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Worst concert/live show that you attended


Carl Spackler

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Seeing Billy Squier mentioned on the "albums with no bad songs" thread (!) reminded me that he would be on my list of worst concerts I've ever seen.  There was a distinct lack of energy and enthusiasm even during his hits.  A past-its-prime Nazereth opened.  It was pretty bad.  

Joe Jackson is on the list as well.  He seemed to be perturbed that the audience was there.

Billy Boy Arnold at Antone's -- apparently he decided that particular date was "act like a jackass day."  

Who you got?

 

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Smashing Pumpkins , some venue on Richmond Ave in Houston, right before they blew up. Someone in the crowd threw a shoe on stage about 15 minutes in and Corgan said if it happened again they were gone. What the hell do you think happened about 2 seconds after he said that? End of show

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1 hour ago, Carl Spackler said:

Seeing Billy Squier mentioned on the "albums with no bad songs" thread (!) reminded me that he would be on my list of worst concerts I've ever seen.  There was a distinct lack of energy and enthusiasm even during his hits.  A past-its-prime Nazereth opened.  It was pretty bad.  

Joe Jackson is on the list as well.  He seemed to be perturbed that the audience was there.

Billy Boy Arnold at Antone's -- apparently he decided that particular date was "act like a jackass day."  

Who you got?

 

Still think the album fucks.

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13 minutes ago, Butch Had Not said:

Still think the album fucks.

Don't Say No certainly had some hits.  And I happen to dig the song Lonely Is the Night in particular.  But he put on a really tepid show when I saw him.  

 

33 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Smashing Pumpkins , some venue on Richmond Ave in Houston, right before they blew up. Someone in the crowd threw a shoe on stage about 15 minutes in and Corgan said if it happened again they were gone. What the hell do you think happened about 2 seconds after he said that? End of show

Corgan has always come off like a raging asshole.

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3 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

Seeing Billy Squier mentioned on the "albums with no bad songs" thread (!) reminded me that he would be on my list of worst concerts I've ever seen.  There was a distinct lack of energy and enthusiasm even during his hits.  A past-its-prime Nazereth opened.  It was pretty bad.  

Joe Jackson is on the list as well.  He seemed to be perturbed that the audience was there.

Billy Boy Arnold at Antone's -- apparently he decided that particular date was "act like a jackass day."  

Who you got?

 

I saw him in 1983 (Saga opened) and thought it was great, but at 16 and drunk/high/tripping, it didn’t take much to impress me.

Smashing Pumpkins in 1997 sucked shit, though to be fair it was in the Erwin Center….

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3 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

Don't Say No certainly had some hits.  And I happen to dig the song Lonely Is the Night in particular.  But he put on a really tepid show when I saw him.  

 

Corgan has always come off like a raging asshole.

Remember when he became "William Patrick Corgan"?   What a pompous asshole.

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Johnny Paycheck at the local rodeo back in the late 90s. So fucked up he only made it through 3-4 songs, 2 of which were Take This Job and Shove It. Assaulted a stage hand with his cane then called it a night.

Actually after further reflection that might have been the most allsomest show I ever witnessed

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I went to see chuck berry on a double-bill, and he never played because the box office wouldn't cash his check.

 

 

 

But, the other half of the double was JAMES MOTHERFUCKING BROWN, and he blew the fucking roof off of the place.   What a fucking performer.  I would argue that he's the best to ever do it, and man, his band.  Wow. 

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22 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Filter at the original Emo’s back when their first album came out. They played one song, got pissed at something, and left the stage for good.

Probably a good thing because they had one good song.  Likely the biggest waste of money on a cd in my life. 

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9 hours ago, mr. sunshine said:

Johnny Paycheck at the local rodeo back in the late 90s. So fucked up he only made it through 3-4 songs, 2 of which were Take This Job and Shove It. Assaulted a stage hand with his cane then called it a night.

Actually after further reflection that might have been the most allsomest show I ever witnessed

 

Oh shit, this actually reminds me of the unequivocally worst show I've seen, David Allen Coe in like 2005. I had totally blanked this from my memory. But he was so incapacitated they carried him out and put him on a stool, and it was just 30 minutes of absolute gibberish.

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25 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Wow, that's surprising.  I saw Beck at ACL Festival and he completely killed it.

Agreed. Have seen Beck a few times and he's always killed it. 

