# Worst live concert you ever attended. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250 "2013-06-05T22:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/61 "2013-06-06T16:07:58Z")
The only paid concert I ever walked out on was \*\*Strawbs \*\*in 1975. We really went for the opening band, Gentle Giant, but I’d been talking Strawbs up to my friends, having seen them put on an excellent gig a couple of years earlier (opening for Procol Harum). Gentle Giant did a mind-blowing set of impossibly intricate music and crowd-pleasing stunts (swapping instruments, all five members joining in a “drum bash,” an echoplexed violin solo, etc.). It couldn’t have been easy for any band to follow that. Strawbs attempted to do so by turning their amps up to 11 and turning their cerebral, folky prog-rock into an impenetrable wall of mushy noise. I was embarrassed at having told my friends how good this band was. We split after about three songs. I’ll never know whether that sonic barrage was due to technical problems or (as I suspect) egotistical grandstanding. P.S.: When I saw Dylan in 1998, he was fucking great. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/62 "2013-06-06T16:12:57Z")
My worst concert experience was seeing **Motörhead** in the late 1980’s. They played at Bogart’s in Cincinnati, which is relatively small venue with flat, parallel walls. It was so loud that you could not hear the music… it was just a wall of ear-piercing noise. No individual instruments could be discerned – just pure white noise at 130 dB or whatever. We left after 20 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/63 "2013-06-06T16:22:45Z")
I can think of three. A one-hit wonder back in the day called “ **Sandbox**.” They had a song on the radio called “Curious” and it was a good song. They played a small bar here in town so I went. Well they came out on stage and the singer looked at the crowd, huffed sarcastically and said “Nice crowd.” Way to begin a show, guys. They played like they didn’t want to be there and when someone shouted “CURIOUS!!” the singer said “Yeah, like we’re going to play that one yet.” Bunch of pretentious assholes. But the guitarist later became Bubbles on “Trailer Park Boys” (who is awesome) and I don’t remember him being a dick onstage, just the singer. **54:40** in the early '90s - they played a venue that was NOT designed for live music. They were SO LOUD and the music so distorted from the volume and crappy sound system that I thought my ears were going to bleed. I honestly had a headache/earache for a couple of days after. **The Cure** a few years ago at the Molson Amphitheatre. They had just released a new album and pretty much played only songs off it or their newer stuff that wasn’t really popular. They played about 3 of their classics which got everyone up and dancing, but then back to their newer stuff that nobody seemed to know. I just thanked God that I’d seen their Wish tour back in the day and that concert was amazing because this one sucked. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/64 "2013-06-06T16:49:00Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > I can think of three. > > A one-hit wonder back in the day called “ **Sandbox**.” They had a song on the radio called “Curious” and it was a good song. They played a small bar here in town so I went. Well they came out on stage and the singer looked at the crowd, huffed sarcastically and said “Nice crowd.” Way to begin a show, guys. They played like they didn’t want to be there and when someone shouted “CURIOUS!!” the singer said “Yeah, like we’re going to play that one yet.” Bunch of pretentious assholes. But the guitarist later became Bubbles on “Trailer Park Boys” (who is awesome) and I don’t remember him being a dick onstage, just the singer. > > **The Cure** a few years ago at the Molson Amphitheatre. They had just released a new album and pretty much played only songs off it or their newer stuff that wasn’t really popular. They played about 3 of their classics which got everyone up and dancing, but then back to their newer stuff that nobody seemed to know. I just thanked God that I’d seen their Wish tour back in the day and that concert was amazing because this one sucked. Wow, I haven’t heard of Sandbox in years. I saw them open up for Barenaked Ladies at the Moore Theater in Seattle back in 96. I remember liking them pretty well, though wasn’t overly impressed. They weren’t bad anyway. We’re seeing The Cure at Lollapalooza in a couple of months and it seems like their festival sets are more of a “Greatest Hits” affair, so hopefully my experience doesn’t mirror yours. