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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

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He really is that stupid.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

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No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by Tim F|  June 8, 20089:32 pm| 102 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Somebody in a thread about Phish suggested that we talk about the worst shows that we ever attended, so here goes.

For me there’s no contest – Damn Yankees at the Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh some time around 1993. Jackyl opened.

Somewhere around the halfway point the show stopped and someone rolled a wooden deer across the back of the stage. Although the memory is hazy I’m pretty sure that Ted Nugent took aim with a flaming arrow in a compound bow from 20 feet, missed the deer, hit the giant confederate flag backdrop and some techies had to put it out. Or something. I was badly in need of crunchy snack food if you know what I mean.

Entertain yourselves while the bloggers get some rest.

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102Comments

  1. 1.

    Third Eye Open

    June 8, 2008 at 9:45 pm

    I don’t waste my money on bad bands…but I do sorta remember some really bad opening band getting pelted with trash during the 1998 TOOL show in Red Rocks, CO.

    I think the only reason I remember them was the fact they they got all butt-hurt about it…and the bassist was wearing a one-piece, brown suede jump-suit.

    On the other hand TOOL was as close to a religious experience as i’ve ever had.

    Disco version of ‘Hooker With A Penis’ for teh WIN!

  2. 2.

    cleek

    June 8, 2008 at 9:51 pm

    i’ve never really seen a bad show. i’ve been to shows with terrible sound, bad weather, obnoxious crowds, etc. but the bands have always been good (so far).

    no wait… a few years ago i went to see one of my all-time fav’s, Robyn Hitchcock, one night. he was the second act on a 4-band show (Cornelius, Hitchcock, Sebadoh, Flaming Lips). he tried to do a quick acoustic set, but he was completely hammered and only managed to bellow-out a half-dozen crappy acoustic versions of songs that nobody wanted to hear (what on earth was he doing in that line-up??). he sucked so bad, we left immediately after, and missed the F’Lips or Sebadoh.

    he’s been awesome the three or four times i’ve seen him since.

  3. 3.

    JasonF

    June 8, 2008 at 9:51 pm

    In college, I went to see a Spin Doctors show.

    Actually, now that I think about it, I could probably stop the story there and still be in the running for “worst concert ever.” But to make this one worse, some kid was surfing the crowd and got dropped. The Spin Doctors wound up stopping the show for half an hour while we waited for the paramedics to show up and treat the guy who fell. There’s noting like standing around in a crowd of a couple hundred people listening to the Spin Doctors not play.

  4. 4.

    gogiggs

    June 8, 2008 at 9:54 pm

    I think the worst show I ever attended was probably a band called the Laughing Hyenas at the Phantasy in Lakewood, Ohio.

    The night started out fine, I went with a friend to see Pere Ubu at Peabody’s DownUnder and they were amazing. Afterwards my friend insisted that we go to the Phantasy. Since she had gotten us into the Pere Ubu show I felt obligated and we did. I’ve read lots of nice things about Laughing Hyenas in various places over the years, but I HATED it. The sound was lousy, the singer was just yelling unintelligibly… After a while I willed myself to go to sleep. I’m still not sure how I managed it, considering the earsplitting din, but I did.

  5. 5.

    polkcountydude

    June 8, 2008 at 10:00 pm

    I saw 311 in high school; Hoobastank opened for them and was awful. No one in the crowd remotely paid attention and the band played to their attitude. However, 311 kicked serious ass. Unfortunately, I saw 311 over spring break ’08 at Langerado in the Everglades, and they no longer meet the expectations I gained from previous shows =(. Oh well, all bands change. I only wish Sublime survived long enough for me to see them.
    On a Phishy note, when they played in Miami for four days preceding New Years 2003—>2004, some strong paper might have caused me not to enjoy myself (almost a bad pun on a Phish song). That is my personal worse show.

  6. 6.

    TheFountainHead

    June 8, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    Anybody ever seen The Lost Colony down in the Outer Banks? Now that’s the worst show ever put to stage. And I work in this industry.

  7. 7.

    The Moar You Know

    June 8, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    Grateful Dead, 1990, Shoreline Ampitheater. I’ve seen high school bands that were far better. In fact, I’ve never seen a worse band regardless of age, experience, or genre – and I was a working musician for 21 years.

  8. 8.

    BJ

    June 8, 2008 at 10:05 pm

    Since it’s an open thread, I thought I’d note that the guys at Comments from Left Field have done some digging on the whole “Obama and the Israel Lobby” story that the wingnuts are working themselves into a frenzy over.
    Rule:Use a Cutout and Jewish Lobby story overinflated

    Good ammo for the coming smear campaign.

  9. 9.

    Kevin

    June 8, 2008 at 10:07 pm

    The worst show I ever saw was Motley Crüe and Heavy Pettin’ in San José, CA, sometime in the 1980’s. It sucked balls. I felt embarrassed just being there.

  10. 10.

    w vincentz

    June 8, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    Worst show?
    OK, it had to do with some crazy preacher that was (past tense) a snake handler. Something about “no venom”…yada, yada.
    Takes a collection. About $19 when the plate came by me.
    So I kicked in a twenty and sat back in my pew to enjoy the show.
    Then this guy started screaming something, sweating, and reaches for a box under the pulpit.
    He opened the box and reached in.
    He grabbed a rattlesnake and held it up for all the congregation to see. WOW!
    Then something unexpected and unfortunate happened.
    Definately the worst show. But the singing was good beforehand.

  11. 11.

    Throwin Stones

    June 8, 2008 at 10:10 pm

    ’93 or so – Soundgarden opened for Guns N Roses.
    Soundgarden was awful, hurt my ears. Went outside for most of their set.
    Axl was apparently on a bender, and didn’t show up until well after midnight.

  12. 12.

    slippy hussein toad

    June 8, 2008 at 10:11 pm

    I remember seeing, from very up close, an awesome Rush concert around ’91. Must have been Roll The Bones or Counterparts. Fiddler’s Green in Englewood CO. That was a good show. But it was Mr. Big who was opening for them. That was bloody awful, and painful. I think it was not long after that that Rush ceased to have an opening act.

    And then about 1995 or so I went to see a friend play in a free concert/festival type thing in Louisville, KY that ended with a performance by Bush. And they sucked. Singer was out of tune. Band couldn’t keep the tempo together.

  13. 13.

    rob!

    June 8, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    my friend and i went to see Dylan, with Santana “opening” for him.

    now, nothing against Carlos Santana, but we had zero interest in him, we were there for Bob. but we figured we could put up with it…

    …except for the fact that Santana played for what seemed like a day and a half, all of it one song with approximately seventeen guitar solos.

  14. 14.

    Ed in NJ

    June 8, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    Summer of ’83, I believe. In order to get my then-girlfriend to accompany me to see Peter Gabriel at the Garden State Arts Center (now the PNC Arts Center), I agreed to see Men At Work there. The opening act was one-hit wonders the Red Rockers. Just brutal all the way around. Only saving grace was that the Red Rockers played for about a 1/2 hour, and the Men At Work set was probably under an hour. But it seemed like alot longer at the time.

  15. 15.

    Gerald Curl

    June 8, 2008 at 10:27 pm

    Setting: Indiana State Fairgrounds, summer of 1988
    Main act: Tiffany
    Opening act: New Kids on the Block

    It was hot and humid and smelled like barnyard animals. There were hundreds of pre-pubescent girls screaming.

    My friend and I got free tickets and being stupid 15 year olds, we thought it’d be entertaining to go make fun of Tiffany fans. We were not prepared for the horrors of NKOTB (relatively unknown at the time) and our surely brilliant teenage snark was drowned out by the music and the screaming girls.

  16. 16.

    The Moar You Know

    June 8, 2008 at 10:27 pm

    I remember seeing, from very up close, an awesome Rush concert around ‘91. Must have been Roll The Bones or Counterparts. Fiddler’s Green in Englewood CO. That was a good show. But it was Mr. Big who was opening for them. That was bloody awful, and painful. I think it was not long after that that Rush ceased to have an opening act.

