Not Good Live Bands

[MEKer]

Social Distortion-----------suck suck suck with nothing but over the top, ear-killing volume. Stupid

Black Label Society---------kinda like they were a bulkier Social Dis with even more volume. 2x Stupid And yes, he did ---sigh--- play the National Anthem---again.
:scowl::scowl::scowl:

 

[ahbassman]

All-American Rejects are terrible live.

 

[dougjwray]

Not to denigrate anyone who ever saw Zeppelin live (I did not), but you have to keep in mind that was a band doing songs -- that in many cases were quite intricately produced in the studio -- as a power trio with a singer, no extra musicians backstage, no backing tracks and not even much help from the P.A. at least in the early days. Of course they weren't going to sound like their records. If that makes them a "studio creation" so be it but at least they were keepin it real. It's easy to apply the standards of live bands today to early 70s Zeppelin and say Zeppelin sucked, but for all their money they didn't have half the technical resources at their disposal to "cheat" with that the average regional cover band has today.

No doubt they had their off nights but I have also heard them throw down live jams as a three-piece where they were just a freakin machine.

Well, as I said, I was comparing them to other live acts of their time. I mentioned various blues and soul artists, but I can also throw in the Who, the Allman Brothers (with Duane and Berry Oakley), the Doors, Derek and the Dominos, even the Rascals, all of whom shared the same 1970 technology as Zep, but were way more musical in live performance, when I saw them then.

 

[chjohnst]

Dunno I never got to see them live, but I would think if I heard this in a live setting I wouldn't have that sort of an opinion of them that they aren't good live. JPJ and Bonham sound great.

 

[jaywa]

Well, as I said, I was comparing them to other live acts of their time. I mentioned various blues and soul artists, but I can also throw in the Who... all of whom shared the same 1970 technology as Zep, but were way more musical in live performance, when I saw them then.

That surprises me. I would have pegged The Who to come off "sloppier" live than Zep any day of the week, due mostly to Moon. But then again, I never saw either of them live, so...

 

[Surly]

Staind: Second record, turned into a whining love fest, and Aaron Lewis almost fainted, and cut the set in half

.

Be careful, Stainbbassist lurks these forums...

 

[rtslinger]

Was that during Zep's drugged-out phase? Seems like inconsistency in live performances can often be tied back to drug/alcohol abuse within the band. Lots of people have also identified Aerosmith as a major "live" disappointment back in the day and guess what, at that point they were all zonked literally out of their minds.

Yes they brought a long await tour to the US in the 70's and they gave us nothing but disappointment for our money.maybe they were having a bad night but they had drunk on stage issues missed chords playing in the wrong key forgotten lyrics in many cities not just NY RTS

 

[dougjwray]

That surprises me. I would have pegged The Who to come off "sloppier" live than Zep any day of the week, due mostly to Moon. But then again, I never saw either of them live, so...

I saw the Who three times with Moon, and you shouldn't sell him short, IMO. His style was obviously different from Bonham's-- instead of playing a crushing backbeat and grooving like Bonham, he scattered fills all over the place and was constantly "commenting" on what the other guys were doing. But believe me, every hit was in time and accurate, and he really knew how to propel the band.
Also, in 1970, Zep was pretty much simply doing their "dinosaur stomp" thing, while the Who had perfected playing meticuously-written songs, with dynamics and clarity, and each of the three players had a unique sound that complemented each other. So, in a place like Madison Square Garden, Zep came off as loud mush while the Who sounded like music. (Again, IMO.)

 

[odin70]

Strange...I saw Opeth twice and loved the show each time.

Are we discussing taste or bad performance?

I can imagine Opeth being boring but they do deliver..At least when i have seen them.

 

[MatticusMania]

I've seen Pearl Jam 8 times and loved every one of their shows. But thought Sonic Youth sounded pretty awful when they opened up for them in Indy. And for the record, I like some of their stuff.

Ive seen Sonic Youth 3 times and they were amazing every time, the best being when I was right up front at the Glass House.

 

[stratovani]

You Montreal people of a certain age (mid-40s to 50s) might remember this...