I'd go with The White Stripes. Saw them at a place called Shibuya-Ax in Tokyo in 2003. Their warmup act - Whirlwind Heat out of Detroit - rocked it far more. Wasn't impressed with WS.  

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10 minutes ago, Sweetnsourpoke said:

I'd go with The White Stripes. Saw them at a place called Shibuya-Ax in Tokyo in 2003. Their warmup act - Whirlwind Heat out of Detroit - rocked it far more. Wasn't impressed with WS.  

Interesting.  I'm no Jack White fan, but I got to watch his band from stage side at Mohawk a month or so ago, and holy shit were they on.  Super tight.  (Obviously not The White Stripes, he wasn't suffering Meg's "drumming".)

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On 12/28/2024 at 1:42 AM, hullabelew said:

Justin Townes Earle. Only show love ever walked out of. I've never seen an act insult and berate an audience like he did that night. And for no fucking reason outside of his huge, over-inflated ego.

Definitely mean belligerent JTE that night.  That was during one of his "sober" stages.  Stood up there ranting about how much he loved his wife and would never do anything to make her unhappy.  Think he had a guilty conscience.

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One of my worst was also one of my best.  4th Longhorn Jazz Festival at Memorial Auditorium in July of 1969.  Blood Sweat and Tears couldn’t find one of their nine matching microphones and held the audience hostage for an hour waiting for the guilty party to return it.  I don’t know if it showed up, but the show finally resumed.  Childish behavior from supposed professionals.  Great performances from Miles Davis (whom we came to see), Nina Simone, and Hugh Masekela, but the night was soured by BB&T antics.

 

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The Black Crows at the Austin Civic Center (is that right?) sometime around 1996. Chris Robinson spent half the night ranting about something and then got really mad when someone shined a laser at the stage. They broke up for the first time the next night after a show in San Antonio.

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16 hours ago, Rimbo said:

 

Skid Row opened for Van Halen that night and absolutely blew them off the stage. Nobody but me cared.

Skid Row opened for GnR on the Use Your Illusion tour at StarPlex or some such in summer of 91 I believe.  Sebastian Bachs voice was so fucking powerful at that time, I hadn't seen anything like that in person 

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31 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Skid Row opened for GnR on the Use Your Illusion tour at StarPlex or some such in summer of 91 I believe.  Sebastian Bachs voice was so fucking powerful at that time, I hadn't seen anything like that in person 

Yeah, THAT guy. Amazing performer. He did NOT care that the audience didn't care to see them on stage; he was going to rock the house regardless, and the band was with him. And from what little I've seen of him in interviews, smart as fuck, too.

Now while Bach didn't have to carry his band, and Bach to the theme of this thread (autocorrect made that pun and I'm not fixing it): Cristina Scabbia. The reason she's so short is because she's been squashed down from carrying Lacuna Coil. Saw them on some tour sponsored by a shitty flavored alcoholic something here in SD. They were only given a 30 minute set, and it took them 3 songs to get warm. And even once they were warm, like I said, Scabbia carried that band. At least with a performance that bland, I knew they were actually playing their instruments, I guess?

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41 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

Van Halen was a terrible live band

Tell me you've never seen 'em live with DLR without telling me you've never seen 'em live with DLR.

Even on the reunion tour with Wolf on bass, it was an entirely different show.

But yeah, with Sammy? The FUCK tour was OK, I guess. It got bad from there.

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6 hours ago, ClubWhatever said:

Van Halen was a terrible live band

Their reputation was that like James Brown or Jerry Lee Lewis in their primes you didn't want to have to gone on after them. Saw/heard them at the Erwin Center in '84 and that was the gospel truth. One of the best live shows I ever attended and I've seen a few

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Mr. Bungle trolled the crowd at Liberty Lunch playing one note like a church bell for at least 10 minutes

*Booooonnnng*

*Booooonnnng*

Random voice in the back: "FUCK YEAH! THIS ROCKS! (crowd laughs)

*Booooonnnng*

*Booooonnnng*

Mike Patton: "We can do this all night"

*Crowd getting restless*

*Booooonnnng*

*Booooonnnng*

At least 10 minutes of this, maybe 20, this is the worst tree fify I've ever spent in my life!

then 

Band just rips a blazing version of Loverboy's The Kid Is Hot Tonight

Crowd goes apeshit

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BEST: Phish - MSG 12/31/95

WORST: Phish - Coventry 8/14-15/04

Both ratings include more than just the performance. Set and setting and the totality of the experience factor into it. I’ve seen a lot of really great concerts and the “best” could be debatable. The worst can’t. Coventry was definitely the worst performance I’ve ever seen as Trey was completely wasted the first night and couldn’t play. The second night was like a hangover. Total bummer for what were supposed to be their last shows ever. The band got back together 5 years later but I moved on and haven’t seen them since. It’s weird to think they now have fans who weren’t even born yet when I saw my last show. 