    Roll the Bones tour, I think. And yes, Mr. Big was fucking horrible.

    Primus opened for the Counterparts tour, saw them in Oakland. Loved Primus, had seen ’em many times in the Bay Area. Seen every Rush tour since 1980, love them. For whatever reason, both bands at that show (which I thought was going to be the pinnacle of my musical life, seeing as I’m a bassist) were not so good – and the sound was atrocious.

    The “evening with Rush” format that they went to in 1996 is great. 3 to 3 and a half hour sets and they are just fantastic all the way through.

  17. 17.

    polkcountydude

    June 8, 2008 at 10:36 pm

    Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to see Santana (too expensive), but he plays a mean guitar when he’s on. I hear he usually plays a great show so maybe he sucked just that night? Personally, I don’t mind guitar solos as long as they kick ass.
    However, I do find the pairing of Dylan and Santana odd. They play fairly opposite types of rock (loosely) music, don’t they? Forgive me if I’m wrong, I don’t really search out Dylan that much.

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    June 8, 2008 at 10:40 pm

    Only following Orders….

    I am so looking forward to a lecture on human rights from Iran and Pakistan.

  19. 19.

    merrinc

    June 8, 2008 at 10:40 pm

    In the early 90’s, I won tickets for Lynyrd Skynyrd from my then-employer. They were playing at the Walnut Creek Ampitheatre (since renamed to something corporate) in Raleigh, NC. My ex, a native southerner who had zero appreciation for southern rock, was not keen on going but begrudingly accompanied me.

    Charlie Daniels Band opened and let’s just say the redneck contingent was out in full force to show their support. Our seats were in the middle of the row, about 14 rows back. A very large drunken, sweaty man was in the seat beside me but he was so moved by the music that he spent much of it dancing about and waving around his very own Confederate flag.

    About three songs into Lynyrd Skynyrd’s set, Mr. Sweaty Flag man had a disagreement with one of his um, peers and they began shoving one another. In seconds, we found ourselves in the midst of redneckapalooza with no means of escape. In one of the few chivalrous feats of our marriage, the ex extricated me from beneath a mass of large, smelly, flailing bodies and tossed me over the seats into the row behind us. He scrambled over after me and we made our escape.

    I was covered with bruises the next day.

  20. 20.

    Kevin

    June 8, 2008 at 10:41 pm

    Setting: Indiana State Fairgrounds, summer of 1988
    Main act: Tiffany
    Opening act: New Kids on the Block

    Oh. My. God.

    That’s deadly.

  21. 21.

    Blue Raven

    June 8, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    The home of easily bad concerts has to be the groups unfortunate enough to need to do the amusement park circuit. I distinctly remember going to see Vixen open for another band at such a park sometime in the late 1980’s. But the following band was so boring, I remember only Vixen. And that would be because of their strategic use of Spandex.

  22. 22.

    Kevin

    June 8, 2008 at 10:43 pm

    Primus opened for the Counterparts tour, saw them in Oakland. Loved Primus, had seen ‘em many times in the Bay Area. Seen every Rush tour since 1980, love them. For whatever reason, both bands at that show (which I thought was going to be the pinnacle of my musical life, seeing as I’m a bassist) were not so good – and the sound was atrocious.

    I’ve seen Rush once, and I think it was Steve Morse opening for them, at the Oakland Arena, of all places. Morse was boring as hell, as I remember, and Rush were fine. I enjoyed the show at the time, but now, I think back at it and think “meh”.

  23. 23.

    Kevin

    June 8, 2008 at 10:51 pm

    On another subject entirely, is there any more loathesome form of music than that hideous “Christian” “praise” garbage? Quite apart from the message, that music is absolutely terrible pap. Message included, it’s even worse.

  24. 24.

    AnotherBruce

    June 8, 2008 at 10:57 pm

    Boston, about 30 years ago in Des Moines Iowa. They had rolled out a tour to cover their big album. I lost my ticket and had to get one from a scalper. It was a fourth row seat. I have never before or since seen such a wooden performance. They absolutely had no stage presence.

    Actually it was a wooden performance. I thought they mimed the whole thing. I brought this up in another “bad concert” thread and other folks have verified the fact that they faked the whole thing. Their 1st album was very technically proficient, but they weren’t a performance band, and it showed.

  25. 25.

    rob!

    June 8, 2008 at 11:01 pm

    Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to see Santana (too expensive), but he plays a mean guitar when he’s on. I hear he usually plays a great show so maybe he sucked just that night? Personally, I don’t mind guitar solos as long as they kick ass.
    However, I do find the pairing of Dylan and Santana odd. They play fairly opposite types of rock (loosely) music, don’t they? Forgive me if I’m wrong, I don’t really search out Dylan that much.

    no disrespect towards the legendary Mr. Santana intended. its just that i’m such a Dylan fan that having to sit through ANY opening act is an endurance test. and any sort of solo (guitar, drum) just puts me to sleep.

    so having an opener play FORRREVER just made it worse!

  26. 26.

    Anonymous

    June 8, 2008 at 11:07 pm

    Barry Manilow, 1984, date with a church girl. It was the launch of his October Jazz phase. Fell asleep twenty minutes in, slept ’til the end.

    I win.

  27. 27.

    Gus

    June 8, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Dead, Dylan and Tom Petty at the Metrodome. It’s not that the music was bad, it was the fact that the sound was so fucked up, I literally couldn’t tell what songs were being played. Not only that but the mushrooms turned out to be bunk.

  28. 28.

    OriGuy

    June 8, 2008 at 11:19 pm

    I went to see Hunter S. Thompson around 1977 at the University of Illinois. I’m not sure what he planned to do; there was one guy on stage with him who was supposed to be interviewing him, I guess. There were a lot of fratboys in the audience who had obviously never read anything he’d written. They kept yelling out “Uncle Duke”. He never really got going on his presentation, just kept trying to deal with the hecklers. My friend and I left after a while.

  29. 29.

    Urbaniak

    June 8, 2008 at 11:22 pm

    The Dead Milkmen were surprisingly underwhelming at a gig in Trenton in the mid-80s.

  30. 30.

    Gus

    June 8, 2008 at 11:35 pm

    I just thought of a couple more. Soup Dragons…boring despite a good light show. Arthur Lee of Love fame toured about 5 or 6 years ago, and when I saw him, his voice was completely shot. That was a shame, too, since he had a bunch of kids playing with him, and they were all obviously big Love fans. The band was right on. I didn’t mind too much. I was happy to give Arthur Lee the few bucks the ticket cost.

  31. 31.

    Bruce from Missouri

    June 8, 2008 at 11:48 pm

    Oddly enough, Damn Yankees was the 2nd worst show I have ever seen. The worst was R.E.M. in 1984 or so at Hoch Auditorium at KU. They were amped so loud it was physically painful. I had to walk out.

    The show that pissed me off the most was Bad Company/Damn Yankees just a few weeks after the infamous Guns ‘n Roses riot at Riverport. They came into town and spent most of their radio station publicity time ripping GNR, and ripped them multiple times throughout their show. Then each band proceeded to play a one hour set. Now the GNR riot happened when Axl walked out after Skid Row had done an almost 2 hour set, and GNR had been on stage for an hour and a quarter…so the fans got over 3 hours of show. Now, you figure that with Bad Co., and a band comprised of former members of Styx, Night Ranger, and Ted Nugent, they would have enough collective material to go all night. Then they come into town acting like they are better than GNR and give us *2* hours of show? For the same ticket price?!? I never felt so ripped off.

  32. 32.

    dewey

    June 9, 2008 at 12:11 am

    Ratt with Fastway and… Mama’s Boys. At the Toledo Speedway. A person’s respect for music, hell, even for sentient existence in general, can be pretty damaged by a thing like seeing the Mama’s Boys live.

  33. 33.

    Jeremy

    June 9, 2008 at 12:18 am

    I make it a point of never going to bad concerts, too… but in the early ’80s I had two outstanding experiences.

    I was given free tickets to see Peter Tork at Toronto’s El Mocombo club. An actual Monkey! How could it not be cool?

