What was the worst concert you ever attended?

Neil Young. It was SO loud that the music was completely distorted. You couldn’t make out the lyrics and it was just distortion and pain. The sound engineers must’ve OD’d during the concert.

Lady Gaga - it was so painfully loud and she talked so much throughout, ended up just leaving. Ears rung for days after.

Sandra Bernhardt. I love Sandy, but she sucked one night in the aughts at Harvard's Sanders Theater. She was flat, not even antagonistic towards the audience but just acting defeated before she started, and the sound system sucked. We did walk out because it hurt.

Billy Joel. He looked like somebody's unhappy aging uncle.

Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall.

HR from Bad Brains solo. He was the embodiment of a prophecy fulfilled. Also some jackass singer songwriter guy from Austin, I can’t remember his name. I hated him because his songs were sophomoric and dumb and I was in a club where you had to sit at a table and couldn’t leave. It was hellish. I hate feeling trapped.

Rod Stewart, Great Woods, Mansfield, MA

So awful I went and sat in the car.

I've never walked out on one (because I had spent so much money for the tickets), but I have been to several really bad ones. These three immediately popped up in my mind as the worst:

1. Kiss (ca. 1975): Just awful. I was young and it was my first concert.

2. Al Stewart (ca. 1978): So boring. He had one good song (IMO). To sit through an entire concert was excruciating. I wanted to leave at intermission, but my ride was really into Al.

3. Eagles (ca. 1980): They didn't sound half as good as they did on their records. Very disappointing.

Morrissey 1991 Kill Uncle tour

Morrissey got mad at someone in the audience about halfway through the set, and stormed off stage, never to return.

Rihanna - what a zero talent cocksucker that whore is...total waste of money.

Journey, with the new guy. Terrible opening act who played really loud hard rock guitar solos. Band came out and was just meh, we were on the floor everyone standing couldn't see. We left after 20 minutes.

[quote] 3. Eagles (ca. 1980): They didn't sound half as good as they did on their records. Very disappointing.

R8, Really? Wow. I saw the Eagles play at the Yale Bowl in 1980, and not only did they play tight and close to their studio recordings, but their live performance actually complemented their original material. Most live rock performances throughout the 70s and 80s left a lot to be desired compared to studio productions.

On a related note, Deep Purple was one of the rare 70s era rock bands that actually sounded much better live than in the recording studio.

Lauryn Hill at Jones Beach, mid 90s...right when the breakdown was starting.

Cornershop, 1998...they had an argument and stomped offstage, but the music and singing continued so obviously they were not actually performing anything.

Smashing Pumpkins, also Jones Beach...AWFUL and yes, I did leave, that’s how bad it was.

Dolly Parton in Boston in 2007 or 2008 (I think 2007)

It was just really boring. And she lip synched.

(And I fucking love Dolly) and always will.

Wallflowers, Jones Beach, 1997.

R13, Whats with Jones Beach having the worst shows??

Madonna. She was 2 hrs late.

James Taylor a couple years ago, Jackson Browne opened for him. I really just wanted to see JB. It was all I could do to stay awake for JT, and he was the headliner. Left early and missed Browne come out near the end, and they both did some of each other’s songs together, which I heard was great. God, was I pissed.

Oasis, late 90s. On top,of sounding like shit, they insulted America and Americans before they even started playing.

Poison 🤮

Missy Elliott, the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville. I don't know her music at all, but I knew she was respected and thought seeing her would be a good way to be introduced to her music. Nope. Despite being the top name on the ticket, she did not sing. She merely MC'd a bunch of other rap and hip hop performers, who were, to a one, horrible. There was no cohesion to the concert at all; groups just came on stage, sang, or not. Then left. After a few minutes, another group would get up, hang out on stage doing nothing, then sing. Or not. It was the most unorganized show I have ever seen, and it was misleading of Missy to have her name on the top of the ticket, yet not perform. For the first time in my life, I asked for my money back. I was astonished that they gave it back to me. I am a white guy -- one of the VERY VERY few in the auditorium that night -- and I saw black audience members ask for their money back, too, yet they did not get it. I felt bad that they gave the white guy back his money. I don't know why. Maybe they just wanted to get rid of me?!? Anyway, it was a horrendous concert, and I have not attempted to listen to Missy Elliot at all.

Aretha Franklin. It was at an outdoor amphitheater and she played a bunch of slow songs no one knew interspersed with maybe 2 of the big hits. Then 45 minutes into the show she decided she was cold in the night air and the show was over. I was pissed, especially considering the exorbitant ticket prices.

