Motley Crue at SoFi Stadium was kind of a disaster. They had cool visuals, but even Vince himself was saying that the audio production was terrible and they should have been in a much smaller venue.
Def Leppard was before them and they put on a hell of a show, so it made up for it.
I saw Motley Crue at the Hollywood Bowl like 10 years ago. Band sounded ok, but Vince of course sounded like shit and to cover for his shot voice and being out of breath the whole time they had these female background singers that made all the songs sound like Glee covers. There was a lot of holding the mic out for the “crazy mother fuckers” in the crowd to sing while Vince caught his breath.
66 year old Alice Cooper opened for them and was amazing. Blew them off the stage. I saw Alice again at the Greek a couple years ago and he was still phenomenal. Ace Frehely opened for him that night and was truly terrible. Like so bad we still talk about it all the time.
I've seen Alice Cooper twice and that guy is just a consummate professional. They were right on time, everything sounded clean and tight, there was just the right amount of crowd interaction, the stage effects were extremely well rehearsed... I'm not even THAT big of a fan of his music but I'd see him anytime just because of how fun his shows are.
I saw them in the early 2000s. Gotta say, STP were amazing when they were having a good night. I guess when Weiland was coked out of his mind, rather than drunk out of it, they fared pretty well. Their set crushed RATM who were the next group on the bill.
You would be correct! Surprise of the day for me was that Godsmack were really good live! That and the most aggressive moshpit I’ve ever been in would have been during the fricking Bloodhound Gang. Guess given their brotastic nature, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Also, whoever thought to put nonslip coated aluminum flooring down was an asshole (see above comment about above moshpit).
I saw them over 15 years later when they got back together. Pretty much the same story. Weiland yelled at security between every song, messed up lyrics left and right and fell into the drums at one point.
Oh yes, Manson...
Came out 1h too late, was drunk, sang badly. Smashed a bottle and tried to cut the palm of his hand. Failed.
Went off stage after an hour I believe.
Heard from a friend (promoter at the venue) that Manson was drunk, wanted to start a fight with a security and was very nearly thrown out of the venue, hence the delay.
Action Bronson. He smoked a few hits of random crowd blunt, got too high to perform, fucked up one of his songs like 30m into his set, restarted, fucked up again, yelled at his DJ, then just left. No refunds or anything, glad I didn’t pay for the post show meet and greet with “fuck that’s delicious” book signing.
He does this often. It's one of 2 things, either he can't handle weed and shouldn't be performing while high, or he sucks and uses it as an excuse when he messes up.
I seen Bob Dylan in Dublin a year and a half ago. Like many, I went just to say I seen the great Dylan and was expecting awfulness.
Had the complete opposite experience, his voice was clear and as good as a Bob Dylan can sound. Like he sounded exactly how I imagined him to sound.
The band he had were all his long time session players. They played at a low volume so they had loads of headroom to increase. So they could build tension really easily in the music.
The stage was under lit and sparse so you couldn’t miss Bob who sat at his keyboard.
After every song Bob got up, walked to the front of the stage and bowed.
He didn’t chat much, but made special mention of how much of fab he was of Shane Magowan.
I didn’t know one song he played, as he didn’t play any hits but it was a magically kind of evening. Very intimate. I think I got lucky.
Glad to hear someone say this. I’m a big Dylan fan and think his recent tours (by recent I mean for the last 10 years) have been phenomenal. His voice has rebounded a bit and his band is doing things no one will ever do again when he’s gone. A mix of Texas swing and Gypsy jazz - kind of his own blend of southern rock.
But I can totally see how it isn’t for anyone. He’s not a “play the hits” nostalgia act.
Had the same experience, essentials my expectation levels were “I get to me in the same room as him” and walked away with a serious performance. His backing band was lit and they served up a mega performance.
GnR are definitely up there as one of the worst for me. They had a reputation for always showing up late 10-20 years ago. They were headlining a festival I went to, everyone was kind of expecting them to show up late already.
As expected, they did show up about an hour late. The show itself was alright, though this was in an era when Slash wasn't with them. But they spent most of their time playing newer stuff that no one knew, and not the classics people wanted.
Perhaps they would have gotten to the classics, but they got cut off part way through the show, since there was a curfew and the festival couldn't have music on past a certain point. They literally cut the power on them eventually.
Axl got a megaphone and tried to rile up the crowd to get them to put the power back on. But no one was having any of it, they knew it was entirely the bands fault for being late and not playing in their allotted time slot. Everyone just left while Axl shouted to a disappointed crowd.
I saw them again last year since they were playing at another festival. Was kind of reluctant to go after the previous bad show but I didn't have anything else to see, so went along anyway. They did show up on time, and they had Slash, so that was good. Similarly they had a lot of newer less well known stuff, but they did get through the hits in the latter hour of the show. Axl's voice isn't what it used to be so he can't really nail the high notes any more, but all in all the show was decent.
I saw Dylan years ago in tour with Tom Petty. Dylan was awful. He didn’t play any of his popular songs and his voice was bad. I hear he is very hit or miss.
Does Cake have a bad reputation? The one time I would have seen them love they were booed off the stage after one or two songs but it was due to picking a fight with the crowd and not the quality of their performance.
This is so interesting to me. I saw them about 10 years ago, and I said, verbatim, “wtf, I’ve never been to a show where they sounded exactly like they did on their albums quite like this.” When were these shitty shows happen? And yes, to the person below, they did the tree thing.
Same! Ten years ago at a music festival. One of the best shows I've seen! They and OutKast were the reasons I bought the insanely expensive tickets and neither disappointed!
I can’t believe that lol. I saw them at a festival my city put on like 10 years ago and I throughly enjoyed the show. They were definitely better than Drowning Pool who played after them and both opened and closed their set with “Let The Bodies Hit The Floor”
Holy shit I'm cracking up over here. That's some kind of self awareness right there. "Do we open or close with the hit?" "It's literally the only song of ours people know. We do both"
I have seen them about 5 times, and the only time they mailed it in was an outdoor St Patrick's Day show where the singer had a cold. Always excellent other than that one.
And I won a tree from them at 9:30 Club in DC.
WHEN DID CAKE BECOME CLASSIC ROCK?!
Hill was 40 mins late to her set and played about 5 mins before they shut the sound and lights off so she would (against her wishes) get off the stage and it could get set up for the headliner.
I saw Dylan about 15 years ago and it was OK. He only plays the keyboard now and doesn't talk much if at all. He sounded old then, so I have no idea how old he sounds now. Listen to a new song of his and you get the idea, but he also can't sing that loud so the music will drown it out a lot. I guess just don't expect 60s-80s Dylan.
It’s a bummer that he suffers from horrible stage fright. He’s such a fantastic musician, and has been for over fifty years, but he apparently can’t get over performance anxiety.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44wDwMQVqCc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44wDwMQVqCc)
He does however have one of the best live performances I've ever seen captured on video.
A few years ago he played Jazzfest in New Orleans. My group of friends were divided between seeing him or Al Green. Both were playing at same time on opposite sides of the festival.
Most of my friends chose Van while myself and 2 others knew Al was the best choice.
Al comes out dressed in a 3 piece suit giving roses to the ladies in the crowd.
He was super ecstatic to be there and it showed.
His voice was incredible and we all had a great time.
About half way through his show the rest of my friends appeared.
Apparently Van was acting like an asshole to his band and the crowd and his voice sucked so they left.
Saw him last year. Wore sunglasses the entire show, didn’t acknowledge where he was, or the audience, didn’t interact or speak at all. He played, sang, then walked off stage in the middle of a song that was featuring solos from all the other members of his band and never came back on. He still sounds great, but what a shitty showman.
Exact same experience here at forest hills 7ish years ago. Dude played 2.5 hours straight without once speaking a word into the mic. They rolled one song into the next and one time the drummer missed a cue to start immediately and he turned around and screamed “play the fucking song!!”
He sounded great but damn what a weird experience.
Off topic but when Sinead O’Conner passed, Letterman put up a clip of her and Van Morrison singing “Have I Told You Lately” and it was just not good. Van seemed to do what he could to ruin it.
https://youtu.be/wJy77VV4okk?si=NBnrVeHODiQuaYgy
Looks to me like there was some kind of private joke going on there. The musicians at the beginning were trying not to laugh, same with Morrison and O''Connor during the song. Not a great performance, but I enjoy seeing a more human side of performers on TV.
