Worst band you've ever seen?

[Geroi Asfalta]

I went to a show a few years ago at the Whiskey, and every group except the headliner sounded like crap. Not their faults either. It was all insanely loud bass and vocals. I could feel my body vibrating.


(this one is opposite of thread)
My group was in a battle of the bands a few weeks ago, and the guy who put it on was handing out demos of the group that won the last battle played the final set of the night. They absolutely effing killed that night. amazing sound from everybody. Bass was a hair quiet, but still awesome. I put their demo in, recorded by a guy who claims to be a rockgod, and it sounded like it was recorded in an aircraft hangar. I swaer my ears started to bleed 15 seconds into the first song.

[zachoff]

I've seen some pretty bad local bands, but as far as nationals go... Beehive & The Barracuda circa 2004 or 2005? They opened for Hot Snakes & all I wanted was for Hot Snakes to play instead of Beehive & The Barracuda.

[Flyingfrets]

Steve Miller Band is God-awful live. Everything rushed & the mix was NOT flattering to say the least. Off key vocals just sealed the deal.

Sadly, I'd also have to put ZZ Top on that list. Love their recorded body of work, but their live sound was a real disappointment. Thin & their live arrangement on some of their classics rendered them barely recognizable.

[The Owl]

Originally Posted by ggoat!!!

-----

Vai's originals are the musical equivalent of reading a 14 volume insurance seminar's word-by-word detailing of a 1973 cost analysis of the dangers of performing corporate flood risk assessments as they pertain to operations in Yugoslavia vs. Trinidad and Tobago written in Latin.

THAT!!!!!!! LOVE that description, so right on. Had a similar experience in 2002 seeing a trio of Scott McGill, Vic Stevens and Michael Manring. Now I LOVED MIchael and Vic's musicianship (just wished it was a different setting), but Scott McGill's whole thing was a warp-speed bore-fest, nothing but CONSTANT shredding, endless 32nd notes at high-volume, I walked out after 3 "songs". Just couldn't find ANYTHING of any musical interest for love or money. And people wonder why I despise ANYTHING shred, that performance epitomized EVERYTHING that's wrong about the whole shred genre'.

[Waldo19]

Nothing will every be as bad as Creed at the Allstate Arena in Chicago in 2003. A show so horrible that the fans in attendance put together a class action lawsuit and sued the band for 2.0 million dollars.

Here is a The Daily Show piece about it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFZqb4jkTho

[fishtx]

I saw The Sex Pistols...trump that...

[zfunkman]

I'm not going to list any club or bar bands as throughout my musical "career" my bands have played with some horrible bands. Any group of poor musicians can form a band that sucks and there are a lot of them out there. That being said . . . I will go to the big stage in which, if you've made it this far, you shouldn't suck. 1996 Third Eye Blind opened for the Stones at the Kingdome; they were awful; the band was sloppy and the singer sang in out of key momotone. It was really anoying. I don't like every kind of music, however, I can tell if you're good or not even it it isn't the type of music I like.
I saw Nervana on Saturday Night Live and they were pretty horible too and I like them.

[alembicguy]

My main one about 2am!

[zfunkman]

Originally Posted by cjp3044

1981 at the LA Colliseum - the bill was the Rolling Stones, George Thorogood (sp), The J. Geils Band and Prince. Remember, this was 1981 - NO ONE knew who Prince was - he was booed off in less than 10 minutes and with all the stuff flying all around the Colliseum (you looked up and all you saw was stuff flying through the air, paper plates, soda and beer cups, popcorn bags, you name it. Bill Graham had to come out and threaten to stop the show if it didn't stop. I don't think Prince was really all that bad, but not right for that show. George Thorogood absolutely sucked though.

I think the worst touring band I saw though was Suicide Silence - the show was supposed to be headlined by Mudvayne and Black Label Society, but BLS didn't show, which made for a pretty crappy show all around, but SS was very painful to listen to and watch.

Local bands? Where do I start! I've asked for my cover fee back on several occasions if the band is really crappy. We have one band in this area (will remain nameless) that rarely gets asked back to any venue, but they keep trying. The drummer is the Russian Dragon (he's either rushing or dragging) - I went to a rehearsal a while back for a start up band and he was the drummer, after playing with him that one day I swore never again. The guitar player (who is actually sort of a friend of mine) can play decently - sort of - but his tone -- just imagine the sound of a Strat set to the bridge pickup and the tone control all the way up into an annoying sounding fuzzbox into an amp with the eq set to treble at 10 and bass and mids at 2 (and a Crate solid state half stack no less) - one word - screechy. Which also describes the singer, but I'll get to that in a minute. A bass player that can't play anything other than root notes - nice guy, but too green to be playing in a gigging band. But the singer -- he's the WORST! His stage antics and dress make Mick Jagger and Scott Weiland look masculine. He CAN'T sing -- he screeches everything (and always complains that his throat hurts), AND he refuses to actually learn the correct lyrics. The funniest example is when they (try) to play Runnin' With The Devil - the "singer" sings "All I've got is a head of steel" and then proceeds to band the mic on his head. Yeah, walked out on them too.

