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?
I saw that concert at the Jacksonville Auditorium...can't remember the year, but 1966 comes to mind. Anyway, announcer says there is an "opening act from England" and Hendrix walks out. Never heard of him, and the audience was parents and kids to see the Monkees, of course. Hendrix did it all...played with his teeth, behind his head, set it on fire, the whole thing. AMAZING! I was blown away. MANY parents and kids left. Monkees came out...by the third song Mickey fell off the stage...not sure why. Anyway, an amazing show by Hendrix...
Next saw him in Charlotte a few years later when he "introduced" a new band called Chicago Transit Authority--Chicago! Another great concert!
This is all kinds of fun to read! My worst concert experience was Linda Ronstadt at the Erwin Center in Austin. Not because of her, she was red hot. But in those days, the sound in that place was ear-splittingly loud. It completely ruined the show. Everybody was trying to plug their ears. This was during her punk or new wave period.
My best experience was seeing the next to the last Beatles live show at Dodger Stadium in August, 1966. I got the ticket by sending an air mail letter to my sister in L.A. with 3 one-dollar bills in it. Their show lasted only 33 minutes, but I'll never forget it. The sound was crystal clear, and you could hear it over the screams.
When we got to the stadium, a girl was standing by the front gate, holding a Beatles picture and crying. No ticket, I figured. After the show, she was standing in the same spot, still holding that picture and crying. For all I know, she may still be there!
Black Sabbath ... Halloween night, 1983 at the Nassau Coliseum. Ian Gillan (Deep Purple)was singing lead and Bev Bevan (ELO) was on drums. Just awful. Gillan’s voice seemed shot and Bevan could hardly keep a beat. Tony and Geezer appeared to be in another universe that night. As my then girlfriend and I walked to the car after the gig, we spotted a black limo with the windows open ... the band was in it drinking up a storm. Beevan stuck his head out of the window, and waved at us with a drink in his hand.
Also, Jethro Tull somewhere in VA in ’98 or ’99. Ian’s voice was gone ’cuz of medical issues at the time ... he was quite raspy and barely intelligible. The rest of the band didn’t seem to care.
Then, there was the Kinks at Roseland in 1983. Cyndi Lauper opened for them and was pretty good. The Kinks came on after, played for 20 minutes, and walked off the stage.
@dekay - Thanks buddy, you had me worried. With some of the crowd around here, you never can tell.....
BTW, what I said is still true. The 3LP Abby Road Half Speed Master is really good. It also covers the entire 33 song set, vs the 6 songs on the original LP. Highly recommended!
During the early '70's saw Johnny Winter in Madison Square Garden, I can't remember how, but, I some how ended up in the front row and the crowd which started off as surly got downright nasty. Beer bottles flying all over, hundreds of people rushing the stage, my chest got crushed against police saw horse barricades, I couldn't breathe, I really thought I might die there. Johnny stopped the show, said it wasn't cool, and that the band would leave if they didn't chill out. Then the master showman sat down and played a really beautiful solo blues guitar tune and everyone calmed down. Still, I was truly scared.
Not many years later I saw Yes in the round at Madison Square Garden (a really lousy venue for concerts), Sound system was partly on the moving circular stage and partly in the rest of the arena, really weird sound, some of the sound moved, some of it didn't, it sucked.
One of the most unusual musical events, again in the '70's was listening to The Chicago Art Ensemble on the top floor of a broken down drafty loft in Greenwich Village. We sat on on moldy mattresses as the cold winter rain leaked in rather vigorously on our heads while they played some rather interesting free Jazz. After the performance, the small audience was invited to sit a communal picnic style dining table with the musicians where they served some kind of awful gruel, and some decent crusty bread. The musicians couldn't have been nicer, the music hypnotic, but it was not something I'd want to do again.
Dave Matthews Band in San Francisco Golden Gate Park (I think?). I was dying for 2+ hours because I was with a group of females and they seemed to like the show. Only saving grace was Carlos Santana who showed up for the last 20 minutes and played some good tunes.
A show that shocked me was The Tragically Hip in San Francisco. I had seem them a few years earlier in Santa Cruz and they were great as expected. However, in that SF show Gord Downie for some reason went into a primal scream rant on every song. A shame because the American audience never heard the greatness of their music at that show.
2007 SXSW Music Festival. The venue was the 18th Floor at the Hilton Garden Inn (one of the 3 best SXSW venues). Andy Pratt was first, followed by Bic Runga, Jonette Napolitano and Graham Parker.