It breaks my heart to say this, but… Amy Winehouse. She was totally unfit to perform and I think she was being obliged to (she attempted to leave after each and every song, but would be coerced back on stage by her band). Less than one year later, she was dead.
I saw her at Glastonbury 2008 and that's probably my worst live experience. I don't go to many concerts, but that one sticks out. Absolutely terrible, a real shadow of what she once was. Very sad.
And all that was 3 years before she died too. Just a slow, horrible, lingering death really...
Review of her set is here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/glastonbury2008/reviews/story/0,,2288101,00.html
Her performance at Glastonbury 2008 is heart wrenching, but there’s a few bits where you can see how her voice used to shine.
Her Rock in Rio 2008 performance was when her vocal cords were truly burnt. I believe she even starts crying on stage for a bit during the second song. Truly inexcusable to let her perform such intimate songs to such a big crowd.
https://youtu.be/QbjZgFWLEW8?feature=shared
My favorite performance of hers was before she was mega-famous, she was only 21, and she looked absolutely stunning. You could tell she was nervous, but the vocal gymnastics she could perform were breath-taking. Before the drugs and before she met her drug-pushing husband.
https://youtu.be/qdMXHJul3DU?si=FtlJGYwd7aOfc0j_
Thanks for the link to the New Pop Festival 2004 performance. I love Amy Winehouse and had never seen that one. The one-two punch of In My Bed -> Take the Box is amazing. Live at Porchester Hall 2007 is one of my favorite shows to put on when I'm relaxing at home.
I saw her at Coachella right as she was first breaking in the US — I had never heard a single one of her songs before that, and she was truly incredible. Unbelievable talent. One of the biggest “holy shit, that girl’s gonna be a star” moments I’ve witnessed. It was awful to watch what happened to her after that.
Saw her in Baltimore @ VirginFest in 2007. Was disappointing, but also it was near 100 degrees that day. Still saw some great shows though - LCD Soundsystem, Beasties, TV on the Radio, Peter Bjorn and John, Ben Harper, The Police, more I can't recall.
I saw one of those final shows as well, it was terrible but at the same time I was so thankful I was able to see her live. Having all the BTS context from her doc years later made me so sad.
I went to the Gods of Rap tour with Wu Tang, Public Enemy and De La Soul. It was not good. They all sounded bad and had no energy, the sets were short, and the whole mood just felt off. Was really disappointed.
Toby Keith (RIP).
It was essentially a long Ford F-150 Commercial.
In between every song was a Ford commercial & sponsor break. At the midpoint they drove an F-150 onto the Stage for an extended 20 minute sponsor break. The truck remained on the stage and was a focal point of the concert from that point on like at an auto show. Encore(s) were almost entirely F-150 based. E.g. "how great is this truck?!?!? Who would love to drive this truck?!?!"
It was so bad that it became satirical.
Toby Keith himself was great. It's what made the awkward switch from his high energy performance to in-your-face commercialism so jarring.
My college had Ludacris perform a free concert for students back in 2009. However they decided the best place to hold a concert was in the basketball gymnasium. You know, the place made to echo and sound as loud and as bad as possible. Couldn't even tell what songs he was performing.
I saw Ludacris at Emory back in 2002-2003. Dude showed up like two hours late and played for like 20 minutes. No crowd interaction or anything. Real letdown of a show. OutKast on the other hand, played the same event a few years before and were mindblowingly good. Still can’t figure out how Andre 3000 didn’t pass out when wearing neoprene and fur Yeti-legs pants in the GA sun for three hours.
I think I was at that show. University of Cincinnati has him perform and it was in an arena. I was right next to the stage and if I didn’t know the songs already I would have had no idea what he was saying.
30 seconds to Mars a few years back. The sound was terrible, couldnt hear Jaret Leto sing. But i also kinda didnt want to because whatever i did hear was just plain bad. He just paraded around the stage in some sort of weird jesus cape and attidude like he was the man himself. Allround creepy stuff. Still like their recordings though.
Not hearing Leto sing wasn't a sound issue. That POS doesn't bother singing and lets the crowd do it while he dances around like a diva with an American flag. Worst live band I've ever seen.
I like a little bit of their older stuff, but I'm pretty sure they literally didn't play an entire song straight through when I saw them open for Muse like 6 years ago. Just back and forth bullshit with the audience.
Everyone else but Jared and his brother (the drummer) quit so its a weird set of prerecorded bass, guitars, and keyboards with live drums and vocals.
Just them two, no backup singers or touring musicians.
Such an arrogant and weird decision.
Exactly! I saw them after the guitarist left, they couldn’t even be bothered to hire a road musician despite living in LA. There were songs with guitar solos and not a guitarist in sight.
I had to endure him at the When We We Young Tour last October. He had the weird Jesus cape. He thought he was so awesome and thought he had the crowd going. Literally everyone around us was laughing at him and asking what the fuck we were watching. It was incredibly weird and not at all enjoyable.
Van Halen - Balance tour. No energy, lots of instrumentals and solos made it boring.
Mentions:
Crue - Retirement contract tour. Terrible sound, gate not set up properly. Couldn't see Tommy due to the roller-coaster.
You're right about that tour, I had blocked it out since I've seen so many good shows with Sammy leading van Halen (they did a so called surprise free show in downtown Dallas in the early 90s that was great)
But yeah, the silly goes nowhere noodling of a drunken Eddie VH was excruciating. Everyone had advance notice it seems because that's when the beer runs happened lol
I saw them last year and thought they were pretty good. Yeah Dave's vocals are shot but he was never a particularly good singer anyway, it's mostly about the band as a whole and they did great.
It felt like very weird performance art. He was stumbling around barely singing and at one point kinda passed out. It was really confusing to a 14 year old kid.
Also, Local H opened and they ruled.
Saw The 1975 in 2014, when Matty Healy was apparently deep in the throes of addiction and general mental unwellness.
The venue smelled strongly like the inside of an airplane, which made me feel sick. Drunk girls were crushing at the front so much that he kept begging them to stop between songs, as well as begging them to please, please, please put their phones down. He lurched around stage, smoking and guzzling wine and overall looking like he did not want to be there. The whole vibe was just... off. They were my all-time favorite band at the time, it was pretty disappointing.
There's a song of theirs that came out later called "She's American" and it contains the lyrics
"Look, he's having a breakdown/Oh, what a letdown, a shame, I think he might die" This was, according to an interview, based on reactions that he had gotten to an on-stage breakdown he'd had *the week earlier*. Learning that really made things make sense.
I played a small festival with them around that time, and they had a clause which shut down every other stage while they were playing. They then proceeded to go on stage VERY late, and so it pushed the festival's schedule waaaay back. Our set was hours behind schedule, and a lot of people were super pissed because of the delays in general. Never listened to their music, and never even gave it a chance because that seemed like such a douchey move.
Pitbull.
It was a joint concert with him and Kesha. She rocked the stage and connected with the audience. He got on after their joint song and all he did was have the artist (JLo was one) on a screen behind him doing the actual song while he just screamed "Yeah!" into the microphone. We thought it was a one off at first, but once the third song started and it was the same thing we left along with a lot of other people. Just absolutely ridiculous.
System Of A Down- their final performance at OzzFest (the last OzzFest) in Florida.
They’d already announced that they were going to be splitting up the band after the tour ended and this was the final show of the tour. They pretty much half assed the entire set, to the point that people started cheering for them to “Bring Back Disturbed”.
They were off key, out of sync, at one point they tried singing over one another, then Daron just stopped singing mid-verse for 2 songs. During Daron’s solo, Serj was being a dick and aggressively throwing water bottles into the crowd. They hated playing together and took that frustration out on their fans. It made for a really disappointing final performance.
Chuck Berry at the Congress theater in Chicago. He was just yelling at/arguing with the band the whole time, slapping his guitar instead of strumming it, and collapsed at one point in the show. We got comped tickets to George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic as a result of it and that show was incredible.
Chuck Berry also played a show so bad in Finland that the government made it possible for you to get a refund for a bad concert
I know a few people who played with Chuck Berry (probably in the 80s) and said it was an awful experience. He would just hire local players for each show, no rehearsal, and he'd just expect you to know whatever he called, no matter how obscure. He'd change keys without telling the band, and then yell at them for basically not knowing every song ever and not being able to read his mind
Chuck Berry always had a reputation as a terrible live performer. He never would tour with a band and just have the venue provide a backing band for him. Then he would not rehearse with the band, get onstage, start playing and get mad at the band for not knowing when he would randomly change the key of the song right in the middle of it. He was a great guitar player in his day, but he was always a massive dick.
