With the boys on hiatus through the summer thought it might be vaguely interesting to hear about your worst concert experiences...So pitch in with one or two of the most disappointing shows you were unlucky enough to attend.
The one that pops up first in my mind was The Cars semi-lived reunion tour in 2011. Was really excited about seeing them at Roseland, always considered their songs light, catchy , summertime fun. Damn, did they lay an egg. OCasek actually interrupted the first song twenty seconds in to scold the band and make them start over. The setlist was bloated with slow tempo tedious songs. It was the definition of a band mailing it in. My wife couldn't stop yawning, and upset I dragged hear to it
Honorable mention for Queensryche, mid 90s Jones Beach. Before you judge the scenario involves a young girl with great huge boobs and her passion for the opening act, Type o Negative. These clowns in Queensryche actually had extras on the stage. I'm not talking about extra musicians or scantily clad dancers, I'm talking about actors playing the roles of paparazzi and fake taking pictures. Blech.
We actually missed the opening act cause my POS 79 caddy broke down and my friend had to drive us there. That was a fun train ride home.To make the story even sadder, big boobs never returned any of my calls afterwards

The worst concert I have ever been to is The Rolling Stones, 2015 in San Diego. I had front row seats for this show, so how you might be wondering could this possibly be the worst I have ever been to? And I'm posting on a Stones site!!

First off, the seats were in the front row, but so far off to the side, that you were practically looking at Keith's guitar from the backside. The angle was horrible, and the only time you felt like you were part of the concert was when Mick walked the ramp. But the security ruined it for me. Totally. They were like the Gestapo, threatening to throw us out, yelling at us to sit down, while people with no tickets stormed the barrier in front of us blocking our view. At one point, I seriously considered hurting one of the security people and getting ejected. The sound was horrible, the drive was too far. And this was four days after the greatest gig of my life, front row in the Fonda, two feet from the boys.

Elton John Paris-Bercy in the eighties

1. Bob Dylan, 1988. I was hired as a local stage-hand. Show was so boring that a few others and I ended up playing football under the seats (major arena) while we waited for the show to end.

2. Wilson Pickett, c. 2001-02. My band was third on the bill. The local band 2nd on the bill had been hired to back Pickett for his set after theirs. Note: They were a very good band but, during the pre-show rehearsal, it became evident that their rhythm section was not going to be able to adapt to the changes (arrangement/keys) to some of the songs for Pickett's set. As they struggled, we actually felt sorry for them and him both. Sadly, because we knew how bad it was going to be, we left early as we really didn't want to stick around to watch one of our heroes have to suffer through what was about to happen.

3. I've shared this story before... After a rainy drive through the Smoky Mountain National Park to get to Cherokee, NC to see Aretha Franklin at a Casino, we are greeted by the sign on the marquee: "Aretha Franklin Cancelled Due To Illness. Tonight's Special Guest: Tony Orlando". We did not stay for his set.

Peace,
Mr DJA

Aerosmith and Ted Nugent at Giants Stadium in 1978 .... and I say that as someone who was a big fan of Aerosmith at the time. Absolutely @#$%& horrible. The friend I went with couldn't even take it. He left after Ted and waited for me in the car.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-13 19:35 by tatters.

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roller99
this was four days after the greatest gig of my life, front row in the Fonda, two feet from the boys.

Club-gigs will spoil you for life. Once you've seen one you can't enter an arena or a stadium again...

I know it's a sin to speak ill of the dead, but my worst concert by some distance was Prince at the Manchester GMEX in the 90s. It was during the period when he was in dispute with his record company, and had changed his name to a symbol. He didn't play a single song that we had ever heard before, and to make it worse, it was loud enough to make your ears bleed. We left before the end, and we were by no means the only ones.

J Mascis with elektrified acoustic guitar last year...horrible sound...I Heard from some people he have serious problem with his hearing...I've believed them...I love all the stuff with Dinosaur Jr and his solo-stuff on CD....

