VoicesCarry said:

your funnier than ever

crazyhorse said:

I LOVED the Spice Girls show I saw

mrdespues said:

I remember this, it sounded horrible and confirmed all that I thought based on TV performances I saw of hers...it's too bad, but I'll still enjoy her CDs

LightOfArt said:

Touché.

My worst concert ever, I am sad to say, was -

Queen, Slane Castle 1986.

What helped make this the worst for me was the expectation of a brilliant concert, I mean we all know that Queen were a brilliant live band - their live aid performance proved that.

It was raining when they came on stage so I think that put Freddie in a bad mood for starters. Then some fools started lobbing stuff up onto the stage, which unsurprisingly pissed him off even more. He asked politely for people to stop a couple of times and then he finally lost the rag.

I'm paraphrasing here, but he stopped the music and said something along the lines of "OK, if one more person throws something up here we're leaving the stage and you lot can fuck off".

Needless to remark, telling 80,000 wet drunk Irish people to fuck off 15 minutes into your set is not the cleverest of moves. He nearly disappeared under the deluge of stuff thrown at him. Fortunately for him, glass bottles and cans aren't allowed in to concerts, so it was mostly paper cups and plastic bottles he got pelted with, and it was mostly his ego that got bruised.

He stormed off stage, but was persuaded to give us another chance (although I suspect he intended to leave, and someone mentioned contractual obligations). When he came back on he seemed to just go through the motions, particularly when they did a medley of older stuff.

And of course, they all left the stage for the middle of Bohemian Rhapsody. I know they always did that, but I think they should at least have had a go at it, even if they fucked it up. At least they had the decency to hide in the wings until that bit was over, rather than pretend to sing it.

I'm convinced that they played a recording of Hammer to Fall while the entire band mimed it. Why ? I've never been able to figure that out, it's not as if they can't play it live.

At one point Brian May played a 15 minute guitar solo, 10 minutes of which was the same note. Now, you won't find a bigger fan of the guitar solo than me, but this one was bloody torture.

After about an hour and 15 minutes they finished their set and wandered off. Normally, you'd get a fair amount of people shouting for encore, but I think Freddie and the rest of the band's lack of enthusiasm affected everybody.

So, even though nobody cared at this point, they came back out and did their encore and then left again. It was still raining.

Their performance could at best be described as lack-lustre, and in all honesty should be described as utter shit.

On the one hand I'm disappointed that the band (particularly Freddie) didn't want to be there, and delivered a sub-par performance; on the other hand I'm ashamed that so many stupid people threw stuff at him on stage; Freddie's mood, and consequently the whole mood of the concert would probably have improved if he hadn't had to put up with that shit.

The most fun I had the entire day was on the way out, rescuing drunken people who'd fallen into the river.

Oddly enough Queen played the exact same set at Knebworth less than a month later, and that performance is renowned as one of their finest.

Sinead O'Connor. She sang 3 songs then said, "That's the minimum number of songs I have to sing for you to not get your money back," and walked off stage. I threw her albums out the next day.

jillybean said:

jillybean said:

violett said:

Good for you.

I like a lot of Lauryn's music but she does talk some shit.

LightOfArt said:

I gave my reasons .. it was Michael Jackson and it was at Wembley.

But if you want the detail:

His performance sucked and the venue magnified it on video screens right to the back of the stadium one second before the dreadful sound of his music arrived.

The only light moments of light relief during the entire evening were:

1. Watching this sad, one-gloved teenager miming to the songs and attempting to spin but falling and smashing his knees on the concrete. And I didn't even push him! How I hoped his hero had done the same that night.

2. The end of the concert.
.
[This message was edited Fri Jul 2 7:53:21 2004 by langebleu]

AsylumUtopia said:

Great story.

I saw Queen perform in 1979.

I had a hangover and I was walking it off one morning when I happened to pass the Manchetser Apollo box office. There was a small queue outside, so I wandered up to see what was going on. "Queen concert tickets - on sale here!!" I bought a ticket for the fourth row.

One month later: no great expectations. Nothing thrown at Feddie. No tantrums. Incredible show.

Just lucky that I happened to be there, I guess.
.

langebleu said:

So why were you there?

Survivor (Eye of The Tiger)

They performed outside a local fireworks store back in 96. The DJs on the local radio stations were hyping this up for like a week. We went for the hell of it. There was supposed to be a 5 dollar admission fee, but when we got there the guy told us to just go on in.

