George Harrison at Madison Square Garden, December 19, 1974. Dark Hoarse!

Joe Cocker Auckland 1974. Was so stoned he couldn't sing, got boo'd off

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DrPete
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

Oh man that's true....Smashing Pumpkins was a stinker as well. I went to their rescheduled MSG show after the drummer passed away, I think it was 98. The crowd was full of teeny boppers and woah, the attitude from Corgan was ridiculous. All in all a snooze fest.

Aerosmith is a hit or miss, especially since around 2000 or so. Within the first 3 songs you can tell if they're mailing it in that night. There is a general palpable dislike between Tyler and Perry which clearly effects the vibe of the show. They're the only band I've seen more than the Stones (was sorta obsessed with them in my late teens early twenties) and probably have caught them on half a dozen bad nights. Though their last show at Jones Beach a couple summers ago was a lot of fun. Tyler could still belt em out.

I don't think this really counts as a concert in the sense the word is being used here, since it was at a small club. I'm just bringing it up because it was so odd as well as not very much fun.

I saw Bo Diddley once back in the early 1980s, and while I don't claim any great familiarity with his work, for the life of me I couldn't recognize anything he was playing as an actual song. He just sort of played random stuff on his guitar without pause for maybe an hour.

All I could figure was that maybe he was pissed off about something and just did the bare minimum his contract required. He got on stage, played for some amount of time, and that was that.

Aerosmith in the late 70's.

Joe Satriani a few years ago

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Maindefender
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.

You sound like a real piece of work. Sit down if your the only one standing

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RockinJive

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Maindefender
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.

You sound like a real piece of work. Sit down if your the only one standing

Are any of you two American?

Madonna - Werchter (Belgium) 2009

Rolling Stones - Werchter (Belgium) 2007
(London, the same year was pretty horrible too)

Chuck Berry - Lotto Arena (Antwerp, Belgium) 2007

The Grateful Dead, anywhere they ever played.

Oh, I had to have attended? Lee Michaels walked off the stage in Atlanta in the middle of his first song and didn't return. Hmmmm. Billy Joel in '78 and Elvis Costello in '88, only because their concerts were nothing but passionless note by note recitations of their albums. The worst Stones concert was 2013, L.A., opening night. Just old, man, only highlights were Emotional Rescue, except the bass sucked, the first chords of Keith playing JJF, Mick T. on Midnight Rambler, and the choir on YCAGWYW.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-15 00:32 by 24FPS.

Journey in 1978 was the first band at a baseball stadium show and were horrendous. Two weeks later, they were entertaining (probably because Chicago was a Journey town at that point) in the slot before the Stones at Soldier Field. The all time yuk would have to be The Grateful Dead in '77. Band PA was so low, you could hear the crowd blather during songs - most people felt the same way about the boring setlist apparently. The "high"light was when I was approached by a very stoned gal who addressed me as Jesus and asked me if I had any dinosaur bones (my friends had set her up while I was using the toilet... real funny, ha ha).

Believe it or not, Buddy Guy in Massey Hall. This was in April, 2006. I had seen him play four times the past January at Legends and loved every minute of it. The man was amazing and completely owned each and every concert.
So I took my wife to see him in April when he came to Massey Hall and he couldn't finish a song or play anything in tune. Something was wrong. He was a completely different person. I was actually worried that he might be seriously ill or never able to play again.
I saw him at the Beacon that fall and he was his usual self. Scared me more than anything else.

One other other concert wasn't the band or the venue but the crowd. It was Wilco with about 1,500 people and the small pockets in the crowd wouldn't stop talking. They we're talking over the playing of the band, and when you'd ask them to shut up (please be quiet, we're trying to listen to the BAND!!), they'd just stare at you like you were the rudest person. It was like the worst behaviour of movie theatres had migrated to the concert hall. So we started singing over their talking. and that got the attention of the band, we were singing so loud. Tweedy actually asked the talkers to leave if they all they wanted to do was talk.