    Well, Mike Nesmith and Mickey Dolenz were the creative Monkeys, and Davey Jones was the cute one. Peter Tork was just all kinds of bad. And ear-bleadingly loud.

    Had he been bad but not loud I would have stayed. Had he been loud and good I would have stayed. But really, what was the point? I walked out… Only other time I’ve done that was when I was assigned to review a Kenny G concert. I stayed for three songs, figured that was enough to give it a fair review, and left. (And no, I didn’t pan it – when I review a show like that I judge it for what it is, and he gave a good MOR jazz-light performance.)

  34. 34.

    anonymous 37

    June 9, 2008 at 12:20 am

    Somewhere around the halfway point the show stopped and someone rolled a wooden deer across the back of the stage. Although the memory is hazy I’m pretty sure that Ted Nugent took aim with a flaming arrow in a compound bow from 20 feet, missed the deer, hit the giant confederate flag backdrop and some techies had to put it out.

    Is it just me, or does anyone else think that that qualifies as one of the best shows ever? Also, it makes that Patton Oswalt bit even funnier.

    Worst show … let’s see … They Might Be Giants in New York on Halloween for their John Henry tour. Their first set, they played all the songs on their album in order. It was colossally unimaginative. Their second set was pointless.

    Frank Black opened, though, playing songs on solo guitar. Each song, he used a different guitar and left the old guitar slung over his shoulder, until he had about 6 guitars on his back and one that he played. Good cover of “The Duke of Earl”. I hear he was in a band before he became a solo artist, but I’ve never been able to ascertain the truth of that.

  35. 35.

    anonymous 37

    June 9, 2008 at 12:25 am

    Somewhere around the halfway point the show stopped and someone rolled a wooden deer across the back of the stage. Although the memory is hazy I’m pretty sure that Ted Nugent took aim with a flaming arrow in a compound bow from 20 feet, missed the deer, hit the giant confederate flag backdrop and some techies had to put it out.

    I forgot to mention: if he hadn’t literally shat himself when faced with the prospect of going to Vietnam, that man could have been fighting the ‘Cong for us. Makes you think.

  36. 36.

    Calouste

    June 9, 2008 at 12:50 am

    Went to a Genesis concert in the late 80s. Things started off bad enough with Paul Young being the support act, and got worse when, most of the way through a lackluster performance, a massive fight broke out in from of the stage, less than 10 yards from where I was standing. Security had some problems bringing it under control as they were outnumbered for quite a while. Mercifully, the band stopped playing to watch the fight in amazement and didn’t resume.

    And I think I have had to endure the Steve Morse Band as well, boring as hell indeed. Luckily the main act, Steve Lukather playing a combination of Hendrix and his own work, more than made up for it.

  37. 37.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    June 9, 2008 at 1:01 am

    Damn. Here’s one before most of you were born. In 1970, I believe it was Cumberland County Auditorium (Fayetteville, NC) I went to see Sly and the Family Stone. Lets just say that I was pining away for those same sort of snacks Tim mentioned. But I can’t recall who the opening act was. FINALLY the Family Stone comes out and plays some sort of intro music that went on forever. Sly eventually staggers out onto the stage and joins the band. Two or three songs later he walks away from his keyboard, pukes his guts out, slips and falls in it and passes out. Crew members rush out, pick him up, carry him off the stage, end of concert.

  38. 38.

    DonkeyKong

    June 9, 2008 at 1:26 am

    Went with my parents to see Neil Diamond during his “Turn on your Heartlight”, E.T. 80’s inspired pap.

    I felt like John Savage sitting with Robert DeNiro in the DeerHunter. “Put another on in the chamber Stevey!….(slap)….(sob)……

  39. 39.

    AnneLaurie

    June 9, 2008 at 1:37 am

    About three songs into Lynyrd Skynyrd’s set, Mr. Sweaty Flag man had a disagreement with one of his um, peers and they began shoving one another. In seconds, we found ourselves in the midst of redneckapalooza with no means of escape…

    You hadda remind me… Bob Seeger, in a Detroit sports arena, on his “farewell” tour back in the mid-80s. Seeger & the Silver Bullets were absolutely fine, but the opening act was some one-hit-wonder called the Georgia Satellites. To say that their over-amped, lip-synced, Sothrun-flavahed performance was greeted with enthusiasm would be quite accurate, if you consider universal booing and a hail of thrown objects “enthusiastic”. (No octopi, though — period Dead Things Red Wings joke.) The GS’s greatest hit had a one-line chorus, and previous venues in the Pellagra Belt seem to have encouraged the band to believe its audience loved sing-alongs. Tragically, that chorus contained the exact number of syllables in the exact cadence to permit several thousand Michiganders to chant GET THE FVCK OFF THE STAGE!!!! with increasing vim & clarity as the song wound its way through some 475 verses.

    Give the Georgia boyz credit for bravery, or a very high level of cluelessness, because they would have continued for an encore if the Seeger roadies hadn’t burst out of the wings and started dissassembling their equipment out from under them…

  40. 40.

    Mike in Denmark

    June 9, 2008 at 1:38 am

    Worst experience overall was the Roskilde Festival where 9 people died after getting crushed during Pearl Jam’s concert. I was at another stage watching Underworld but a guy from my camp died and it was all pretty miserable. The next day there was a memorial with some of the already booked acts and Youssou N’Dour sang 7 Seconds and walked through the crowd with flowers to the place the crushing had happened – which was one of the most beautiful musical experiences I’ve had.

    Worst musically was a Macy Gray concert at another festival where she was stoned out of her mind or something – basically slured her way through the set.

  41. 41.

    tattoosydney

    June 9, 2008 at 2:20 am

    Oh.my.god.

    John, have you seen this – Mark Penn talking in the New York Times about why Clinton lost.

    Are there a lot of other things the campaign could have done differently? Of course. We should have taken on Mr. Obama more directly and much earlier, and we needed a different kind of operation to win caucuses and to retain the support of superdelegates. From more aggressively courting young people earlier to mobilizing the full power of women, there are things that could have been done differently.

    While everyone loves to talk about the message, campaigns are equally about money and organization. Having raised more than $100 million in 2007, the Clinton campaign found itself without adequate money at the beginning of 2008, and without organizations in a lot of states as a result. Given her successes in high-turnout primary elections and defeats in low-turnout caucuses, that simple fact may just have had a lot more to do with who won than anyone imagines.

    And sometimes your opponent just runs a good campaign.

    And sometimes you are an incompetent ass.

    (Apologies if this has been posted before… but it needs a good dose of mockery).

  42. 42.

    tattoosydney

    June 9, 2008 at 2:35 am

    Oliver Willis goes there:

    I mean, if the real Mark Penn really wrote something like that it would clearly be the work product of a highly delusional and deranged mind. It must be satire, because not even a 47th level nimrod like Penn wouldn’t write something that bizarre.

    Right?

  43. 43.

    Herb

    June 9, 2008 at 4:36 am

    A Motorhead show I went to a few years ago because Corrosion of Conformity was opening for them. Hearing Motorhead live was like hearing nothing at all.

    Or at least that’s how I felt walking out of the venue, my ears bleeding and the world strangely quiet.

  44. 44.

    Royston Vasey

    June 9, 2008 at 4:37 am

    Meanwhile, in bizarro-world…

    What shall it be?
    Republicans for Obama?
    or
    Democrats for McCain?

    I’m so confusedzzzzz

  45. 45.

    Michael Bloom

    June 9, 2008 at 5:38 am

    I used to review music for a local weekly, and saw a bunch of concerts I would never have seen on my own nickel. The one that stands out in my mind as the absolute worst was Uriah Heep with Suzi Quatro opening. Each act had a schtik they pursued with hardly any variation, and each was trying with increasing desperation and no reward to work the crowd. I walked out early, which was something I generally avoided as unprofessional, but happily, there was another concertgoer walking out at the same time, and I asked him what he thought of it. His analysis was so good I used it in my story: he called Quatro “wetbacks from Alice Cooper,” and Heep “the sound of your brain shrinking.”