2 1 2 0

The Stranglers - Toulouse 1986 or so : not the worst but i was expecting too much from this band alive. Really desappointed in the end;

Neil Young - POPB 2014 : a 10' larsen/solo and never ending songs is all i can remember (i'm goin' to see him again in july).

Smashing Pumpkins in ST LOUIS at a Lollapalooza in late 90s. They came on after fantastic sets by the Food Fighters and Beasties and the crowd was pumped and their set started with a 5-10 minute dirge of a song. With the crowd now thoroughly subdued, Corgan started blasting the crowd about how we sucked and everyone hates St. Louis. Yeah, we and many thousands headed home



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-13 20:28 by DrPete.

American Glam rock band Angel at the Santa Monica Civic around '76 or '77.
If memory serves it was a free concert to help promote the band, but even for free it wasn't worth it.

- Angel was discovered by Kiss bass player Gene Simmons

Could explain why they were so terrible...

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Linda Ronstadt around 1990 in Holmdel NJ. Now I love Linda Ronstadt and when I saw her on the Get Closer Tour in the mid-eighties at Rutgers Athletic Center, Waddy Wachtel was in the band and they rocked. In 1990, the absence of Waddy made all the difference. The band sounded so lame; songs that required some crunchy guitar like Tumbling Dice and Poor Pitiful me had no bite whatsoever. My girlfriend and I actually left midway through.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-13 20:44 by HonkeyTonkFlash.

Not sure if this qualifies as worst....but:
Bob Dylan at PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ 1990, Under The Red Sky Tour.
I've always loved Bob's penchant for reworking his songs but on this occasion most songs were virtually unrecognizable. I remembering trying to decipher something that sounded like a punk-rockabilly trainwreck on amphetamines and realizing by the time it was over it was Shelter From The Storm. As we were leaving, my friend summed it up well; "That was either the best, worst, or just plain strangest Dylan concert ever."
Can't complain, I've seen three other very good Bob shows.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-13 21:11 by HonkeyTonkFlash.

Aerosmith 1990 in Livingston (Scotland). My brother and I had waited years to see them. we drove down to Birmingham to see them at the NEC a couple of nights before and they were awesome. They opened that show with Rats in the Cellar, and played half the song behind a giant red curtain which dropped to the floor mid song revealing the band in full flight glory. So far, so good. The Livingston gig was basically a club show and should have been incredible. we raved to all our friends about how good this gig was going to be, and a whole bunch of us went. Aerosmith were shocking. they didn't want to be there. it was the smallest gig of the tour, and you could tell they felt they were better than this. really disappointing. I can forgive most things, but not apathy. saw them a couple of years ago in London and it was incredible. life affirming. get the Donington video if you need proof.

Bob Dylan Stuttgart (Germany) 1991 – the title of the bootleg 'name that tune' says all…

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slewan
Bob Dylan Stuttgart (Germany) 1991 – the title of the bootleg 'name that tune' says all…

Oh yeah that European 1991 tour was legendary... and not in a good way. We'll never know if Bob was pissed off by the Gulf War pt.I or by a nasty divorced but he was quite pissed off (and pissed too).

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dcba

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roller99
this was four days after the greatest gig of my life, front row in the Fonda, two feet from the boys.

Club-gigs will spoil you for life. Once you've seen one you can't enter an arena or a stadium again...

Believe you may be right.. but wouldn't know conclusively (yet)

To your point, I attended (or rather attempted to attend) both of the same shows in southern California that Zip-Code tour.
Hung out in front of the Fonda for days.. tried like hell to make connections and of course tried like crazy to get tix when they went on sale on-line. Ended up listening to most of the show from the street and inside a bar in the same bldg as the concert. Perhaps not the worst concert experience (only because I tech didn't go)but close.