Andy Pratt was beyond awful. He was doing his best to make us leave; but, no one did because the next three acts were so good. About halfway thru his set, Andy dropped his guitar pick and he couldn't find it. All of us were thinking "thank God this trainwreck is about to be over," only to have an audience member yell out that he had a spare pick.......despite most of the audience yelling "NO!!!," that did not deter him and we had to endure another 20 minutes of Andy Pratt. Bottom line, the agony was worth it, since the remaining sets were transcendant. Jonette even explained the origin of the Concrete Blonde song "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man" (turns out she had a ghostly encounter years earlier while staying at the Driscoll Hotel in downtown Austin).
I was also fortunate to catch Bob Dylan on his 1986 tour when Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers were his backing band.
I have to give the opposite opinion on Bob Dylan. Sometime in the early 90s I think. His last show after a big world wide tour. It was awesome. First half acoustic and the second half electric. He played "All along the Watch Tower" in Hendrix's style, it was great. If I remember correctly it was a solid 2 hour show.
I saw Chick Corea (RIP) in the mid eighties when he was putting together a new band and he came to our small NorCAL town and played at the Vets Memorial. It was like a shakedown cruise for the band. Less than 100 people showed up. Well they were pissed at the small turnout and they proceeded to insult the people who DID show up. Kind of left a bitter taste, as he was one of my musical heroes, having seen Return to Forever several times in the 70's. I saw West, Bruce and Laing in the early 70's and they were so loud I got a nose bleed. My ears were ringing for days.
About a year ago-Brittany Howard at the Beacon in NYC. How could you mess that up? Well, I was in the balcony, curled in fetal position with both hands over my bleeding ears. Soundcheck? Medic?
I saw many of the artists mentioned in this thread, and I'll bet many of the performances I saw were on the same tours where you guys saw them. I'm in agreement with the assessments a good 80% of the time.
Clapton, probably my favorite electric guitarist of all time, was a distinct disappointment with Blind Faith. Tasteful to the point of boredom. James Taylor was, yes, dull. The only reason I saw JT was because the tix got me a date with a girl I was hot for. I saw Dream Syndicate at the Country Club(?) in Northridge simply because one of my punk band mates was somehow connected to them. Echhh. Hated Foghat. Zappa and his band (not the Mothers) were tight but Frank was pompous, overbearing and one-dimensional. I also saw Frank paired with Zubie Baby & the L.A. Phil. Finally, I have to say that I loved the ELP concert I saw at the Santa Monica Civic. And did I once mention that I saw the CSNY concert at the Hollywood Bowl that Joni Mitchell opened and that started Joni's and Graham's long-running romance?
In any event, this is one of my favorite internet threads...evah!
And, since some have mentioned it, best - although like all of us there are many and perhaps tough to even consider listing, but a 70's gig by The Strawbs with backup the Welsh group Man. Incredible. If my recollection is right, Man was called back out for two encores with the second encore seeing members of the Strawbs off to the side of the stage.
The Strawb's Cousins later said that gig (Massey Hall, Toronto) was perhaps the best gig they ever played.
Todd Rundgren in the 70s. Hands down from this cat . . . .
No fan. Girfriend and her bud pleaded with me to get tickets so I did and we went. 45 minutes of mediocre, pompous pop. 45 minutes. And despite shrieking and applauding of their fans, after 45 minutes and the last couple done by sequencers alone onstage, no encore for them.
In New Orleans, early 80's, was looking forward to Johnny Winter; he injured his fretting hand before the show and played the whole concert with a slide...LOUD x7 .....he clearly adhered to a rigorous regimen of painkiller(s); even at the bar in another room it was deafening.
In contrast, Richard Thompson played a solo acoustic, small-club show in St. Pete, FL in the mid-late 80's; the rather small audience was on the same floor level as him, on folding chairs, and he repeatedly refused to turn up his amplification for guitar or vocals. Us in the back could hardly hear anything....playing or singing...and the last straw was when a bartender drowned him out by crushing an empty bag of potato chips!
With so many Bob Dylan entries here, I have to agree. Only the last time, whenever that was (not long before Coronavirus), was he anything close to good. Other few times, it was mostly "Ok, now I saw Bob Dylan". As a few others mentioned, it was hard to recognize what song he was mumbling.
Maybe it is time to end The Neverending Tour. Or maybe that time was many years ago.
