and I've seen some pretty craptacular bands (some that way on purpose).

Runners up -
Limp Bizkit (Would qualify for the absolute worst, but let's face it, you can't top the Queen. Unbelievable that these Jacksonville mooks sold as many records as they did playing such horrid fourth-rate Korncrap. America's youth really must be that stupid.)

Marilyn Manson (Nice guy, great views, but his music is below average and live show very overrated)

Mushroomhead (bad Faith No More/Pantera rehashes played in makeup and jumpsuits. And this was one of Cleveland's biggest acts.)

Slipknot (ham-fisted, horrible sound, stopped their show two songs in to get in a fight with
Mushroomhead fans. Unbelievably DUMB on so many levels. I wouldn't even have liked this as a 14 year old.)

The Bronx (boring boring BORING-ass three-chord fratcore band that inexplicably seems to regularly open tours of bands I like. Singer is a Bewsh supporter, so fuck them)

[Symarip]

44. Sublime

They were horrible.

[EstimatedProphet]

45. The Summer Storm Tour - 1996

It was billed as a "Monsters of Rock" type tour. Slated were Mountain, Black Oak Arkansas, and the reunion of Iron Butterfly.

First, it was held in the Tupelo Coliseum, which was a converted ice rink with such lousy acoustics that the girders in the ceiling hummed through the whole thing. then, Mountain cancelled, and was replaced by a local bar band called the Delta Bush Pilots. Unfortunately, Black Oak Arkansas didn't cancel, and there was literally nothing but noise from the whole concert. Finally, Iron Butterfly came on, and started with their "new stuff!" WTF?! They hadn't been together in 30 years, and they had new stuff?!

After an excuricating 2 hours of 'concert' they finally were going to close with Ina-Godda-Da-Vida, AND THE FUCKED IT UP! The guitar comes out in the middle of the drum solo, jacks in, and starts playing a different song in front of everyone, for no reason whatsoever! He plays for about 10 seconds, then looks around, unjacks and walks off! What the fuck was that shit? they completely fucked up their own song!

That was a suck experience.

[southpaw]

46. Creed! I Win!

Actually, they sounded pretty good. Mark Tremonti is an incredible guitarist, and the bassist and drummer are no slouches, either.

But then there was Scott Stapp...

[speedoo]

47. bogus Fleetwood Mac club date in Baltimore, around 1973-4.

This was after the breakup of the original Peter Green group. Their ex-manager grabbed the name, put together a band with none of the real members and went on tour. Crowd figured out they were bogus and it got real nasty. I actually ended up talking with the manager who shared lots of gossip about the London rock scene.

A few months later some of the original band members sued and there was a pretty big news splash about it.

[Bennyboy]

58. I saw that tour at Winterland...(wasn't it 75 after Bob Welch left though?)

They didn't make it though their third song.

[Bennyboy]

61. Nope, it was 74.....

Bob was in the band (peter Green had left years before)but they did not want to tour so the maangement sent out the bogus band.....

[speedoo]

64. Yes I believe it was 74.

And I think you are correct about Bob Welch having joined the band before that. He was definitely not there in Baltimore. They only played blues and rock (badly) as I recall, none of the softer Welch stuff.

[Bennyboy]

76. No, you were right, Totally BOGUS band

that the manger sent around cuz the real Mac didn't want to tour, he owned the name and sent a totally bogus band around. They wore the same clothes, had the same number of chicks and positions in the band etc. Truly horrible expereience.

[DS1]

50. I guess I've been pretty lucky

even the bands I didn't really like who I got dragged to see put on some good shows

[T_i_B]

52. Hmmmmm.....

Quite apart from some appalling folk acts at a free festival I attended this year I'd have to mention the Appleton sisters, who I caught (worst luck!) at V2003 wilst waiting for Asian Dub Foundation to come on

And not to forget Coldplay, who just bored me.

[LibDemAlways]

55. Warped Tour a couple of weeks ago in

LA. But don't go by me because I'm in my mid 50's and was basically acting as chauffeur for my daughter and her friends. They loved it.

