Worst Live Performance?

[scrove]

We have a thread about the best shows you've seen live, and this one I want to know what you think are some of the worst.

What I'm looking for here is bands that you like that seemed to have an off night, or the crowd wasn't what you thought it was.

Mine is was Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. It was my third time seeing them and it was at a Bands of America thing. I wasn't participating, but my friends and I like to buy tickets to see some of the bands they have come through (saw Tower of Power a few years earlier, with Rocco! )
So, there's like 3000 hardcore high school marching band kids there, and like they've been taught for the past week of the camp to clap along to the beat.
That DOES NOT work for a band like the Flecktones, who don't play in 4/4 all of the time and are constantly playing with the time signature/feel.
It made the entire experience absolutely awful. Bela even told the kids to stop clapping because they were playing in some odd meter, like 17/9 or something like that. Unfortunately, they didn't stop clapping.
Those kids totally ruined my experience in seeing one of my favorite bands. I wish I could ask one of the band members what they thought of the crowd.


So, what are you worst live performances?

[pendergasta]

Ozzfest '95 or '96. Ozzy, Danzig, and Sepultura. I wasn't a huge Supultura fan, but I was SOOOOOO psyched to see Danzig! I had been a fan for years.
When the show started, Sepultura came out and kicked a$$! They really turned me into a fan. Then Danzig comes out, and just bombed. They sounded like crap. No emotion, vocals sucked... they sounded like a bunch of teenagers that had never played together before. Such a let down..
Then Ozzy came out, the clouds parted, and I saw the best live performance I had ever seen.

[magickbass]

Whitesnake opening for Motley Crue on the Girls, Girls, Girls tour. Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan(where the Wild Side video was shot). Adrian Vandenburg trying to play the keyboard intro to Here I Go Again. He messed up so many times, and each time David Coverdale would try to keep the crowd in good spirits by saying, "everyone say 'Adrian ****ed up'". And the whole crowd would say it. After his third failed attempt, this guy appears from stage right and plays the intro FOR him. And that is how it went for Whitesnake all night. They just never clicked. When Whitesnake had John Sykes they were a well-oiled machine, song after song. But the new lineup just was not 'there' yet I guess.

[EclecticElectrk]

ozzy in 2007 at MSG. he wasnt singing very well, rob zombie supported him and blew him away. =(

[fenderhutz]

The Donnas - Guitar tone was essence of Peavey and WAY too loud.

The Black Crowes - Singer was so stoned sounded Bob Dylan singing.

[Rathead123]

An Aerosmith concert, sounded like a hive of bees, or a wall of noise. I didnt even gather that they could play the instruments.. Ive had no respect for them since.

[peaveyuser]

Mastodon, yes Mastodon.


They're playing almost put me to sleep it had no feel that day.


Countless ****** HS bands when we went to a show to see a decent friends band, ughhhh the wait was bad but atleaset our friends played a good set

[LuckyCondlins]

Phish in 2004

Coventry

It was their last show, and it rained, it was muddy and my god they were horrible.

it was a very "memorable show" as I love phish, but good lord, that was not the way to go out. crying, and opiates don't make you sign or play guitar good

seems like they will at least have the chance to redeem themselves...i believe they are coming back.

[Lowbrow]

Saw a double bill of Motorhead and WASP at a 500-capacity standing-room hall in NYC.

As anyone who's seen them knows, Motorhead makes all other bands look stupid and utterly trivial. They went on first. Awesome.

WASP waited almost 2 hours before going on -- presumably until the effect of Lemmy and crew wore off. No such luck

If there was ever a band that didn't need anyone's help in looking stupid and utterly trivial, it was WASP. They just stunk up the place -- and WHAT a power/authenticity mismatch!

[WickedPissah]

I saw this band Civet open for the Dropkick Murphys and Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I don't know if it was the band or the sound mix, but I didn't enjoy them. The singer came out with the Murphys to do The Dirty Glass. She was good,though.

