worst show experience ever?

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this may be tough, but what was the WORST gig you've ever seen? For me, it was Cat Power at Bard College in 98 (tho i still like her records) until a Johnny Thunders tribute show I was dragged to at CBGBs last year - it was like a goddam Rennaissance Fair. a friend remarked "i see dead people." The saddest, most depressing display of wasted lives I have ever witnessed.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 7 March 2003 06:36 (twenty-three years ago)

man i saw cat power at ATP (i know, i know) and she was horribly disoriented, or coked up, or SOMETHING but she just strummed her guitar half-heartedly, trailing off and rambling and not finishing songs. i felt bad for her, and later heard that about half her shows are like that.

as for the worst show i've been to, it may be when dub narcotic soundsystem came to reed. i couldn't believe that the band i was witnessing was semi-well known. it was a trio (guitar bass drums, whee) all playing as un-funkily as they could, calvin johnson (who i convinced myself was someone else at the time; noone that boring and uncharismatic could be the indie rock legen calvin johnson!) played a couple notes on his guitar, sang "funkily" over the "groove" and then i left to play pool.

― brains (cerybut), Friday, 7 March 2003 06:59 (twenty-three years ago)

When I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought "Cat Power."

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 7 March 2003 07:01 (twenty-three years ago)

The thing about Cat Power, though, is that I'm starting to think it's all an act. I met her once, we talked for a bit, and at the time I was pretty convinced she was crazy - the look in her eyes, I knew it all too well. But let's think about this - At this point, she's played probably close to a thousand shows. She's toured the world. Recorded with rock stars of all magnitudes. Had her picture in every rock magazine in the world. See, when Hope Sandoval and Liz Phair pulled the 'i'm shy and get scared on stage' card, they at least had the good sense to not play very often, if at all. My question is, how can someone still be so fucking fragile and inept after doing nothing BUT play music for the past eight years??

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 7 March 2003 07:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Amon Tobin earlier this year. Being a rockist I wanted his tracks not a dj set.

― Leee (Leee), Friday, 7 March 2003 07:33 (twenty-three years ago)

The difference between David Berman's and Chan Marshall's anti-showmanship policies is that David Berman actually does something about it.

― Famous Athlete, Friday, 7 March 2003 07:38 (twenty-three years ago)

wait - DC Berman sucks live? Fill me in. Never had the pleasure of catching the Jews. and how is his book?

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 7 March 2003 07:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Leee - not really a fair criticism - did he play a bad DJ set? if not, he accomplished what he set out to do and most of the folks there probably enjoyed it. If that's the worst show you've ever seen consider yourself lucky!

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 7 March 2003 07:50 (twenty-three years ago)

it was like a goddam Rennaissance Fair. a friend remarked "i see dead people." The saddest, most depressing display of wasted lives I have ever witnessed.

This is great writing! I get depressed just reading it. fucking "Class of '77" school reunion.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 7 March 2003 07:52 (twenty-three years ago)

totally dude. You can imagine.
and thanks for the compliment - wanna offer a lifelong freelancer a staff position somewhere? ha ha ha

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Friday, 7 March 2003 07:59 (twenty-three years ago)

A lot of Tobin's tracks were ace, but I'd come strictly to here Amon Tobin not whoever he spun. Add to that that I parked in a garage $4 an hour, then went out to move it to the curb and missed the beginning of the Prefuse 73 set.

― Leee (Leee), Friday, 7 March 2003 08:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Counting Crows at UC Irvine Student Center, 1993.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 7 March 2003 09:06 (twenty-three years ago)

the kinks, glastonbury main stage 1993.
10 years ago, our 1st saturday night on worthy farm
and an out and out appalling mess.
the kinks' new stuff for about 90 minutes with maybe
20 minutes of the good old stuff,
ray berating the crowd for not getting the words right
in a lola singalong and stopping
the song, demanding the crowd punch the air for
new album tracks...literally tragic.

i've hated ray davies ever since.