However, I fail to see what's enjoyable about spending the day in a hot parking lot with little shade, few places to sit down, no access to a decent bathroom, and hoards of kids jammed together in too small a space having their ears assaulted by a bunch of scream-o bands. Oh, and I got a bee sting on my way into the venue. All in all the experience sucked.

[PassingFair]

90. You and me both, LibDem....

I had the dubious pleasure of escorting 3
13 and 14 year olds.

I think I suffered 2nd degree burns on my face.

But it was worth it to see my daughter's face
when William Beckett of "The Academy Is" came
on stage....

She is in "love" with him.

After she stumbled out of the first performance
missing her shoes, I knew it wasn't going to be
a short 10 hours!!!

[LibDemAlways]

101. My daughter likes The Academy Is... as well. She saw them at

Warped Tour in Ventura back in June and got William Beckett's autograph at a signing. She was on Cloud 9. She was looking forward to seeing them again at the August LA Show (Aren't I lucky to live within driving distance of 2 of the shows held two months apart?), but the band unfortunately was first to play at 11:30 AM and by the time we got in they were done. I was not happy that acts were scheduled that early because the ticket said the concert started at noon.

Those pits the kids jam themselves into in front of the stage are awful though. At a My Chemical Romance concert a while back I stood in the back of the hall out of the fray while my daughter and three others braved the front. One of her friends was lifted out by security because she was being crushed. The other two emerged crying and shaken up. Only my daughter withstood the onslaught, emerging at one point only because she wanted money for a drink. The new rule is she has to stand at the side of the stage out of the way of moshers, head-bangers, and crowd surfers. Too dangerous in there.

I'm glad school has started back up. She has a 2-concert total limit (weekends only) during the school year.

Sorry about that sunburn. I got a horrible one at the Ventura show. My forehead is still recovering.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

56. The Doors a couple of years after Jim Morrison's death

Without his haunting voice they were nothing.

Folk singer Gordon Bok put on a horrible show in Portland at some point during the 1990s. I don't know whether he was drunk or in the early stages of dementia, but he kept forgetting the lyrics to his songs, surprising for someone who had been performing as long as he has.

[Zookeeper]

59. Frank Zappa at a U. of Mich. football stadium, around 1977...

He seemed quite irritated to be there and the fact that it was such a large venue and he was basically a speck in the distance left me fairly irritated, also.

I had been a fan of his since a friend's bad-influence older sister loaned me a copy of his first album when I was 12. So, I was especially disappointed. And I did my very best to avoid large-venue concerts after that.

[vi5]

60. Slint, the reunion shows in NYC a couple years back..

One of my favorite bands ever, playing mostly songs from one of my favorite albums ever (Spiderland). And musically they played them spot on. But for 2 hours they just stood there, motionless. There were 5+ minute gaps in between songs where nobody in the band said anything. Not a word. Just stood there twiddling with instruments. It was painful at times.

Mid period Radiohead kind of annoyed me when I saw them (I think it was circa O.K. Computer). I had seen them on their first US tour and they were a phenomenal, energetic rock band. Totally animated, totally played to the crowd. Just amazing, and I hadn't even come to see them. When I saw them the next tour they were just starting the whole "tortured artiste" experimental deal and it was boring as shit. Maybe it was an off night but they just seemed contemptuous of the audience and didn't want to be there. However, I saw them a few weeks back at a festival in NJ and they seemed to have split the difference because it was a pretty damn good live show.

Oh yea, and Dinosaur Jr. on the "Where You Been?" tour in the mid 90's was pretty awful too. Played nothing but slow songs, no stage presence, no banter, nothing.

[ceile]

66. MC Hammer

Sis's boyfriend had an extra ticket, so I went. Totally sucked. But En Vogue rocked-those ladies can put on a show.

[Greyskye]

67. Watching Stevie Ray Vaughn getting booed off the stage

Cal Expo, Sacramento CA, mid 80's. SRV is an opening act for Sammy Hagar. Asshole metalheads booing SRV off after only a couple songs.

Still steams me to think about it. :grr:

[southpaw]

68. What a bunch of dipshits!

A clear case of casting pearls before swine!

[Greyskye]

69. no kidding.

I was only there because my girlfriend wanted to see Hagar. I'd never heard of this Stevie kid before, but his playing was amazing. As far as I was concerned, he was a hell of a lot better then the 'Red Rocker' and Y&T (other band playing that night) put together.