Everyone else started cheering. But I still get angry when I think about it.


On the internet nobody knows
you're Mick Jagger

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FeelinRealWell
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

queensryche is a progressive metal band and often called "the thinking mans metal". why is the bands stage props upsetting to you? I've seen rush with washing machines on the stage. I didn't get upset by it

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tatters
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.

I'm just slightly confused. was it ted that was bad or aerosmith or both?

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keefriffhard4life

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tatters
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.

I'm just slightly confused. was it ted that was bad or aerosmith or both?

It was the Giants. They sucked in 1978.

Have you seen the Miracle at the Meadowlands? Stunningly bad team, left a stink across the entire tri-state area.


On the internet nobody knows
you're Mick Jagger



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-14 07:26 by camper88.

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ab
George Harrison at Madison Square Garden, December 19, 1974. Dark Hoarse!

I have never even been on a George Harrison concert, or a John Lennon concert, or a Beatles-Concert ....

2 1 2 0

The Who ( original line up ) mid 70's Boston Garden-- drove 3 hours through a heavy snowstorm-- waited through an extended opening set by a crummy opening
act-- when the Who finally took the stage ( 1 1/2 hours late ) , they played two songs, Keith Moon passed out and was dragged off stage...the concert was over -- Daltrey came on and said that "Moon had the flu"......right.
The place erupted in fights and I made it out of there by the skin of my teeth........ thanks Moon.

I think mine was Bowie Glass Spider tour, Phila 1987.I was so looking forward to it & was pretty lame.
Worst Stones show was 2005 Hershey ,PA. Retarded place to hold a concert & Stones phoned it in that night.

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keefriffhard4life

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tatters
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.

I'm just slightly confused. was it ted that was bad or aerosmith or both?

The entire event, billed as a "Jersey Jam," was bad, including Journey and Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, who also played that day. The only thing I remember enjoying was a drum solo by Aynsley Dunbar, who was Journey's drummer at the time.

It's funny about Aerosmith 'cause I think Toys in the Attic and Rocks are two of the greatest albums ever made, but I had to come to the conclusion that they are a purely studio band. I saw them 5 times between 1977 and 1980 before I finally had to give up on the idea of seeing them live. I kept thinking that I must be catching them on off nights and that I needed to try again. The last time I saw them was at a surprise club show with Tyler singing practically right into my face. After that, there was no reason to see them again, ever. "You wanna see Aerosmith tonight?" "No, man. I've seen Aerosmith!" ><



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-14 16:29 by tatters.

I've been going to concerts since 1970, so a few stick in mind as the worst...

BADFINGER (1974) - Virginia Tech - I was so excited to see them, love their studio tunes, and they were bloody awful, out of tune, just a big disappointment.

ROD STEWART AND THE FACES (1973) - Roanoke, VA - several things happened here. First of all, the Doobie Brothers (at their best that year), had just done a very strong opening set, and the (rather sober) crowd was sort of in a "sit and listen" mood as opposed to standing on chairs and dancing in the aisle. I found out many years later that, just before hitting the stage, Ronnie had just gotten them together to say he was leaving the band. They took the news by getting plastered, and there was actually a bartender on stage, dressed in a tux, distributing multiple drinks most every minute. So.....subdued crowd (if they had been in a small dance hall and everyone else was equally as plowed, it would have been a better show), band that was not really "into" it, either....they came out for the encore and practically no one was applauding! Rod was in fine voice, looked great throwing the mike stand in the air, but that was about it.

AL HIRT (1998) - Atlanta - took my elderly dad, a big jazz and dixieland fan. They wheeled Al out on the stage in a wheelchair, he was drunk, played almost every note about a half tone flat. We left about halfway through because it was just too painful. Al died several months after that.

CHICAGO (1972) - Roanoke - I was a big Chicago fan at the time, had seen them twice previously, both great shows, no opening act, two long sets, encores,etc. This third time they had an opening act, very short set, no encore, and phoned it in. I decided my time as a Chicago fan had ended.

