Bad Company Providence Civic Center 1979. Crowd kept lighting off fireworks. The band threatened to leave if it didn't stop. It didn't. So the band left after about 45 minutes. Got into a brawl in the parking lot afterwards for a nice cap to the evening.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-05-16 18:51 by ChrisG.

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Valeswood
Rush - Moving Pictures Tour 1981. They were too good musicianship wise and may as well have mimed to backing tapes. Haven't seen them since.

That was pretty much the same case when I saw them on the Power Windows Tour. Too perfect, soulless and horrible sound, for which I blame the arena more than them.

The worst for me would have to be the Doors at the L.A. Forum in December 1968...just awful'

The Doors did about 6 songs then Jim sat down and read poetry for about 30 minutes.


Runner-up would be Dylan and Tom Petty, but TP is so good that I couldn't call it the worst. But the Dylan portion, well that's another story.

Bob Seger Texas Hall Arlington Tx 1976 or 77

Rolling Stones, Frankfurt, Bigger Bang Tour. Terrible concert.

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Hansman
Rolling Stones, Frankfurt, Bigger Bang Tour. Terrible concert.

Was this after Keith's head thonk?

Robert Cray - Joliet, Illinois (circa early/mid 90's.).Horrible sound, R. Cray was having an off night. My only thought through this show was the drive back to Chicago - and wondering if I should stop off somewhere for a bite....or just go home.

John Abercrombie (Boston, MA - 1994?)----zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....what a pretentious bore. I walked out.

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HonkeyTonkFlash

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Hansman
Rolling Stones, Frankfurt, Bigger Bang Tour. Terrible concert.

Was this after Keith's head thonk?

Yes.

Bob Dylan 1993
Oasis (a few years later)

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latebloomer

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TeaAtThree

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latebloomer

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TeaAtThree
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

Late Bloomer, who are you? I'm a Baltimorean by birth. Gilman School product.
Class of '85.
T@3

You remember more than me Tea, I was there too. The heat was so unbearable, that's all that sticks with me. But you're right about the Dead...second time I had seen them, both times equally unmemorable. At least at this show, I stayed awake through their set. First time was at the Baltimore Civic Center and my friends had to wake me to tell me it was over.

Gilman!!...impressive, Tea. I'm nobody special - certainly not prep school material - a bit older than you, grew up on the Eastern Shore of MD by way of Greenbelt where my dad worked. Used to travel into Charm City for concerts and such, but mostly hung out in Annapolis. Wasn't a heck of a lot to do on the shore in those days. Still have family by the Bay...truly God's country. Cheers to you and crack a few crab legs for me.

No crab legs out here in Salt Lake City, UT, Bloomer. Am moving to CA next month -- Sacramento -- at least from there the crabs will have a shorter flight from the west coast waters.
Tea

Some of these stories are cracking me up.

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keefriff99
Some of these stories are cracking me up.

I agree. This is a fantastic thread. Great stories.

My worst show was probably Santana some time in the early 2000's. He was in his "Ritmo Latino" phase. I am a big fan of his first 3 or 4 records and the only thing he did from those was Evil Ways. The rest of the show was almost unlistenable. He played the same lick on every song. Horrible, but I stuck it out waiting for something good to come. It never came.

Bad Brains, Exit festival 2010.

Linda Ronstadt at Holmdel NJ @1990? Her return to rock and roll numbers after several years. The absence of Waddy Wachtel from her band left a huge hole in the music. Just felt lifeless. Saw her on her Get Closer tour in New Brunswick, NJ years earlier and it was one of the best concerts...largely because of Waddy in the band.

"Gonna find my way to heaven ..."

1. Eric Clapton

2. The warm-up band for the Stones, the Exponents.

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Bliss
1. Eric Clapton

2. The warm-up band for the Stones, the Exponents.

What year?

1. Steely Dan...Merriweather Post Maryland HORRIFIC..walked out, the only time I ever walked out of a concert, I mean there weren't even any good looking girls in there...

2. Boston...Nissan Pavilion Virginia Not a clue on volume and sound.

3. Blues Traveler...opened for the Stones, no clue on how to play a stadium, waaay to loud.

4. Van Halen....the last tour with Hagar, Eddie had no clue what planet or stage he was on. Van Halen with Hagar is the best incarnation by the way, and their 90's concerts were incredible.

Just off the top of my head.

Bon Jovi Manchester 2008 - I walked out when they started JJF .


sc uk

Dylan late 80's, tho I've seen him in triumphant shows over the many years too.
haha 'name that tune' days...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-06-24 03:30 by hopkins.

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hopkins
Dylan late 80's, tho I've seen him in triumphant shows over the many years too.
haha 'name that tune' days...

Interesting...because one of the best Dylan shows I ever saw was in 1987; must have been one of his good nights...Then I saw him in 1990 and that was pretty bad.

"Gonna find my way to heaven ..."

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HonkeyTonkFlash

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hopkins
Dylan late 80's, tho I've seen him in triumphant shows over the many years too.
haha 'name that tune' days...

Interesting...because one of the best Dylan shows I ever saw was in 1987; must have been one of his good nights...Then I saw him in 1990 and that was pretty bad.