Back in 1979 The Dire Straits were on their first tour, in support of their first album (the one with Sultans of Swing). So they came to Montreal (I think it was late in the winter) and played at The Plateau Auditorium, which seated about 3000, IIRC. The opening act was a band from Detroit called The Barooga Bandits. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about them, but after the show I knew one thing about them - they sucked supremely. They sounded like a bunch of high-school kids playing in some dingy basement, the mix was ear-splittingly terrible - soundman was probably out toking up while they played their set! And I guess the frontman never heard of Straplocks, because in the middle of a song his guitar suddenly came crashing down with a resounding CRASHHH!! They got the biggest and worst booing I've ever heard, far worse than the booing the New England Patriots got after being trounced by the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs last month. The only good that came out of it was that they made the Dire Straits look even better than they ordinarily did. Thank God the Straits were great, otherwise that would have been five bucks down the drain (don't laugh, five bucks was good money back then!).

The Barooga Bandits. I wonder whatever became of them?

 

[sonic assassin]

emanuel. too stoned to play in time. pathetic.

brand new. played nothing but the new experimental material.. i wanted to die. stage presence was null.

those are the ones that stick out. im sure ive seen some more

 

[frankenjazz]

worst show G3 with satch, vai and malmsteen, it was 2003 possibly or 2002 on halloween, vai kept doing one handed hammer ons and pull offs and using his free hand to hand out candy (fun size...the bastard) and basically played the same solo for every song, malmsteen was a great showman and honestly wasnt that bad, and i fell asleep 2 songs into satch's boring uninspired look how fast i can go wack off exhibition he called a set, then watched the three of them go up on stage and murder 3 hendrix songs (voodoo chile,foxy lady, and fire)...though i gotta say their back up bands were mood (tony malcapine and billy sheehan played with vai and roscoe beck played with satch...im not sure but i know it wasnt stu hamm)

 

[etoncrow]

Saw Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Joe Cocker & the Grease Band and Janis Joplin (post Big Brother & the Holding Co.) together in Baltimore in the late 60's. Butterfield was great; Cocker was exceptional; Joplin sucked and her band was really, really bad....

 

[Gintaras]

Thou I loved there music, the worst show I ever saw was the "James Gang" sometime in the 70's or was it early 80's at the Baltimore Civic Center. (that period was fuzzy)

 

[ajmee]

Just about everyone's "worsts" are rock bands. So, this is a little left of center.

Back in '88, a few friends of mine dragged me to a Depeche Mode concert @ the Spectrum in Philly. Had never heard of 'em or listened to 'em before.

OMD was the opening act, and they were pretty lame.

And then it comes time for the main act. The curtain falls, and I see three keyboards towards the back of the stage. I'm thinking to myself - "Where's the drummer? Where's the bass?" Wow, I wanted to take a knife to my ears so I couldn't feel the pain of this "music."

 

[RexNFX79]

I've seen Third Eye Blind a couple of times and they were disappointing. It sucks, I love their albums.

 

[becker4567]

+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!

In 1972, I saw Led Zep at the Honolulu Wrestling Rink (yup, it's true) and they were not only 45 minutes late, but obviously didn't want to be there. Page was so drunk, his roadies had to hold him up a couple of times. The whole show sucked!

 

[over_the_moon]

Just about everyone's "worsts" are rock bands. So, this is a little left of center.

Back in '88, a few friends of mine dragged me to a Depeche Mode concert @ the Spectrum in Philly. Had never heard of 'em or listened to 'em before.

OMD was the opening act, and they were pretty lame.

And then it comes time for the main act. The curtain falls, and I see three keyboards towards the back of the stage. I'm thinking to myself - "Where's the drummer? Where's the bass?" Wow, I wanted to take a knife to my ears so I couldn't feel the pain of this "music."

Heh heh. Depeche Mode shows are pretty good nowadays. The one keyboardist (Andrew Fletcher, I think) still stands in the back, hits a button, then claps the rest of the song. Gahan and Gore put on a good performance, though.

 

[JMac- Wiskerface Designs]

I could go on for days about bad live bands, but these took the cake:
System of a down- off tempo, out of tune, singer lying down on the stage quoting poetry. Uber bad show
Smashing Pumpkins- All out terrible live band. I had to go home early that night.
The Deftones- Uncomprehendable mush live

and the Best of the worst goes to:
David Allen Coe- Is just a grumpy old turd that needs to hang it up, Absolute waste of the $25.00 ticket.