These days? GnR only rarely showed up on time back in the old days, when they were still good.
Neil Diamond and Paul McCartney played pretty much on time at their (separate) concerts, IIRC. 'Course, they’re also in their 70s, so that might have something to do with it. I swear I was like the 5th youngest person in the stadium at the last Neil concert I went to, and I was 35 at the time!
For the most part it’s a venue thing, multiple hour waits are diva acts for sure, though, Madonna doin it a lot this tour. At large venues, there are lots of people coming that don’t go to many concerts, parking is confusing, then the whole finding their seat part, the venue gives a :45 minute to hour buffer. I was shooting Red Hot Chili Peppers and security was huffing and puffing because they were 4 minutes late. This was due to Keidis being in a car wreck recently and walking a little slower. The venue is very controlled, big artists that pull that stuff get banned from venues all the time (although money tends to let them back). I always show up when doors open, it’s hilarious watching people frantically get to their seats when a performer actually starts at the show time. I’d say that happens with ten percent of shows I’ve seen, if that. I love it, in bed by 11.
I go to several concerts a year, both arena shows and smaller venues, and by and large the opening act generally starts on time. At shows where there isn’t an opening act (like Rush, or Roger Waters), the show pretty much always begins promptly at the scheduled time.
The only show I’ve ever been to where I can recall there being a major delay was the Doors’ reunion concert in 2003, where they took the stage about 45 minutes late. (Possibly because they’d just gotten into town about an hour previously, though we just don’t know.)
I don’t know if it’s just a UK thing, but increasingly smaller venues have two events on in an evening. The live band first, then they clear everyone out for a late club. The result is gigs that have a 10.30 or 11pm curfew, and the inevitable earlier start time. As a result, I now usually phone or email the venue in advance and ask for show times. Even if there isn’t a club on later, I find venues usually have show times set out which are pretty much adhered to.
Jack White at the Edinburgh Usher Hall recently it just said “doors open 7pm” on the ticket. I phoned the venue and they helpfully said “support act on 7.30pm, Jack White on 8.40pm, show finish 10.45”. He was about ten minutes later than the start and finish times, which I don’t think we’ll class as diva behaviour.
Some venues have even started putting show times on their web sites over here. It doesn’t half make life easier.
My wife and I saw Alice Cooper in 2008. There was no opening act, and the show was scheduled to start at 7:30. At 7:30 on the dot, the house lights went down, the stage lights came up (curtain still down), and the opening riff for “It’s Hot Tonight” started playing, immediately followed by silhouette of (what turned out to be) an Alice imposter on the curtain. By 7:30:30 the curtain had dropped, the imposter Alice was in a heap in front of the drum riser, and the real Alice was front and center. My wife, who hates it when shows start late, was very impressed.
According to the Washington Post, when **Madonna **came to town this past September, she was a full two and a half hours late, taking the stage at 10:30 p.m. despite an 8:00 posted start time.
That to me is along the lines of pushing it and demonstrating to the fans that you don’t really give a shit about them, Super Diva or no.
Article here.
I know Rihanna was criticized for being very late to some of her shows (among many other things she was criticized for) during that 777 tour fiasco.
Could be they also wasted a few minutes looking around.
I think she was a couple of hours late in Stockholm the other week.
Sorry, by “these days” I meant the current line up not that their habits had changed.
I remember seeing GNR back in '87 when they opened for Maiden on the Seventh Son tour. At the time, they weren’t famous yet, but being a musician and keeping up with what was going on in L.A., I had heard of them and a friend came with us specifically to see them.
What surprised me was how unprofessional they were!
It was like watching some garage band practice. They were late then just walked out on stage and stumbled through 8-10 broken up songs almost all of which were an awful mess. The guys were just standing around, while stage hands and techs were scrambling to tune guitars and fix other technical problems. Later, I chalked it up to them being high as kites and most likely missing their sound check.
The crowd became so disinterested in them they began chanting for Maiden in the middle of their set. They eventually struggled through but ended their set with Paradise City which because of some crowd participation on the chorus, won back the crowd a bit at the end.
Saw them a couple of years later as a headliner and they had really improved.
I tried to see Spinal Tap in Cleveland one time. Those jokers never took the stage.
The last concert I went to was a few years ago, Lacuna Coil followed by some other metal band whose name I have forgotten.
Lacuna Coil showed up on time so we were actually late. They had been who I came to see and didn’t expect them to start on time. They were also pretty much booed off the stage and cut their set short. Then the band everyone was shouting about didn’t show up. We waited about 2 hours and left.
I’ve seen Ani DiFranco several times - side note: being a middle-aged straight white guy at an Ani DiFranco concert makes it very easy for your friends to find you in the crowd - and it always seemed that she went onstage pretty promptly. But then, Ani is sooo not a diva.
