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Not Good Live Bands

#61
Gerhn Blanston said:
Two words; VAN HALEN!
The VH show @ the MGM Grand in Vegas was a $190 a seat (face value) TRAIN WRECK. I almost walked out but hung around to see if it could get any worse; and it did.
All in all I witnessed my favorite tunes hacked to death by an epic band.
The whole episode can be summed up here in Eddie's guitar solo from the night in question. 12/30/07 - (8:09)
PUT THE BOTTLE DOWN ED!
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I caught VH back when they were first coming up (somewhere between 79-82) They opened up for Ozzie and Black Sabbath and were great, They blew the doors off of Sabbath. It's sad what drugs and alcohol do to a lot of great bands and musicians.
 
#64
boomtisk said:
Even though I'm a big fan of their records, I must say I'd have felt really cheated if I'd paid the insane ticket price only to be treated to a band with a chemistry as bad as that, the couple of Youtube videos I watched told me it was probably not worth it unless you have money to blow. A drummer I used to be in a band with did go see them, though, although I'm pretty sure he had his eyes glued on Stewart all the time so he didn't even notice what Sting and Andy were doing. :p
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I am such a huge Police fan, that even a mediocre show was worth it.

The most disappointing show I've seen has to be the Flaming Lips (I forget the year, but Yoshimi was recently out). It was at the Coachella festival and IIRC, they only played three full songs. They started their set very late, and then wasted time singing "Happy Birthday" to Beck's then-unborn child :rolleyes: and talking about politics. It was worse because I was such a fan at the time; the Soft Bulletin is still one of my favorite albums but ugh...
 
#65
I'd say this ranks up there:
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Honestly, I'm not usually one to knock backing tracks, UNLESS IT"S YOUR WHOLE BAND!!!!! I mean seriously, why would I pay to go see a drummer play simple drumbeats and a singer/"guitarist" play the same freakin' chord over and over again??? And don't get me started on the girl "playing" the bass drum and cowbell... and I kinda like the song; just a horrible live performance, IMHO.
 
#67
Blues Traveler played at a local college just as they were getting big (no pun intended); around the time Four came out. Based on their 20 or 30 minute late start, I thought they would suck, but man was I ever wrong!


One of the consistently horrible shows I've experienced has been "oldies" act Phil Dirt & the Dozers. Don't get me wrong, they're a great group and put on a good show, but... I used to live a block from my town square, and they would play, on the square, at virtually every little festival and event in town. You don't know how annoying "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is untill you hear it wafting through your closed bedroom windows for the fourth time in a night! I hate that song.

:ninja:
 
#69
The Police did an amazing show when I saw them in '08 - I guess they have bad days too.

Worst one I've seen was Red Hot Chili Peppers in Melbourne in '07 - they were absolutely terrible, incredibly sloppy, and utterly disappointing. The crowd didn't even muster up the enthusiasm to yell for a second encore, when I'm almost certain they had a couple of big hits up their sleeves still to play. Chad Smith was on his game, but the rest of the band let him down sorely. I'm told that the next night's gig in Sydney was a great show, and nothing like what we were subjected to.
 
#70
s_mcsleazy said:
yeah my friend said the same thing when she saw that show

p.s i live in ek too and i think i saw you play in the key like 3 or for years ago
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Really? It might have been longer than that... Still working up the old place actually. Man, we could name some amount of bands who've played up there that weren't so good. So, was it Feral or Santa's Dog you saw me with?
 
#71
John Bassist said:
I remember seen DragonForce at their debut on OzzFest...

That was a shame. They are known just because of their fast-licky guitars... but that show sucked so much, I could even hear the bass lines louder than those lazy guitars...

There's a thing I must say, though: The keyborder is a high talented artist... I wish the whole band could think like him...
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ZP (the singer) was at my gig on saturday. He's a pretty cool guy. Our guitard went out drinking with him after the gig, but I went home because im under age :atoz:
 
#72
I'm going to get killed for this, but...
I was highly disappointed by Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in Sept. 1970. (How's that for showing my age?) Forget about sloppy... they sounded like bombastic sludge, with a phony show-biz layer on top. No feel, whatsoever.
(Part of my reaction might have been due to the fact that I was seeing a lot of REAL blues and soul musicians regularly at the time -- B.B. King, Albert King, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, King Curtis & the Kingpins, Joe Tex, etc. -- and I was holding Zep up to that standard. Mistake.)