  46. 46.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    June 9, 2008 at 7:10 am

    Bare Naked Ladies = Worst. Band. Ever. They take “obnoxious” to a whole new level.

  47. 47.

    passerby

    June 9, 2008 at 7:12 am

    This thread has probably played itself out but, I’d just like to say how much I enjoy reading these stories. Tim launched a “best meal ever” kind of thread last month with similar results.

    I don’t have a worst show story, but,my best show was the first and only time I did blotter acid and drove with friends up to Baton Rouge to catch Pink Floyd. We had floor passes and found ourselves slap dab in front of the circular screen maybe 40-people back.

    Outstanding!!

    Afterwards we went for hotdogs from Der Weinerschnitzel on Highland Rd. Someone ordered theirs ” plain ” and when he unwrapped it there was just a dog on the dry bun. We all looked at it…someone uttered “yep, that’s plain” then we laughed hysterically for the next half hour.

    We drove back to New Orleans under the protection of unseen forces. Later we watched the sunrise.

    I was about 21 years old and looking back at it now, well, I think that was one of the finest days I ever spent on this planet.

    T

  48. 48.

    b. hussein canuckistani

    June 9, 2008 at 7:32 am

    Saw The Pogues at an outdoor arena where the crowd was too thin to get a real mosh pit going, and poor old Shane was too drunk to stand up. But it was important to see them before the broke up/died of acute alcohol poisoning.

  49. 49.

    Tim F.

    June 9, 2008 at 7:40 am

    my best show was the first and only time I did blotter acid and drove with friends up to Baton Rouge to catch Pink Floyd. We had floor passes and found ourselves slap dab in front of the circular screen maybe 40-people back.

    Outstanding!!

    Strike Baton Rouge, replace with Pittsburgh. Double heh.

  50. 50.

    Dennis - SGMM

    June 9, 2008 at 7:54 am

    Went to see Stephen Stills’ Manassas play the gym at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. As soon as they started playing it became glaringly apparent that the venue was acoustically suited to basketball. Who the hell did their sound check? Anyway, they went through a couple of numbers then Stills stopped everything. He apologized for the sound and asked for a few minutes to get something together. Stage lights went down and when they came back up, there was Stephen, sitting on a wooden chair, with his acoustic guitar, a banjo and a twelve string were on stands beside him. He played and sang his ass off, all by himself.

  51. 51.

    4tehlulz

    June 9, 2008 at 7:58 am

    Lollapalooza 1994 in Rhode Island. No one else in New England wanted to host it, so it ended up being held at the old Quonset Point Naval Air Station, which means there were insufficient roads to handle the traffic, resulting in me and untold other thousands of people being stuck in traffic for several hours.

    We finally arrived at the tailend of Nick Cave’s set (dammit!), which was cut short so L7 could play one song; they missed their set because they, like the rest of us, were stuck in traffic.

    At least The Breeders kicked ass that day; that set was worth getting pegged in the back of the head with a water bottle.

    The night ended with Billy Corgan being himself an emotard asshole during the Smashing Pumpkins set and giving me and my friend a reason to try to beat the traffic out (which we more or less did…).

  52. 52.

    rreay

    June 9, 2008 at 8:33 am

    One of my best and the worst was the same show.

    Im at Club Malibu on Long Island. Too Much Joy opens. I’ve never heard of them before but I fall in love a couple songs in. To this day they are still my favorite band even though they’ve played only one show in the last 10 years.

    Material Issue is the middle band. Meh.

    Finally, the Mighty Lemondrops come on. These are the guys
    I’ve been waiting see. In the first song they blow the stage power. The techs get power back and the band finishes the song. 2nd song they blow the power again; the techs get it back and they go on to the next song, not bothering to finish. 3rd song, they blow the power again and walk off the stage never to be seen again.

    I’ve still never seen a Mighty Lemondrops show.

  53. 53.

    Bob In Pacifica

    June 9, 2008 at 8:42 am

    The worst was a Wire Train show. It was in a club on Broadway in SF, I’d just started working for the Post Office and had to get to work at five a.m. the next morning I can’t remember who the first band was, but they got on late. And then there was an hour at least least between them and WT. We left. So the worst concert for me was the one that I never saw.

    Once at the Mabuhay Gardens the lead singer of The Vktms tried to start a fight with me, but she calmed down. I think I could have whupped her, though.

    There were some low times at Woodstock (yeah, that one), like when one of the people in our group dropped mescaline, walked around barefoot in a robe and then stepped on a nail. And during one downpour I ended up holding the flap of the tent to keep everyone dry while they smoked the last of our weed. But there were good things too. Creedence rocked and I nailed an English girl in the back of a Chevy while Jimi Hendrix played the National Anthem. So all in all, the weekend was good.

  54. 54.

    Bob In Pacifica

    June 9, 2008 at 9:01 am

    gogiggs, probably the concert with the worst crowd reaction was a Pere Ubu show in SF. The crowd came there for Ubu, who were great, and the audience loved them but they hated the opening act, John Otway. He was touring with just Wild Willy Barrett, who played great electric guitar and stomped on a miked board to provide the percussion. The audience were actually throwing things at Otway by the time he sang “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence,” with those falsetto hiccups, and this was a small club so it was at close range. Too bad because I thought he was pretty damned good, you know, if you like his stuff, and he had to dodge all sorts of fried food. His “Really Free” rocked. “Yeah, baby, that’s really free!”

    That era had a lot of uneven shows, punk bands that were tighter than a drum, others that sounded worse than my garage band.

    —-

    Oh, and there was one where the Rascals (yes, Felix Cavaliere’s YOUNG Rascals) performed at the New Jersey Garden State Arts Center, an outdoor venue just off the Parkway. They were recording some artsy fartsy thing which would switch from the band playing something to an orchestrated thingy. Before they started we were told to keep quiet because this was going to be released as a live album. So it goes on and on and it’s getting tedious and after a half-hour, which must have been near the end, some ass who’d been drinking Boons Farm stands up in a quiet string part and yells, “Let’s rock!” That wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that they did the whole damned thing over. Afterwards they played a hot set, though. “Love is a beautiful thing, makes you wanna sing…” Loved those Gene Cornish guitar runs. I don’t think that they ever released that album. I wonder if the tapes exist anymore.

  55. 55.

    norbizness

    June 9, 2008 at 9:03 am

    Worst: any Pavement or Sebadoh show I was dragged to at Liberty Lunch (Austin) against my will, or maybe Procol Harum opening up for Jethro Tull.

    Best: Buzzcocks at Emo’s, Pink Floyd in the rain at Rice Stadium, and a recent entrant: X last week at La Zona Rosa.

  56. 56.

    Bob In Pacifica

    June 9, 2008 at 9:15 am

    Maybe my best concert ever was a Love/Zombies show a few years ago at the American Music Hall in SF. This was towards the end for Arthur Lee, with Baby Lemonade backing him. He played through the show, wasn’t stoned, and the band was tight. Did almost all of “Forever Changes” and “Always See Your Face.” Love had been my favorite band in the sixties, but after Lee discharged all the junkies in the original band it was never the same. But that band rocked that night. The bigger surprise were the Zombies. They were fantastic. Rod Argent looked like he’d been pumping iron in prison since the British invasion (no middle-age sag), and Colin Blunstone’s voice that night was as pure and high as it ever was. When he did “I Don’t Believe In Miracles” I thought the chandeliers in the house would shatter. They stuck mostly with Zombies material but did a version of “Hold Your Head Up” from the Argent years that made me appreciate the song again, after thirty years.

  57. 57.

    Joe Beese

    June 9, 2008 at 9:16 am

    During a family outing to Las Vegas, my father took us to see Doc Severinsen – back when he was bandleader for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Even then I could tell the difference between quality jazz and the mechanical big-band dreck being performed. And though the Doctor played his trumpet accurately enough, the combination of his high-note showboating and Who-level amplification made the evening a real endurance contest.

  58. 58.

    dr. luba

    June 9, 2008 at 9:21 am

    The Pogues….what memories.

    I was in London back in ’87 and saw an ad for a Pogues concert…..it was one of those all day affairs, with lots of bands and the Pogues as headliners and final act.