― piscesboy, Friday, 7 March 2003 09:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Blur at the 930 club in DC -- I think it was 1991 or 1992. I'd gone to see Slowdive who were opening -- in terms of energy levels, Slowdive looked like Slayer in comparison.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 7 March 2003 09:42 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw the Kinks at Glasto in 93 too and they stunk really badly. I think its generally one of the three worst gigs I've ever seen. And on strictly musical terms was the worst ever. We were really pissed off and so got blitzed on cider and started shouting insults at them.

The other stinkers were
Nirvana in the Dublin Point for the crowd - literally hundreds of them throwing lit cigarettes across the crowd - cheers guys.
God somewhere in a pub in South london near the Oval for the sound - it hurt so bad I was so f*cked I couldn't enjoy the main set from Loop.

― tigerclawskank, Friday, 7 March 2003 10:31 (twenty-three years ago)

i went to the subhumans reunion a couple years ago and got knocked unconscious :(

― chaki (chaki), Friday, 7 March 2003 10:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Certainly not the worst gig I've seen (that was Madonna, Earls Court, 2001), but the worst experience was The Smiths on the Queen is Dead tour in 86 in Newport..... 6 songs in and Moz gets pulled from the stage and beaten up by Cardiff City supporters, chaos ensued, bouncers, woefully late, pull him back on stage, concussed. People at the back of the Newport Centre, unaware that Moz is virtually unconscious, start rioting, thinking he's just thrown another queeny strop and walked off...... then madness as the whole place goes utterly crazy - fighting, dragging the instruments and amps from the stage.... amongst all this, Grant Showbiz comes on stage to explain the situation..... and is promptly knocked out himself by a flying Coke bottle. Police, arrests..... and I had photos of the whole thing, including Moz getting pulled from the stage and beaten up. And guess what? I LOST THE FUCKING FILM!
Next day, a friend of mine, who worked in Spillers Records in Cardiff, was filing away some tapes when someone coughed politely to be served. She nearly passed out when, standing at the desk, with a huge bruise round his eye, was none other than Moz himself, with a handful of George Formby albums.

― russ t, Friday, 7 March 2003 10:47 (twenty-three years ago)

i haven't had any seriously bad gigs, or really awful experiences. i remember the crowd at slane, the year the verve were playing, being major dickheads. also the crowd at REM in Landsdowne Road. But the music was still enjoyable enough.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 7 March 2003 11:01 (twenty-three years ago)

woah russ tell us bout madonna !
were you at the back or something ?
the set list put everyone off i think.

― piscesboy, Friday, 7 March 2003 11:06 (twenty-three years ago)

yes, tell us russ. i like your smiths anecdote.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 7 March 2003 11:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Probably Oasis in Oslo in the autumn of 1997. Still not quite sure if I have regained all of my hearing ability after 2 hours of overdrive guitars using way too much treble torturing my ears.

Hell, they even used overdrive on "Wonderwall"!!!

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 7 March 2003 11:40 (twenty-three years ago)