[Bennyboy]

77. I posted about this yesterday on the SRV thread........

I forgot you were there too Greyskye...... I love it, whenever I hear someone praise Stevie I ask them if they were at that show. And most say yeah without realizing it was Stevie that they booed off the stage that day.

[Greyskye]

79. I missed the thread yesterday.

I was wondering if you would chime in on this one. :hi:

[argyl]

83. Stevie Ray booed off the stage for Sammy Hagar? Even if he wasn't well known that's just not right.

Used to see him at the original Antone's in Austin and at a place on Greenville Ave. just north of NW Highway in Dallas called Christopher's. Mid to late '70's.

He wasn't known just for being Jimmie's little brother for long. A special talent,gone way too soon.

[speedoo]

88. That is so fucking WRONG.

SRV is playing right alongside Jimi in the best band in rock heaven.

[bbernardini]

70. Oh, these threads always end in tears...

Now excuse me while I go defend my favorite bands from the ignorant masses. ;)

[LisaM]

71. OMG it's so funny you said that! I was going to say Bonnie Raitt, too

She just played what she wanted to play, even though no one liked it. We left early. Thankfully, Keb Mo opened, and he was great.

To cap it off, it started half an hour late - they wouldn't even let us in the theatre.

My friend and I BOTH said, "you know, we like HER, but we don't think much of her material".

[OmahaBlueDog]

75. Another friend of mine saw a different Raitt show at the old Miami Arena

In fairness, they probably should have cancelled. A tropical storm was hitting, and the place was a little less than half full. My friend said Bonnie played "Love Sneaking Up On You", but the thing is -- it wouldn't end. They got through the meat of the song, and then kept doing the closing refrain of "Don't worry baby, it ain't nothin' new/That's just love sneakin' up on you/If your whole world's shakin' and you feel like I do/ That's just love sneakin' up on you " for like 10 minutes. I don't know if they were ahead of schedule and needed to stretch, or if they get the audience into it with a packed house. Keep in mind, I wasn't there, and I'm hearing this from a 3rd party.

[LisaM]

84. That's exactly how it was.

Tons of riffing, and hardly any singing. It was a huge disappointment. Every song lasted forever, and it was exactly as you described.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

73. Y&T as Peter Gabriel's opening act

God, these guys were clueless. They sang their "hit" song, "Alcohol," which is basically the word "al-ka-hawwwwwwwl" repeated ad nauseum.

They were booed at the end of their set and came back for an encore. I kind of admired that, but the encore sucked as much as every other song from their regular set.

:rofl:

[southpaw]

78. I hated Y&T!

Who the fuck booked that lineup?

A 3rd rate hair-band with no ability to even write a memorable shit-metal tune opening for Peter Motherfucking Gabriel???

[Amerigo Vespucci]

85. It was the first Gabriel solo tour after he left Genesis, at Winterland in SF...

...Steve Hunter (Alice Cooper, Lou Reed) and Robert Fripp on guitars. Unbelievable. Gabriel walked through the audience during "Waiting for the Big One." I was one seat away from the aisle, looked him in the face, smiled, and he smiled back and nodded. Fripp sat on a stool through the entire show, just like the King Crimson gigs. Gabriel introduced him as "An obscure Country & Western guitar player, Dusty Rhodes." Hunter played the rock star, dressed in black leather, doing the whole guitar face thing, windmills, etc. It sounded exactly like the first album but louder. The only Genesis song he played was "Back In NYC" from "Lamb."

But yeah...my friends and I sat through the half-hour Y&T opening set and "WTF" was the question of the day.

:toast:

[Greyskye]

81. Y&T was involved in my story up-thread as well

They weren't the main point of my post, but they sure did suck jagged rocks!

Y&T and Peter Gabrial? :wtf:

[redqueen]

80. The Cows, Black Crowes (obstructed view).

[MrScorpio]

82. General Public, Austin, 1984 or 83

Goddamned sound system was so fucking loud that I actually lost hearing

It's all the assholes' fault who ran the venue

Fuckers

[Bennyboy]

86. Steve Miller Band, everytime since 75...

In the words of Miles Davis "that non playing mother fucker".