    My friend and I got there halfway thorugh the show, in time to catch the Proclaimers, who had just released their very first album They were brilliant. So were the Pogues, who played quite some time later.

    The venue was another matter. Finsbury Park. It had rained heavily the day before and the ground was soaked. The bands played in a round tent with a square wooden floor. By mid show the ground outside was a sea of mud with the ocassional footpath, and mud had been tracked everywhere. We found a nice young man who was willing to wade through the knee deep mud to get us a couple of beers.

    Not everyone was as successful at navigating the mud, and a few people fell down in it,and some got into the festival spirit and actually rolled in it. Then again, being covered head to foot in mud meant that, when you decided to approach the stage to get a better look, the crowd pretty much parted and let you through.

    And what a crowd. Not only was the tent full, with people being pressed to the edges of the floor,where they would slip off into the mud (square floor, remember), but some true Pogues fans climbed up on the tent poles to get a better look.

    I was surprised that there were no serious injuries that day….and that the tent didn’t collapse. But the show was good, especially the Pogues. Then again, how can you not love a band that titled an album after the three great traditions of the Royal Navy which were, as Churchill put it, “Rum, Sodomy and the Lash”?

  59. 59.

    Sarcastro

    June 9, 2008 at 9:41 am

    There’s noting like standing around in a crowd of a couple hundred people listening to the Spin Doctors not play.

    Try standing around with a couple thousand people (in a space meant for 500) while Fugazi stops playing mid-song so as to berate the crowd for fighting… repeatedly. I’m not sure if they completed a single song that night. Ye gods that show sucked wet farts from dead pigeons.

    Metallica touring for …And Justice For All was pretty bad as well. I’d seen them – at the same arena – blow Ozzy off the stage a couple of years earlier, but they were headlining this time, were all spandexed up and bit ass big time. Not sure if it was the lack of Cliff Burton or the lack of decent drugs that caused teh suck, but nevertheless… it sucked.

  60. 60.

    b. hussein canuckistani

    June 9, 2008 at 9:49 am

    dr. luba..

    That’s not a worst concert experience – that’s a *best* concert experience! The Pogues and the Proclaimers and mud and booze? It’s a good thing Joe Strummer didn’t show up to jam or the world would have ended.

  61. 61.

    Grover Cleveland

    June 9, 2008 at 10:06 am

    norbizness – I saw elvis cosello at la zona rosa during sxsw (2005?). Awesome. Widespread at The Backyard in c. 1999 was great too. Too many other great austin experiences to recount. Great music town. Love SXSW, but I am off ACL Fest after almost dying of heat stroke a few years ago. Why they have that in august, I will never know.

    Worst: Dylan at Univeristy Hall (charlottesville va). U hall is the old basketball arena and had the worst acoustics. Both concerts I saw there sounded like muffled feedback. This was in the early 1990’s when Dylan was in his mumble through every song phase. He put a 37 cent stamp on that show. It was beyond awful.

  62. 62.

    Punchy

    June 9, 2008 at 10:15 am

    I heard a show where a friend of mine was the fiddle part of a bluegrass remake of “Billy Jean” by MJ. I almost reverse ate it was so bad.

    Also, saw Primus open for Rush. Talk about completely different crowds. Not a good mix.

  63. 63.

    Gus

    June 9, 2008 at 10:23 am

    Strike Baton Rouge, replace with Pittsburgh. Double heh.

    Strike Pittsburgh, replace with Minneapolis.

  64. 64.

    The Moar You Know

    June 9, 2008 at 10:26 am

    his high-note showboating

    Good lord, Joe, you had to dig that out of my memory, didn’t you?

    I developed a liking for Carson in his final years, but couldn’t get over the intro to his show. Every single night, that tiresome asshole Severinsen would start going for the stratosphere, showboating (there’s a better word to use, you figure it out) all over his band. I started off playing brass, so I’m always impressed by anyone who can hit the high notes, but to hear the same stupid showoff crap night after night after night got to be more annoying than a cheesegrater applied to the back of one’s head.

  65. 65.

    Ron

    June 9, 2008 at 10:31 am

    The Who. Pete Townshend was having problems again with ear damage. I was up in the nosebleeds so I couldn’t see his performance. Played Baba O’Riley using an acoustic. Fucking acoustic Baba O’Riley. 40 bucks waiting two days for tickets.

  66. 66.

    furrythug

    June 9, 2008 at 10:36 am

    Grateful Dead, August 94, Giants Stadium

    May be the worst Dead shows ever.

  67. 67.

    Cain

    June 9, 2008 at 10:41 am

    The “evening with Rush” format that they went to in 1996 is great. 3 to 3 and a half hour sets and they are just fantastic all the way through.

    That’s becuase they dont’ ever want you to post on BJ saying they were one of the suckiest shows you’ve seen. On par with a preacher/snaker charmer performance. :-)

    cain

  68. 68.

    zzyzx

    June 9, 2008 at 10:42 am

    No question – Coventry.

    I’m a huge Phish fan, so there was no way I was going to miss their final show. They occasionally throw these huge festivals on abandoned air force bases in the middle of nowhere; this time they used an airport in Coventry, VT.

    …there was only one problem with this plan. Apparently VT had been hit with the remnants of two hurricanes the week before and they didn’t know where to park any of the cars in the mud pit that the field had become. We had been driving up from the Camden show and saw the traffic jam start about 25 miles south of the exit. Our plan was to drive around the traffic and come in from the north, but people thought we were trying to cut in line. People had been in traffic for so long that they had time to make signs, “Enjoy Canada, eh!” – Coventry was just a few miles from the border – and get really angry. Someone threw some Kool Aid Man beanbags into our open window.

    So we get off at the next exit, turn around, get back on the highway and we’re only a mile and a half from the exit with some 36 hours before the first set starts. I figure we’re in like Flynn. As a test I started my stopwatch and reset the trip odometer. Let’s see how long it takes.

    Then we waited. Mel slept on the side of the road, waiting. I walked up and down the line, waking people up when there was some movement and getting them to fill in the gaps. And we waited some more. 20 hours later we were still on the highway, a half mile further down the road when Mike Gordon – Phish’s bassist – came on the radio, and announced that anyone who was still on the highway would not be allowed in the parking area.

    We did what anyone would do at this point…. well after I ranted and raved for a half hour. We turned back around at a U-Turn site, got back off at the exit we took before, drove as close to the site as we could get, and parked in a farmer’s field. We then walked for 5 miles to the venue with all of our camping gear organized poorly in our hands; we had no backpacks because we weren’t expecting anything like this. Other people walked 20-30 miles to get in. Fortunately, we ran into some friends who were uberorganized and camped with them. That was the one highlight of the weekend.

    The field had ankle deep mud everywhere. People were losing their shoes everywhere. If that wasn’t bad enough, the map they gave us to find our cars was completely mislabeled. You’d remember you were camped by the big D sign, use the map to find it, and discover that you were actually going further away. After the first show, exhausted from the drive in, we stumbled around trying to find our campsite. Finally I walked us through a huge mud pit to find our camp and immediately passed out.

    All of this would have been redeemable if the music had been good. Unfortunately, we found out that weekend why exactly the band was breaking up. Trey’s drug habit (leading to his arrest a few years later) was pretty out of control. He was scratching and rambling and embarrassing himself on stage both by what he was saying and his complete inability to play guitar.

    The only good thing that happened about the weekend is that everyone got a great story. I saw a t shirt a few years later of the Comic Book Guy pointing at Trey and saying, “Worst. Ending. Ever.” I still regret not buying it.

  69. 69.

    Face

    June 9, 2008 at 10:43 am

    Easy —

    ZetaFest, south florida, in 1997 (’98?). Black Crowes come on, play for ~20 minz, and then some jackass lobs his keys on stage (how he planned to drive home, I have no idea). Chris Robinson berates the crowd, then leaves. After 20 minutes, and they’re the headliners.

    To this, Robinson is the surliest, most tempestuous motherfucker in music. What a bitch.

  70. 70.

    DUDACKATTACK!!!