Ja Rule/Ashanti. Medium-size GA venue with the worst drunkest crowd I've ever seen, Ashanti very obviously lip-synced and Ja Rule was laughably bad. I had won tickets, and my sister turned to me a few songs in and said, "I'm so glad we didn't pay for this".

Neil Young at the Outside Lands festival 2013. He headlined and people were leaving in droves as he launched into yet another dull distorted guitar solo. I love Neil and I've seen him do some great shows, but he did almost nothing recognizable and just did a bunch of shitty guitar wank.

Smashing Pumpkins in 1996. They insulted the audience and were generally shitty sounding. I've hated them since, I was never a huge fan, Garbage was opening and i went to see them.

I didn’t leave, but I did go to a Motley Crue show in the mid 90s that was the loudest show I ever attended. I’ve attended a lot of concerts in my many decades and that’s the only one that left me with ringing ears for days. And we were close enough to the stage that when Nikki Sixx sprayed the audience with his open water bottle, it landed on my face. I’m not a germophobe, but was a little squicked by that.

Sheryl Crowe in Santa Barbara around 1999. It was so boring I fell asleep in my seat!

Another vote for the curse of Jones Beach: Motley Crue circa the early 00s. They had the drummer from Hole instead of Tommy Lee, and kept crowing about their awesome CHICK DRUMMER. There was no alcohol served, either. That might be the ultimate problem with Jones Beach.

Diana Ross at Giants Stadium. A horrifying shitshow from the moment she staggered on stage.

Britney in 2011. I knew not to expect much from post-breakdown Brit but that was still traumatizingly awful. It was like watching a lobotomized cow waltzing around that stage for two hours. I spent the entire concert thinking about all the better ways I could have spent that money (I was still a student back then so every penny mattered greatly to me).

Linda Ronstadt. A friend invited me. I was expecting her pop hits and her Nelson Riddle phase. I forgot that she also did that entire songs of my father's thing in Spanish. That was the entire concert. I was so bored. Even her rant against Lou Dobbs in English for ten minutes was boring.

Chakha Khan, not too long ago. Girl was a mess. I left.

1982 The Go Go's, with opening by A Flock of Seagulls

Bayfront Center, St. Petersburg Florida

R22, speaking of Ja Rule, he performed at a nearby minor league baseball stadium in Niles, OH. When I say nearby, I mean I could literally hear the concert from my apartment at the time. He started off his performance yelling "what up Cleveland!!!". Cleveland is an hour and a half away.

Do people expect to be roughed at a Ja Rule concert?

Survivor, at Midwest Fireworks in Deerfield, OH back in like 1996. I'm not kidding, at best, 25 people showed up. They performed on a makeshift temporary stage (think something you would see at a state fair). They didn't even charge us for admission, the guy working the parking area just waved for us to go in. There were like 3 people waving lighters during the performance trying to sing along to their songs - which the lead singer couldn't even remember correctly, which made it even more awkward.

A tie between Dione Warwick in 1997 & Nina Simone in 1992. Both no longer had the voices they once had. It was really pretty tragic.

Morrisey about 20 years ago. We drove 2 hrs to see him. He played for 45 mins and then ran off the stage. Only had two guys on guitars playing, no drums. Was horrible sounding and bunch of gays kept jumping on stage to try to hug him.

Sarah McLaughlin. Love her, but saw her show and almost fell asleep. Saw her again a few months later and it was fantastic. Go figure.

VanHager, when Sammy was the lead singer. They started out with Running With The Devil and it sucked without DLR singing lead.

I had good, low-expectations fun at Van Hagar. Gnarls Barkley was grim. 2 hours late for a lazy, 75-minute show.

R17, I saw James Taylor a couple of last year, and he put on a fine show. Good 2-hour concert, good mix of old faves and things I hadn't heard before, good band, and his voice was... as good as it ever was.

Funny how people have different experiences, I loved James Taylor and The Eagles when I saw them in concert

[quote]Diana Ross at Giants Stadium. A horrifying shitshow from the moment she staggered on stage.

Add me to the list of people who thinks Diana Ross is terrible in concert. I saw her 10 years ago and all she did was walk back and forth across the stage in that tired cotton candy wig. Didn’t dance at all and barely spoke to the audience. Also, the songs she sang were the same tired ones she always sings with no surprises. Definitely would never see her again.

The Replacements, Ann Arbor, 1986 or 87. The lead singer was drunk, started fighting with his brother, then fighting with the crew, equipment was pushed over, the show was over 45 minutes after it started. The audience was furious. I don’t remember whether beer bottles were flung at the stage after the lead singer flipped us all off.