The Madonna show.... I saw her on the Girlie Show tour, and it was a genuinely fantstic gig, in Wembley Stadium, so I was quite looking forward to Earls Court, even though I thought Music was pretty shoddy stuff. So a friend of mine rang and rang for tix and eventually got through and ordered 2. They cost, all told, £100 each including the coach fare from Bristol.
When we eventually got to Earls Court, we found out the seats we'd been allocated were in the very back row on the ground floor - probably the worst seats in the house. Baring in mind the girl I was with is just 5 feet tall, it didn't bode well - especially after forking out that much for a ticket. The show was (apparently) intricate and artistic - all we saw was a few blurry images on particularly bad screens either side of the stage - none of the reported samurai fighting, fancy footwork or outlandish costumes - nothing.
Livid at this, everyone stood on the flip-seats in the back row (which didn't block anyone else's view at all)- it was literally the only way to (just about) see anything. When we did this, some bullish security guards run over and forcibly pushed everyone (including the girl I was with and myself) forward, with such force everyone fell on the people in front of them, and a few people had a few nasty twists and falls. When I complained about this I was told "Tough" and warned that if I did it again, I'd be ejected from the venue. This was about song 3! You weren't even allowed to leave the seating area and stand near the aisles for a clearer view - for £100 a ticket! It was half prison camp, half concert hall.
Earls Court, at the best of times, is possibly the worst concert venue in Britain, with awful, awful sound and very few lines of vision. If Mrs Richie could deem herself important enough to charge such an extortionate amount for her tickets, then surely she could have also ensured that the suckers who paid this amount (i.e. us)could actually see and enjoy the gig. Why not put gradient flooring on the ground floor? It's apparent to anyone standing in the hall that at least half of the people on the ground floor would have no view whatsoever- so this should clearly have been rectified before the gig went ahead.
Also, charging £40 for a tour programme and £70 for a t-shirt...... not good, really. Isn't she rich enough?
A thoroughly unenjoyable experience, to such a degree that I would never, ever go to Earls Court to see a gig again, and never go to see Madonna in concert again. Shameful.
Oh, and the setlist WAS shit, you're right. The only song people came alive for (or could hear?) was Holiday. Right at the end. The Music tracks died a death.
Ever felt cheated? That night - definitely, and judging from the reaction in the foyers afterwards, I wasn't the only one who felt pissed off by the whole affair.

― russ t, Friday, 7 March 2003 12:19 (twenty-three years ago)

The annual outdoor concert for the local C&W station. Not only was I out in the cheap "seats"* in the grass (while it switched between hot humid sunstroke and freezing rain) but the concert itself had problems. Headliner Randy Travis arrived more than 45 minutes late so his opener Steve Wariner got to play through his slim set of crappy tunes for an extra 40 minutes. To those who don't know him, imagine a C&W equivalent to Barry Manilow. I hhhhhaaaaaayttteee Steve Wariner. Almost to a point where I woulda preferred Billy Ray Cyrus. Anyhow, Randy Travis finally arrive (blast of trumpets!) and sleepwalked onto the stage with three days growth of beard and played a merely above average set while pacing back and forth on the stage like a disgruntled madman. This means, from the cheap seats, all you saw was a tiny stick figure walking back and forth and the big TV screen over the stage wasn't much help becuase he was moving just fact enough that the cameraman had trouble keeping up.

* footnote: for 3/4ths of my life any concert I attended was either as an employee of the venue's craft services or as a friend of a band. So I'm used to seeing concerts from one of two places:
1) Backstage.
2) 3 Feet from the marshall stack.
So, needless to say, sitting in the cheap seats "with the peasants" where the people on stage are distant flyspecks, is a strangely humbling and galling experience.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Friday, 7 March 2003 13:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Tough choice for me between:

Madness - Bracknell Sports Centre, 1980: me and my mate made the mistake of going to the front with spiked hair and leather jackets and got our heads comprehensively kicked in by loads of sieg-heiling nazi fuckwits for our troubles.

James Brown - Wembley Arena, 198(7?): 2+ hours of music during which Mr Brown must have been on stage and singing for all of 20 minutes. Ever had the feeling you've been cheated?

Simply Red - Wembley Arena, 198(8?): I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it before I went. "Don't make me go", I pleaded, "I'll absolutely hate it". She looked hurt and reminded me how many times I'd dragged her along to see things SHE hated like Aztec Camera and Buddy Curtess & The Grasshoppers and The Cure and Cocteau Twins and The Damned and Miles Davis and The Fall and Killing Joke and New Order and Orange Juice and Courtney Pine and The Pogues and Prefab Sprout and The Smiths and Talking Heads and The Woodentops and she'd never complained once (not entirely true but still....) but the one and only time she'd ever asked me to go to something SHE wanted to see for a change.... of course I apologised, I told her I'd love to go with her if that was what she wanted. I hated every minute of it.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 7 March 2003 13:43 (twenty-three years ago)

This one's easy - Love And Rockets at the Orpheum in Boston. It was around 1988 I think, and The Mighty Lemondrops opened. The Lemondrops were good, but when L&R came on in their space-bee costumes to pre-recorded music and then proceeded to play HORRIBLY, nearly everyone in the audience began booing. I swear this is true. I *think* they only played a brief set, but it was so unremarkable in every sense other than it's awfulness, I really don't remember.
As to why I was at a L&R show, what can I say - I like some of their music, mainly Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven. Forgive me.