    June 9, 2008 at 10:51 am

    “Lollapalooza 1994 in Rhode Island.

    I was also at Quonset for the Fishbone / Alice in Chains / Primus leg of that show. Fucking rocked and had no problems with traffic.

    Worst shows-

    1.) Aerosmith. Springfield, MA, 1989. Never liked them and got free tix to to see how much they sucked live and in person. Walked out 15 minutes into the show.

    2.) Lynyrd Skynyrd. Springfield, MA, 1991-ish. Again, free tickets and had no choice to endure the whole experience -Gimme’ Three Steps and all.

    3.) Johnny Winter. Enfield, CT. He can play the blues -EXCEPT IN DAYLIGHT. It was 95 degrees and there was one ray of daylight directly beaming on him. The whole crowd thought he was going to die.

  71. 71.

    Paul L.

    June 9, 2008 at 10:55 am

    Here is a gaffe from one of the left’s finest minds.

    Stem Cells Cure Another Disease
    Published June 7, 2008 in Stem Cell Research.

    Science!

    Using stem cells from umbilical cord blood and bone marrow, researchers have apparently cured a fatal genetic disease in a 2-year-old Minneapolis boy, which could open the door for other stem cell treatments.

    For the first time in his life, Nate Liao is wearing normal clothes, eating food that has not been pureed, and playing with his siblings.

    “Nate’s quality of life is forever changed,” said Dr. John Wagner of the University of Minnesota Medical School, who performed the treatment. “Maybe we can take one more disorder off the incurable list.”

    The last time I checked, Sen. McCain actually supported stem cell research. But as we know, there is an entire library of things John McCain used to support or oppose before he started pandering to the far right of his party.

    Sen. Obama supports stem cell research.

    Looks like Oliver does not know the difference between embryonic stem cells, stem cells from umbilical cords and adult stem cells.

  72. 72.

    Cain

    June 9, 2008 at 11:00 am

    of the tent to keep everyone dry while they smoked the last of our weed. But there were good things too. Creedence rocked and I nailed an English girl in the back of a Chevy while Jimi Hendrix played the National Anthem. So all in all, the weekend was good.

    That ladis and gentleman was the american experience. :-) Boy I didn’t even get as good or as bad. You people have depressed me to no end.

    cain

  73. 73.

    Face

    June 9, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Worst experience overall was the Roskilde Festival where 9 people died after getting crushed during Pearl Jam’s concert. I was at another stage watching Underworld but a guy from my camp died and it was all pretty miserable

    Saw Pearl Jam in Ft. Laudy and the damn thing almost happened again. In the insane rush to get as close as possible (and, it turns out, to actually steal Ament’s guitar…true story), the crowd surged and nearly crushed a shitload of people. I’m a decent sized guy, and have been in a lot of crowd antics, but this actually scared the shit out of me. If some of us had actually fallen down, it damn well could have been The Who, Cincy, 1979 all over again.

  74. 74.

    Ed Drone

    June 9, 2008 at 11:04 am

    I don’t recall any truly memorable stinkerooni shows (if I did, they’d be memorable, wouldn’t they?). I do remember a good show, in Georgetown, DC, small venue whose name I can’t recall (you notice a theme here, don’t you?) with Kaleidoscope and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Good show by both bands, and a friend of mine sat in with Cody’s band in the second set, playing piano and thus replacing Cody. A bonus was the contact high available just by breathing deeply (which I did often).

    One disappointing show from the long-ago was a bluegrass gig with Bill Monroe*, where his banjo player muffed several intros and cues — I understand that for the second show, he had the banjo player from another band, as he had fired the first guy for being hung-over and unprepared. Even for that, it wasn’t a bad show, just ordinary.

    That’s all I can recall over 45 years of concerts. For that matter, I’m not that big a concert/show attendee; being a folky, I go to small venues and house concerts.

    Ed

    * Re-reading that sentence, I wrote a lyric there! Could expand it to a song if’n I wanted to. I don’t.

  75. 75.

    LanceThruster

    June 9, 2008 at 11:26 am

    Believe it or not, every Led Zeppelin concert I’ve ever been dragged to (3 or 4 and two of them in a very altered state). It does not help that they weren’t really my thing but I remember the whole experience being excruciating. Time after time I’d be thinking, “I thought they ended this song like an hour ago!”

    Still, at least I can say I gave them a fair shot (and then some).

  76. 76.

    p.a.

    June 9, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Generally, opening acts who aren’t ‘big deals’ as well as the headliners shouldn’t count towards suckiness.

    Heart/Boston/Jeff Beck late 70’s early 80’s in Providence (Wired tour). Wasn’t into Heart to begin with, Boston played almost note-for-note from the album- boring!- and the Jan Hammer band backed Beck and played what seemed like an eternity before Beck joined them- lots of electronic noodling. Beck, however, was awesome.

    Best I thought would suck: Late 70’s Seals and Crofts at the Providence Civic Center. Girlfriend made me go (getting me there in my Zep/Who/Stones heyday was the definition of ‘will do anything for pussy’ at the time). Really enjoyed it; musicianship, harmonies, mellow vibe, no loss of hearing. 2 Things I remember; surprisingly saw many of the Prov. North End toughs I grew up with there (most in prison or methadone treatment even today, 30 yrs. later), and the opening act featured a para-or quadraplegic singer. He was laying on the piano with a mike on a stand to sing into. I was so stoned at first all I saw was a singing head and sort of freaked, looking at my girlfriend and asking her ‘what the fuck is that! what’s going on? does he have a body!!??’ (sigh)

    Scariest: Late 70’s early 80’s the first return of the Newport Jazz Festival to Newport after years in N.Y. This wasn’t promoted by George Wein, but by local R.I. outfit the Banzini Bros. I had an in with them and could get great seats- 2nd row Dire Straits, T Heads etc.- at great venues, 2,000 seat theaters, not the big impersonal coliseums. Anyhoo, the show was in Fort Adams, not outside it like today. Good show, Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton, Chic Corea, George Benson as headliner. Well the Banzini’s bit off more than they could chew, and the acts we not sure they would get paid. Benson refused to take the stage until he had cash in hand. It took the promoters more than an hour to come up with the cash, and no one would play during that time. Good sized crowd in an enclosed space who had been partying the whole day. Didn’t think jazzbos would get that ornery, but it got scary- especially in the second row. Angry music mobs don’t seem to throw things backwards, only forward towards the stage. I used to know the story how the promoters got the money at last, but can’t remember now. It was their last show, it put them under, and almost caused a riot.

  77. 77.

    Grover Cleveland

    June 9, 2008 at 11:41 am

    Ed – you ever go to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival? I went once in 1999. Great time, great town. Would love to go back someday.

  78. 78.

    passerby

    June 9, 2008 at 11:46 am

    zzyzx: ..there was only one problem with this plan. Apparently VT had been hit with the remnants of two hurricanes the week before and they didn’t know where to park any of the cars in the mud pit that the field had become. We had been driving up from the Camden show and saw the traffic jam start about 25 miles south of the exit. Our plan was to drive around the traffic and come in from the north, but people thought we were trying to cut in line. People had been in traffic for so long that they had time to make signs, “Enjoy Canada, eh!” – Coventry was just a few miles from the border – and get really angry. Someone threw some Kool Aid Man beanbags into our open window.

    So we get off at the next exit, turn around, get back on the highway and we’re only a mile and a half from the exit with some 36 hours before the first set starts. I figure we’re in like Flynn. As a test I started my stopwatch and reset the trip odometer. Let’s see how long it takes.

    Then we waited. Mel slept on the side of the road, waiting. I walked up and down the line, waking people up when there was some movement and getting them to fill in the gaps. And we waited some more. 20 hours later we were still on the highway,…

    Wow, what cluster fuck!! And yet, ya’ll soldiered on for the sake of Rock & Roll. What a story.

    Admiration.

    T

  79. 79.

    passerby

    June 9, 2008 at 11:59 am

    LanceThruster Says:

    Believe it or not, every Led Zeppelin concert I’ve ever been dragged to (3 or 4 and two of them in a very altered state). It does not help that they weren’t really my thing but I remember the whole experience being excruciating. Time after time I’d be thinking, “I thought they ended this song like an hour ago!”