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/65 "2013-06-06T17:47:47Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I wonder if it was the same tour I saw. I saw Van Halen about that time in Detroit. David Lee Roth was swigging on a bottle of Jack Black the whole time and reached down to the front row to take a couple hits off a doob. He was so wasted he often forgot to sing, even though he seemed physically spry leaping around the stage. You sure it wasn’t iced tea, like Quiet Riot’s late singer Kevin DuBrow used to drink out of a Jack Daniels bottle? Sad thing about DuBrow is that he was believed to have been dead for 6 days before anyone noticed he was MIA. ☹ VH performed at the same venue a couple years earlier, when I was still in high school, and I wasn’t there but I knew a lot of people who were. Halfway through “Jamie’s Crying”, he stopped singing and said, “I forgot the f—ing words!”, which led people to think he was, like, really wasted or something, but there were reports from people who saw multiple shows that he was doing that at every concert. :rolleyes: BTW, I grew up in Des Moines, and the Van Halen gigs were at the same venue where Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a dead bat in the middle of a concert, and ended up needing rabies shots. I wasn’t there either, but I knew a lot of people who were there too. The newspaper’s write-up said that younger members of the ER staff were “explaining Ozzy to older members of the staff, who didn’t believe the story.” Nowadays, the older people would be explaining him to the younger ones, if you think about it. 😃 Yeah, my parents were apprehensive about letting my sibs and I attend rock concerts, but a few years later, with 3 kids in college at the same time, my dad did some security work at the civic auditorium, and after working a number of events, he told our mom, “I can’t believe I had a problem with the kids going to rock concerts. I sure am glad they weren’t country music fans!” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/66 "2013-06-06T17:55:15Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > We’re seeing The Cure at Lollapalooza in a couple of months and it seems like their festival sets are more of a “Greatest Hits” affair, so hopefully my experience doesn’t mirror yours. Check this recent setlist - it’s amazing (4 encores, 50 songs) > **[The Cure Setlist at Foro Sol, Mexico City](https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-cure/2013/foro-sol-mexico-city-mexico-13d83549.html)** > > Get the The Cure Setlist of the concert at Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico on April 21, 2013 from the LatAm 2013 Tour and other The Cure Setlists for free on setlist.fm! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/67 "2013-06-06T17:57:58Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > 1. The Replacements, Lawndale Arts Center, Houston, around 1982. I’ve told this story before, but when I arrived at the venue, I had to step around a drunk passed out in the mud next to the doorway. This turned out to be Paul Westerberg. > > The band got going more than a bit late (I still remember the guitarist, a tall blond dude with a crewcut who was wearing a victorian-era widow’s dress). Westerberg, who was still falling-down drunk, had considerable difficulty remembering his own lyrics, and a dispute erupted almost immediately between the band and the venue’s management, resulting in the power being cut off about four songs into the set, at which point a chair-throwing riot broke out. This really should have been Number 1, but I have to admit the whole thing was fairly entertaining, if not in the way intended. The Replacements, in their prime, had live shows that were better known for their drug-fueled theatrics than for their music (as was Guns N’Roses in their prime), which I don’t find all that impressive either. The guy in the dress was either Robert Stinson, who OD’d some years ago and has a child whose medical care costs the state of Minnesota something like half a million dollars a year, or his brother Tommy, who joined the band when he was something like 12 years old and AFAIK is still alive. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/68 "2013-06-06T18:02:17Z")
> [@FuriousGeorge](#): > > **Yes** , mid-80’s, _ **90125** _ tour at the Forum in LA.. specifically their opening act, **Berlin**.. oh wait they couldnt make it… **Bugs Bunny cartoons** … This totally reminds me of when I saw Asia, a band that included a few members of Yes. Their opening act was booked to play a bar gig in a nearby city, so the opening act was…are you ready for this…a magician. Yes, the type you’d hire to perform at a kid’s birthday party. 😛 :smack: People started booing, except when a scantily clad female assistant walked out onstage, then all the guys started cheering and the women booed louder (and this was reversed when she walked offstage), and when he did a trick with birds, people started chanting “OZZY! OZZY! OZZY!” (yes, this was in Ames, near Des Moines, and just a few months after the Ozzy incident. As for Asia, they did put on a good show, especially when Carl Palmer took his shirt off in the middle of his drum solo. