# Who did you see perform that you wish you HADN'T seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071 "2018-08-03T20:32:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/61 "2018-08-05T14:43:36Z")
I saw Sparks and Marshall Crenshaw open for the Go-Go’s at an outdoor show, and they were pretty entertaining. Then the Go-Go’s came out and spent so much time on infantile stage patter, and more stage patter, and then an occasional song, that after a little while we shrugged, and got up and left. It was a good way to beat the traffic out, anyway. > [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Another show I saw that sucked was The Police, on their reunion tour, at the Boston Garden, or TD Bank Garden. The show may have been pretty good, but not from where I was sitting. > > The whole night was kind of a cluster fuck. I had scored the tickets through a work connection months previous for cheap, and I got what I paid for. Leading up to the show, the friend I had invited forgot about it and blew me off. I ended up taking my brother-in-law. When we got there, the only thing we knew was that we had tickets in the upper tiers. We asked an usher to help us out and he pointed us toward the escalator leading to the luxury boxes. We thought we scored. Not so much. They led us up to that level alright, and then up another flight, practically in the rafters, past the video control rooms and utility closets to a row of folding metal chairs set up along the rail overlooking the arena. Literally, there was not another seat in the entire place that was farther from the stage than mine. And the audio just didn’t make it up there. We could recognize the songs by their rhythm and muddled chords and notes floating up, but lyrics were Charlie Brown trombone. Between song banter was _wah-wah-wah wah-wah-wah-wah, wah-wah_. If there weren’t giant videotron jobbies on the either side of the stage the entire night would have been a perfect waste. I once got tickets to the Rolling Stones somewhere outdoor - maybe the Cotton Bowl in Dallas? - and it was exactly the same. There was DEFINITELY something happening way down there at the other end, some lights and little people running around on a stage, and some big inflatable balloon thing, but otherwise it was muddy music played through a tin can. A shame, because I’d seen them a couple of other times and it was great. > [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I’ve got to assume that this was some sort of tribute to The Moodies, or a rip-off of their name for a completely different musical show. I can’t imagine that the mid-80s Moodies would do this kind of show (though four guys would be right if you count just the original members). In any case, this grabbed my attention, as I am a long-time Moodies fan and saw them many times in the 80s. In 1983 I was roped into seeing The Moody Blues in Dallas, and had zero interest in going to see some oldies band. But first, unbeknownst to me, Stevie Ray Vaughan was opening and was terrific, and second, the Moodies blew me away by playing a long, massive, energetic setlist. That show stuck with me for years. ---
**Author:** ![flaming\_yawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cab0a1/32.png) [@flaming\_yawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flaming_yawn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/62 "2018-08-05T14:55:00Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I’ve got to assume that this was some sort of tribute to The Moodies, or a rip-off of their name for a completely different musical show. I can’t imagine that the mid-80s Moodies would do this kind of show (though four guys would be right if you count just the original members). In any case, this grabbed my attention, as I am a long-time Moodies fan and saw them many times in the 80s. It was probably 1983 at the Centrum in Worcester Mass… it was Billy Ray Vaugh or Stevie Ray Vaugh who opened… It was the band I am sure of it. BUT I am going to research this as I think it may have been my first concert. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/63 "2018-08-05T15:28:08Z")
Sometime in the mid-'90s: Paul Anka (and no, not Lorelei Gilmore’s dog, who would have been preferable). 1) The whole show was done as some kind of “Old Home Week”–he gabbed about his family, his new grandbabbie, his friends who have all gone before, blah, blah, blah. At one point, he “sang” a duet with a film clip of his good pal Sammy Davis, Jr. Ick! The blue-rinse ladies thought he was the cat’s PJs. 2) His repertoire is pretty lame, e.g., “Times of Your Life,” “Having My Baby,” even, “Diana;” it’s a horrible song–the theme is a good one, but the presentation sounds like a Benny Hill sketch. I felt 50 years older by the time the show was over. And I’m not sure, but it felt like my hair was turning blue. Fortunately, free tix. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/64 "2018-08-05T15:39:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > …Remembered another one, since people are talking about other than straight concerts. When the Aria hotel opened in Las Vegas, they tried to have their own Cirque de Soliel show in the vein of LOVE (all Beatles music.) The one at Aria was called Viva Las Vegas. All Elvis music, BUT…the central character wasn’t Elvis. It was Col. Tom Parker! Elvis never showed up as a character in the show at all. It was like going to a musical about John Lennon and having the central character be Mark David Chapman. > > Total disaster. Lousy choreography as well. The show closed rather quickly. I wonder if the producers were just being cheap, and didn’t want to pay whatever royalties would be required to depict “John Lennon” (or an obvious likeness) in their show. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/65 "2018-08-05T21:07:39Z")