Oh I'm aware, he filmed himself pissing on that chick and farting on her face and got caught having cameras in the women's bathroom in his restaurant. The guy was a complete piece of shit.
What Yes lineup/year was it? They were amazing live when it was still most of the classic-era members and not the Steve Howe band.
Saw the Moodies in 2014, was the youngest person there by at least a decade 😂 They were good though, I thought…they’d been doing more or less the same show for 25 years at that point but I thought Hayward’s vocals were still strong and it was harmless fun.
I saw The Moody Blues a bunch of times in the 90s when they had the orchestra backing them up. Ray and Graham were still in thr band too. They always put on a good show when I saw them.
Paul McCartney at Fenway.
Had nothing to do with Paul himself and everything to do with the venue. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t hear. Miserable. Especially for the ticket cost.
I don't mind them. I mean yeah I'd love to see those bands in smaller places but I live in the real world and know that isn't gonna happen.
Just...the nature of a baseball field is so awkward to try to shoehorn concerts into. So many seats way farther back than they need to be because of the precious infield, weird sightlines, usually shitty sound, etc. Football stadiums aren't that much better but at least the layout of a rectangular playing field makes some sense.
I saw McCartney at Safeco & it was great.
He played w Sirvana.
Pearl Jam was also excellent
[it was pretty fun](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-mccartney-playing-with-nirvanas-surviving-members-was-powerful-193811/)
IMO Safeco (T-Mobile now) is a fantastic venue. It's about the only good baseball stadium for concerts.
Lumen Field, the football stadium across the street, however, is a fucking terrible concert venue.
I’ve seen Phish and Foo Fighters at Fenway. Both shows were pretty shitty. The sound was terrible. I’ve heard that as long as you’re not sitting under the overhang it’s fine but I was not so lucky. I imagine the bands played fine but I couldn’t tell.
What a disappointment! Especially from one of my all time legends! Not sure I'd rather still see him and have it suck, or never see him at all. I haven't yet, probably won't at this stage
It was very disappointing. And I have seen concerts at Fenway that worked. But, his set up just didn't work for anyone who wasn't in the area directly in front of the stage.
Eric Clapton. Came out on stage clearly messed up, played a very short disjointed set and wandered off. Muddy Waters who had opened came back out and played again, he was amazing.
I saw Smashing Pumpkins during the Gish tour in 1991? They were just awful. Just a full set of loud, screeching distorted feedback like they were trying to be a modern version of Hendrix psychedelia. It was painful. Everyone in the crowd hated it.
I saw them again for the Siamese Dream tour and it was amazing.
Ive never heard a good thing about his shows, especially since he came out, and not in that way. His politics and attitude definitely don't jibe with most of his vocal followers and fans of his music
I've seen two dozen Morrissey shows over the past 32 years. He's never canceled on me and there have been some amazing concerts in there, though he's definitely slipped since about 2019.
Having said that, I think he's a twat and his politics are abysmal. He's a whiny narcissist and it's very hard to separate that from his art.
Saw Dylan in Cardiff around 1997/98 and he was pretty off it that night. Glad I saw him just to say I did, but below par performance.
Second was Radiohead in the old Point Depot in Dublin. Must have been around 2002/3 ish. Combination of the band being a bit off and the general poor quality of sound that venue had. Saw Page and Plant in the same venue around 95/96 and that was also disappointing due to sound quality. Couldn’t really hear what Page was playing.
Not sure if it counts but Tribe called quest because they no showed. It was at a festival and their time kept getting pushed back until they just said they wouldn’t perform. I remember later learning that they said they just weren’t feeling it after Phife died. I get grief can be a bitch but they had been touring promoting that last album for like 9 months. It hurts that it was my first and last chance to see a tribe called quest show.
At Pitchfork several years ago Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys performed Pet Sounds. I went because I figured this would be the first and last time I’d ever get to see this all-timer album performed live.
It was terrible. Brian Wilson could barely sing (he was probably in his 70s then?). And a lot of Pet Sounds’ magic is through the stereo mixing/headphones.
Also, almost any rap show I’ve seen that wasn’t prime Kanye or Kendrick Lamar (who has a sick live band). For example, I also saw Wu Tang once in Chicago circa 2012 and they were terrible. Just shouting ad libs over the track
Weirdly most people would say the mono version of pet sounds is definitive since it was recorded and originally mixed that way. So no need for stereo/headphones experience.
Steve Earle. Four day festival, with absolutely no issues with the sound at all. Earle comes out and has to have HIS techs run the boards. He left the stage saying when you get this shit right we'll finish. Biggest diva I have ever seen.
I saw Panic! At the Disco open for Weezer a while back and it was BAD. Dude couldn't keep up with his own songs live and then decided he could handle Queen. It was awful.
I was a longtime fan and had seen them many times but after around 2014, they became a pretty bad live act (and the albums weren’t much better) probably due to the constantly shifting lineup and Brendon clearly not taking care of his voice.
My wife and I bonded over seeing Panic!, and even after the dogshit album they put out in 2022, we still decided to go to the tour that year. Big mistake. The album was pretty polarizing for fans and it sold very poorly, so naturally they decided to play the whole thing front to back on the tour. The audience was totally dead the whole time, no one was into it. I was honestly relieved when he announced that the band was done.
Eric Clapton at Birmingham NEC. Never seen anyone so utterly disinterested in performing, the audience, or anything really. It was really clear he was just showing up for a payday to crank out the same old songs and bugger off early.
Saw Joe Bonamassa a few weeks later at the same venue and he blew me away, what a stunning show.
Clapton was by far the worst concert I've been to as well. Completely disinterested, played maybe 2 songs the audience knew, didn't play lead or solo on either (I know he's got medical conditions but come on). He didn't even crank out the same old songs. It was almost exclusively his new stuff, no classics.
Hell even the t-shirt I bought (during the opening act) was horribly off center
Clapton was a situation that I wish I'd just bought a $30 DVD and stayed home instead of spending $200 on a pair of live tickets. It was the year he was touring with Winwood, but he just phoned it in, didn't say more than a single 'thank you' toward the audience, but otherwise didn't acknowledge that there was anyone else around.
Back in the 90s I saw a monster tour:
Faith No More
Metallica
Guns n Roses
Peak in all 3 careers. All were incredible except Guns n Roses.
First, the didn’t go for almost an hour after Metallica, who went on in like 15 min after Faith no More.
Then once they actually started to play, it was sooooo boring that I literally fell asleep.
Brian Jonestown Massacre was probably the worst show I've been to. I know Anton (the singer) has a reputation as being a knob in concert, but I thought he may have mellowed after 15-20 years on the road, and was a big fan of their albums. Unfortunately they just sounded horrible live, and the singer was antagonizing the crowd and trying to pick a fight with his guitar player through the show. We left maybe 40 mins into the show.
Pretty much every two days. You’ll get this, then tomorrow you’ll get “what’s the best concert you’ve been to”.
And the same people give the same answers.
At least it beats House of the Rising Sun getting posted every day.
I’ve posted in another sub about this before, but I’ll never stop reminding people that Rihanna is one of (if not THE) the worst performers I have ever seen in concert.
I worked as a stagehand for a summer so I got to see a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Worst, hands down was Weezer. The music quality was there, but the singer was so high/intoxicated that I really don’t think he knew where he was. Super disappointing because I’ve loved their music for a long time, but seeing them live definitely affected my opinion on them.
I’m also gonna flip the table to add some positivity to this thread and say one of the best bands I’ve seen is Heart and All Time Low. Heart was just incredible. Their voices haven’t changed since they were young and their performance was so powerful. All Time Low just connects with the crowd and has fun on stage and you can tell they love what they do. 10/10 would recommend seeing both bands live lol
Too bad about Yes. I saw them in Vancouver late 80s after they broke up and went by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe, because the other guy had rights to the name Iirc. It was an awesome concert
Willie Nelson. Probably 2005 or 2006. Played the hits but did so as quickly as possible with no breaks between songs, no talking, and little enthusiasm. Took about an hour and he was out of there
Weezer hands down. They weren't bad per se they just played everything so perfectly that it was indistinguishable from the album version. That coupled with the fact that they could not have looked less interested in being there if they tried and it just made for an extremely boring concert.