― Davlo (Davlo), Friday, 7 March 2003 15:30 (twenty-three years ago)

For me, it was Cat Power at Bard College in 98

For the record, I had nothing to do with that.

I've seen Cat Power twice, and both times were fine. I have no interest in seeing her again.

The worst live show I've been to involved Elephant 6 bands, specifically the Music Tapes.

― hstencil, Friday, 7 March 2003 15:34 (twenty-three years ago)

The absolute worst show I've ever been to was some shitty noise band at a bar in Boston. The fuckers started a powerbook playing pre-recorded noise tracks, sat down on the stage and started filming the audience. They would periodically walk around filming people close up. I'm still pissed about this. Who the fuck thinks that's worth doing? In 2002?

― Matt B. (Matt B.), Friday, 7 March 2003 15:42 (twenty-three years ago)

The worst was also one of the best:

HORDE Festival, I think '98. Neil Young, Primus, Morphine, Ben Folds Five, Medeski Martin and Wood, and I was soaring on really good acid, it was a beautiful summer day, it was a perfect concert experience. Except for...THE SCREAMIN CHEETAH WHEELIES; as far as I could tell, their entire set consisted of nothing more than chugga chugga riffery and their "singer" screaming in the harshest-most-obnoxious-voice-possible "SCREEEEEAAAAMIIIIIN CHEEEEETAAAAAAH WHEEEEEEEELLIIIIIIIEEEEEESSSS!!!!!". It was so bad I totally puked. The only time music has ever made me puke.

But then came an actually very good set by Leftover Salmon with John Medeski sitting in, and from then until the end of the night it was a wonderful show. But I'll never forget the horror that was The Screamin Cheetah Wheelies.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 7 March 2003 15:51 (twenty-three years ago)

jacob wrote:
man i saw cat power at ATP (i know, i know) and she was horribly disoriented, or coked up, or SOMETHING but she just strummed her guitar half-heartedly, trailing off and rambling and not finishing songs. i felt bad for her, and later heard that about half her shows are like that.

ATPLA 2002? wow, that was by far the most together i'd ever seen her. she dislocated her finger from playing basketball (her chording hand) but that didn't prevent her from doing slidework with her metal splint. but seriously, if you had problems with that performance you should consider yourself lucky.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 March 2003 16:18 (twenty-three years ago)

nickalicious: was that the year beck played? If so I think it was 1996... I seem to remember those other acts.

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Friday, 7 March 2003 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

What WOULD be my worst? Hm. Probably when everyone told me back in 1992 "They'll be great! Amazing shows!" and I go and see them and two notes in the entire crowd is going nuts and I am left TOTALLY FUCKING COLD by their frat-rock-crap. And thus my hate for Rage Against the Machine began.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 7 March 2003 16:48 (twenty-three years ago)

wait - DC Berman sucks live? Fill me in. Never had the pleasure of catching the Jews. and how is his book?

No, that's just the thing -- he feels that he isn't capable of putting on an entertaining live act, so he simply doesn't tour. I believe he's performed on stage as the Silver Jews maybe three or four times, for a cumulative total of approximately ten songs in his career. His book is brilliant, and is now available in hardcover from Open City.