I hesitate to criticize him, even in retrospect because I have so much respect for him. It was summer of '88 and he did 3 shows @Greek in L.A. I don't remember which show I saw or why it was so hard to get into. I have seen many live clips from various '88 shows and they are often compelling...so...maybe it was me, maybe I felt he was phoning it in. I was much younger. Maybe I wasn't letting go of past expectations having been so thrilled by him in early '70's shows, I'm not sure. I love his newest stuff; I love most all of his career and it's incredible he's still out there meaning so much to so many, and to me.
Maybe he was just much further down his path than I could yet understand, maybe he just wasn't into it that hour of his life and I smelled that out. I don't know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-06-24 04:49 by hopkins.

Allman Brothers Holmdel, NJ sometime in the 80's.....I had long day at work and then was offered tickets and literally got out of my car and into my friends car drove an hour to get to the show and I was exhausted. It ended up being a marathon concert and the songs seemed like they were never ending. It took forever to get home and I had to get up early the next day to go to work again!. Now I live close by and my wife works there...lol

I saw the Bowies "Glass Spider" tour as well...There were like 40 people on stage and at times you couldn't tell which one was Bowie. Big disappointment.

I hate to say it but...........I saw the Charlie Watts orchestra at the Ritz in NYC in the 80's......buy the intermission 3/4 of the audience walked out.

Van halen with David lee Roth about 5 years ago(free ticket that I was dragged to) was pretty sucky too. Individually they are all good musicians but they can't play together. They were all trying to upstage each other. It was rock but absolutely no roll

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hopkins

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HonkeyTonkFlash

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hopkins
Dylan late 80's, tho I've seen him in triumphant shows over the many years too.
haha 'name that tune' days...

Interesting...because one of the best Dylan shows I ever saw was in 1987; must have been one of his good nights...Then I saw him in 1990 and that was pretty bad.

I hesitate to criticize him, even in retrospect because I have so much respect for him. It was summer of '88 and he did 3 shows @Greek in L.A. I don't remember which show I saw or why it was so hard to get into. I have seen many live clips from various '88 shows and they are often compelling...so...maybe it was me, maybe I felt he was phoning it in. I was much younger. Maybe I wasn't letting go of past expectations having been so thrilled by him in early '70's shows, I'm not sure. I love his newest stuff; I love most all of his career and it's incredible he's still out there meaning so much to so many, and to me.
Maybe he was just much further down his path than I could yet understand, maybe he just wasn't into it that hour of his life and I smelled that out. I don't know.

I have seen Bob Dylan nearly 180 times. I have seen him what I would call phone it in to some degree many times. I loved your description of the battle between youthful expectation and just being in the presence of a mundane version of his Bobness. I've been there.

1. The Doors - 1968, Jim stood motionless thru about 5 or 6 songs, then sat down and read poetry for about 30 minutes.

2. Bob Dylan & Tom Petty - 1986, Petty was his great usual self, Dylan's voice sounded like a donkey with a bad cold.

What a tough question to answer. I've had to really think about this one. My worst experience at a concert has to be:

#1 Dave Matthews- Boston Garden 2011 (I think).
What a bore of a show. It all sounded the same to me. Can't remember if I heard one guitar solo. The tall muscle guy's sound playing that damn violin/fiddle every song was most annoying.

#2 Bryan Adams and some other 80's act- there were a few bands on the bill; I went b/c of a girl . . .

#3 Grateful Dead Saratoga Springs 1989- Don't get me wrong, I love the Dead, saw them over 20 times but this show I lost my shoes in the mud. Yup, barefoot for the show and miserable.

Prince at MSG '98 - he didn't play a song the whole way through all night (except maybe Purple Rain?), just do about 60-90 seconds of something and then move on to the next snippet. Thankfully, it was over in an hour and a half.

Black Crowes in '07 - played no hits and endless indulgent "jamming"

One of the worst was Chris Jagger in Horsens, Denmark around 2010-2011.
He had played at the city 2-3 times before with his own band. Despite the fact that Chris Jagger can be quite arrogant at times, he can really knock it off with some great energized performances.

This time, however, the local blues-union had made arrangements with Chris, that he could fly in and be backed by local blues-musicians (to save money). Personally, I know many of those musicians and they are really great in their own right and are both passionate and have great ability.

Chris Jagger's songs does indeed have certain blues-roots, but they are more complicated than just the usual 12-bars. Unfortunately, Chris and the musicians had only communicated through the local blues-union and both parts ended up with mis-information: Chris thought the musicians had learned his songs and the band had gotten the information that his music was blues-orientated traditional material. To complicate the matters, they only had around 2 hours of rehearsals together in the afternoon, before the concert the same evening.

The result was painful and very embarrasing for both Chris and the musicians and it was one of the most horrible and under-rehearsed concerts I have ever witnessed. Several of the musicians refuse to talk about it today.
Members of the audience (around 150 people) just either slipped away or got drunk to forget the experience...

Thanks for all the worst concert posts.....lots of laughs.

Was a triple bill that I won tickets for about 4-5 years ago that had Loverboy, Pat Benatar and Journey. I decided getting in 2-3 drinks was better than catching Loverboy so I came in just before Benatar. Thought she and her hubby did a good set, she can still sing and he's not a bad guitarist. I lasted about 6 songs into Journey before the combination of the Youtube kid doing his Steve Perry imitation and watching Neil Schon's then girlfriend, Michaele Salahi (of gatecrash fame), trying to get fans to notice her side stage took it's toll on me and I left.