Seems for a while he was on the bill for another show or someone gvae me tickets to see him. Every year the same show, same set list, Same lameness. Same non playing bullshit.

[whistler162]

87. Alison Kraus and Union Station....

just after they released their Two Highways album. The venue was in a room/stage at a local Univeristy. The band was great but the sound system was garbage.

Still enjoy their music though.

[speedoo]

89. I'm hearing her Raising Sand tour with Robert Plant is going very well.

Still a few more dates out west:

http://www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com/site.php?content=tour

[musette_sf]

91. The Toilet Boys

at Incredibly Strange Wrestling, SF, prolly in 1998 or 99.

[last_texas_dem]

97. Drive-by Truckers, Austin, 2007

The band was good, but the crowd totally killed the show. DBT decided to do an all acoustic show and the mostly drunk crowd wouldn't shut the hell up; it just totally destroyed the whole show for me. If you like a band, even if you'd rather see them plugged in than acoustic, at least have some respect for their decision to play acoustic and don't act like a loud, drunken asshole.

[Art_from_Ark]

98. I've never attended a live pop/rock concert

and from what I've read here, I haven't missed a damn thing

[Kali]

117. well, it is a Worst Ever thread so....

[datasuspect]

99. KISS when they were Wicked Lester at a high school dance in Long Island

they thought they were hip like the cats downtown, but they just came off like New York Dolls clones

[old mark]

100. A record producer (scumbag) had a "concert"

to announce the relaese of a single done by a guy who worked in a local factory that had just shut down.
The producer invited a lot of people from the area radio, media and arts crowd and provided free food and drink, along with sample copies of the guy's record, while the poor guy performed the sone he wrote and recorded.
The out-of-work-guy of course was paying all the bills for this, including renting the hall and paying the promoter for his services.
The song was terrible, as was the guys singing, and it immediately sank, leaving the guy out of work and broke, and the promoter looking for the next "star".

I had no idea what I was going to when I went to this terrible thing, and I was very embarased and left almost immediately.

I was a musician at one time, and I am still owed for a job my band played in 1964, and I really have no use for promoters/producers, etc.

mark

[tinymontgomery]

102. Ted Negent

back in the late 70's. Really have no idea why I went to it, the guy sucked as far as I was concerned.

[Inspired]

115. Was that the Wango Tango tour? lol

[kwassa]

103. Jefferson Airplane at the Akron Rubber Bowl

It wasn't the airplane ...... it was the tear-gas released by the police at the top of the football stadium. It drifted right down over the audience, and about 3000 of us were gassed and forced down into the infield, out of the stands.

The police then arrested the band for inciting a riot, when the band actually had no idea what was happening. The cops were trying to cover up their own incompetence.

Sometime in the mid-70s.

Commander Cody opened, and was great.

[Initech]

104. The Police at Dodger Stadium

And it wasn't because of the Police - it was a good show. It was the way it was handled. Parking at Dodger Stadium is absolutely atrocious - the line to get in from the freeway took an hour and a half and I wound up missing the Foo Fighters as a result.

[SoxFan]

105. Ratt

Summer of 1984, at the old Kingston Fairgrounds in Kingston, NH, where I grew up.

It was a scorching hot, dusty summer afternoon show, with Twisted Sister, Ratt, Lita Ford, The Lines (a local power-pop band), and, inexplicably, Cheap Trick, then in that slump btween Buddokan and their late 80s revival.

Twisted Sister was surprisingly good. They were fun in a goofy way, and some of their songs were actually well-crafted pop metal.

Lita Ford? Meh. Boring, but easy on the eyes.

Cheap Trick was fantastic.

The Lines had decent songs, but no stage presence.

Ratt. Horrid. Repetitive sludge, lots of showboating solos, and the charisma of a turnip. Worst of all, unlike Twisted Sister, they took their spandex-and-mascara routine seriously.

[bbernardini]

106. To be fair, Frank Zappa used to speak highly of Warren DeMartini.

And let's face it, Frank KNEW a good musician when he heard one.

[SoxFan]

107. Unfortunately...

Frank wouldn't know a good songwriter if they clubbed them upside the head with a 12 string Rickenbacker.

