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Worst Concerts You Have Attended ??

I just left a remark about a favorite band of mine back in the day - April Wine - that I saw in concert and was disappointed. Could have been that it was an off night for them, or maybe they were never good in concert. Maybe the lead guitarist had too much to drink? April Wine was not the worst, however. I remember Neil Young in the 1990's who was on his one-man acoustic show type of tour that many artists were taking advantage of (perhaps for financial reasons) during that time. While a friend of I had near front row seats at Desert Sky Pavilion (now Ak-Chin) in Pheonix, the crowd was just roused up into a frenzy by the warm-up band (James) and here comes Neil and his guitar/harmonica. Wow, what a sonic letdown. I remember getting up and leaving and feeling Neil's glaring eyes on us as we ushered out. I think, to this day, he probably still remembers me. We all can remember the great live concerts we attended, but what were the worst and why?
goodlistening64
drbarney1's avatar
drbarney1
178 posts
 
While I never had to walk out of a concert, the Dallas Symphony was scheduled to perform the music of Schubert. I flew a private plane from where I was staying while I was still in the Air Force to Dallas to attend. When I arrived at the concert hall the ticket agent told me the symphony had been cancelled and replaced with an "Up With People" pop music festival because a mob of protesters thought symphonic music was too elitist for failing to come down to their level. I did not attend.
Years later my wife and I attended a wedding reception at a very expensive country club where there was a band shouting ever and again "Shake a tail feather," while all the very rich people were getting so drunk they were falling down on the dance floor and demanding "Shake a tail feather" be played over and over again. We left early.
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,979 posts
 
1extreme said:
" Add to that the fact that most modern bands can't reproduce their studoo album sound in a live concert setting it's rare that any rock concerts are worth going to."

Stupid comment.
smoore
1 posts
 
Buddy Guy. Early 70s, there was a place north of Boston called Lenny's on the Turnpike. He came out, did a great show, took a break and when he came back, was too high to play. Kept stopping and breaking down laughing. I figure he still owes me $5. 
I never realized until today, reading these comments, how common that was/is, I thought it was a just a bad thing he did. Apparently I was lucky it didn't happen other times, given how many shows I attended.        
forestg
26 posts
 
I don’t know if this counts. Aerosmith didn’t even show up for their show in ‘77 or ‘78. “Plane caught fire in Boston” was the excuse, but we were told only after opening band Golden Earring played a 17 minute version of “Radar Love”. It got very ugly, very quickly.
The Black Crowes might have been a good show but no one could hear them. They were way too loud for the venue and I had a toothache, so that was a long night.
My wife is a lifelong fan of Barry Manilow. I got her tickets for his show at SPAC in ‘11. She would agree that it was the worst concert we ever saw together and she loves the guy. Talk about phoning it in. Complete lack of connection with the audience.
The worst show I ever saw was Heart in the mid ‘80’s when they went pop. Uninspired, choreographed, boring. They sucked and I was really disappointed.
golftime
15 posts
 
Worst concert was probably Eric Clapton at the Spectrum in the early 70's.  It seemed like every song turned into a jam session that went on endlessly.  It probably didn't help that we had seats in the crow's nest and the weed smoke was so bad that we could barely see the stage.  
Best concerts  -
1.  Paul McCartney at the Hershey Park stadium - played for 3 hours non-stop and was outstanding.
2.  Elton John at the Spectrum right after the release of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.  Great all around performance.
3.  Doobie Brothers right after release of the Captain and Me - they sounded incredibly good.

And I am more than a little jealous of the people who saw the Beatles in concert, if even just for the historical significance.  Really enjoyed reading everyone else's experiences by the way.  
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