Overall Best for me personally - Emerson, Lake, Powell 1986, Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario. The night that changed my musical life forever. Band was firing on all 12 Cylinders that night and did 3 encores. Keith Emerson was and still is The Greatest ROCK Keyboard Player (to me anyways). Mental illness is a serious thing. Please always reach out if a friend asks.
Others were (and there were more...just too lazy too list all them here) :
Rush Outdoors - always great sound...indoors and they played incredible but the sound ALWAYS sucked on both sides of the Border. Be it Toronto, Hamilton, or Hershey ! Outdoor Rush shows were always the best of the Band and their P.A. system.
Yes Union Tour 1991. 6th row T.O. Skydome. What should have been a major clash of styles...was. But they made it work for the audience. The "Onion" tour as R.W. called it had style clashes with both B.B & A.W. during their "Drum Duet". Paled in comparison to Bruford/Collins in the 70's IMHO. Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin, another clash of styles. Separately, their acoustic and electric solo's were great, together they was no trading of licks between them. Chris Squire was the glue that night. Oddly, both Rick Wakeman and Tony Kaye were playing together and it showed !
There's more but it would be a really really long post.
Worst concert
April Wine - Ottawa, Ontario 1996 : They brought in this huge Stadium P.A. system in a small club (can't remember the name - on Richmond Rd.). Great playing but horrible sound.
Nick Mason's A Saucerful of Secrets - Phoenix, AZ - 2019 Again, brilliant show that ruined for my because I stupidly bough a front row seat that was direct in front of a stage level P.A. Cabinet !!
Aerosmith in 2004 Hershey, PA. They truly are and play the "The Poor Man's Rolling Stones". A letdown for since I'd never seen them live and was looking forward to it. That night, Cheap Trick opened for them and outperformed Aerosmith. IMHO.
ELP/Jethro Tull - Toronto 1996 - Both played incredibly well that night and sound at the Kingwood was good. ELP OPENED for Jethro Tull ! We were all expecting Double Bill that night. It my have had to do with K.E's wrist surgery in 1994. He played lie he meant it but "dialed in" the knife stabbings into the Hammond L100. They would redeem themselves in 1998. Read below.
ELP/Deep Purple - Molson Amphitheatre 1997 - ELP were again firing on 12 Cylinders. Dream Theater opened. It was a double bill ELP for 90min. followed by Deep Purple for 90min. and I started to doze off. Honestly, I was only there to see Jon Lord and he did not disappoint.
Worst is a three way tie. Santana, touring with Jeff Beck in ’95. His pal Jerry Garcia had just passed earlier in the week and his whole set just seemed like a spirituality/sob fest. Thank god Beck went on first (with Bozzio on drums) because they killed it. My friend’s and I left halfway through Carlos’s set. Other two were opening acts, Blackfoot opening for Deep Purple in ’85 and Little Steven opening for U2 in ’87.
Best show was probably Zappa, ’88 tour. Only time I got to see him, sadly he never toured again. Honorable mention to The Clash opening for the Who in ’82.
Appearantly sex, drugs and rock-and-roll are not a good long term plan 😄 I am thoroughly enjoying all of the experience recounts! Btw, I ALWAYS used earplugs. Even when going to a bar to hear a band, I would ALWAYS roll up cocktail napkin to stuff in my ears, and still discern the music fully. Take care of your hearing ... so you can HEAR the snake oil ... 😃
Worst: Aerosmith, Buffalo, NY, September 1978. The opening act, AC/DC, blew 'em off the stage, as they say. But Tyler et al. seemed wasted, indifferent. The sound was awful. Draw the Line, indeed.
Best: The Who, same venue (Buffalo Memorial Auditorium), the very night after the 11 people were killed in Cincinnati. Talk about power. Tight sound, brilliant performance after the horror of the previous night. Changed the way I thought about music.
Close to best: As MillerCarbon noted, the Born in the USA tour of Springsteen had some great shows. In Tempe, AZ, man, was he on. For a long night, too.
Another close: Opening show, U2's Joshua Tree Tour, same venue as Springsteen a few years earlier. Never experienced such energy, even if Bono's voice was shot from over practice. He didn't need it, as the crowd sang all the lyrics (yelled them, that is). Two nights later it was back. Still didn't need it, though. Talk about synergy.