[Joey3313]

Most of the worst performances I've seen have taken place at the same venue, with it not being the band's fault. Sound guy cranks everything so loud that it's just a wall of feedback. Ruined shows by Strung Out, The Bouncing Souls, and Strike Anywhere.

[pbass2go]

Worst Band:
Vince Neil opened for VH on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowlege tour, Weedsport NY. Singer sucked, period.

Worst Crowd:
Los Lonely Boys at Wolf Trap VA. Two years in a row!!
The crowd just sat there, even though there was some great bluesy tex/mex music going on. This year they even had Los Lobos open and still, everyone just sat there.

Ugh..

[Valerus]

Originally Posted by peaveyuser

Mastodon, yes Mastodon.


They're playing almost put me to sleep it had no feel that day.


Countless ****** HS bands when we went to a show to see a decent friends band, ughhhh the wait was bad but atleaset our friends played a good set

blasphemy!

[perfektspace6]

Originally Posted by pendergasta

Ozzfest '95 or '96. Ozzy, Danzig, and Sepultura. I wasn't a huge Supultura fan, but I was SOOOOOO psyched to see Danzig! I had been a fan for years.
When the show started, Sepultura came out and kicked a$$! They really turned me into a fan. Then Danzig comes out, and just bombed. They sounded like crap. No emotion, vocals sucked... they sounded like a bunch of teenagers that had never played together before. Such a let down..
Then Ozzy came out, the clouds parted, and I saw the best live performance I had ever seen.

I saw this tour as well. However it wasn't Ozzfest. It was Ozzy supporting Ozzmosis. I think Fear Factory was the other band.

I saw the show in Maryland and had a different experience. Fear Factory opened and was OK. Sepultura came on and, at least to me and my friends, sounded terrible. Being pretty big fans at the time we were very disappointed.

Before Danzig came on all the power at the venue went out. It was pitch black for about 45 minutes. You can imagine what 10,000 white trash in total darkness will do. I won't describe what people were doing in the bathroom. Anyhow, Danzig came on and rocked pretty hard so I have to give him props to redeem his sh**ty performance when you saw him. I'm not much of a Danzig fan but I remember him being having great presence and putting on a good show. He guitarist at the time was impressive. Must have been decent if I can still remember it 12 years later.

The worst performance I saw was Metallica on the Load tour. It wasn't "bad" but it was a big let down. Weird stage setup and the sound was mediocre. Maybe we had unfair expectations given that we were young, it was our first time seeing them, and we idolized the band growing up.

[Trevorus]

Anything Ashlee Simpson.

[badstonebass]

A band called TARZAN that opened for Twisted Sister one time

[willgroove2]

nea"dea davenport at the time formaly of the brand new heavies(she has since rejoined the band)What made it hard for me that night was I was actually a guest of the band because one of my friends was playing with her.She opened up well but quickly went downhill and did 4 ballads in a row which just killed the whole crowed and got mad when people started calling out for BNH songs which she finally did medley style toward the end of the show but it was way too late by then.

[BluezBassist]

I saw Ted Nugent in the early 80s and the sound was so bad all I could hear basically was a loud squealing sound...Just a mess of high end that was horrible to listen to, I actually walked out...

A close second was Springsteen..It was my first time seeing him and I was expecting an amazing live show based on all his hype and it turned out to be really dull...That was on the Human Touch tour...

[watspan]

I saw Ray Charles in the 80's where he must have been having monitor troubles--he kept making really nasty comments to someone and complaining--and he wouldn't get his mouth anywhere near the microphone so his vocals were almost impossible to hear.

Saw Jimmy Smith a few years back where he kept having problems w/ his foot pedals (bass!) on his B-3. He kept starting and stopping songs, had tech fiddle w/ the pedals, had them changed out 1 or 2 times--made for a very disjointed performance.

[*smb]

Originally Posted by peaveyuser

Mastodon, yes Mastodon.


They're playing almost put me to sleep it had no feel that day.

Mastodon are hit and miss live. The second time I saw them they were terrible. I'm glad I gave them another chance though