    Still, at least I can say I gave them a fair shot (and then some).

    Same here Lance. A friend had an extra ticket for Led Zep in the Superdome (they cordon off a section of the dome, don’t use the whole thing). Not really my thing but hey, a free ticket.

    We were in the last row of the nose bleed section. At least they were serving alcohol at the venue, cuz I just thought it was a whole lotta noise. (my ears rang for days).

    T

  80. 80.

    Marc

    June 9, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    I worked as a bartender in a club which regularly hosted live music during the 80s and early 90s. It was around an 800 person capacity, so you tended to see bands on their way up or on their way down. There were a few niche bands that came by semi-regularly and played to a fairly full house (the Ramones, Hot Tuna, Tower of Power, and a rather eclectic mix.)

    Ricki Lee Jones was so strung out on heroin that she was ranting from the stage about the people “playing pool” during her set – it took us a while to realize she was mistaking the bars where the bartenders were for pool tables. The only pool table in the joint was in a back room away from the stage. We got staff t-shirts made for that one (I played pool with Ricki Lee Jones…)

    Joe Walsh was so wasted that he had the crowd booing for his first set, and he only performed the second set because he was threatened with not getting paid.

    Sinead O’Connor was a spoiled twit. Got on stage, said “this doesn’t feel right” after 2 songs, and walked out. Ye gods; I thought we were going to get lynched by the crowd. We could barely pay people the ticket refunds from the registers.

    Eric Burden and the Animals (a great band in their time) had a pathetic reunion tour. He was drunk, clearly going through the motions, and arguing/fighting with the audience for most of the set.

    And then there were Men without Hats. The show itself was uninspired 80s one-hit-wonder material – just insipid. But what really set them apart….
    We usually helped the bands load out at the end of the night. For such an insubstantial band they had a mountain of gear, and the roadies were deeply inept (or hopelessly stoned, or extremely stupid, or some combination of the above.) After an hour dicking around after close loading piles of crap into the truck (remember, these guys do this *every night*, and usually have some clue how to proceed) we got to the back of the truck with a bunch of gadgets still on the sidewalk. They then announced “We have to unload and start again” while they were arguing about whether their next set was in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. We waved them goodbye and left. I wondered whether they guessed wrong and showed up in the wrong city late. I certainly thought it would be fitting.

  81. 81.

    Punchy

    June 9, 2008 at 12:21 pm

    Ya know what always winds up to be a ridiculously underwhelming show?

    Jimmy Buffet. Seriously. Almost the entire crowd is plowed, he just refuses to play the classics (read: the only shit the fans care about) outside of Margaritaville, and he’ll only play 90 minutes. $50-60 a ticket for 90 minutes.

    Not necessarily a bad show, just very dull, short, and loaded with loaded people.

  82. 82.

    Oregon Guy

    June 9, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    Oooh oooh – I got one!

    Late Eighties – I got dragged to a glam New Wave show at the Maceba Theater in Houston… with Jean Loves Jezebel as the headliner and some Britpop crap as the opening act.

    Jean Loves Jezebel never actually made it to the show. But the openers did – and boy did they suck! Their claim to fame was a cover of Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” but really, you *can* fuck up a classic, and they did.

    Mostly I remember them coming out in a swirl of stage fog and some kinky latex fetish gear – which weirded out the already pretty weird Houston goth scene.

    But mostly I remember the management playing INXS’ “The Swing” LP over and over and over again while we waited for some word about the show. That and not getting our money back because the opening band played two songs and fled.

  83. 83.

    Barbara

    June 9, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    Ditto on Boston, just about 30 years ago — must have been the same tour, but I was living in Charlottesville, VA. It didn’t help that a guy sitting front of us began vomiting.

    A roommate went to see a Bruce Springsteen concert in Greensboro, NC where someone in the audience who took the wrong kind of drugs masturbated during the concert. That would be pretty memorable.

  84. 84.

    Echo without Bunnies or Men

    June 9, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Jane’s Addiction, Smith Center, George Washington U in DC sometime in 1990 on the “Ritual de Lo Habitual” tour, Red Kross opened. This is at the point they all hated each other, at least Perry and Dave Navarro did. They started almost one hour late, and Perry Farrell was so wasted on smack he just stood center stage and plodded about barely trying to sing coherently. It was a very tired, uninspired set, only 11 songs long and they left the stage.

    Ironically I saw them the next year at the first Lollapalooza tour and they were 100% on the money.

  85. 85.

    Gus

    June 9, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Oh, also Johnny Winter, I would say 2000 or 2001. They wheeled his corpse up there and he sucked for a 40 minute set. We were really excited about it because we had seen him about 4 years before that, and he rocked. His set then was still probably less than an hour, but as my buddy said, he played about 2 hours worth of guitar for that hour.

  86. 86.

    furrythug

    June 9, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    Speaking of INXS, I saw them open for the Kinks on their “United States of Confusion” tour (musta been like 1983?). They got book so badly that the lead singer jumped off the stage and attacked a fan.

    But the Kinks were great.

  87. 87.

    Keifus

    June 9, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    Huh. I’ve also seen Bush live, and if you add “zero stage presence,” I’d have to concur with the other assessment. (Not to be confused with seeing Rush live–which was great every time.) The Lollapalooza concert I saw in ’94 topping with the Smashing Pumpkins stoned and not really playing anything sucked. I recall being regrettably sober myself by then. Also, I sprained my knee.

    I feel I deserve some kind of prize for seeing Milli Vanilli, erm, live, in 1980-something. The invitation of an innocent high-school girlfriend, and it wasn’t not like I was too cool or anything. They sounded just like they did on their tape.

  88. 88.

    dj spellchecka

    June 9, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    i’m really old for this thread… but way back in the late 60’s and early 70’s inappropriate opening acts were a regular fixture of rock concerts.

    the worst mismatches i recall.
    totally classless southern band black oak Arkansas opening for king crimson. [this was especially brutal because crimson was late and black oak volunteered to do a longer set.]
    bonehead hard rock band bloodrock [big hit “DOA” about a traffic accident] opening for singer-songwriter laura nyro.
    —————–
    ps. riffing on two comments upthread, the one time i got to see arthur lee he was fantastic.

  89. 89.

    Don K

    June 9, 2008 at 3:52 pm

    This is easy – the Who in the Silverdome in the early 80’s. Couldn’t tell what song they were playing until it was half over (whaddaya expect in a place that holds maybe 70,000).

    Opening acts were the Clash and Eddie Money (!?). The Clash had their sound more together than the Who, and sounded really good, but the Detroit crowd did not want to hear them (they had absolutely zero airplay here). Eddie Money was, well, awful, but the Detroiters loved him (I think he was added to the bill only in Detroit).

    Best concert – Springsteen in a small theater in New Brunswick, NJ (natch) in late ’74 or early ’75. About three hours of rock & roll that had everyone standing on the seats for the duration. This was back before Bruce and the E-streeters were Rock & Roll Gods of the Universe, as they were trying out songs that wound up on Born to Run. Oh yeah, the theater was about two blocks from our apartment, so everyone in our group was able to have as much of a good time as they wanted without having to worry about driving home…

    Close 2nd place – Peter Gabriel in the State Theatre in Ann Arbor sometime in the mid-80’s – I guess it was about the time of So, so that makes it about ’86.

  90. 90.

    Douche Baggins

    June 9, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    Keifus: I feel I deserve some kind of prize for seeing Milli Vanilli, erm, live, in 1980-something. The invitation of an innocent high-school girlfriend, and it wasn’t not like I was too cool or anything. They sounded just like they did on their tape.

    Of course they did, silly!

    My shows:

    Highest Price Per Minute: Prince at the HP Pavilion 2 years ago. $90 for 55 minutes and worth every penny.

    Proud to Say I Did It: Dokken, Accept and Motley Crue (sorry no umlauts on my kbd) at some pissanty fairground in Revere, Mass in 1989. Remember walking to the venue and some Vince Neil band slut telling me he was the most talented vocalist EVAH — operatic training, dontcha know.