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On 12/28/2024 at 5:07 AM, G650 said:

 

Oh shit, this actually reminds me of the unequivocally worst show I've seen, David Allen Coe in like 2005. I had totally blanked this from my memory. But he was so incapacitated they carried him out and put him on a stool, and it was just 30 minutes of absolute gibberish.

Lake Somerville?

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8 minutes ago, deter said:

Lake Somerville?

No, Norfolk Va.

 

The only reason I went in the first place is I had accidentally seen DAC in Atlanta back in '99. We were at this club west of Buckhead, and the live entertainment came out, this tall ass motherfucker in a purple velvet cape and pimp hat. Starts rapping some Eminem. Didn't think much of it till he starts into some country song and I turn to my buddy and go "hey this dude sounds a lot like David Allen Coe" just as purple velvet weirdo start into If That Ain't Country. Realize that in fact this is David Allen Coe. Ends up played shit from Pantera, more Eminem, you name it, absolutely entertaining ass show.

 

Anyway, when he came in '05, was like hell we should go see him. Was one of the saddest things I've ever witnessed. When I say they carried him, I mean they literally carried him out to his stool.

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On 12/28/2024 at 10:27 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Interesting.  I'm no Jack White fan, but I got to watch his band from stage side at Mohawk a month or so ago, and holy shit were they on.  Super tight.  (Obviously not The White Stripes, he wasn't suffering Meg's "drumming".)

After seeing him in pretty much every incarnation, my general rule is “Don’t miss a Jack White show.”

My nomination for this thread is Sting with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2010. He played a ton of obscure and unreleased stuff. Hey asshole, you have a book of hits thicker than a New York phone book, play the fucking hits. 
 

(I’ve seen him three other times including with The Police and he was great)

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22 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

In what world does Miles Davis open for Blood, Sweat and Tears?  That's criminal.

 

18 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

You could say the same thing with regard to Nina Simone.  Or B.B. King.  Or Hugh Masekela.  And probably even Young-Holt Unlimited.  The order of artists on that bill was messed up.

Agreed, both then and now.  I would not have paid to see the David Clayton-Thomas BS&T, maybe the Al Kooper version.  Couldn’t miss a chance to see Miles live.  BB and Nina were a bonus.

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11 hours ago, Butch Had Not said:

@thunderlounge

You have been to 30,000 concerts in your life.  One had to suck.

 

Yeah, I've seen some shit fuck ones.

Worst that I recall was David Allen Coe. $85 tickets, mother fucker comes out, plays 45sec from 13/14 songs as a medley, and cut bait. The house band that did the warm-up played for 1hr 15m. Coe came on about a minute after 9pm, and at 9:15 was nowhere to be seen.

Saw Saliva/Audioslave/Theory of a Deadman. Theory was really good, clean set. Audioslave was so fucking bad my buddy and I turned around and had a conversation. A couple times between songs I told the mix guys I was sorry they had to try and work with that.

Was at the show Faster Pussycat got booed off stage and didn't return. They sucked and were playing like shit. Can't remember the whole bill, but they were first, and LA Guns (IIRC) after that. Can't remember if it was a triple or LA was headlining.

I've seen Ice Nine Kills, or however you spell it, a couple times starting off a Metallica show. Not a fan. They do/did some weird sort of performing art shit show that I just didn't get.

Seen various guys drunker than shit on occasion, been in shows that were hotter than Hades ('85 Tx June Jam and $20 waters, anyone?) and "shit" like that too.

I'll think on it a bit more, but the first two stick out the most in terms of bad performance.

 

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12 hours ago, thunderlounge said:

Worst that I recall was David Allen Coe. $85 tickets, mother fucker comes out, plays 45sec from 13/14 songs as a medley, and cut bait. The house band that did the warm-up played for 1hr 15m. Coe came on about a minute after 9pm, and at 9:15 was nowhere to be seen.

Seems to be a pattern

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