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/69 "2013-06-06T18:02:19Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I immediately bought pricey tickets when I saw an ad for: > PETER GABRIELwomad festival thinking I’d be seeing a big production show with all the lights, smoke, f/x. > Nope, it was an all day lame hippy world music fest that you had to sit through all day since there was no assigned seating. Peter Gabriel kind of made an ‘appearance’ at the end 12 hours later to sing a couple of his songs with the lights on up on a bare stage. Lame. Amusingly, that was one of my best. We loved the show, and got to see the amazing [Shelia Chandra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Chandra) and a number of other amazing world music artists. Peter Gabriel was just a nice end to the show. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/70 "2013-06-06T18:11:14Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > 2 . Todd Rundgren, at a fieldhouse on the campus OF the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, ca. 1977. The place really wasn’t set up for an amplified concert; the sound was utterly awful, just an echoing hash of discordant noise. He had this elaborate stage setup based on an Egyptian pyramid theme that could have been lifted from “This is Spinal Tap”. Basically just a totally unsuitable venue for what they were trying to do. From what I understand, [the Utopia _Ra_ tour](http://youtu.be/ej9xzLCyiWE) was the inspiration for a couple of scenes in Spinal Tap. Harry Shearer is a big Todd fan. Worst Todd show for me was in Oklahoma City. They were supposed to play Cain’s Ballroom, which had no air conditioning. So instead, they rented a stage and set up outside the venue _under a highway overpass._ The whole show was performed with trucks rumbling by overhead. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/71 "2013-06-06T18:44:45Z")
I can’t say I’ve ever been to a bad concert. I’ve been to a few festivals where the second-stage bands were mediocre or just plain forgettable, but I don’t count them since they’re not the people I paid to see. The only concerts that stand out in my head as having been not all that particularly great were; - **Eric Clapton,** 2007. Solid musician, but the man has no stage presence - he never once said a word to the audience except to introduce his sidemen partway through the show, and didn’t even seem to so much as look in the direction of the crowd. - **Blue Oyster Cult,** 2005. Buck Dharma was missing for some reason that was never explained, and so they promoted the bass player to lead guitar, put the keyboardist on bass, and played a short set as a four-piece with no encore. It was pretty cool to see them pretty much flying by the seat of their pants, but of the numerous times I’ve seen BOC live (they usually hit the casino/county fair circuit up this way once a year) this was by far the least amusing of their shows. - **The Killers,** 2005. Maybe I can’t blame them for the fact that they only had one album out at this point, but their set just consisted of that one album in its entirety, slightly rearranged from the track order on the album, including the songs that clearly weren’t intended to be played live. Also, the stage was constructed so that from where I was sitting I couldn’t even see the drummer. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/72 "2013-06-06T18:45:04Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > [Here is a picture from Watkins Glen](http://www.glenphotos.com/summerjam/crowdn2.JPG). I’m the guy with the long hair (by the stage). FYI, I get a “403 Forbidden” error from that link. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/73 "2013-06-06T18:50:45Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > FYI, I get a “403 Forbidden” error from that link. Yeah, I realized afterward that you must go here first: [SUMMER JAM 1973](http://www.glenphotos.com/summerjam/) then add ‘/crowdn2.JPG’ to it once you’re at the primary site. Alternatively, just go to [SUMMER JAM 1973](http://www.glenphotos.com/summerjam/) and click on “crowd#6” off to the left of the page. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/74 "2013-06-06T18:53:39Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’m not sure I would have left, but I can get alongside the poster’s opinion. Watching someone on stage that is Just So Full of Themselves can be an unpleasant experience no matter how good the other aspects are. The worst of my “insufferable ego” shows to watch was **Natalie Merchant**. She had the diva dial turned up to 11, annoyed at the obligation of coming down from heaven to amuse the mortals, using every song break to mumble her disapproval of the audience and of her band. At one point she disdainfully sang with her back to the audience, then gave that up seemingly because she then had to face her band, then gave the final couple of songs to an imaginary audience somewhere 30’ above the crowd. Even worse was how all of the stage lights and effects were solely directed at her, with a giant shadow silhouette of her dancing in a random noodly way projected on a huge white screen like some bad film school project. At least the seats were soft and the ticket was paid by a friend. ---