Other thoughts....

I also saw George Harrison in 1974, but I already knew that he was hoarse, played a lot of Indian music, almost no Beatles tunes, etc. It was not one of the best shows I have ever seen, but I was in the perfect frame of mind to enjoy it, anyway, and I did. Being such a big Beatles fan, he could have played "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" that evening and I would have been happy seeing him, just the same.

I was initially disappointed seeing Frank Zappa, in Boston, 1977, because I had about 30 possible Zappa tunes I wanted to hear, and he did about 90% brand new music that had not been released yet. I have the bootleg from that show which I very much enjoy now, but I was not that happy during the concert. Also, the arena was chock full of teenagers who were screaming "ZAPPA! ZAPPA! ZAPPA! all night long, even during quiet parts of songs, drunk, falling down the stairs, etc. Weird night.

I know I'll think of more later....

1. Chuck Berry 2013 DC Howard Theater. He cannot play anymore. His figers do not function he makes awful noise while his son plays the "Chuck riffs" but it is just terrible. I saw him a few years early and was great so old age has done him in.

2. Black Crowes after the third album. They smoked a TON of pot and played terribly extending songs into stupid jams. The audience started throwing CD's at them to stop. It was most bizarre. Saw them later with Luther in as a fellow guitar player and they were great! Played the songs dead on and rocked the house.

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Come On

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ab
George Harrison at Madison Square Garden, December 19, 1974. Dark Hoarse!

I have never even been on a George Harrison concert, or a John Lennon concert, or a Beatles-Concert ....

So what

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letitloose
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.

Aerosmith can be like that regardless of the venue or what's in the setlist. Basically they hate each other but need each other unless they want to be working at Guitar Center and at this point management was pulling the strings from setlists to stage wardrobe and everything in between. But they have a great catalog, sometimes they work it well and sometimes they are just going through the motions.

In my case it was Neil Young & Crazy Horse at the San Diego Sports Arena in 2003. Went down to party with a friend I met at the Stones show the year before, there was a long delay due to a blown board, the sound wasn't that good anyway and 90 minutes of Greendale basically put me to sleep.

There are loads of local bands or free shows in the park by one hit wonders I have seen at minimal cost and effort that didn't really click but nothing quite comes to the disappointment of traveling 120 miles to see a top tier artist deliver a boring show.

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Cooltoplady

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Come On

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ab
George Harrison at Madison Square Garden, December 19, 1974. Dark Hoarse!

I have never even been on a George Harrison concert, or a John Lennon concert, or a Beatles-Concert ....

So what

.

Tough call since I give most bands the benefit of the doubt in every live performance. The only one that I actually gave a bad review to when I worked for a local music paper was Tex And The Horseheads. The Horseheads played an extended set while we all waited for "Tex" to show up. When she did stumble onto the stage she was so out of it on something that you couldn't understand a word and she couldn't keep up with the band. I did give the Horseheads credit for the music they played, they were good.

Imagine her about 1/8 as good as this......

[www.youtube.com]

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Bob Dylan in 1987. That was not singing, what my ears must have heard!

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-14 20:27 by DonParker.

Janis Ian at the Bottom Line in the late seventies. Went because of a girlfriend and was the only male in the audience. Not enough alcohol could help that night.

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knifeblade
Janis Ian at the Bottom Line in the late seventies. Went because of a girlfriend and was the only male in the audience. Not enough alcohol could help that night.

Whaddaya mean? Lotsa guys think Janis is hot!





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-14 21:33 by tatters.

Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, July 1986 Washington, DC RFK Stadium. 100+ degrees.

Dylan was horrendous. The "best" songs from that tour became "Dylan and the Dead," which every Deadhead and every Dylan fan disavows and abhors.

The Dead were worse. This was five days before Jerry nearly died, slipping into a diabetic coma.

Only Tom Petty, playing lots of the brand new "Southern Accents," made the day remotely redeemable.

T@3