I'm not even kidding when I say this - including us there could not have been more than 10-15 people there. I'm dead serious. About 3 of those people were standing by the stage holding their lighters in the air during the show, yelling out requests.

To make matters worse, the lead singer kept screwing up his own lyrics. They played for about 40 minutes, then called it a night. We stayed the whole time cuz there was a vendor selling beer, LOL.

I don't know how that band didn't collectively jump off a bridge after that night...

In contrast, Sophie B Hawkins also performed in a local plaza parking in Boardman Ohio lot to about 100 people ( including me ) back in 95, and she was incredible. It was just her, a guy playing bongos, and a keyboardist. It was a free concert, and an incredibly good show. Talk about stripping away the glitz and glam, and just showing what you can do...

I rcently saw David Bowie & his opening act was Polysphonic Spree(or something like that) & they were unbearable.
All their songs sound the same & not in a good way.
Most of the audience thought it was a joke & then the painful truth hit.

Warrant in the 80's

Why? because a friend bought the tickets

The no-talent, ass-clowns were by far the worst thing I've ever seen on a professional stage.

Now, local bands, that's a different story and there's not enough room on this thread.

Prior to the comments from mrdespues, I was giving Missy benefit of the doubt and attributing the aural assault to "opening act syndrome". This is where the sound crew doesn't pay any attention to the P.A. until the headliners are onstage.

Now i'd have to say that it was the worst i've heard from a "pro" act. This is unfortunate because i've always liked Missy. Due to my work I got to see the Ladies First Tour when they appeared at the Arrowhead Pond here in Cali.

First of all the sound was too loud and distorted. Couldn't understand a word she was saying/singing/rapping. Had no idea what song was being performed.
Secondly, the constant cacophony created by the stage-stalking "pep-rappers" with the same old tired audience participation ploys (i.e.-pump it up pump it up y'all, everybody say ho, throw your hands in the air, ...now somebody scream, etc.) became unbearable.
It got to the point that I was forced to take a nicotine break outside the venue until Alicia Keys came on.
Alicia and Beyonce did salvage the night however.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Anxiety said:

Didn't you get the memo that said actually being able to play has ceased to become a prerequisite for employment in the music biz?

From what I understand, if you've got the right connections, you can become a success in no time at all.

I think it goes something like this.
Sunday: "Decide" that you're a musician.
Monday: Go to local music store and purchase instrument.
Tuesday: Cobble together some lame songs about being depressed and how your life sucks.
Wednesday: Find a few like-minded shlubs. Form group.
Thursday: Practice/record your bad attitudes/lame songs.
Friday: Go to "contact". Sign contracts.
Saturday: Start world tour.

Didn't Cherelle record a song about this?
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday signed.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Cloudbuster said:

I'd never seen and heard Michael Jackson live.

(I'd been to Wembley before but not for a concert)

Honestly, I'd probably go and see him perform again, but not in a stadium setting. And I wouldn't go out of my way. But I know it was the circumstances as much as his show.

Unlike what Jillybean has written about above: I'd be seriously pissed off and reluctant to see Sinead O' Connor again if that had happened to me. I don't own any of her music, but if I did I'd send it to Jillybean so she could destroy that too.



(It's Friday and I've had a glass of wine .. so go easy, Cloudy. Incidentally, did you ever manage to see Kate on her only tour? It's criminal that her talents haven't been translated to live performance over the years. I've still got that 7" she released!! I know it's not somewhere she's chosen to go, and all power to her for the choice, but all the same ...)
.

Anxiety said:

Oh now you just shut the hell on up.

LightOfArt said:

CRY TO DEATH!!!!! Sorry, Light A Fart, but that's yer stankiest one yet.

jillybean said:

I'm so sorry for you, that must have sucked....but damn, that's rock 'n roll, baby.

Would have pissed the hell outta me, but man that's a fantastic story to tell, ain't it? Think about how many times you've told that story and how many people have commiserated with you about what a witch she is.... Just trying to look on the bright side, you know me.

theblueangel said:

mike and the mechanics, maybe.

theblueangel said:

don't make me swing my brown dickies bag at you.

Tom said:

I'm so insanely jealous...this is a fantastic thread!!!

My most disappointing concert was definitely Liz Phair, in Cleveland during the whitechocolatespaceegg tour...I was late leaving work, it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive, and there was tons of traffic, then construction, and then a semi jack-knifed across the freeway about 20 miles south of the city, blocking 4 out of 5 lanes of traffic...GRRR...