― Famous Athlete, Friday, 7 March 2003 17:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, Beck was on that one. In fact, had I gone a day earlier to the one at Deer Creek in Indiana I would've seen Beck, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Soul Coughing in place of Screamin Cheetah Wheelies, Cake Like, and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Although, thanks to a 45-minute 3rd stage Les Claypool/Brain/keyboardist from Fiji Mariners jam-session I thankfully missed Toad the Wet Sprocket's set.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:42 (twenty-three years ago)

i think the cat power craziness rumors are true. apparently steve shelley got fed up enough to stop playing with her after "what would the community think?" i've seen her a few times and just take all the starts and stops as part of the show...

― marcg (marcg), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:45 (twenty-three years ago)

nickalicious: It was truly an amazing time for my 14 year old self. I smoked pot!!! I saw BECK!!! NEIL YOUNG. Screaming Cheetah Wheelies were awful IIRC

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:50 (twenty-three years ago)

You guys make the Wheelies sound so GOOD. (I am not being sarcastic.)

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 7 March 2003 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Chan M. put on a great show in Austin TX 1998. I saw her again in 2000 (Denton, TX) and it was truly bad, though I stayed to the end even after 60% of the crowd had left.

Worst show I've seen was Cranes at Irving Plaza 1997. Tired, listless performance with a surprsing heft of the music coming from a tape.

― Aaron A., Friday, 7 March 2003 18:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Jon Williams in HORDE-attending shocker!

― hstencil, Friday, 7 March 2003 18:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Am I officially an ILX regular now that people make reference to me and are familiar with my tastes? :(

― Jon Williams (ex machina), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Bob Dylan, Durham, North Carolina, 1989. Took me two and a half minutes to even recognise Rainy Day Women. G.E. Smith on guitar was astonishingly decent, though.

I've seen Cat Power twice, both times at the Black Cat in DC. The first time was right after Moon Pix and was pretty damn good, although you could see the Dirty Three drummer getting frustrated with her foibles. The second time was after the Covers record--just her with a piano and guitar. Useless. Couldn't hear her, everyone started talking, she just kept going, seemingly oblivious. Rather painful to behold--I doubt I'll go see her this time out.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Fuck if I know, Jon!

― hstencil, Friday, 7 March 2003 18:06 (twenty-three years ago)

are you emo?

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Worst show by a "major" act I've ever seen was They Might Be Giants. They were totally inept AND the sound was deafening and all high-end -- it was shrill, metallic, and painful.

― Burr, Friday, 7 March 2003 18:15 (twenty-three years ago)

That's weird, 'cause all four times I've seen TMBG they put on a show that was surprisingly increasingly awesome each time, and they had plenty of bass. Most recently they did this thing where Flansburg held a radio up to the mic and changed the stations and they would find a song and start playing it and Flansburg would change the words; which led to such impromptu jams as a "Werewolves in London" with a new chorus of "IIIII'm wearin' a hockey mask." They did fuckin' "Frankenstein" as the encore; I did NOT know they had it in them to do such.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:18 (twenty-three years ago)

anyone seen the centuries? they kind of wore on me. not the worst, but they're up (down?) there.

― marcg (marcg), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:23 (twenty-three years ago)

The worst thing I saw was U2 @ newcastle city hall just after they released "new year's day". It was incredibly soulless, and bono was playing to a staduim-sized crowd, in his head. It was just rubbish. The worst band I saw that I still like was Loop at newcastle riverside It was like the drum fill that brings the song in, except the drum fill never ended, it just went on and on and on. It was wretched, and we left before they finished.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 7 March 2003 18:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Sadly I must say that the worst ever show (by a major act, anyway, locals are a different story) was on the P-Funk Mothership Reunion tour. It was so sad - especially considering the many times before and since that they've put on excellent shows. For one thing I was supremely pissed that by the time the tour reached the west coast, neither Bootsy nor Bernie Worrell were still with the tour. Bad sign number 2: the show was in a goddamn *air force hangar*. The sound was ABYSMAL - horrible reverb feedback constantly. When Blackbyrd came on to do his DogStar solo his fucking guitar amp didn't even work. Michael Hampton suffered similar guitar tech setbacks thru the whole set. The Mothership itself didn't work when they tried to lower it (and you could see it hanging above the stage the whole time anyway, so the effect was decidedly ruined). Two-thirds into the set the litany of bad guest spots (Louie "Babblin" Kababbie aka the fat white bald old guy novelty "rapper", etc.) began and I couldn't take it anymore. All of this was compounded by the fact that I'd taken some bad ecstasy that gave me a massive migraine.