Went to San Diego a fe days later, bough the cheapest "floor" seats I could get, same side and section as Roller99 I believe from the sounds of it, and had the time of my life (again not the best ever, but close)..

Hoping for another shot at a club gig if/when they arm up for Coachella...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-13 21:38 by MisterDDDD.

dcba -"Club-gigs will spoil you for life. Once you've seen one you can't enter an arena or a stadium again..."

Probably true, but I've never seen a legendary act in a small venue. Maybe the closest I can claim is Keith at the Tower Theater in Philly. Having said that, I really like the atmosphere of seeing a band like The Stones or The Who (it's been a long time...) in a stadium. The enormity of the event just adds to the excitement for me.

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slewan
Bob Dylan Stuttgart (Germany) 1991 – the title of the bootleg 'name that tune' says all…

Clinton Heylin called this the worst concert by a major artist. I have the tape. The opening version of New Morning was a drunken mess. I argue that the show improved and the end of the show was no worse than other 1991 shows but that's not saying much. Fall 1990 to Summer 1991 was the worst stretch of the Never Ending tour probably because Bob's secret marriage had crumbled and he drank excessively.

John Mayall in Bologna in 2015.
Very bad performance, too much solos by the bassist of the band, bad sound.

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stewedandkeefed

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slewan
Bob Dylan Stuttgart (Germany) 1991 – the title of the bootleg 'name that tune' says all…

Clinton Heylin called this the worst concert by a major artist. I have the tape. The opening version of New Morning was a drunken mess. I argue that the show improved and the end of the show was no worse than other 1991 shows but that's not saying much. Fall 1990 to Summer 1991 was the worst stretch of the Never Ending tour probably because Bob's secret marriage had crumbled and he drank excessively.

Ha! See my post above re - Dylan 1990, Holmdel NJ!

Van Morrison at the Oxford Apollo, 1994, by some distance, and all because of Brian Kennedy. It was horrendous, as Van barely sung, and stood stage left, applauding the fatuous Kennedy.

Any concert where people would rather sit down than stand up and boogie. These two shows from the 80's come to mind: Rod Stewart & The Talking Heads. Our group kept standing up and the anger from those in back of us was palpable.

The Pretenders in the 80s at Pine Knob. They played a very short set, about 70 minutes and were boring as hell!

Two worst:

(1) Boston on their 1978 "Don't Look Back" tour. Driving to the show, we were listening to a tape of the just-released "Don't Look Back" and every song sounded like some of the "meh"/filler songs from their first record. We were less-enthused for the show when we got there, than we'd been when we set out for it, and it's the only show from which I have no memorable moments.

(2) Chicago at Merriweather Post Pavilion (outside Baltimore), late 1980s. Early Chicago had some GREAT tunes, and their guitar/horn mix was probably better than any other band I've heard. Then after 1974 or so they were one cheesy "Air Supply" phoned-in hit after another. And guess what their setlist was that night - all of the interchangeable easy-listening dreck! Then for the encore they strapped on their guitars and blasted into "I'm a Man," which is one of my favorites - and the friends we went with started to leave! So if there was any redeeming value to that show, which I think there may have been - well, I had to miss it!

Nazareth...

How about most non-typical concert? The Who at Giants Stadium 1988. A good performance but way different from one's expectations of The Who. That was the tour where Pete mostly played acoustic and there was a small army of singers and players attempting to recreate the studio arrangements. At least Entwistle was still there to add some thunder! Glad they scaled things back on later tours, even though 1988 was the only time I ever got to see them!

Foreigner 1985 in Vancouver. The band didn't suck, setlist was good, but they were just boring, like going through the motions. I believe Lou Gramm quit the following year.

Almost forgot this one - Rush at East Rutherford NJ on the Power Windows Tour. I'm not a fan but I guess they played well...but the sound was easily the worst live sound I have ever heard in my life. Pure droning through mud!

Men Without Hats!!!! Curse you for making me think of that!