**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:** [June 6, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/75 "2013-06-06T20:28:29Z")
I saw Natalie Merchant a few years ago and it was a mixed bag. The first 90 minutes was pretty ego-driven with her singing songs from some album of children’s poems she set to music. Unless you were absolutely enraptured by her, it was pretty sloggy going. Then she called for an intermission, came back in 20 minutes and did a 90 minute set of 10,000 Maniacs and Tigerlily/Ophelia solo stuff. She actually said something like “You indulged me for the last hour and a half so here’s a second concert of stuff you know.” That half was a lot more enjoyable and she seemed to have fun doing it. I won’t defend that it took well over an hour to get to the good stuff though. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/76 "2013-06-06T20:32:56Z")
Ha, Aerosmith at Boston Garden in late 1976. Sent the girls into the bathroom at intermission (Rick Derringer opened) to score some acid, which they did, and we took it right before Aerosmith went on. Between the acoustics of the old Garden and the fact that this was probably at some of the depths of their fucked-upness, you couldn’t even tell what songs they were playing. Show was over in an hour, just as we were starting to get off, lol. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/77 "2013-06-06T20:35:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > - **Blue Oyster Cult,** 2005. Buck Dharma was missing for some reason that was never explained, and so they promoted the bass player to lead guitar, put the keyboardist on bass, and played a short set as a four-piece with no encore. It was pretty cool to see them pretty much flying by the seat of their pants, but of the numerous times I’ve seen BOC live (they usually hit the casino/county fair circuit up this way once a year) this was by far the least amusing of their shows. OMG, what a nightmare ? BOC with no Buck cannot even be considered “BOC”. I feel for you. They are one of my favorite bands, and I love seeing them live (except the latest incarnation of just Buck and Eric). ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/78 "2013-06-06T20:55:45Z")
> [@Noodles\_Fellicini](#): > > You said live “event” so I’m going with comedian Steven Wright – bought expensive tickets for my siblings and although our seats were good the sound was worthless and we could not hear a single word. We got a good laugh out of it afterwards but it was a serious waste of money. That’s too bad. I saw him at the Beacon Theatre in NYC about 20 years ago and he was Hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/79 "2013-06-06T21:07:38Z")
Another vote for Dylan. It was at a semi-outdoor venue ([Myer Music Bowl](http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Sidney_Myer_Music_Bowl.jpg&imgrefurl=http:/)) in Melbourne circa 1977, and we were up on the grassed area. It was also BUCKETING rain, and we got stuck behind one of the sound-podium thingies. Couldn’t see Dylan, couldn’t hear him, and despite mass whingeing from the punters, the promoters wouldn’t reschedule the concert. Another was a British folkie called **John Martyn**. Drunk as a skunk and vocals were totally undecipherable (much like his later albums really). He lost a potential groupie that night ☹ ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250/80 "2013-06-06T21:23:21Z")
I don’t see a lot of concerts, so I don’t have any real horror stories. The worst I’ve probably seen were Run DMC and James Brown (both in Kitchener, Ontario in 1997). For Run DMC, the venue was pretty lousy and nobody really seemed into it (neither the audience nor the band). For James Brown, there were something like 4 opening acts. At one point, the emcee came out and we had this exchange: “Are you ready for James Brown?” “Yeah!!” “I said – Are You Ready For James Brown??” “YEAH!!!” “I can’t hear you – ARE YOU READY FOR JAMES BROWN???” “YEEEEEEAHHHH!!!” “Well, he’ll be coming out after two more opening acts. Next up we have No-Name and the Nonametones.” When he finally came out, he went through the motions well enough I suppose, but you could tell he wasn’t quite as perky as he used to be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-live-concert-you-ever-attended/660250.md?page=5)