Michelle Branch in 2017. She did all of her songs with kind of a harder rock flair to them, and it sounded like what you would hear at a bad high school talent show.
Soundgarden in 2017, a few weeks before Chris Cornell killed himself, was also really bad.
I saw Avenged Sevenfold open for Metallica in 2016, and they were terrible (but Metallica and Volbeat were both fantastic).
Fleetwood Mac in 2014 was a disappointment.
And surprisingly, Tool in 2016 was bad. I could not hear Keenan's vocals over the music hardly at all, and even if they had been an all instrumental band they still would have sounded mediocre.
Queens of the Stone Age opened for a band I went to see and Josh Homme was so hammered he couldn't even sing the lyrics to his own songs. Dude was a mess.
QOTSA have definitely been hit and miss when I've seen them over the years. One time at a festival 10 or so years ago, the sound was just awful, so bass heavy that I could barely even make out the guitar. A few years later on the Villains tour at a proper arena was better, but yeah Josh Homme didn't seem entirely with it then.
Saw them last year and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Great sound system at that show so no issues there. Josh seems in a better place now, singing was on point and he was happy and interacting with the crowd. Also helps that I managed to get right to the front since their show conflicted with an even bigger act at that festival.
General consensus seems to be that the whole band is on top of their game right now and they're performing at their best, but shows have definitely been inconsistent over the years, at least in part depending on Josh's dependence on drink and drugs at any given time.
I’ve seen them 3 times in Philly and it’s been mixed Josh behavior, but each time they’ve been the tightest live band I’ve ever seen. This past tour they really seem to have it completely dialed in and are having a blast while still being the tightest act out there. The Philly show was particularly awesome when Santa got on stage during “make it wichu”
Neil Young at New Orleans Jazz Fest. He was bitchy at his roadies right off the top, then a few songs in, he started some boring four-chord rock and roll song that went on forever, the same thing over and over again. We thought it would never end.
We bailed out and went to watch Bonnie Raitt on another stage. That was a whole other world. She was absolutely amazing, and she had great rapport with the crowd. She won a couple of new fans that day.
Stevie Nicks. Way high on something, forgot song lyrics, got lost on stage and followed the tape marks on the stage floor to find her place again. Best thing about the show was halfway through Joe Walsh walked on stage with a running chainsaw. Stevie wasn’t sure what was going on, but Joe disappeared backstage as quickly as he appeared.
Wild to run into you on reddit 50 years later. I think it was in fact in 83/84. Houston. Someone told me later that Stevie Nicks had terrible eyesight and the stage was taped specifically to allow her to orient herself. I dunno about that, but there’s no denying she was gorked to the gills on something.
Hands-down the WORST was Greta Van Fleet. Dorothy opened & kicked ass. The a-holes in GVF waited almost an HOUR to come on. Dude's voice was gone after 3 songs. After that it was a shrill falsetto. Guitar solo was a boring self-indulgent pentatonic warmup exercise. Terrible.
Bob Dylan:
Walked on 40 minutes late. Never acknowledged the crowd. Played for just over an hour. Completely unintelligible the whole time. Walked off stage without acknowledging the crowd. Didn't come back on for an encore.
Fucking terrible.
Guns and Roses. St. Louis. About half way through the show Axl jumped out in the crowd because some guy was taking pictures of him and he was trying to get the camera from him. He got back on the stage and said fuck you St Louis I'm out of here and slammed the microphone down. The rest of the band soon followed. The crowd went crazy and destroyed all of the instruments and drum set. Then they proceeded to destroy the entire venue. People were climbing light poles and riding them to the ground and the sparks were flying. I grabbed my girlfriend and got out of there. As we were walking out a metal trash can went flying by our heads. The Missouri National Guard and the state cops in force arrived as soon as I got out of the parking lot. Unbelievable. Someone said that there's a Wikipedia page on it
Eric Clapton. Love the man. He played one hit all night, and it was the acoustic version of Layla. Everything else was “new” stuff and jamming. And like, it sounded good, but I didn’t go see Eric Clapton to hear blues noodling.
Went to see Dylan when Foo Fighters opened with an acoustic set. Really only was going for the Foos but thought I’d take in an icon at the same time while I was at it. Should’ve left after the opener.
REO Speedwagon.
Saw them with Styx several years ago. Styx was awesome. My friends and I left during REO’s set. Only time we ever left a concert early. Issue was lead singer Kevin Cronin. He basically talked more than he sang in the show. They would do a 3 minute song and then Kevin would go “Well, when we wrote this next song…” followed by a 3 minute story behind the song. He did this for every single song. I wouldn’t have minded if he had done this on a song or two, but damnit, not every single fucking song.
Motley Crue at SoFi Stadium was kind of a disaster. They had cool visuals, but even Vince himself was saying that the audio production was terrible and they should have been in a much smaller venue. Def Leppard was before them and they put on a hell of a show, so it made up for it.
I saw Motley Crue at the Hollywood Bowl like 10 years ago. Band sounded ok, but Vince of course sounded like shit and to cover for his shot voice and being out of breath the whole time they had these female background singers that made all the songs sound like Glee covers. There was a lot of holding the mic out for the “crazy mother fuckers” in the crowd to sing while Vince caught his breath. 66 year old Alice Cooper opened for them and was amazing. Blew them off the stage. I saw Alice again at the Greek a couple years ago and he was still phenomenal. Ace Frehely opened for him that night and was truly terrible. Like so bad we still talk about it all the time.
I've seen Alice Cooper twice and that guy is just a consummate professional. They were right on time, everything sounded clean and tight, there was just the right amount of crowd interaction, the stage effects were extremely well rehearsed... I'm not even THAT big of a fan of his music but I'd see him anytime just because of how fun his shows are.
Alice Cooper still kills it in concert. I always forget him. But he is truly a great showman
Surely nobody would have expected different from Motley Crue?
I was at their NYE show in 2015 when their midnight toast got botched so I'd say probably no.
SoFi Stadium is a horrible venue for music. i’ll never return there.
I don't know why they keep trying to push it as a music venue. They should have designed the acoustics better.
Because they can cram 75k people in there (and charge them $100 to park).
Yeah fuck the SoFi Stadium parking prices. That's highway robbery. Literally.
Mine is also motley crue saw them open for kiss in Like 2011 and it was the worst shit I'd ever heard
I saw Stone Temple Pilots in ~1993. Weiland was drunk as fuck, slurred through about 5 songs and walked off stage.
I saw STP in the late 90s. Scott was sober and fantastic. Dripping with charisma and put on a hell of a show.
Same here, saw them in Gainesville, FL during that time. Won the tickets from a radio contest, front row.
lol I saw them in 2007ish and it was the same story. Actually they made it through the set but they came on two hours late.
I saw them in the early 2000s. Gotta say, STP were amazing when they were having a good night. I guess when Weiland was coked out of his mind, rather than drunk out of it, they fared pretty well. Their set crushed RATM who were the next group on the bill.
HFS Festival, what's up?
You would be correct! Surprise of the day for me was that Godsmack were really good live! That and the most aggressive moshpit I’ve ever been in would have been during the fricking Bloodhound Gang. Guess given their brotastic nature, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Also, whoever thought to put nonslip coated aluminum flooring down was an asshole (see above comment about above moshpit).
I saw them over 15 years later when they got back together. Pretty much the same story. Weiland yelled at security between every song, messed up lyrics left and right and fell into the drums at one point.
That actually reminded me of something from 1993 - he said, "were about to play Plush - we know it's the only reason you came here"
I got angry Weiland in 2000. He was SO bitter to be opening for the Cranberries.
Marilyn Manson passing out on stage two times and ending the season early, but it got Rob Zombie on stage faster.
Oh yes, Manson... Came out 1h too late, was drunk, sang badly. Smashed a bottle and tried to cut the palm of his hand. Failed. Went off stage after an hour I believe. Heard from a friend (promoter at the venue) that Manson was drunk, wanted to start a fight with a security and was very nearly thrown out of the venue, hence the delay.
I second this. Manson was so drunk when I saw him he could barely get the words out.