Nine Inch Nails, recently. I was never a huge fan, but I’ve enjoyed their music and have heard great things about their live show. It wasn’t bad, just…bland? The staging and performance were all very flat and the sound was good but almost sounded like studio cuts. The salt in the wound was that it was at a festival and I missed New Order to see NIN, which I am certain was the wrong call. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/66 "2018-08-05T21:11:05Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Oh, yeah-- a friend once won four tickets to the nosebleed section of a Neil Diamond concert. This was in the 90s, when he was past his prime, but still had his devotees. Old women (well, OK, women in their 60s or so), kept walking up to the stage and laying flowers on it. These were people who had paid I-don’t-know-how-much for tickets actually _on the stage_. Diamond was on the stage on a platform, and there were about 20 folding chairs on either side of the platform, for people with way too much money. My seats were so far away, he was a tiny little dot to me. Not that I cared. I accepted free tickets for the sake of spending time with friends, but I wouldn’t have paid 50 cents to see him, if I’d had to pay. > > I don’t _hate_ Neil Diamond, and when his songs come up on an oldies station, I’m OK with it-- there are songs I turn off, and none of them are his, but I have to say, after that concert, I had really had my fill of Neil Diamond. Too funny. Neil Diamond was my other candidate for this thread. This was also in the 1990s, in a sports stadium. I have a small handful of Diamond songs that I actually like quite a bit, but then there’s everything else. My strongest memory is when he performed the song ‘Forever in Blue Jeans’; that seemed to last longer than all the other songs combined. Every time I thought he was done, he’d rev up his engine again with _“Money talks, but it don’t sing and dance and it don’t walk…”._ mmm ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/67 "2018-08-05T21:58:14Z")
The absolute worst concert I ever saw was Yes’s Union tour. I don’t regret seeing it though, because I really enjoy talking about how bad it was. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/68 "2018-08-05T22:06:38Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > I was drug to a Jean Michel Jarre show back around 1978 in San Diego… The right drug would have probably made the show seem pretty cool. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/69 "2018-08-05T22:15:23Z")
I saw Buddy Guy and BB King a couple years ago. Buddy Guy was fantastic. BB King was completely unable to perform. Yeah, he was an old man in poor health. However, if he knew he couldn’t put on a concert, charging $90 to watch him sit in a chair while the band did all the performing is underhanded. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/70 "2018-08-05T23:49:32Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > I saw Buddy Guy and BB King a couple years ago. > > Buddy Guy was fantastic. BB King was completely unable to perform. Yeah, he was an old man in poor health. However, if he knew he couldn’t put on a concert, charging $90 to watch him sit in a chair while the band did all the performing is underhanded. Saw BB King many times at small venues in Reno Casinos. But, this was many years ago. Always a treat. Him and Lucille. Fond memories. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/71 "2018-08-05T23:51:55Z")
Wilco. Mid to late 90’s? Played 5 songs, took a very, very, very long break, played another 5 songs. No encore. Tweedy bitched because they had to play Casino Queen. I’d seen them before at Summerfest in Milwaukee before they became semi-popular and enjoyed that. I wish I hadn’t seen them the second time. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/72 "2018-08-06T01:31:14Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I saw Mazzy Star ages ago and it was boring as hell and I say this as someone who enjoys Mazzy Star/Hope Sandoval. Sandoval came out, draped herself over the mic and mumbled her way through the set while barely looking up and never saying a word to the audience with one exception: the strap on her dress somehow broke or came undone (don’t as me how since she wasn’t moving) and she murmured “'scuse me” and wandered offstage for 5-10 minutes so someone could presumably safety pin it. Then she came back out and resumed her draping and mumbling. > > I’ve seen other “atmospheric” musicians before who actually had some stage presence so I don’t feel like this was a case of “well, what did you expect?” just because of her music style. Years later, my sister-in-law was going to see Sandoval perform several states away and I told my wife the story. Later that night, my SIL calls my wife to say “Wow, that _suuuuuucked_” and had the same criticisms I did, but without the excitement of that safety pin interlude. Not that it’s a character flaw or anything but Hope Sandoval always came across like someone who’s so severely introverted that she often has to struggle to step up to the mike. Your concert review just confirms what I’ve long thought. Also, on an obscure related note, does anybody here remember the “Your Favorite Band Sucks” web site from about 20 years ago? For those who don’t, the site was pretty much self-explanatory. It was a scrolling site where people vented and spewed vitriol at the music acts they hated. One frequent poster, in particular, really had it out for Hope Sandoval and no matter what topic he (I’m assuming the poster was male) was discussing, he would always drop in an insult about “that ugly bitch Hope Sandoval.” With people like that out there, I’m not surprised she seemed so uneasy about performing. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/73 "2018-08-06T03:04:46Z")