Worst concert I saw was Foghat back in the 70’s. They didn’t seem to have too much material, so every song droned on and on. Slow Ride was more than a half hour long and I fell asleep during it. Second worst was Deep Purple when David Coverdale was the singer. Again, a 5 minute song turned into eternity. The worst part was a girl overdosed right behind me and her supersize soda went all down my back and she fell over the railing and landed on top of me. I wanted to say something but her boyfriend was some huge goon. I said nothing and left the concert early.
Oh, I remember another awfully boring show. It a James Taylor show in the mid-80's. I was in college and worked the show. I kept leaving to go to a friends party then come back hoping it got better. Never did. It was just so bloody boring.
The only two bands that I remember walking out on were The Dream Syndicate and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (both were opening acts that were too loud and talentless). I have a vague memory of walking out on another opening act (Hydra) from my teenage years, but that's going back to far in the memory bank.
The three worst "going through the motions" shows were: Van Morrison, Morrissey and New Order. All three only lasted around 45 minutes; so, they also felt like a double ripoff.
Without a doubt, it was a Black Sabbath show in the mid-90's with Ozzy. It was loud, and just droned on and on. I went to see the opening band which was the Alvin Lee Band. Which was cool enough, but the real reason I went was Mick Taylor was in Alvin Lee's band and I was always a fan of Mick Taylor. Two songs into Ozzy and we walked out. All the security guards were saying they didn't blame us for leaving.
My worst concert was Joe Bonamassa in Omaha, NE. I had seen him many times before and he was great. This time I had the best seats, but sound was so bad, that even after putting in ear plugs, it was just all a wall of noise, and way too loud, and I like it loud. $600 in tickets down the drain. Just left early.
I have two. Frank Zappa at the Agora Ballroom in Columbus, OH, 1979 I think. The music was OK, but Frank played with his back to the audience for at least 80% of the show. They had the lights set up so he cast this big shadow on the wall and I guess that was supposed to make up for it, but it really didn’t work. The other was Genesis in Ohio Stadium in 1992. I blame it entirely on the sound mixer because that dufus had the bass turned up way too loud and it totally drowned out the other parts of the music. But Pink Floyd at Ohio Stadium in 1988 was fantastic. The worst one I ever had to watch was the Black Eyed Peas Super Bowl halftime show so of course that doesn't count as attended. But it was an assault on my ears.
Bob Dylan again. It was about 7 to 10 years ago in a hockey arena in Maine. The acoustics were horrible. In the seventies I remember going to a concert in Boston that was so loud it was painful. I can’t remember the group but I was very disappointed that my friends and I all agreed we couldn’t take anymore and left after two songs.
Worst sound system--Drive By Truckers in a club type venue. Lots of energy, but could not understand a single word they were singing. Since the lyrics are a big component of their package, that was kind of disappointing.
Worst effort--B.B. King, circa maybe 1987. smallish venue, Austin, TX. His guitar playing was in good form, for maybe 28 minutes.
Then his bass player, younger understudy, whatever, started trying to urge a standing ovation out of the audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mister BB King. BB King, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mis-ter B. B. King."
Roommate at the time and I still keep in touch, and we still talk about the 28 minute concert. No doubting his talent, but we weren't paying to give him a lifetime achievement award that night. He must have eaten some bad Tex-Mex.
Hot Tuna with Papa John Creech (fiddle), OMG I couldn't stand it with my fingers jammed in my ears the PA was so loud. Had to leave.
Rick Wakeman Journey to the center of the Earth. Played it very well and then announced that was the only song they knew, so they played it again!
Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden, they played very sketchy as if they were trying to get on the same page. To top it off, MSG management never turned the lights off, every friggin' light was on the entire time.
One of the very best: Ella Fitzgerald at Radio City Music Hall, smooth as silk and powerful, simply amazing.
Hall and Oates in 2018 was the worst...We walked out after 3 songs....Train was the opening act and they were excellent.....Their sound equipment was excellent, and we were expecting the same from Hall and Oates....I went home and put on a few records that sounded better than the concert live....
Hall and Oates...Just plain horrible a few years back. Luckily...Tears For Fears was touring with them and totally saved the the evening...Thank you TFF!!!
Prince back in the late 80s He was playing in the old Miami Arena. I didn't want to go, but a friend talked me into it. I DID take earplugs, but after one song I couldn't take how loud it was so I went to the back of the arena outside the doors, where vendors are. Still too loud, so I actually left the arena and sat on the steps outside, but still had to keep the earplugs in for almost 2 hours
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