Not Good Live Bands

[bassinplace]

The worst big name act that comes to mind that I've seen was I think The Jesus And Mary Chain. Saw 'em at Lollapalooza. Soundgarden played before them and Pearl Jam before that. Two monster performances followed by some really raggedy type stuff. Sounded like they might be drunk. Craptacularly underwhelming.

 

[RickenTalker]

worst shows I've seen: Dragon force, Tool- Saw them in San Antonio were they had horrible sound, but saw them again in Austin and it was amazing, Smith Westerns

 

[Hawkbone]

Sound is such a huge factor - a great band can appear 3rd rate id the mix is bad. Weezer was a big letdown for me, sound was terrible.

 

[smcfarland1337]

Fall Out Boy is terrible live. Too much show, not enough technique. Blink is the same way, although, they really aren't that good recorded either. lol.....

On the other hand, Taking Back sunday is stupid good live. Their timing is near perfect and they play HARD. Very impressive....

Taking Back Sunday is SO GOOD live. It is insane.

Anyways, Green Day (American Idiot era) were the blandest thing I've ever seen live. Jimmy Eat World opened for them and were great however.

And Deftones, while definitely not bad, they just play so loud that the mix gets (literally) mixed and is just a wall of noise by the time it gets to you.

 

[Garrett151]

AFI was pretty bad. Just too loud and monotonous. Good thing they were preceded by 30 Seconds to Mars and followed by Muse!

 

[Topspin]

Taking Back Sunday is SO GOOD live. It is insane. /QUOTE]

I walked out on them at Warped Tour this year halfway through the first song, they just weren't really into it.
On the bright side, I found Ballyhoo (my new favorite band) playing for a crowd of about 40 on a different stage. They were awesome.

 

[TheEndIsNYE]

Black Label Society. I went to go see Judas Priest in Winston-Salem last year on Thanksgiving break and Black Label played before them.. Zakk Wylde just sounded so bad and don't get me started on his 15 minute solo. Ugh.

Judas Priest rocked it, though.

 

[Handreas]

The only big name show I've walked out of were The Adolescents at Garage in Oslo a few years ago.

I'd been looking forward to the show for a long time and the band played tight, but the sound was HORRIBLE. Just pure agony. That was the first and only time a concert have given me a headache. To this day I'm still wondering how it's possible to make a good band sound so bad.

 

[GRAHAM SG1]

My least favourite live band has to be Motorhead, purely because they play so loud that it sounds crap, all distorted and no quality, a few years ago I saw Motorhead on tour with The Damned (who were the reason for my going in the first place) and Girlschool, both of whom were excellent but as soon as Motorhead came on, the volume went skyhigh and as far as I was concerned, wrecked a good gig
Why do they feel the need to play so loud and damage an audiences ears ?
Lemmy, do everyone a favour and turn down so we can actually hear what you are playing

 

[xxx666]

Not sure if it's been said but Korn suck live...

All Fieldy digs aside!

 

[xxx666]

I also saw Periphery last year - they played awesome but the sound was terrible. I think even the best band can be destroyed by a **** mixer!

 

[BIG97BEN]

Drop Kick Murphy's. When I went to see them the opening punk band turned their sound to 12 and people where hiding in the bathroom. Then DKM decided they couldn't be out done and kept the sound up way to loud. After the ringing from the first band and the wall of noise from them I was left disappointed. Especially after all their live CDs that sounded so good. Sound can absolutely kill an otherwise great show.

 

[Grangur]

WORST:
a long time ago - Aerosmith
recently - Flecktones

Thanks SO much! I was thinking of flying the Atlantic to see VW!

My worst:
RHCP @ Earls Court London 3 years ago. The sound was like a crappy radio - all tinney. Sounded better with your fingers in your ears.

Best: Nickleback 2 years ago.

 

[GRAHAM SG1]

Metallica at Earls Court sounded bad, very boomy as would be expected in such a venue, I dont like outdoor festivals as the sound can be awful no matter who is playing, one small gust of wind can wipe out a good sound .
On the flip side of `not good bands`, the most consistently good band I have seen is The Damned, I have seen them around 55 times since 1978 and not one bad gig, always good IMO

 

[patplaysbass]

I saw Puscifer at Bonnaroo this year. Didn't have any clue who they are or that it was Maynard James Keenan's band. The drummer was good... but that's about it. No other musician was impressive, the songs were too weird for my taste, and they had god-awful stage antics. I have never in my life had any desire to walk out of a show until I saw them. Unfortunately I was smack dab in the middle of a crowd of thousands (after being in the front for Flogging Molly, who killed it), so I couldn't even get out. My then-girlfriend loved them though and I got major props from for sticking around, so I guess it kind of balanced out.

 

[nortonrider]

Thanks SO much! I was thinking of flying the Atlantic to see VW!

"Your mileage may vary!"

When I first saw the Flecktones back in like 93, it was one of my most memorable musical experiences, they were great!

This last time, it was just wanking!

Bela's playing sounded like he was just running scales over and over and over and over again.

Vic spent half of the night with his back to the audience turning knobs on his amp.

The fake drums sounded like fake drums.

The overall sound wasn't very good (very tinny and thin)

and it cost me about $275. for 4 tickets.

Honestly, I couldn't wait for the show to get over so we could get out of there.
I could tell by the look in the crowd, I wasn't the only one feeling that way either.

Maybe an off night for the band, who knows.

 

[smcfarland1337]

I saw em when they still had Fred and he was pretty much the backbone keeping them in line, so they were really good back then.
I never saw em in the Tell All Your Friends era or after the Fred days.

 

[Waldo19]

I was also underwhelmed by Motorhead. It wasn't horrible, "Ace of Spades" was a lot of fun, but most songs were just a giant wall of incredibly loud fuzz.

Megadeth came on next and the balance was much better. I could actually make out what David Ellefson was doing...with Lemmy, it was noise.

 

[MatticusMania]

+1 on Tool. 2 hours of drone tone, stood like statues, and didn't play 46+2. ***??! Too cool for the song that gave your your start?

46+2 certainly did not give Tool "their start". They had a few singles (including Sober) and EP, and an album (Undertow) all in circulation before AEnima was released.

Mars Volta sounds like **** live.

I love TMVs albums, but this is absolutely true.

 

[Gearhead17]

Worst bands I have seen "It Dies Today", "Skrape".

Skrape was a Nu-Metal band and was playing in the Extreme Steel Tour in 2002 with Pantera and Slayer. They sucked. Every song sounded about the same, I am not even sure if they played their hit single. They probably did, but I have no clue. Singer would sing two words and hold the last one - over and over again. They got booed. Of course the other bands were better!

It Dies Today played nothing but a wall of incomprehensible noise. Boom Boom Boom the whole time. The singer did nothing, but yell and scream. I have no idea if he actually said a word. Wow. Just awful garbage.

Among the best I have seen would be Machine Head in 2005 at the House of Blues and Pantera in 2002. At both shows, I heard everything everyone on stage was playing - that is how it should be. Bass was very prominent in both mixes, but never overpowering.