I had the exact same experience in Seattle, and it was also the first thing I thought of when reading the thread title.
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Worst band you've ever seen?
- Thread starter Lukc
- Start date
I had the exact same experience in Seattle, and it was also the first thing I thought of when reading the thread title.
I'm calling BS on this! Prince was onstage for a total of less than 15 minutes (less than 10 of it actually playing), it was the song Jack U Off that got the crowd really pissed. My ex-roommate was Prince's guitar tech after Takumi, we asked him about this show and he refused to talk about it. And Bill Graham most certainly came out and addressed the crowd over the massive food fight that was going on. There were about 18 of us that were at the show and we all still talk about that early Prince experience - he WAS good, just completely wrong for that show -- the only reason he was on the bill is because Mick loved his stuff.
That's funny... I saw them on the same tour, and was BLOWN AWAY by how good they were. This was probably at the Irvine Meadows Ampitheater or the Pacific Ampitheater, not sure which one. After they were done, I thought "Wow, Rush has a tough act to follow!" I must have caught them on a stellar night, or you caught them on a terrible night. Either way, Rush still put on a great show after Candlebox.
The worst band I saw was probably L7 back in 1994-ish at the the Paladium in Los Angeles. They were opening for Motorhead, I think. Mind you, the Paladium was KNOWN for having terrible, terrible sound. L7 was painful to hear, and I remember the hallway between the entrance and the ballroom where they were playing near the bathrooms and the concessions was packed with people trying to avoid the sonic assault.
Other then that, about a year and a half ago ago our band had a gig that had an R+B singer for an opening band. She had a HUGE following on facebook and twitter, and she was very easy on the eyes. She had a demo out that sounded great, but obvious to anyone who's worked in a studio that it was full of Autotune and tons of tricks to make a bad singer sound better. She had also hired out a backup band of some pretty good local musicians.
Well, she and her backup singer were both terrible... like cats or geese being strangled. People were leaving in droves. Our bandleader also played guitar in her band, and was sort of bamboozled into getting her to open for us. At one point, he saw people leaving and shut things down after 3 songs. Then, we took the stage and blew her away. We had a great night, and the bar did really well.
I worked for a radio station in the mid-90's in Cincinnati. They would have free concerts in the park on the Riverfront and bring in national acts. I saw some great bands and got to meet some excellent musicians. However, one particularly bad act was Aaron Neville. He showed up with no band and just had a DAT tape with backing tracks. He did the entire show standing in the same spot in the middle of an empty stage singing whiny pop songs over a pre-recorded soundtrack. It was the most tedious and boring show I have ever seen in my life. It was like watching paint dry.
I remember seeing Band O'Cocks whoops I mean Candlebox opening for Rush on that tour as well...
I remember how funny it was seeing the bassist standing up there with a tiny bass rig against a blank curtain backdrop; same as the guitarist. They were absolutey dwarfed by the stage alone. Nothing on this HUGE stage but a couple tiny amps and a small drumset. And the singer walking around doing that annoying "Hey yah hey yah yah didn't mean to treat you oh so bad well hey yah hey ya ya hey ya heya hey ya ya hey ya hey ya heyyaheyyaheya well bay-beh" crap...
They sucked. And disappeared shortly afterward.
I think I've actually been in every band that is the worst I've seen.
Another memorable bad band I saw was The Devil Wears Prada. They opened for a multiple band show at Bogarts in Cincinnati and were one of the worst bands I have ever seen. Their only focus seemed to be jumping around the stage like a bunch of lunatics with no clue how bad they sounded. The "singer" just screeched and grunted nonsense over a crappy mix of noise. They had a "keyboard player" who just pressed a key with one finger while he thrashed around like he was having a seizure, even though there were no audible keyboards in the mix. Just picture a bunch of hyperactive monkeys at the zoo with instruments strapped on them and you get a good visual of what the show was like.
I can certainly believe that. I have seen the Neville Brothers several times and whenever Aaron does his solo thing it's time go get a beer or take a nap.
Not really a whole band thing, but I remember a few years back Katy Perry somehow ended up on Warped Tour (I think because her boyfriend was in another band there). I walked by where she was playing, and it was horrid. She can't sing on key at all, and had some pretty weird tempo issues.
At a Clash concert in the early 1980s, the opening act was Pulsallama, an all girl percussion band. Mid-way through the first song, the booing starting. They were that bad.
Still waiting for sparky to take us to hoogie boogie land.
Worst pro band? I took my daughter to see Oasis. What a bunch of arrogant, whiny pr*cks. Talked down to the audience all evening and just walked off stage at the end. Even the lighting people didn't realize they weren't coming back for an encore till they were probably in the bus and gone. Their music wasn't anything special either, nor performed with any particular enthusiasm. Sad, because the audience was really up for the show and gave them a lot of support. We crossed them off after that debacle, and it seems like we made a good decision based on what I've heard afterward...
Worst local band? Oh, so many to choose from. Had to be a bunch of kids who opened for my son-in-law's band at a small theater. Pompous, obnoxious, ordering the venue staff around like they were important. The lead singer was trying to act like Roger Daltrey and managed to destroy two mics in 10 minutes; he swung the first one into something and damaged the connector. After yelling abuse at the sound guy and getting another mic set up, he smacked it into the floor during the next song. The sound guy shoved all the sliders down and (you could hear him over the talkback) told them "This show is over!"
The best part was the singer stomping off stage, then coming back in a few minutes later and screaming at the crowd "You'll regret this! We're gonna come back here some day and CLOSE THIS PLACE DOWN!!!!" We were all laughing so hard we almost didn't get the stuff set up for my SIL's band.
Worst local band? Oh, so many to choose from. Had to be a bunch of kids who opened for my son-in-law's band at a small theater. Pompous, obnoxious, ordering the venue staff around like they were important. The lead singer was trying to act like Roger Daltrey and managed to destroy two mics in 10 minutes; he swung the first one into something and damaged the connector. After yelling abuse at the sound guy and getting another mic set up, he smacked it into the floor during the next song. The sound guy shoved all the sliders down and (you could hear him over the talkback) told them "This show is over!"
The best part was the singer stomping off stage, then coming back in a few minutes later and screaming at the crowd "You'll regret this! We're gonna come back here some day and CLOSE THIS PLACE DOWN!!!!" We were all laughing so hard we almost didn't get the stuff set up for my SIL's band.
I saw this tour. I wasn't too impressed but then again I also didn't know any of their music.
Ok, the worst for me was Paul Simon at some baseball field in Cooperstown. I won the tickets. The musicianship was ok, but post-world beat, with a smidgen of electronica. Incredibly boring by any standard and no beer allowed in the actual concert area. Lame! The whole energy of the thing was like waiting in a dentists office. Just a poor, poor show.
Saw Peter Tosh at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. One of the best shows I ever experienced.
The Pschycadelic Furs were lame. Except for the Stanley Clarke portion, The New Barbarians were awful.