I'm calling BS on this! I was at that show. Yes, Prince was booed; however, I actually listened to him and was pissed that he was being booed because his music was awsome. Also, he played for 1/2 hour; that was how much time he was given to play (I read this to be true after the show), therfore, he played his whole set through the booing. There were a lot of pure "rockers" and bikers at that show who were just booing because he was dressed all weird and playing funk, not rock n' roll. Oh yea, Bill Graham did not come out and tell the crowd anything. Your thinking of the Colliseum show when the Grateful Dead last played there; the crowd got a bit unrully becuase of the assigned seating.

[treekiller]

This: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukjnrXTTvPY

Ok, I've only saw them on youtube but it is the worst I have ever seen!

[zachoff]

Originally Posted by treekiller

This: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukjnrXTTvPY

Ok, I've only saw them on youtube but it is the worst I have ever seen!

Maybe this one too?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj7pDNDuoJ0

[Fishheadjoe]

Van Halen, 5150 tour.
I was fortunate enough to see Eddie and the boys during the VHII and VHIII tours... great shows, lots of energy and a band that seemed to really like what they were doing.
Next opportunity to see them for me, was the 5150 tour. Don't get me wrong, I like Sammy from Montrose to his solo work, but Eddie and Mike's "solos" put me off the band... mindless noise, pour fake JD over his head, playing tunes that took me two verses and a chorus to recognize... sorry boys, if half of the 60K+ fans who saw that show had the same feeling as me, it's no wonder so many folks have a hate on for VH.
Fishheadjoe

[cnltb]

I saw poison and mötley crüe once (they were support bands then) when I was a lot younger.
Both were pretty crap.
I have seen plenty bad beginner bands too, of course.

[Cirk]

Worst band I ever saw was Powerman 5000 when they were on the Ozzfest tour in '97. They "played" the beautiful people so badly they got booed to the point of stopping midsong. Not that the song was any good to begin with. The only reason they were even on that tour was because their guitar player is Rob Zombie's brother. Coal Chamber was on the second stage, and they were great.

+1 for Queensryche. Saw the Promised Land tour, and they also did all of Mindcrime. Another great live band was Drain STH. Great show, great talent. Met the ladies aferwards, and they couldn't have been nicer. Hope they get back together someday.

[erigod23]

Godspeed You Black Emperor.
The night began with their support act, whose name escapes me, playing structure-less noise. Not too loud, but pointless and boring. They had what looked like 70's Super-8 home movies playing behind them (ie; kids on swings and tricycles).
Intermission comes, and the house system plays one loud, high-pitched frequency. For the entire intermission! Too loud to even have a conversation while waiting for Godspeed.
Then, they come on. It starts quietly for about a minute, then about an hour of very loud, un-intelligble noise.
Haven't listened to them since.

[guitar ed]

I don't know about worst band, but most disappointing performance was Jimmy Page. Back in December of 1983, with the ARMS tour.

Sloppy, out of time, just not good. Admittedly, I have never been a Page fan, but that just cemented it for me.

edg

[Vince Klortho]

I saw that show on video. Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton blew him right of the stage. I think it was an issue of substance abuse actually. I saw him a while later with The Firm and he sounded great.

[bass_lord_mutha]

Worst band I ever saw was a local band when I lived in Abilene, I can't even remember their name, but like alot of alt. rock bands of the time (early 2000's) they played alot of Godsmack, Three Doors Down, Disturbed, etc. The bass player and lead guitar player were pretty solid, but the drummer had absolutely NO sense of rhythm and timing (I'm not even saying this as a bassist who's picky about drummers, he was just literally that unrhythmical), the singer always seemed to be singing a quarter tone flat and tried entirely too hard to sound like Sully Erna on nearly every song and played crappy out of tune rhythm guitar. The real kicker to all of this is the lead player and bassist both used wireless units and the few times I had seen them every other song always ended up with both of them walking across bar tables on opposing sides of the bar (fortunately there was rarely anybody there anyways...) and the singer, in between songs, would address the 3 or 4 people in the bar that night as such "So how are we doing out there?.....I cant hear you, how the F*$% ARE WE DOING OUT THERE, LET ME HEAR YA!!!" and then slam a pitcher of beer. I've never wanted to stab myself so bad in my life.

[Funk_Pirate]

Worst show I've ever seen happens every time I make the mistake of agreeing to go to the crofoots pike room in Pontiac. It's like playing a bass you hate, your away from it for a little while and think "hey, ill give it another go", but 10 seconds in you think "now I remember why I hate this".

[neo land]

Bill Laswell Last Exit at the Paradiso Amsterdam.
First and last concert I walked out on within 15 minutes.

At first I thought they were tuning up, but that lasted until I left…