Aerosmith has been mentioned here a few times, and I have to pile on. I saw them open for the Edgar Winter Group in 1973, and they sounded like a mediocre bar band. Edgar Winter was great, though.
 
#73
dougjwray said:
I'm going to get killed for this, but...
I was highly disappointed by Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in Sept. 1970. (How's that for showing my age?) Forget about sloppy... they sounded like bombastic sludge, with a phony show-biz layer on top. No feel, whatsoever.
(Part of my reaction might have been due to the fact that I was seeing a lot of REAL blues and soul musicians regularly at the time -- B.B. King, Albert King, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Aretha Franklin, Sam & Dave, King Curtis & the Kingpins, Joe Tex, etc. -- and I was holding Zep up to that standard. Mistake.)

Aerosmith has been mentioned here a few times, and I have to pile on. I saw them open for the Edgar Winter Group in 1973, and they sounded like a mediocre bar band. Edgar Winter was great, though.
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I also saw the mighty Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in the 1970's and they were bad out right bad I was so disappointed and after the show left in disbelieve that they were so sloppy after looking up to them as a great band my image of them changed after that and to me they are a great studio band who most likely after many many takes to get it right put out some good music that they could not re-create on stage sad
 
#74
+2 On Led Zeppelin!
I saw them in '74 support "Houses of the Holy" they were SO BAD, boring sloppy etc, still ranks as the worst show I've ever seen. At least tix only cost $5.00, saw Jethro Tull about 21weeks later for "Passion Play" and they blew LZ outta the water with their musicianship!
 
#75
I love Zeppelin, but sound remains the same movie just sucks IMO. I remember being so excited to see it for the first time and just feeling so let down.

I have seen some footage of them on some recent release and it was great, so I don't know...
 
#76
Van Halen in Cleveland on the Diver Down tour. My band at the time played mostly Judas Priest and VH covers. I quit playing VH music because the show was soooo baaaaddd!!! The four of them were so drunk/stoned they couldn't play, Roth forgot lyrics, they would stop in the middle of a song and start over again. Partying and egos ruined that band.
 
#77
Agree 100 percent on the TSO, My wife and I left ahlf-way through the first act. It took Cheesey to a new level.

itsalljustaride said:
I saw a show on that tour too. I loved it, even with the drawn out segments (though I can easily see how they would irritate some).

Have to agree with those mentioning Dragonforce, Trivium, KoRn, and Mastodon. KoRn shows are pathetic. Dragonforce is all wank. Mastodon is painful merely because thier recorded music is so much better than their uninspiring live shows.

One thing I'll mention though is that it's often the case that opening acts get bad mixes intentionally, in order to make the headlining act sound much better by comparison. This mat be the case with Dragonforce, etc, on the Ozzfest tours. The Sharon/Maiden debacle is proof positive that there are shenanigans played on opening acts with sound mixing.

I'll add to the list

Ted Nugent - Saw him New Years Eve 2000 at the Silverdome. What a terrible setup. He had a headset mic that sounded like it was literally IN his mouth the whole time. Just blown out and incomprehensible.

Slipknot. Half the band looks bored to death, but what do you expect when all one guy's job is to hit a keg with a mallet once every verse. So much production and eye-candy with very little excitement. Totally backwards.

Which brings me to...

Trans Siberian Orchestra. Dear Lord, what a let-down. Bored musicians playing over-produced sets, with lasers and moving scaffolds and platforms, all for nothing. I've never seen more effort put into making such a mediocre show. One song was a duet with the guitarist (on acoustic) and a singer. It was so droning and monotonous I almost fell asleep. Same arpeggiated chord over and over, with the singer just repeating the same melody over and over and over for what felt like 10 minutes. Never will I see them again.
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