Last concert I saw was Tim McGraw. (I’m not a fan, but Mrs. SMV would leave me in a heartbeat for him). The show started on time, and he even sang some songs with the opener. He seems pretty classy, though - we won a raffle to go see him do a short acoustic set in a small tent, before the show. He sang a few songs, but it was mainly to let his band show off their chops.
The latest I’ve ever personally seen the headliner go on was a Springsteen show in 1984 where they were about 50 minutes late. But they had a good excuse. The LA Sports Arena is right next door to the Coliseum and they share the same parking lots. The 1:00 Raiders game had gone into overtime and didn’t end until almost 5. So you had 40-50,000 football fans trying to leave while 16,000 Springsteen fans are arriving using the same freeway offramps, surface streets, and parking lots. Total traffic mess. By the 7:30 start time, the arena was only about half full, so they gave the audience more time to show up and settle in.
The worst ones I’ve heard about from friends were Guns N Roses on the Use Your Illusion tour. Start time on ticket: 8:00 pm. They finally went on at 12:30 am. Fortunately both times I saw GnR they were an opening act (Red Hot Chili Peppers at UCLA in 1986 (I hadn’t heard of GnR at that time and the only thing I really remembered about their set was the guitarist wore a top hat), Rolling Stones in 1989) so they couldn’t pull that crap.
Absolute worst diva act encountered by a friend: Prince at the Forum in 1998. The tickets said doors open at 6:30 for a 7:30 show.
6:30: Doors don’t open
6:45: Doors still not open. Guy with bullhorn asking crowd to be patient.
7:00 Doors still not open. Guy with bullhorn looks pissed but still asking for patience.
7:15 Lots of beefy security guys start positioning themselves in front of the doors.
7:20. Doors still closed. Guy with bullhorn and several beefy security guys asks for quiet and calm, then announces Prince (who is inside the arena) has decided he’s not going to do the show. No explanation given. Refunds available at point of purchase. Go home.
As far as I know, no explanation was ever given. No medical emergency, no death in the family, nothing. Just a big middle finger to the people who came out.
Prince is an arrogant diva asshole and always has been, that’s the explanation.
At the U2 concert last year, they came on stage at 9:02pm and for the first third of their show, I kept marveling at all the empty (better than mine) seats in the stadium. Eventually they all filled, but I kept thinking “who pays that kind of money and then misses half the show???”.
Came in to say I’m not a fan and didn’t go, but a review of Madonna’s Pittsburgh concert mentioned that she was 2 hours and 45 minutes late starting her show. To be fair she did a full set. Lots of pissed off comments in the Post-Gazettes web site about this. People were also pissed that she went into this big political rant about Obama being re-elected. I like Obama too but if I came to hear the music and see the show and the singer started going into political stuff I would be pissed off too.
By contrast I’ve seen the Trans-Siberian Orchestra twice and both shows they started right on time. I remember an interview with founder Paul O’Neal saying “the fans don’t owe us, WE owe THEM”, and saying he tells the younger folks in the band to make every performance special (or something to that effect). And they do, both shows it looked like all the performers were having fun, and both shows were spectacular.
a friend of mine saw Madonna recently and she started hours late. friend kept posting on Facebook “still waiting…still waiting”
I’d be pissed, those tickets cost a mint.
I’ve been to more concerts in the last few years than I’ve been to in my entire life (I’m 41). And because my musical tastes are all over the map we’re covering lotsa genres and levels of fame.
Paul McCartney I’ve seen twice but the first time was like early 90’s (Flowers in the Dirt) and I don’t remember if he came out late or even if there was an opening act. When I saw him on his most recent tour though he came out maybe 30-40 minutes late? (This was in San Francisco which think might’ve been the first or second stop, so there may have been technical issues which I think people don’t take into consideration.) Obviously Paul McCartney doesn’t have an opening act. You best have your butt in the seat, drinks in hand by the time stated on the ticket.
Pet Shop Boys I’ve seen a few times (also no opening act, they have a DJ until they make it onstage.) Usually 15-20 minutes late.
Assorted boybands: Opening acts start ON TIME. 80% of the crowd are people with curfews and liquor sales are a non-issue. I went to a sold out Big Time Rush show and me and two sullen dads were the only people in the bar. With FIVE bartenders. These shows usually start around 7 and are over by 10.
Something I’ve come to hate about opening acts is when they sneak in a local radio personality or something. The couple One Direction concerts I saw (where they headlined) Olly Murs was the opener (who is good. Perfectly cromulent.) In their Oakland show the venue managed to wedge in this shrieking banshee and to add insult to injury they had decided to not sell alcohol at the show. WOW! They didn’t know there would be parents there?
After 1D’s recent Madison Square Garden show Niall said he saw a sign saying “Thank you for changing my life.” and tweeted: “No. Thank YOU for changing MY life.”
My wife saw Madonna in Chicago on this tour and reported the same thing. She has some contacts in the concert venue world, and evidently Madge has taken to having the clocks removed from her backstage area, and now goes on stage only when she decides she is ready and not when some stupid clock says she should.