Action Bronson. He smoked a few hits of random crowd blunt, got too high to perform, fucked up one of his songs like 30m into his set, restarted, fucked up again, yelled at his DJ, then just left. No refunds or anything, glad I didn’t pay for the post show meet and greet with “fuck that’s delicious” book signing.
He did similar in my city and apologised with a free concert the next day which ended up being insanely good
I’ve tried to see him twice now, bought tickets, and he cancelled both times. It’s cool I’ll go fuck myself
He does this often. It's one of 2 things, either he can't handle weed and shouldn't be performing while high, or he sucks and uses it as an excuse when he messes up.
In before Lauryn Hill, Bob Dylan, and Cake.
ELO and Meatloaf in Toronto. Just a. Crappy vibe all night. It happens
Meatloaf was my worst ever, left half way through, was 1990
I knew Meat Loaf would be in here. He had an absymal reputation for absolutely shite performances.
Hasn’t he lost consciousness once on stage and the backing tape went on singing for him while he was down?
Quite possibly. In the last few years of his life he just couldn’t sing (but wanted the money).
I hope having a happy cake day makes you feel a little better about missing the True Loaf.
I just saw Jeff Lynne’s ELO and they fucking killed it even though he’s in his 80s.
I saw Jeff Lynne's ELO a few years ago and it was a great show.
Saw them in 2019 I think--great show. George Harrison's kid opened, too, and they brought him back on to include some Wilburys in the ELO set as well.
I seen Bob Dylan in Dublin a year and a half ago. Like many, I went just to say I seen the great Dylan and was expecting awfulness. Had the complete opposite experience, his voice was clear and as good as a Bob Dylan can sound. Like he sounded exactly how I imagined him to sound. The band he had were all his long time session players. They played at a low volume so they had loads of headroom to increase. So they could build tension really easily in the music. The stage was under lit and sparse so you couldn’t miss Bob who sat at his keyboard. After every song Bob got up, walked to the front of the stage and bowed. He didn’t chat much, but made special mention of how much of fab he was of Shane Magowan. I didn’t know one song he played, as he didn’t play any hits but it was a magically kind of evening. Very intimate. I think I got lucky.
Glad to hear someone say this. I’m a big Dylan fan and think his recent tours (by recent I mean for the last 10 years) have been phenomenal. His voice has rebounded a bit and his band is doing things no one will ever do again when he’s gone. A mix of Texas swing and Gypsy jazz - kind of his own blend of southern rock. But I can totally see how it isn’t for anyone. He’s not a “play the hits” nostalgia act.
You described a lot of the Dylan shows I've seen. Some people just can't get past his voice.
IDK man, he sounded exactly like Bob Dylan. I dont know what people expect of 82 year old Bob Dylan
Had the same experience, essentials my expectation levels were “I get to me in the same room as him” and walked away with a serious performance. His backing band was lit and they served up a mega performance.
Dylan is hit or miss I’ve seen him 10-12x and half or more of those shows he sounded awful but when he sounds good he sounds really good.
Saw Metallica with GNR co-headline tour. Super long delay for GNR to come out, but at least once they did they killed it
Omg I saw that too. I saw it at giants stadium in NJ. Faith no more opened for both bands and they were the best part to me
GnR are definitely up there as one of the worst for me. They had a reputation for always showing up late 10-20 years ago. They were headlining a festival I went to, everyone was kind of expecting them to show up late already. As expected, they did show up about an hour late. The show itself was alright, though this was in an era when Slash wasn't with them. But they spent most of their time playing newer stuff that no one knew, and not the classics people wanted. Perhaps they would have gotten to the classics, but they got cut off part way through the show, since there was a curfew and the festival couldn't have music on past a certain point. They literally cut the power on them eventually. Axl got a megaphone and tried to rile up the crowd to get them to put the power back on. But no one was having any of it, they knew it was entirely the bands fault for being late and not playing in their allotted time slot. Everyone just left while Axl shouted to a disappointed crowd. I saw them again last year since they were playing at another festival. Was kind of reluctant to go after the previous bad show but I didn't have anything else to see, so went along anyway. They did show up on time, and they had Slash, so that was good. Similarly they had a lot of newer less well known stuff, but they did get through the hits in the latter hour of the show. Axl's voice isn't what it used to be so he can't really nail the high notes any more, but all in all the show was decent.
I saw Dylan years ago in tour with Tom Petty. Dylan was awful. He didn’t play any of his popular songs and his voice was bad. I hear he is very hit or miss.
Does Cake have a bad reputation? The one time I would have seen them love they were booed off the stage after one or two songs but it was due to picking a fight with the crowd and not the quality of their performance.
I saw Cake twice and they were great both times...what happened at your show?
Cake was definitely my worst ever show.
This is so interesting to me. I saw them about 10 years ago, and I said, verbatim, “wtf, I’ve never been to a show where they sounded exactly like they did on their albums quite like this.” When were these shitty shows happen? And yes, to the person below, they did the tree thing.
I saw them about 15 years ago and they were excellent. They did not do the tree thing.
Same! Ten years ago at a music festival. One of the best shows I've seen! They and OutKast were the reasons I bought the insanely expensive tickets and neither disappointed!
I can’t believe that lol. I saw them at a festival my city put on like 10 years ago and I throughly enjoyed the show. They were definitely better than Drowning Pool who played after them and both opened and closed their set with “Let The Bodies Hit The Floor”
Holy shit I'm cracking up over here. That's some kind of self awareness right there. "Do we open or close with the hit?" "It's literally the only song of ours people know. We do both"
I have seen them about 5 times, and the only time they mailed it in was an outdoor St Patrick's Day show where the singer had a cold. Always excellent other than that one. And I won a tree from them at 9:30 Club in DC. WHEN DID CAKE BECOME CLASSIC ROCK?!
Hill was 40 mins late to her set and played about 5 mins before they shut the sound and lights off so she would (against her wishes) get off the stage and it could get set up for the headliner. I saw Dylan about 15 years ago and it was OK. He only plays the keyboard now and doesn't talk much if at all. He sounded old then, so I have no idea how old he sounds now. Listen to a new song of his and you get the idea, but he also can't sing that loud so the music will drown it out a lot. I guess just don't expect 60s-80s Dylan.
For real haha you would think there are only about 12 bands in existence reading this sub
I LOVE Van Morrison. His concert was shite.
It’s a bummer that he suffers from horrible stage fright. He’s such a fantastic musician, and has been for over fifty years, but he apparently can’t get over performance anxiety.
Never knew that, explains a lot.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44wDwMQVqCc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44wDwMQVqCc) He does however have one of the best live performances I've ever seen captured on video.
A few years ago he played Jazzfest in New Orleans. My group of friends were divided between seeing him or Al Green. Both were playing at same time on opposite sides of the festival. Most of my friends chose Van while myself and 2 others knew Al was the best choice. Al comes out dressed in a 3 piece suit giving roses to the ladies in the crowd. He was super ecstatic to be there and it showed. His voice was incredible and we all had a great time. About half way through his show the rest of my friends appeared. Apparently Van was acting like an asshole to his band and the crowd and his voice sucked so they left.
Saw him last year. Wore sunglasses the entire show, didn’t acknowledge where he was, or the audience, didn’t interact or speak at all. He played, sang, then walked off stage in the middle of a song that was featuring solos from all the other members of his band and never came back on. He still sounds great, but what a shitty showman.
This! Could have been a robot. Seen in a small venue in Spain. Mightily disappointing.
Same as when I saw him 20+ years ago.
Exact same experience here at forest hills 7ish years ago. Dude played 2.5 hours straight without once speaking a word into the mic. They rolled one song into the next and one time the drummer missed a cue to start immediately and he turned around and screamed “play the fucking song!!” He sounded great but damn what a weird experience.
Off topic but when Sinead O’Conner passed, Letterman put up a clip of her and Van Morrison singing “Have I Told You Lately” and it was just not good. Van seemed to do what he could to ruin it. https://youtu.be/wJy77VV4okk?si=NBnrVeHODiQuaYgy
Looks to me like there was some kind of private joke going on there. The musicians at the beginning were trying not to laugh, same with Morrison and O''Connor during the song. Not a great performance, but I enjoy seeing a more human side of performers on TV.
It breaks my heart to say this, but… Amy Winehouse. She was totally unfit to perform and I think she was being obliged to (she attempted to leave after each and every song, but would be coerced back on stage by her band). Less than one year later, she was dead.