WORST SHOW EVAH.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 7 March 2003 20:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Was that at the annual "Let down your hair" weekend?

If you're even in Kansas City, be sure to check out an outfit called Four Jacks and a Jill.

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 7 March 2003 20:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Luna-The Marque NYC...Luna wasn't bad (i'm not sure about this)..but the Acid I took that evening was! Arghhh! the floor was doing waves and I was sweating really bad...this guy next to me asks:"hey man, you alright"....me:"ahhhhhh...i guess, errrr why, what's wrong..am I not acting alright?"

freak out ensues...needless to say, don't care much for Luna.

Runners Up:
PJ Harvey
Cat Power
Earth (reunion gig)
Andrew WK
Mogwai
Eric Gaffney (actually this one might be worse than luna)

― ddb, Friday, 7 March 2003 20:48 (twenty-three years ago)

ddb,
it took me sooooooo long to get into AWK after seeing I Get Wet live before ever hearing it.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 March 2003 20:50 (twenty-three years ago)

gygax,
there is no chance in hell i will be INTO Andrew WK at anytime, ever!
I only saw him as a goof with a friend who works for his label...it was like a steakhouse....meatheads abound!!!

― ddb, Friday, 7 March 2003 20:53 (twenty-three years ago)

well, i saw him shortly before I Get Wet was released* so it was mostly industry/music writer goofs (worse than meatheads IMO) but the translation was lost in the live performance (not to mention ENTIRELY upon the audience, myself included).

it wasn't until just like a month ago that i realized how great that record is.

*I saw him a couple years ago but that was an entirely different experience, more akin to the topics of the Black Dice/Lightning Bolt threads.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 7 March 2003 20:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Happy Mondays opening for the Pixies in 1989. I don't care what kind of post-mortem legend 24 Hour Party People tries to place on them: I have never seen a worse, more lethargic, more interminably boring band than Happy Mondays. (And the Pixies weren't in top form, either.)

Bands who have put me to sleep:
* Yume Bitsu
* Palace
* LaBradford
* Bugskull
* Loop

― mike a (mike a), Friday, 7 March 2003 20:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Here's the two worst off the top of my head (both of them festivals):
1.Eminem@Vans Warped tour '99- He had been tapped at the last minute to replace Cypress Hill, who pulled out so they could finish recording "Skull'n'Bones". Em came out and played to the biggest crowd I've evah seen at any Vans event. In fact, I know a lot of the crowd came only to see him. His performance was ok, but the punks in the audience were constantly throwing cups and the like at the stage, which fucked up both the DJ, and the DAT machine, so the songs kept starting and stopping. Em finished the set with "Still Don't Give A Fuck" and he mooned the crowd. Ice-T played later, and nobody threw anything.

2.Ryan Adams@The Austin City Limits Fest '02-This is the big one. Shit, he's probably done more bad shows than Cat Power! It started out ok, with "Nuclear" wich lead into "Firecraker". Adams then told his audience how wasted he was, and then played a version of "Wharf Rat" by the Grateful Dead who "are as punk as fuck" (his words ver battim). He dropped several more F-bombs through the course of the 45-minute show, played several syrupy ballads from "Gold", and tried a rough version of "Brown Sugar" on for size. It didn't fit. They regained some footing with a parcel of rockers to close the set, but the damage was down. Nobody was that impressed. These girls who were standing behind me summed it up perfectly:"We should be proud to see him do a show before he goes off and kills himself. This is history!" Caitlin Cary's band played the day before, and they clearly won the unofficial Whiskeytown "Battle of The bands" by being everything Adams wasn't:Charming, competant, and funny.