I had called ahead earlier in the day to find out who the opening band was and when they were expected to go on, and I was told that there was no opening band, and that Liz was expected to start playing 1/2 hour after the doors opened. I was already cursing her on the way up, because it just shows that she never goes to see any shows herself, or she'd realize that she should at least put that shit on the ticket, because people don't expect the main show to start 1/2 hour after the doors open, at 8 pm for Chrissakes...

Sigh.

So then I got past the semi, and brilliantly decided to smoke a bowl of weed and drive 85 miles an hour...so of course I promptly got pulled over by the po-po. When I unrolled the window, a huge blast of smoke actually poured out of the car, into his face and off into the cold winter night air. Heh. I mean, it wasn't funny at the time, but shit.

So flash forward to me sitting in the back of the cop car and using my powers of persuasion to get the cop to just give me a ticket for speeding and a ticket for paraphernalia and not take me in (luckily I had just smoked the last of the weed, and somehow he believed me enough to not take the time to search my car)...and within about 1/2 hour I was on my way, shocked to realize that I would only be walking in to the venue about 20 minutes after she supposedly was going to go on...and surely every rock concert starts at least 20 minutes late, right?

Not this one. Apparently it started promptly at 8, and it ended somewhere between 8:35 and 8:40, not even 40 freaking minutes, no encore, no interaction with the crowd. The look on my face would have killed puppies.

And then of course on the way home, right in the same spot I had been pulled over but this time going the opposite direction on the highway, I ran out of gas. There was about a foot of snow on the ground from a previous snow storm, and I walked 3 or 4 miles until an angel in the guise of a Pakistani cab driver on his way home from work in the city picked me up and took me the rest of the way to the gas station and then back to my car.

I guess my story doesn't say much about the actual concert, huh?

Good times...

I just got through reading this thread, and I'm surprised at some of the artists/acts that were named. I thought for sure that some of the people mentioned would put on decent shows, but I guess I was wrong.

theAudience said:

Yes, Cherelle did have a song where the lyrics read like that. It was called "Saturday Love", and it was a duet with Alexander O'Neal, and written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Suede last October / November in Oslo.

I had heard in the past that Brett Anderson was rubbish at singing live, but I went anyway as I have liked most of their stuff.

I was quite surprised at how good the vocals were all the way through the concert...

THEN... he was "singing" one of the more popular oldies (I cant remember which) and he stuck his microphone out to the audience to sing along and guess what...

You could still hear him singing though he had no microphone and his lips werent moving.

This was the most disappointing concert I have ever been to.

I saw Alexander O'Neal in Stockholm,Sweden 1991
& he was sooooo out of it.He even fell asleep during this looooong intro.
Finally his manager came up on & had 2 walk him offstage
saying the concert is over,after 4 songs.
Alexander O'Neal said afterwards in an interview that he'd mixed alcohol with sleeping pills.
People in the audience were booing him out & it was just sad.
Anyway,he did come back 2 do an extra show & that show was great.
Half the audience missed that tho' ,as they choosed 2 get the money back instead
of seing him a 2'nd time.
/peace Manki

langebleu said:

I get you. I thought you meant you'd gone to see a performer you didn't even like.
I'm surprised, tho'. I've only heard good things about the Bad tour. Most folk reckon it was his best. That doesn't say much for his other tours if Bad was, well... bad.

And no I didn't see Kate in concert. I was about five at the time. Damn that woman for not touring. Still, she'd be a fool not to tread the boards again. Folk would trip over themselves to see her. Fingers crossed, eh?

s edit.
[This message was edited Sat Jul 3 6:08:51 2004 by Cloudbuster]

One that I can clearly recall would have to be Badly Drawn Boy, Manchester Academy, 2000. Damon Gough has a sense of humour and clearly is a gentle soul if we are to glean anything from his music. His debut album, The Hour of Bewilderbeast reflects that. However, the devil came out of him that night. Something to do with the fact that he suspectedly necked a whole bottle of Jack Daniels prior to coming on stage.

It was mildly amusing to begin with. He got a couple of his crew to introduce him one claiming to be Jamie Theakston (British TV presenter-bit of a twat) and Neil Diamond.

The pressure of playing his home town after receiving recognition for his album had to some extent got the better of him, not helped by the drink. Songs were misplayed, not completed etc as he got progressively more irritable.

The final song was touching yet rather embarrassing too. He got his girlfriend up onstage who he had recently proposed to. She felt rather like I did judging by her reaction.