[waylman]

Believe it or not, the last Mike Watt show I saw was awful. He played the Khyber in Philly and the sound was totally fu--ed. Not Watt's fault or anything...really a shame b/c the past Watt shows I have seen have really kicked ass. Also, the opening act was the worst band I have ever seen in my life...It's the only band that I've actually heckled.

 

[blessingx]

Family Values Tour '98, San Francisco, Cow Palace.
Korny, Rammstein, Ice Cube, Limp Bizkit & Orgy.

I should have known, but it was a free ticket.

Cube was fine (basically just tried to hold his own by leading a cheerleading chant... okay it was sad). The others were trying way too hard to be... well something... angry or misunderstood or fighting the system or... yawn. At that point it was difficult to still not think of Nirvana and how they didn't need fire.

The fans turned ugly pretty quickly. 15 year old dudes with their puffed out, but gangly, struts looking for a fight... which started every few minutes. One girl left her friend, who was having a bad trip (while the nurse was asking for help), because her fave Bizket song was starting. Father who was trying to be cool by taking his kids to an all ages show looked horrified by the lame BIG Rammstein rape sequence.

It was a really bad night.

 

[Schizorabbit]

Sadly enough it was a Bob Dylan conert I saw this summer. I love you Bob, but you just shouldn't tour anymore. I'll be frank the man never really 'had' a 'voice', but his lyrics were amazing and his instrumentals produced some of the best folk ever. But what really made his show bad was that he only played his new material, yeah he visited the past maybe three times, but thats not enough. I mean I went to the concert t hear Like a rolling Stone, Maggies Farm, and Knockin' On Heavens Door. But were they there? No.
So in conclusion, I love you Bob but now your best left in my Cd collection.

 

[usc goose]

smashmouth played a free show at usc. that was pretty bad. there were a lot of good free shows while i was at usc though. incubus, save ferris and naughty by nature are probably the one's i remember most, those were bad ass. god i love that school.

 

[grinch]

jimmy buffet, end of last summer at jones beach. i grew up on some of his songs in the 80's and living in florida, it definitely fit the location and time, so i was actually looking forward to it.

wow what a pathetic display. an extremely overcommercialized show put on for a bunch of drunken 40+ yuppies. i couldn't believe what i was seeing. stories from my father seeing him years ago when i was a kid about playing an over two hour instrument-based set, and then an acoustic only encore were just shattered to bits. nothing but half-naked backup vocalists and half-ass theatrics. gigantic disappointment.

now the sound of any song of his makes me choke. i grew up a whole lot that night.

 

[Braver]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch i grew up a whole lot that night.

yeah, growing up is overrated...

 

[blessingx]

Grinch, there are spots around the country that have localized imitations of Jimmy Buffet. They are singers/songwriters (use that term loosely) who develop a small fan base that can last decades (and of course sponsored by Bud). Their goal is to recreate that "Buffet" experience. The one I ran into most was on South Bass Island (Put-In-Bay) on Lake Erie. Between hits like "Cheeseburger in Paradise", they would sing "Oh, Toledo" or "Cleveland, Cleveland". If it's possible to imagine worse, this might be it.

 

[JMT]

1. Tower of Power 1974: Of the many times I have seen ToP, this is one and only time that I was extremely disappointed. Their lead singer at the time was Rick Stevens, who suffered from the "David Ruffin, I am bigger than the band syndrome." He showed up to the gig about an hour late, and was so wasted that he forgot 3/4s of the lyrics. The only time I have ever heard them booed.
2. Average White Band 1976: They sounded like crap, and the sound system was being run by a bunch of amateurs. What a waste of money.

 

[penvzila]

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx Family Values Tour '98, San Francisco, Cow Palace. Korny, Rammstein, Ice Cube, Limp Bizkit & Orgy. I should have known, but it was a free ticket. Cube was fine (basically just tried to hold his own by leading a cheerleading chant... okay it was sad). The others were trying way too hard to be... well something... angry or misunderstood or fighting the system or... yawn. At that point it was difficult to still not think of Nirvana and how they didn't need fire. The fans turned ugly pretty quickly. 15 year old dudes with their puffed out, but gangly, struts looking for a fight... which started every few minutes. One girl left her friend, who was having a bad trip (while the nurse was asking for help), because her fave Bizket song was starting. Father who was trying to be cool by taking his kids to an all ages show looked horrified by the lame BIG Rammstein rape sequence. It was a really bad night.

Ha! I thought Rammstien was banned from live performances in most places. I also didn't think they did their hardcore stuff in the states.

 

[bundee1]

Depeche Mode
Primal Scream
Jones Beach early '90s

It was a poor concert. No one danced, short sets, and poor acoustics. This was the bands lowest point when some of them were heavy heroin addicts. God it sucked!!

 

[Jeff Guidry]

Natalie Merchant. Though I love her music, the live sound mix was wretched, her vocals sounded like the sound board operator had been mixing for Slayer for the past two decades. No warmth, no intimacy, just screechy and tinny and ****ING LOUD for such a small venue. My ears were hurting through the whole show, and I left before the first encore.

 

[razerx]

Any concert in open air football stadiums would quality.

 

[OneMalt]

Eric Clapton, Summer of '74, Rich Stadium. I worked at that one as a grunt (they had a huge circular stage that revolved using grunt power) and saw alot that the public didn't. Clapton was so wasted he could barely stand up, much less play. He spent quite a bit of time puking behind one of the PA Columns.

 

[JMT]

OneMalt's experience reminds of another "bad" concert. I worked as a stage flunkie at the 1976 "Sunshine Festival" that was headlined by Rod Stewart and Faces with Peter Frampton, and Loggins and Messina. It was held at the football stadium of one of our local community colleges. My job was to escort Brit Ekland (Rod Stewart's honey at the time) from their trailer to her spot backstage and then take my place at the stairs to thwart anyone from going up on stage.

Rod Stewart was sooooo wasted (his contract called for cases and cases of assorted alcoholic beverages to be in his trailer) that he barely made it up the stairs to the stage. As far as his muscial performance.....fuggedabadit. He forgot most of his words, and those he remembered were slurred beyong recognition. During one of the final songs, he kicked soccer balls into the crowd. When he went to kick the third or fourth one.....he missed and fell on his butt.

The crowd of 20,000 or so went wild.

 

[stereth]

As far as sound quality goes, the worst I've been to was Everclear. They played a show in a big gymnasium on UW-Whitewater campus. The snare and cymbals just ricocheted off the walls.

Otherwise, I can't remember a truly bad show. The Get Up Kids, opening for Green Day, were the worst band, though the concert was great. Good Charlotte's gotten decidedly worse over the years - they were better when they were still trying to make something of themselves.