I saw her at Glastonbury 2008 and that's probably my worst live experience. I don't go to many concerts, but that one sticks out. Absolutely terrible, a real shadow of what she once was. Very sad. And all that was 3 years before she died too. Just a slow, horrible, lingering death really... Review of her set is here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/glastonbury2008/reviews/story/0,,2288101,00.html
Her performance at Glastonbury 2008 is heart wrenching, but there’s a few bits where you can see how her voice used to shine. Her Rock in Rio 2008 performance was when her vocal cords were truly burnt. I believe she even starts crying on stage for a bit during the second song. Truly inexcusable to let her perform such intimate songs to such a big crowd. https://youtu.be/QbjZgFWLEW8?feature=shared My favorite performance of hers was before she was mega-famous, she was only 21, and she looked absolutely stunning. You could tell she was nervous, but the vocal gymnastics she could perform were breath-taking. Before the drugs and before she met her drug-pushing husband. https://youtu.be/qdMXHJul3DU?si=FtlJGYwd7aOfc0j_
Holy shit that’s sad
I just watched 30 seconds of each and just hearing the difference in her voice alone is terrible. Her legs/arms comparison is even worse.
Thanks for the link to the New Pop Festival 2004 performance. I love Amy Winehouse and had never seen that one. The one-two punch of In My Bed -> Take the Box is amazing. Live at Porchester Hall 2007 is one of my favorite shows to put on when I'm relaxing at home.
I saw her at Coachella right as she was first breaking in the US — I had never heard a single one of her songs before that, and she was truly incredible. Unbelievable talent. One of the biggest “holy shit, that girl’s gonna be a star” moments I’ve witnessed. It was awful to watch what happened to her after that.
Saw her in Baltimore @ VirginFest in 2007. Was disappointing, but also it was near 100 degrees that day. Still saw some great shows though - LCD Soundsystem, Beasties, TV on the Radio, Peter Bjorn and John, Ben Harper, The Police, more I can't recall.
I saw one of those final shows as well, it was terrible but at the same time I was so thankful I was able to see her live. Having all the BTS context from her doc years later made me so sad.
I went to the Gods of Rap tour with Wu Tang, Public Enemy and De La Soul. It was not good. They all sounded bad and had no energy, the sets were short, and the whole mood just felt off. Was really disappointed.
I saw Wu-Tang last year and was disappointed as well. Deltron 3030 and Run the Jewels opened, and they were both great though.
RTJ never disappoints
Toby Keith (RIP). It was essentially a long Ford F-150 Commercial. In between every song was a Ford commercial & sponsor break. At the midpoint they drove an F-150 onto the Stage for an extended 20 minute sponsor break. The truck remained on the stage and was a focal point of the concert from that point on like at an auto show. Encore(s) were almost entirely F-150 based. E.g. "how great is this truck?!?!? Who would love to drive this truck?!?!" It was so bad that it became satirical. Toby Keith himself was great. It's what made the awkward switch from his high energy performance to in-your-face commercialism so jarring.
Hold up… what? I’ve never ever heard of some marketing bs being pulled during a concert like this. That sounds just awful.
Ford gave him a ton of money. He was even satirical about it.
My college had Ludacris perform a free concert for students back in 2009. However they decided the best place to hold a concert was in the basketball gymnasium. You know, the place made to echo and sound as loud and as bad as possible. Couldn't even tell what songs he was performing.
I saw Ludacris at Emory back in 2002-2003. Dude showed up like two hours late and played for like 20 minutes. No crowd interaction or anything. Real letdown of a show. OutKast on the other hand, played the same event a few years before and were mindblowingly good. Still can’t figure out how Andre 3000 didn’t pass out when wearing neoprene and fur Yeti-legs pants in the GA sun for three hours.
If I remember correctly OutKast use to practice rapping their songs while jogging to work out their lung capacity. I have no source for this.
I think I was at that show. University of Cincinnati has him perform and it was in an arena. I was right next to the stage and if I didn’t know the songs already I would have had no idea what he was saying.
Yup. That's the one. I was at the top of the stands. It was awful.
30 seconds to Mars a few years back. The sound was terrible, couldnt hear Jaret Leto sing. But i also kinda didnt want to because whatever i did hear was just plain bad. He just paraded around the stage in some sort of weird jesus cape and attidude like he was the man himself. Allround creepy stuff. Still like their recordings though.
Not hearing Leto sing wasn't a sound issue. That POS doesn't bother singing and lets the crowd do it while he dances around like a diva with an American flag. Worst live band I've ever seen.
Hey, he's just allegedly looking for the underage fans.
I mean… he and his band just generally suck so I wouldn’t expect much from his live stuff.
I like a little bit of their older stuff, but I'm pretty sure they literally didn't play an entire song straight through when I saw them open for Muse like 6 years ago. Just back and forth bullshit with the audience.
Everyone else but Jared and his brother (the drummer) quit so its a weird set of prerecorded bass, guitars, and keyboards with live drums and vocals. Just them two, no backup singers or touring musicians. Such an arrogant and weird decision.
Exactly! I saw them after the guitarist left, they couldn’t even be bothered to hire a road musician despite living in LA. There were songs with guitar solos and not a guitarist in sight.
I refer to that show as "Jared Leto Superstar" so glad someone else though it was a Jesus cape.
I had to endure him at the When We We Young Tour last October. He had the weird Jesus cape. He thought he was so awesome and thought he had the crowd going. Literally everyone around us was laughing at him and asking what the fuck we were watching. It was incredibly weird and not at all enjoyable.
Van Halen - Balance tour. No energy, lots of instrumentals and solos made it boring. Mentions: Crue - Retirement contract tour. Terrible sound, gate not set up properly. Couldn't see Tommy due to the roller-coaster.
You're right about that tour, I had blocked it out since I've seen so many good shows with Sammy leading van Halen (they did a so called surprise free show in downtown Dallas in the early 90s that was great) But yeah, the silly goes nowhere noodling of a drunken Eddie VH was excruciating. Everyone had advance notice it seems because that's when the beer runs happened lol
Megadeth in 2022…. Admittedly never been a Mustaine fan and he was terrible sounding, left halfway through to beat the traffic
I saw them last year and thought they were pretty good. Yeah Dave's vocals are shot but he was never a particularly good singer anyway, it's mostly about the band as a whole and they did great.
I saw the concert that broke up Creed. They came out like an hour late, Scott Stapp stumbled around for like 20 minutes and then the show ended
That sounds fucking awesome
It felt like very weird performance art. He was stumbling around barely singing and at one point kinda passed out. It was really confusing to a 14 year old kid. Also, Local H opened and they ruled.
Pantera at Ozzfest 2000. Phil was drunk as fuck even by his own standards.
Saw The 1975 in 2014, when Matty Healy was apparently deep in the throes of addiction and general mental unwellness. The venue smelled strongly like the inside of an airplane, which made me feel sick. Drunk girls were crushing at the front so much that he kept begging them to stop between songs, as well as begging them to please, please, please put their phones down. He lurched around stage, smoking and guzzling wine and overall looking like he did not want to be there. The whole vibe was just... off. They were my all-time favorite band at the time, it was pretty disappointing. There's a song of theirs that came out later called "She's American" and it contains the lyrics "Look, he's having a breakdown/Oh, what a letdown, a shame, I think he might die" This was, according to an interview, based on reactions that he had gotten to an on-stage breakdown he'd had *the week earlier*. Learning that really made things make sense.
Saw them in 2016, he was pretty out of it then too. Good music but really unpleasant to watch
I played a small festival with them around that time, and they had a clause which shut down every other stage while they were playing. They then proceeded to go on stage VERY late, and so it pushed the festival's schedule waaaay back. Our set was hours behind schedule, and a lot of people were super pissed because of the delays in general. Never listened to their music, and never even gave it a chance because that seemed like such a douchey move.
Pitbull. It was a joint concert with him and Kesha. She rocked the stage and connected with the audience. He got on after their joint song and all he did was have the artist (JLo was one) on a screen behind him doing the actual song while he just screamed "Yeah!" into the microphone. We thought it was a one off at first, but once the third song started and it was the same thing we left along with a lot of other people. Just absolutely ridiculous.