― Charles McCain, Friday, 7 March 2003 22:07 (twenty-three years ago)

ryan was pretty good when i saw him just before heartbreaker - but then, im as a crazed whiskeytown fan (still am)

the Earth reuniuon tour was bad?? explain..

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 8 March 2003 00:24 (twenty-three years ago)

cannibal ox at the justice league. god, they were so fucking bad.

― S>C>, Saturday, 8 March 2003 00:40 (twenty-three years ago)

I ve seen so many bad gigs.

But Lagwagon 99 or 98 in buenos aires

I was 15 & realized i did not like hc cal punk anymore
& neither my hc punk friends

Also had a bad cat power show expirience
but she finished with "i found a reason" & it was good
so it does not rank

― cosmic dancer, Saturday, 8 March 2003 04:20 (twenty-three years ago)

can ox?? was it just Vast or was Vordul there?

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 8 March 2003 04:21 (twenty-three years ago)

I sure wish I knew who the fuck cat power was/is. Oh well, my worst experience was also one of my best, just at a different part of the show. I went to Lollapalooza in '92 in Minneapolis (I think? Harriet Island, anyway), which was kinda fun; got to see Lush, anyway, and Eddie Vedder went on this crazy rant about not being able to buy cigs after 9 pm...good times. Anyway, when Ministry was playing, the pit got pretty crazy, what with all those brawny Minnesota joxx slammin' around. All was fine until I started to notice girls coming out of the stage area looking like they weren't having too much fun, then some with blood running down their faces. Some of the aforementioned joxx wouldn't let them through, being far too into rubbing up against one another to notice, so being a brawny Canadian lad I jumped into them and knocked them out of the way so the girls could get through to the back. What I didn't see was that the boys came very close to kicking my ass (someone told me that one of them had his fist cocked and ready to slam into my head) because of this, but they didn't, luckily for me. Oh yeah, Ice Cube was grebt, the Chili Peppers weren't. Someone threw a stuffed animal at Miki and she almost jumped in and killed the person who did it. Funny. I'll leave now before Custos calls me a name again.

― Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 8 March 2003 04:43 (twenty-three years ago)

The Beach Boys- June 2, 1991- Lake Compounce, CT
Cheerleaders bouncing around stage on "Be True To Your School", the band would do faux-starts for every other song, all so Mike Love could interrupt to remind the audience that this was a #1 hit thirty years ago or we did this on American Bandstand or similar crapology, and of course the icing on the cake..."Kokomo".
Paid $3 for voucher tickets, at least, and we went totally on a lark. I guess one can't complain when the hamburger costs more than the concert!

― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 8 March 2003 04:44 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember one summer when I was working in White Plains, NY, and I asked the friends who I was with at the time this same question. One guy said he went to see Romeo Void with a friend, vaguely remembering "Never Say Never." And so off they went-- only to get there and find that there were literally only like eleven or twelve people in the audience, and the band was totally embarrassed, etc.

Strangely, given that description, I really wish I had gone to see that show with them...

― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 8 March 2003 04:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, my worst show experience was when I went to see Rebecca Gates a while back here in Winnipeg. She's been one of my favourites for a long time, and they were giving tickets away. There were 8 people there to see her. I almost got sick. She played a great show, considering. I felt really bad for her, and I was very embarrassed by my city (which I generally love).

― Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 8 March 2003 04:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Did she do Spitfire?

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 8 March 2003 05:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Of course! I think it was the second or third song, but then she pretty much did only solo songs after that, treating the show as a rehearsal, I suppose. Then she drank and smoked and sat around, and I don't blame her for that. She didn't seem upset about it.

― Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 8 March 2003 05:06 (twenty-three years ago)

i really liked the Spinanes in high school. Got her first solo record at the radio station I worked at in college and stoped paying attention after that. It was a Labradford kinda world, then, after all.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 8 March 2003 05:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Bauhaus at the Cabaret Metro 1982.
Had seen them at Hammersmith odeon the year before and thought they were "god on toast".