I’m a huge Spike Milligan fan. The Goon Show, the Q5-Q8 tv series, the war diaries. He is undoubtedly one of the UK’s greatest comedy geniuses. Went to see him live performing stand-up. He was a terrible performer. He came back to Australia about 5 years later, and I went again. Just as bad. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/74 "2018-08-06T05:27:29Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > …Al Stewart. Playing for free inside Harrah’s Tahoe on Christmas Eve, in a massive snowstorm. All he could do was play his one hit, then go into a tirade about how “the current music” was all incomprehensible garbage. :rolleyes: The stench of sour grapes permeated the room. Only reason I didn’t walk out was these were the only open seats in the whole place, and I was visiting with a friend from High School… I’ve gotta defend Al Stewart at least a little bit. According to Wikipedia, he had four top 40 hits: “Year of the Cat” (#8), “Time Passages” (#7), “Song on the Radio” (#29), and “Midnight Rocks” (#24). No idea if he has a general reputation as a sourpuss in concert. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/75 "2018-08-06T05:47:07Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > :smack: > > Long ago, after a college football game (major crowd, huge stadium), The Beach Boys were going to play for free. The stadium announcer kept hyping it, _“Be sure to stay in your seats for the Fabulous Beach Boys! Blah, Blah, Blah”_ > > The game ended, and _everybody_ left. They had bus-loads of school kids and herded them up to the front of the stage and prompted them to scream and shout. > > It was embarrassing. Luckily, I escaped before they took the stage. What a strange decision by the promoter who put this together, as well as the Beach Boys management. How did they think this was going to work? I’ve never heard of a pop/rock concert staged immediately after a sports event. And what a mismatch between the artist and the event. Did they really think the Beach Boys would draw more ticket buyers for a college football game? Very bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/76 "2018-08-06T06:05:42Z")
My worst concert ever was a nostalgia tour show featuring Foreigner and either Styx or Journey. (I can’t remember.) I’m guessing the early 2000s. It was staged at an outdoor space at Sacramento State University at 5 pm on a 100 degree summer day. Most of the crowd sat on very uncomfortable aluminum folding chairs with unpadded seats. Styx/Journey played first, and I think they were OK. I can barely remember. Then Foreigner came on. Mick Jones looked OK, and he could still play. But Lou Gramm on vocals was godawful, unbelievably bad. You may recall his high-pitched screech during their glory days in the 1970s and 80s. He couldn’t come anywhere close to those notes, and countered by singing those sections a full octave low. Even when he could sing the tune in a recognizable manner, his raspy tone suggested someone who’d sustained long-term alcohol abuse. On top of that, he looked like walking death - grossly overweight, bloated, and blotchy skin. It was pathetic and sad. I attended the show just for something to do with my friend and my brother. I think tickets were about $20-$25, and we were maybe 30 yards from the stage. I read later that Gramm was going through some health problems at the time, and his medications did a number on his body. Apparently he’s recovered and is a little closer to his old self. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/77 "2018-08-06T11:25:27Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Not that it’s a character flaw or anything but Hope Sandoval always came across like someone who’s so severely introverted that she often has to struggle to step up to the mike. Your concert review just confirms what I’ve long thought. That’s… fair, in that she’s not giving terrible performances out of withering contempt or anything. But it’s still a terrible show and I wouldn’t recommend anyone pay money to see one. > [@](#): > > drop in an insult about “that ugly bitch Hope Sandoval.” Well now, aside from being rude & nasty, that’s just crazy talk. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/78 "2018-08-06T16:39:25Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > I’ve never heard of a pop/rock concert staged immediately after a sports event. Around here they have them from time to time after a baseball game. “Country” music acts are the most common. But they did have the alleged Beach Boys once. We never hung around after a game to watch any of those. After hours sitting in the hot sun, it’s time to call it a day. (Esp. since the setup time before the act gets going is quite long.) ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/79 "2018-08-06T16:46:33Z")
Circa 1990, I gave my best friend tickets to a Neil Diamond concert for her birthday. The real gift, however, was that I agreed to go with her, something no one else in her extended circle of friends was willing to do. I had braced myself to endure the toxically saccharine performance itself, but I was not prepared for the audience, which was composed of older women in the throes of orgasmic ecstasy at being able to breathe the same air as Mr. Diamond. Everyone there except me knew the words to every song and was singing along. I moved my lips in an attempt to fake it and tried to keep a very low profile because I was pretty sure that if the crowd knew what I was actually thinking, they would tear me limb from limb. I really was frightened. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071/80 "2018-08-06T17:01:51Z")
I’ve seen **Sonic Youth** four times. Two of the shows were brilliant legendary shows of which rock-god tales are made. The other two were terrible, they simple stood dead-faced and motionless barely making it through the songs. I wish I could take back the two bad shows. **Natalie Merchant** was more ego than performance. There was a whole bunch of veiled drapery, platform staging, and lighting effects to try and elevate her to diva-hood, but the whole show came across as a lethargic Stevie Nicks impersonation. And twirling, oh god the endless twirling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-did-you-see-perform-that-you-wish-you-hadnt-seen/819071.md?page=5)