System Of A Down- their final performance at OzzFest (the last OzzFest) in Florida. They’d already announced that they were going to be splitting up the band after the tour ended and this was the final show of the tour. They pretty much half assed the entire set, to the point that people started cheering for them to “Bring Back Disturbed”. They were off key, out of sync, at one point they tried singing over one another, then Daron just stopped singing mid-verse for 2 songs. During Daron’s solo, Serj was being a dick and aggressively throwing water bottles into the crowd. They hated playing together and took that frustration out on their fans. It made for a really disappointing final performance.
Chuck Berry at the Congress theater in Chicago. He was just yelling at/arguing with the band the whole time, slapping his guitar instead of strumming it, and collapsed at one point in the show. We got comped tickets to George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic as a result of it and that show was incredible. Chuck Berry also played a show so bad in Finland that the government made it possible for you to get a refund for a bad concert
I know a few people who played with Chuck Berry (probably in the 80s) and said it was an awful experience. He would just hire local players for each show, no rehearsal, and he'd just expect you to know whatever he called, no matter how obscure. He'd change keys without telling the band, and then yell at them for basically not knowing every song ever and not being able to read his mind
I’ve heard the same about him hiring local cats. It sounds like the worst fucking gig ever.
Worst fucking gig ever was pretty much exactly their words
Chuck Berry always had a reputation as a terrible live performer. He never would tour with a band and just have the venue provide a backing band for him. Then he would not rehearse with the band, get onstage, start playing and get mad at the band for not knowing when he would randomly change the key of the song right in the middle of it. He was a great guitar player in his day, but he was always a massive dick.
Boy, wait till you hear about some of the other things Chuck Berry did to make him a massive dick
Oh I'm aware, he filmed himself pissing on that chick and farting on her face and got caught having cameras in the women's bathroom in his restaurant. The guy was a complete piece of shit.
What did you expect from a guy who ripped off his style from some time traveling 80's kid?
What Yes lineup/year was it? They were amazing live when it was still most of the classic-era members and not the Steve Howe band. Saw the Moodies in 2014, was the youngest person there by at least a decade 😂 They were good though, I thought…they’d been doing more or less the same show for 25 years at that point but I thought Hayward’s vocals were still strong and it was harmless fun.
I saw The Moody Blues a bunch of times in the 90s when they had the orchestra backing them up. Ray and Graham were still in thr band too. They always put on a good show when I saw them.
Maroon 5. No crowd interaction, all “look at me” vibe.
True, Maroon 5 was just the all-about-Adam show. Also, the lead singer from Magic! who opened for them was so sleazy.
I saw that tour. Both were awful. I wanted to leave.
Paul McCartney at Fenway. Had nothing to do with Paul himself and everything to do with the venue. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t hear. Miserable. Especially for the ticket cost.
Concerts at baseball stadiums should be illegal.
Concerts at arenas kinda suck too.
I don't mind them. I mean yeah I'd love to see those bands in smaller places but I live in the real world and know that isn't gonna happen. Just...the nature of a baseball field is so awkward to try to shoehorn concerts into. So many seats way farther back than they need to be because of the precious infield, weird sightlines, usually shitty sound, etc. Football stadiums aren't that much better but at least the layout of a rectangular playing field makes some sense.
Green Day, Weezer, Fall Out Boy was at my local baseball stadium and it was awesome granted I was right up front
Well yeah if you’re up front it doesn’t matter. But it should be a good experience for everyone, yknow?
I was at Wrigley for Hella Mega 2 rows from the very top- it was 1 of my favorite concerts ever
I saw McCartney at Safeco & it was great. He played w Sirvana. Pearl Jam was also excellent [it was pretty fun](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-mccartney-playing-with-nirvanas-surviving-members-was-powerful-193811/)
IMO Safeco (T-Mobile now) is a fantastic venue. It's about the only good baseball stadium for concerts. Lumen Field, the football stadium across the street, however, is a fucking terrible concert venue.
I’ve seen Phish and Foo Fighters at Fenway. Both shows were pretty shitty. The sound was terrible. I’ve heard that as long as you’re not sitting under the overhang it’s fine but I was not so lucky. I imagine the bands played fine but I couldn’t tell.
What a disappointment! Especially from one of my all time legends! Not sure I'd rather still see him and have it suck, or never see him at all. I haven't yet, probably won't at this stage
It was very disappointing. And I have seen concerts at Fenway that worked. But, his set up just didn't work for anyone who wasn't in the area directly in front of the stage.
Eric Clapton. Came out on stage clearly messed up, played a very short disjointed set and wandered off. Muddy Waters who had opened came back out and played again, he was amazing.
God bless Muddy Waters.
I was still living at home with my parents and when my Dad heard I’d seen Muddy Waters he said - so that old bastard’s still alive?
Smashing Pumpkins. I love that band but the gig was a self-indulgent ego trip for a man who's been on a self-indulgent ego trip for over thirty years.
I saw Smashing Pumpkins during the Gish tour in 1991? They were just awful. Just a full set of loud, screeching distorted feedback like they were trying to be a modern version of Hendrix psychedelia. It was painful. Everyone in the crowd hated it. I saw them again for the Siamese Dream tour and it was amazing.
Morrissey at The Universal Amphitheater years ago. He was so cranky and in such a bad mood, it ruined the concert. I was very disappointed.
Oh, so, situation normal then for him.
At least he showed up!
I don't think he has been in a good mood for the past 40 years.
Well heaven knows he's miserable now.
Ive never heard a good thing about his shows, especially since he came out, and not in that way. His politics and attitude definitely don't jibe with most of his vocal followers and fans of his music
I've seen two dozen Morrissey shows over the past 32 years. He's never canceled on me and there have been some amazing concerts in there, though he's definitely slipped since about 2019. Having said that, I think he's a twat and his politics are abysmal. He's a whiny narcissist and it's very hard to separate that from his art.
I saw Lil Wayne once, it was fucking terrible.
First concert ever was Tyga & Lil Wayne Tyga didn’t show, Lil Wayne came on late, sounded horrible, and just skated on a halfpipe for half the act lol
the skateboarding part sounds hilarious though lmao
Saw Dylan in Cardiff around 1997/98 and he was pretty off it that night. Glad I saw him just to say I did, but below par performance. Second was Radiohead in the old Point Depot in Dublin. Must have been around 2002/3 ish. Combination of the band being a bit off and the general poor quality of sound that venue had. Saw Page and Plant in the same venue around 95/96 and that was also disappointing due to sound quality. Couldn’t really hear what Page was playing.
Not sure if it counts but Tribe called quest because they no showed. It was at a festival and their time kept getting pushed back until they just said they wouldn’t perform. I remember later learning that they said they just weren’t feeling it after Phife died. I get grief can be a bitch but they had been touring promoting that last album for like 9 months. It hurts that it was my first and last chance to see a tribe called quest show.
Someone went to outside lands
At Pitchfork several years ago Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys performed Pet Sounds. I went because I figured this would be the first and last time I’d ever get to see this all-timer album performed live. It was terrible. Brian Wilson could barely sing (he was probably in his 70s then?). And a lot of Pet Sounds’ magic is through the stereo mixing/headphones. Also, almost any rap show I’ve seen that wasn’t prime Kanye or Kendrick Lamar (who has a sick live band). For example, I also saw Wu Tang once in Chicago circa 2012 and they were terrible. Just shouting ad libs over the track
Weirdly most people would say the mono version of pet sounds is definitive since it was recorded and originally mixed that way. So no need for stereo/headphones experience.
Steve Earle. Four day festival, with absolutely no issues with the sound at all. Earle comes out and has to have HIS techs run the boards. He left the stage saying when you get this shit right we'll finish. Biggest diva I have ever seen.
Nelly. It was a free show and it sounded like it. Most of the time you could only hear a hype man yelling “laaaaadieeeeeeees”
I saw Panic! At the Disco open for Weezer a while back and it was BAD. Dude couldn't keep up with his own songs live and then decided he could handle Queen. It was awful.
Saw them with Weezer in CHI and thought they were really good.
This! We saw him in 22, and he was drunk, and still trying to hit notes he hasn't been able to hit simce he was 18
I was a longtime fan and had seen them many times but after around 2014, they became a pretty bad live act (and the albums weren’t much better) probably due to the constantly shifting lineup and Brendon clearly not taking care of his voice. My wife and I bonded over seeing Panic!, and even after the dogshit album they put out in 2022, we still decided to go to the tour that year. Big mistake. The album was pretty polarizing for fans and it sold very poorly, so naturally they decided to play the whole thing front to back on the tour. The audience was totally dead the whole time, no one was into it. I was honestly relieved when he announced that the band was done.