In a small club setting they were so pretentious that it hung in the air like a feces encrusted anvil.
was a productive night actually as I stopped listening to Goth And stopped dropping acid that very next day.

― Tony Philputt, Saturday, 8 March 2003 06:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Royal Trux in 1991?-92? It was 90 degrees out side and Jennifer was wearing a full length rabbit fur coat and had the hood on the whole time? First words when they got on stage- " Can anyone tell us where the nearest metadone clinic is?"

― brg30 (brg30), Saturday, 8 March 2003 19:54 (twenty-three years ago)

This is too open ended a question because a worst concert experience could have been the worst for several reasons, outside anything to do with the band's performance. In fact, if I had any memorably bad concert experiences, they were probably coupled with some of my favorite concernt performances by the band in question, but unfortunately tied to really messy personal shit or feeling really sick.

In my case (see above), it was because I was still a fledgling soundman who had to deal with that show out of will.

Aside from that, I usually never remember really disappointing performances. Only tour that comes to mind is that Straitjacket Fits/Bats/JPS Experience tour. And I think that was mainly because all the bands seemed really down and tired... (except in Straitjacket Fits' case, it was because they were so extremely lame and shitty.. this was for the "Blow" tour)

― donut bitch (donut), Saturday, 8 March 2003 20:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree that band energy or lack thereof can ruin what otherwise would be a good show. A bad show like this was a Rheostatics show here a few months ago where they just didn't seem into it, but just kept on playing - for almost 3 hours before they got off. I guess maybe that's a Canadian trait - just keep going and maybe something good will happen. Nothing did that night.

― Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 8 March 2003 20:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Jesus And Mary Chain on the 1992 Rollercoaster tour at the Hollywood Palladium. The band was completely off and even more directionless than usual (and not in a good way). Split after about a half hour of waiting for something to happen. Didn't help that I'd just seen one of greatest shows ever (Spiritualized) and some head-banging shoegaze (Curve)

― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Sunday, 9 March 2003 04:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Similar situation to donut bitch as the closest I've ever come to being at a bad show is one where the band is great but the audience stunk. I've left First Avenue shows before the headliner simply because I was pissed at the sorryassedness of the Minneapolis crowd: first, I went to go see the Delta 72 open for Boss Hog in 2000 or so and after Gregg Foreman hopped around like a maniac to some great whompass superbad music and danced atop the speaker stacks to NO REACTION WHATSOEVER I was all "fuck this crowd" and left. Then when I saw Blackalicious open for Talib Kweli last year I had to deal with some cocksmoker chanting "Kweli" in the middle of Blackalicious' set which completely killed my mood. Just as well I didn't stick around for Kweli since his new album bored the daylights out of me.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 9 March 2003 04:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Nate - I've got a similar story that I always recount becuz it's hilarious : At the now defunct NYC hole Tramps, I went to see Alan Licht and Loren Mazzacane Connors guitar duo open for Palace Brothers (they were still Palace then) - All the morons in the audience were screaming "WILL!" like it was an NSync concert, over Licht and Mazzacane's quiet, serene guitar improv. At the end of the set, Licht grabbed the mic and screamed "YEAHH!! ALL RIGHT!! YEAH, MY NAME IS WILL! AND THAT?? (points to mazzacane) THAT'S WILL! AND COMING UP - WILL!!!" etc etc.

Remember the fanfare from Radical Posture on the Young Ones? that was the mood. Hysterical.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 9 March 2003 04:26 (twenty-three years ago)

(apologies if I feel obligated as a Minnesotan to be all "hey I go to First Avenue every so often", but it really is a great venue and blah blah Purple Rain etc.)

"WILL!" Ha, that's great. I wish Gift of Gab had said something that funny.

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Sunday, 9 March 2003 04:29 (twenty-three years ago)

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