[flvegan]

108. He's excellent. Matter of fact, Ratt has had some pretty stellar

members over the years. Ratt's problem live is Pearcy. He's always been a relatively unexciting front man.

[jmowreader]

109. I was dumb enough to see Blue Oyster Cult TWICE

BOC is a band you go to because you like their warm-up acts. They should have never been allowed to play in front of people.

[LBJDemocrat]

111. Why?

What's wrong with BOC? I've never seen them live, but I like their music.

[jmowreader]

113. Bad attitude and worse engineering

I saw 'em play twice--in the Spokane Coliseum and in the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. In both cases, the singer acted like being in those places was really beneath him but he "had" to play those places to get the shows he really wanted.

Now for engineering. When I go to a concert I stand on the floor in front of the stage--usually about a hundred feet back, because the sound's good there. Usually. In BOC's case, you get this big wall of sound coming at you; you can't really pick out the different players. Instead of music, you hear "loud."

[Kat45]

122. I saw BOC in a club once, and it was such a boring show.

They just stood there playing and never once interacted with the audience; I don't think they even looked at the audience.

[OmahaBlueDog]

126. It's funny you say that

I'm a BOC fan. In 1981, the BEST show I ever saw was Foghat. I'm not a big Foghat fan, but they just put on an awesome show. They were the opening act for Blue Oyster CUlt at the Cap Centre in Maryland.

[leftyclimber]

110. David Bowie's Glass Spider tour.

Plagued with technical problems. A couple of the spider legs "went out" and never came back on during the concert. The sound was so loud it came out as a big mush for most of the show. I actually slept through part of it.

Duran Duran opened, though, and they were fantastic.

[txwhitedove]

112. Steppenwolf, a brazillion years ago when they were hot.....

but not that night. They barely played through two songs, off and on, and seemed stuck cramped together on the right side of the big stage. Either there was only one small electrical outlet or they needed a quick escape. It was bizarre.

[graywarrior]

114. Todd Rundgren in Boston early 70's.

He was so bad he got booed.

[leeroysphitz]

116. Peter Murphy at Heart Plaza in Detroit, 1991.

The sound kept cutting out on his mic throughout the show and he eventually threw down the microphone in disgust and walked off the stage. And then, for reasons that nobody can explain, the Detroit City police showed up in riot gear and forced everyone to leave. Which was very odd since nobody was being the least bit rowdy.

[Kali]

119. hard to remember the worst

but one of the saddest was Johnny Winter a few years ago. They pretty much had to prop him up with a stick. :-(

[FloridaJudy]

121. Altamont

I gave it a miss because I'm not fond of large crowds and traffic jams, but my ex was there and filmed it.

Complete bummer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert

[XemaSab]

128. My mom was there

and she hasn't been to a rock show since, THAT'S how bad it was. :o

[sniffa]

124. Smashing Pumpkins

Top headliner of Lollapolooza and they have to be the worst, big name, live band I've ever seen.

I'm seen some friend/relative's bar band, but that doesn't count.

[Kat45]

125. Cycle Sluts From Hell

Metal band from the early nineties. Four women dressed like cycle sluts up front singing with a band playing behind them. I was writing an article about them and had to interview them, supposedly before the show but it ended up being quite a bit after the show, which meant I had to hang around all night watching several bands even worse than they were. My photographer walked out and went home when the band's people told him he had to sign something saying the band would get all the photos and had to approve what pics were used in the article.

[quakerboy]

127. Old VanHalen

A few months ago, in fact. Blech. I hope they used to be better, because otherwise, I will have to lower my opinion of music as a whole.

[Awsi Dooger]

129. Both of them

I'm not a music person.

Actually, I was amazed at your reference. I have almost no background or interest in music but I did see Pete Fountain at Miami Marine Stadium in July 1980. I remember the date because it was the night of the famous Borg/McEnroe Wimbledon final. I was still keyed up after that match.

Pete Fountain was celebrating in a different manner. He was completely sloshed, to the point everyone around me was whispering about it. Many stalls and gaps in his performance. I really didn't care because the music meant nothing to me.

I haven't been to Key Biscayne in a while. I guess that stadium never recovered from Andrew.