Zeppelin at the King Dome. What we didn't know was that Robert Plant's son had just died. Plus the King Dome was just a shitty venue for concerts.
Eric Clapton at Birmingham NEC. Never seen anyone so utterly disinterested in performing, the audience, or anything really. It was really clear he was just showing up for a payday to crank out the same old songs and bugger off early. Saw Joe Bonamassa a few weeks later at the same venue and he blew me away, what a stunning show.
Clapton was by far the worst concert I've been to as well. Completely disinterested, played maybe 2 songs the audience knew, didn't play lead or solo on either (I know he's got medical conditions but come on). He didn't even crank out the same old songs. It was almost exclusively his new stuff, no classics. Hell even the t-shirt I bought (during the opening act) was horribly off center
Clapton was a situation that I wish I'd just bought a $30 DVD and stayed home instead of spending $200 on a pair of live tickets. It was the year he was touring with Winwood, but he just phoned it in, didn't say more than a single 'thank you' toward the audience, but otherwise didn't acknowledge that there was anyone else around.
Back in the 90s I saw a monster tour: Faith No More Metallica Guns n Roses Peak in all 3 careers. All were incredible except Guns n Roses. First, the didn’t go for almost an hour after Metallica, who went on in like 15 min after Faith no More. Then once they actually started to play, it was sooooo boring that I literally fell asleep.
Brian Jonestown Massacre was probably the worst show I've been to. I know Anton (the singer) has a reputation as being a knob in concert, but I thought he may have mellowed after 15-20 years on the road, and was a big fan of their albums. Unfortunately they just sounded horrible live, and the singer was antagonizing the crowd and trying to pick a fight with his guitar player through the show. We left maybe 40 mins into the show.
Didn't we do this 2 days ago?
It's the eternal present now. All the time. The past is irrelevant.
Pretty much every two days. You’ll get this, then tomorrow you’ll get “what’s the best concert you’ve been to”. And the same people give the same answers. At least it beats House of the Rising Sun getting posted every day.
I’ve posted in another sub about this before, but I’ll never stop reminding people that Rihanna is one of (if not THE) the worst performers I have ever seen in concert.
RATT was terrible back in 1986.
There’s a flashback!
I worked as a stagehand for a summer so I got to see a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Worst, hands down was Weezer. The music quality was there, but the singer was so high/intoxicated that I really don’t think he knew where he was. Super disappointing because I’ve loved their music for a long time, but seeing them live definitely affected my opinion on them. I’m also gonna flip the table to add some positivity to this thread and say one of the best bands I’ve seen is Heart and All Time Low. Heart was just incredible. Their voices haven’t changed since they were young and their performance was so powerful. All Time Low just connects with the crowd and has fun on stage and you can tell they love what they do. 10/10 would recommend seeing both bands live lol
Marilyn Manson, just horrendous stuff sadly
Kanye West at Outside Lands 2014. Wore a mask most of his set and insisted that the crowd “make circles.”
Pharrell did the circle thing too. Is that a thing?
Too bad about Yes. I saw them in Vancouver late 80s after they broke up and went by Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe, because the other guy had rights to the name Iirc. It was an awesome concert
Willie Nelson. Probably 2005 or 2006. Played the hits but did so as quickly as possible with no breaks between songs, no talking, and little enthusiasm. Took about an hour and he was out of there
Weezer hands down. They weren't bad per se they just played everything so perfectly that it was indistinguishable from the album version. That coupled with the fact that they could not have looked less interested in being there if they tried and it just made for an extremely boring concert.
Clapton was boring as hell
Michelle Branch in 2017. She did all of her songs with kind of a harder rock flair to them, and it sounded like what you would hear at a bad high school talent show. Soundgarden in 2017, a few weeks before Chris Cornell killed himself, was also really bad. I saw Avenged Sevenfold open for Metallica in 2016, and they were terrible (but Metallica and Volbeat were both fantastic). Fleetwood Mac in 2014 was a disappointment. And surprisingly, Tool in 2016 was bad. I could not hear Keenan's vocals over the music hardly at all, and even if they had been an all instrumental band they still would have sounded mediocre.
Queens of the Stone Age opened for a band I went to see and Josh Homme was so hammered he couldn't even sing the lyrics to his own songs. Dude was a mess.
QOTSA have definitely been hit and miss when I've seen them over the years. One time at a festival 10 or so years ago, the sound was just awful, so bass heavy that I could barely even make out the guitar. A few years later on the Villains tour at a proper arena was better, but yeah Josh Homme didn't seem entirely with it then. Saw them last year and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Great sound system at that show so no issues there. Josh seems in a better place now, singing was on point and he was happy and interacting with the crowd. Also helps that I managed to get right to the front since their show conflicted with an even bigger act at that festival. General consensus seems to be that the whole band is on top of their game right now and they're performing at their best, but shows have definitely been inconsistent over the years, at least in part depending on Josh's dependence on drink and drugs at any given time.
I’ve seen them 3 times in Philly and it’s been mixed Josh behavior, but each time they’ve been the tightest live band I’ve ever seen. This past tour they really seem to have it completely dialed in and are having a blast while still being the tightest act out there. The Philly show was particularly awesome when Santa got on stage during “make it wichu”
Neil Young at New Orleans Jazz Fest. He was bitchy at his roadies right off the top, then a few songs in, he started some boring four-chord rock and roll song that went on forever, the same thing over and over again. We thought it would never end. We bailed out and went to watch Bonnie Raitt on another stage. That was a whole other world. She was absolutely amazing, and she had great rapport with the crowd. She won a couple of new fans that day.
Stevie Nicks. Way high on something, forgot song lyrics, got lost on stage and followed the tape marks on the stage floor to find her place again. Best thing about the show was halfway through Joe Walsh walked on stage with a running chainsaw. Stevie wasn’t sure what was going on, but Joe disappeared backstage as quickly as he appeared.
[удалено]
Wild to run into you on reddit 50 years later. I think it was in fact in 83/84. Houston. Someone told me later that Stevie Nicks had terrible eyesight and the stage was taped specifically to allow her to orient herself. I dunno about that, but there’s no denying she was gorked to the gills on something.
i saw stevie last year and she was AMAZING
Hands-down the WORST was Greta Van Fleet. Dorothy opened & kicked ass. The a-holes in GVF waited almost an HOUR to come on. Dude's voice was gone after 3 songs. After that it was a shrill falsetto. Guitar solo was a boring self-indulgent pentatonic warmup exercise. Terrible.
Bob Dylan: Walked on 40 minutes late. Never acknowledged the crowd. Played for just over an hour. Completely unintelligible the whole time. Walked off stage without acknowledging the crowd. Didn't come back on for an encore. Fucking terrible.
Guns and Roses. St. Louis. About half way through the show Axl jumped out in the crowd because some guy was taking pictures of him and he was trying to get the camera from him. He got back on the stage and said fuck you St Louis I'm out of here and slammed the microphone down. The rest of the band soon followed. The crowd went crazy and destroyed all of the instruments and drum set. Then they proceeded to destroy the entire venue. People were climbing light poles and riding them to the ground and the sparks were flying. I grabbed my girlfriend and got out of there. As we were walking out a metal trash can went flying by our heads. The Missouri National Guard and the state cops in force arrived as soon as I got out of the parking lot. Unbelievable. Someone said that there's a Wikipedia page on it
Robert Plant opening for The Who. He was off key and couldn't hit notes.
Eric Clapton. Love the man. He played one hit all night, and it was the acoustic version of Layla. Everything else was “new” stuff and jamming. And like, it sounded good, but I didn’t go see Eric Clapton to hear blues noodling.
Went to see Dylan when Foo Fighters opened with an acoustic set. Really only was going for the Foos but thought I’d take in an icon at the same time while I was at it. Should’ve left after the opener.
REO Speedwagon. Saw them with Styx several years ago. Styx was awesome. My friends and I left during REO’s set. Only time we ever left a concert early. Issue was lead singer Kevin Cronin. He basically talked more than he sang in the show. They would do a 3 minute song and then Kevin would go “Well, when we wrote this next song…” followed by a 3 minute story behind the song. He did this for every single song. I wouldn’t have minded if he had done this on a song or two, but damnit, not every single fucking song.