I saw Prince last summer at the Target Center in Minneapolis. I was expecting awesomeness, and he did not deliver. The sound was crap, but I figured it would be given that the venue is made for basketball games. Prince came on really late, filled half the show with guitar solos and some other dude’s saxophone solos, hardly sang, and barely even danced (that I considered an insult). He had two other shows that same day, and it seemed like he was holding back to save his voice and energy for the later show. How rude.
Some comedy troups seem to do this. The audience doesn’t really go there to hear anything new they just go there to see, and in some cases play along, with skits that they already know and love. I don’t get it either but there you go.
Marc
Another one naming Prince. I’ve heard he’ll routinely do house-burning, three-hour shows, but the one time I saw him play, in Paris, back in the mid-90’s, he turned up about forty-five minutes late, performed for 25 minutes or so, then exited without so much as a by-your-leave.
Another candidate would be ZZ Top. Jeeziz, they’re horrible live. Considering how tight their albums sound, it’s a shock how shambolic, off-key and disjointed their music sounds when played in front of a live audience. Saw 'em once, sometime in the 70’s, and hated 'em. Saw 'em again on TV a few weeks ago, playing before the start of the Daytona 500, and they were every bit as bad.
Bill Watterson. Calvin and Hobbes was nothing short of genius. I understand retiring the strip, wanting to go out while it was high-quality, but since then…?
John Lee Hooker. Saw him about a year before he passed. Pointlessly awful - obviously his hangers-on were milking his name for money. A shame.
When I was a kid, KRS-ONE was a member of the hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions. He wrote a song (a whole album, really) that basically ended the career of a lesser M.C., and I loved him for it. He became my hero. I loved his message, his skill, he was hip-hop for me.
Then one day I saw him in a Sprite commercial with M.C. Shan…the rapper whose career he had ended. My lil’ tender teenaged heart sank as I watched him sell out, shilling Sprite. I was crushed.
Yeah, and Eddie Murphy is an asshole for not continuing to give us the cool and funny that we had come to expect from him.
Kate Beckinsale was a lovely young actress and I loved her movies, from Much Ado About Nothing to Shooting Fish. Then she got older, got too skinny and had some surgery, made a bunch of bad movies–and now there’s nothing interesting about her at all. 
I third (or fourth?) Bob Dylan, and for all the same reasons. I saw him in concert with Paul Simon, and they did “Bridge Over Troubled Water” together. Garfunkel…he ain’t. Sober…he ain’t. Ever getting my money for a concert again…he ain’t!
I saw him on the Smile tour in 2005 or so and he was great. He might have had a better band by that time though.
REM, circa 1994. Luscious Jackson opened for them and they did a solid set, so much so I went out and got their album the next day. Then, REM came out and were just bland, very bland. Michael Stipes spent must of the concert facing away from the audience, singing to the back wall.
Pink Floyd, the Division Bell tour. A disappointment because at this time seeing Pink Floyd live was a minor dream come true. It started out fine, with them dusting off Astronomy Domine. However, as the show went on I had the feeling I was getting cheated: here I was, so far away from the band I spent most of the night looking at the giant screen. Is it still “live” if the only way you can really the musicians is on a screen? Also, I paid to see Pink Floyd, not a bunch of other musicians playing while Pink Floyd stand on stage. Nick Mason didn’t even play the intro to time himself… That was the last time I ever went to see a stadium show. (By contrast, when I saw Jethro Tull, around the same time, Martin Barre was about a metre away from me during the Aqualung solo. Which he played himself.)
Oh no. Did you hear that? That was a little bit of me dying there. I didn’t know that about any of them…and I’ve met Laura Prepon. She was really fun going on five years ago now. That’s a nice memory for me. Too bad she’s become a whackjob.
In concert it would have to have been Tim Curry. He just could not pull off a decent stage show as a rock singer.
For live music (and this is the stuff they’ve bothered to record for posterity), I’d have to say the Rolling Stones. Hearing their live albuns is what has kept me from wanting to see them in concert.
I also came in to say Bob Dylan, who I saw at Fleadh in London some time in the mid-90s. Might as well have been a cardboard cut-out. He was completely outshone by Van the Man.
I’ve seen several stars give limp performances, but Dylan stands out because of the vast gap between his legendary status and his actual delivery on stage. Something to do with expectations.
Steve Earle about 7 years ago in Newcastle. He and his band clearly couldn’t be arsed, and spent the time making dicky little jokes to each other. His bass player in particular is the biggest knob I have ever had the misfortune to see on a stage.
Best ever was Arthur Lee at the same venue. Unbelievable.
I hear you. My eight year old son has recently fallen in love with Calvin and Hobbes which has caused me to appreciate again how good it was. It would be nice if there was SOMETHING else from Mr. Watterson.
I bet it’s Alicia Silverstone. Other than Blast from the Past, has she been in anything decent since Clueless?
No, it’s not her. Alicia Silverstone gets a lot more work and is probably held in higher regard then this actress is right now.
Must be Sean Young or Andie MacDowell.
I saw them live too, but I had a good time. It was at a time in my life when I had every single sketch memorized and it was hilarious (to me) to pick out the teeny tiny nuances where they’d changed a word or over-did something. I was also an active member of the KITH fan newsgroup at the time so everyone was having fun pointing out the subtle differences as soon as they got home from the show.
But - isn’t this how every live performance is? If you go see a band live you’re pretty much going to hear exactly what you hear on the album. Or what you heard last year. It’s the tiny nuances between the polished version and the live version that keep you coming back. It’s more enjoyable to see if you have it all memorized beforehand.
No and no. This actress was actually critically praised when she first came to prominence and won at least one award. However, I think a lot of people who initially praised her now probably wish they could subject their past opinions to some sort of Stalinist revisions.