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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
nmmusicman
276 posts
 
I wear those foam earplugs to any live show but the absolute worst was KISS on their first farewell tour. It was Albuquerque at the Tingley and was so loud and distorted even with the earplugs was unintelligible. Left midway through. The next worst was Nugent. No further comment needed on him. Made it 4 songs...  

Some of best concerts have been ZZ Top in an outdoor venue, Steely Dan at the same venue and STP. All time favorite band live is Los Lobos! These guys are tight, fun and bring the musical goods, never seen a bad show from them and their sound crew is always on point.
gavman's avatar
gavman
134 posts
 
Best- the Levellers, numerous times throughout the 90's. Those cats could play. 

Worst- dead heat between Bob Dylan, Wembley Arena 1989, and the Rolling Stones the last time they played Glastonbury. Actually the Stones were worse, completely unwatchable,  i left after one, well i hesitate to call it a song.
petey15
24 posts
 
World series of rock n roll Cleveland stadium 75’. The Rolling Stones with Billy Preston and still had Mick Taylor. J Giles opened, both were great. I was like 14 or 15.

Hundreds since then. 
clwinbe's avatar
clwinbe
39 posts
 
Rush…every time they have been out west. The last show was Vegas at the MGM Grand. When they played “Headlong Flight”, everything in the arena stopped. Everyone working there gathered at each portal…there was no one manning the concessions. Even the older men and ladies working the shows gathered to watch. It was magic. 
kyle76
12 posts
 
Sly and the Family Stone, early ‘70s. The start of the show kept getting delayed. We waited probably two hours. When it did start, Sly was so blitzed he was incomprehensible. My date had to be home by 11. We pushed that a little bit, but heard about 30 minutes of music. My friends said he finally got booed off the stage after a total of about 45 minutes. It was a disaster all the way around. One great thing about concerts back then was if there was good crowd interaction, the band would keep coming back for encores. These days it’s all choreographed. An encore is just built into the show, then you’re done no matter how much the crowd cheers, generally about 11 pm. When the house lights come on, show’s over. 
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