    Saw many Dead shows, a lot of them through the shit years of Brent. Saw many Phish shows, 1992 to 1997, and it was the latter ones that I thought blew donkey wang. Knowing now that Trey was hopped up (thanks, zzyzx aka Timer), it makes pathetic sense.

    Biggest Regret: Not seeing Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros play the Blank Club in San Jose earlier this decade.

  91. 91.

    Jamey

    June 9, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Don K: Saw the Who, same tour — only with (post-Dolls/pre-Buster) David Johannson standing in for The Clash. What a disaster. I actually felt bad watching Entwhistle shill for Schlitz Light.

  92. 92.

    Win Harrison

    June 9, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    Seeing the Jesus & Mary Chain in Denver 3 days before they broke up. The guitar went out 3 songs, so I was treated to drum & bass treatments with half-assed singing thrown on top. A roadie came 0out, looked at the guitar, looked at the equipment, shrugged and threw his hands up in the air. The guitarist looked right at me with a hopeless look. The rest of the band kept on playing through more songs, and their song selection sucked regardless.

    I walked out.

  93. 93.

    Krista

    June 9, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    Creedence rocked and I nailed an English girl in the back of a Chevy while Jimi Hendrix played the National Anthem. So all in all, the weekend was good.

    You, my friend, are my new hero.

    Worst concert was the Stones in Halifax. Not their fault at all — it was just the circumstances. We had already seen them in Moncton, but went ’cause my sister wanted to see them. The Stones were great, but it was an all-day concert with several acts, and they started earlier than advertised. So we missed hearing Sloan, which pissed me off. And it poured rain (this was an outdoor concert), so I drank lots of beer and got baked in order to forget that I was drenched through and cold. Unfortunately, once the Stones came on, we were fairly close to the stage, and…I had to pee. I knew that if I left my spot I’d never find my friends again, but I had to pee so bad it hurt. It got to the point where I actually tried to piss my pants, because they were soaked with rain anyway, and I was beyond caring, but I just couldn’t do it. So I was in agony for the entire set. I’d never had penis envy in my life, but holy shit, I had it that night.

    Best concert? It’s a toss-up. First choice was the outdoor Stones concert in Moncton. Beautiful weather — sunny and warm, and we got up really close to the stage. They played a nice long set with a lot of energy, and the opening acts were also excellent. Plus, the people standing next to us were very generous with their weed.

    Second choice was seeing Down at the Roselands Cabaret in NYC. (Doesn’t everybody see a metal concert on their honeymoon?) They put on an awesome show.

  94. 94.

    Blue Buddha

    June 9, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    anonymous 37

    Worst show … let’s see … They Might Be Giants in New York on Halloween for their John Henry tour. Their first set, they played all the songs on their album in order. It was colossally unimaginative. Their second set was pointless.

    June 9th, 2008 at 12:20 am

    I remember the TMBG John Henry tour. I didn’t go, but quite a few of my friends did and said it sucked balls for pretty much the same reason.

  95. 95.

    zzyzx

    June 9, 2008 at 6:26 pm

    Knowing now that Trey was hopped up

    Well I was the last one to know. People would say, “Oh Trey was on [insert drug here] at that show,” and I’d argue back. Coventry was pretty hard to ignore, but even still I would say that we didn’t know. The arrest (DUI with tons of pills AND heroin) made denial a difficult task.

  96. 96.

    Blue Buddha

    June 9, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    Win Harrison Says:

    Seeing the Jesus & Mary Chain in Denver 3 days before they broke up. The guitar went out 3 songs, so I was treated to drum & bass treatments with half-assed singing thrown on top. A roadie came 0out, looked at the guitar, looked at the equipment, shrugged and threw his hands up in the air.

    June 9th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    No guitar? That’s like going to a Gwar concert, but they ran out of jizz, puke, pus and blood… I mean, what’s the point?!

  97. 97.

    grumpy realist

    June 9, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    Hmm, all the rock concerts I’ve been to have enjoyed. Went to a jazz club in London which had some fusion jazz group from somewhere (the opening act was a jazz group from South Africa, which really rocked.) The fusion jazz group: ugh.

    And when it comes to bad opera, have seen loads. One performance at the Staatsoper in Vienna had a bunch of deservedly unknown Slavic singers in Die Zauberflote, which wasn’t improved by the ghastly staging. It wasn’t until half-way through the first scene that I realized the dead tree branch on the side with the trickle of dry ice fumes was supposed to be the dragon….

  98. 98.

    Thomas Smith

    June 9, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    Steely Dan opening for Cheech and Chong. C&C were great, Steely Dan (nobody knew wtf they were back then and i still don’t know their names) got electrocuted by a mic. So actually, that wasn’t that bad a show.

    Every Greatful Dead show I’ve ever seen has been dreadful. I fell asleep during one, and I was tripping, and that’s pretty damn bad.

  99. 99.

    Bob In Pacifica

    June 9, 2008 at 9:55 pm

    Then there was that Great White show…

  100. 100.

    Ignatz

    June 10, 2008 at 9:05 am

    Worst show: hard to say. Iron Maiden, Corrosion of Conformity opening, 1991. I had no idea who CoC was, I had no appreciation for their particular genre, and their bass player knocked himself out towards the end of the set. They had to recruit a bassist from the audience. Iron Maiden wasn’t bad, but at one point Bruce Dickinson started debating politics with some crowd members. Yeesh. (Guy should have just brought out some fencing foils and had it out with them on stage.) Not a bad show, given the tickets were free. The free Styx show (minus Tommy Shaw) was memorable mostly for the sunburn.

    I don’t go to many shows, so I get really picky about who I go to see. Real memorable ones include a 1994 New Year’s Eve party at CBGB’s (Iron Prostate, Lunachicks), a 1989 Greenpeace benefit show in Auckland NZ with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Toni Childs as headliners (Joe Walsh showed up as well, clean and sober, and melted faces right and left, plus Neil Finn and Dave Dobbyn), TMBG, NRBQ and Pere Ubu free show in Central Park (just before John Henry was released; I still have the teeshirt), and just about every Asylum Street Spankers show I’ve ever attended.

  101. 101.

    Brian Marshall

    June 11, 2008 at 10:46 pm

    If I had to pick a worst concert experience, it would have to be a Melvins show I saw in Lawrence, KS in 1990. It was at a punk rock venue called The Outhouse, which was originally a biker hangout surrounded by cornfields. You had to get there by a dirtroad. Well, I’d seen several shows there without incident, but for this one, the concert Gods weren’t smiling. I pull into the grounds for the opening of the show and find that a big hole in the wall where the doors once were had been placed. The reason why was because some drunk in a pickup truck started trying to run down the people who were putting on the show and had rammed his truck into the door. That’s what I was told anyway. But the worst part was yet to occur. The Melvins were in the middle of playing a blistering set when people started to notice sirens flashing on the walls of the club. Everyone went out to see and an ambulance was there, along with the police. A kid with his face badly kicked in was being hauled onto a stretcher. The word was that a group of punks from Kansas City thought this kid was someone who did something wrong to them in KC. So, they ganged up on him and kicked his head in. I remember seeing a big bruise on his eye or something like that. Needless to say, at that point, the show was over.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Wrecking Crew « The Hits Just Keep On Comin’ says:
    June 9, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    […] At Balloon Juice, readers are sharing their worst-concert stories. It’s probably necessary to distinguish between concerts where the band was godawful and concerts that were marred by something else—bad sound, stupid fans, etc. My personal list of bad concerts is topped by one that featured both on the same bill. When the Electric Light Orchestra played Madison on August 16, 1978, it should have been great: They were touring with their giant spaceship stage and laser light show and had a three-year streak of hits to play. Alas, they were so loud that it was impossible to make out what they were playing. The opening act, Trickster, hadn’t been nearly so loud, which was too bad for them because it revealed that they were utterly incompetent. They were inflicted on the American public all summer only because they were signed to ELO’s record label. […]

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