Oh, I forgot, Duran Duran in Baltimore, mid-90’s. They were okay, but the opener was this POS band called Tsar. I remember someone yelling, “Tsar is Russian for you suck!” Good times.

I really did not enjoy seeing Eagles of Death Metal at their Paris tour stop. Way too much going on around the show and I really couldn't focus.

Then, I took my niece to see Ariana Grande in Manchester, and the same distracting nonsense. You'd think they tour managers would come up with something more original.

Just brutal.

Add me to Jones Beach. I went to see Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox 20. Goos were up first and 20 minutes into the set some frat bro behind me started puking. If you've ever been to Jones Beach there are no middle aisles, so if you are sitting in the middle of a section you are at least 10 seats away from the aisle in either direction. Drunk frat bro had to be helped out by his drunk frat bro friends, splashing vomit on everyone in his vicinity. I tried to clean myself up but was so disgusted I had to leave. I should have asked for a refund but just wanted to get the fuck out of there.

I still go to Jones Beach but only if I can get an aisle seat.

Prince, circa 2001 - not because the Prince and his band were bad, but because these two, shitface drunk lesbians behind us ruined the show for us. They kept screaming out crap like "Play Pussy Control!!!", "How about a little Pussy Control!!!", "Prince you're so sexy!!!" and what not.

David Bowie at a tiny venue in DC. It was the late 90s and David was selling his latest shit record. He refused to play any recognizable song other than The Man Who Sold The World which had recently been made famous by Nirvana. For that song, he sat on the floor and mumbled the lyrics, looking bored and annoyed. Then it was back to the shit songs that no one knows.

His band was quite chic, though. I recall that his bass player was a beautiful bald black woman. She was somewhat interesting to look at.

R47 reminded me of the time that a drunk guy picked a fight with me because I wasn't dancing at The White Stripes concert. It was a great show but a weird concert-going experience.

Also, someone poured a beer on my head at an AC/DC concert. That was annoying.

One of the big radio stations in NYC sponsors the annual JingleBall Concert at Madison Square Garden with a plethora of star singers each singing 2-3 songs and a final 30 minute set by the biggest of the stars.

It was so loud that each note was painful to my ear. Compounding that were the screaming girls everywhere.

That's when I admitted to myself I was old and would stick to small jazz cubes.

[quote] Add me to the list of people who thinks Diana Ross is terrible in concert.

Sad to hear that because I saw Ross in concert in NYC a few years back and she was excellent

[quote] Linda Ronstadt. A friend invited me. I was expecting her pop hits and her Nelson Riddle phase. I forgot that she also did that entire songs of my father's thing in Spanish.

I went to a concert in Jones Beach where she only sang Nelson Riddle. I wished she would have had concerts that displayed everything she had done rather than separate them like that

Ben Harper, Oakland, a few years ago. Was probably the most boring show I’ve ever been to, and he made the audience (all general admission, so we were standing) wait 45-60 minutes between the opener and him going on stage. I HATE it when bands make you wait forever between acts. I’m not a Ben Harper fan generally, anyway, though, to be fair.

Also saw The National at the Greek in Berkeley a year or two ago and the lead singer was wasted by the time they took to the stage. Not a good show at all.

Jackson Browne, long ago. He started by saying 'They tell me I had a good time last night"- hung over, listless, boring.

I think it was Placebo at a festival in 2004. It was the first time I saw them and I was really looking forward to it, but they just seemed bored and uninspired, borderline rude. I think the singer didn't even say hello. Also it was cold and raining. It was just so dull.

Thankfully we also saw the Pixies, PJ Harvey, Belle and Sebastian, Frank Ferdinand and they were great.

R53 Isn't that guy always wasted? I've seen a few videos of their shows and I don't think he's ever looked sober.

I saw Silverchair in one of their final US shows. Daniel Johns was weirdly antagonistic to the crowd (drugs?) and kept referring to New Jersey, apparently assuming it would upset an NYC crowd.

His between-song antics were strange and somewhat amusing but went in for too long. The music was great, though.

A friend dragged me to see Sister Hazel during their 15 minutes of fame in the 90s. They SUCKED. Unfunny onstage banter, lame music except for that one hit (I don’t even remember what it was)...Total waste of an evening.

r35 - also Survivor.

Went to see Foghat and Steppenwolf, they were the the first band to play.

It was a state fair, actually. It was also high basketball appreciation day, and they were handing out scads of mini-basketballs. Everybody had at least 3.

They sucked hard, and hilarity ensued. When the crowd ran out of mini-balls to throw, they started slinging the folding chairs at the stage.

Bob Dylan at the Beacon Theatre. He sang nothing but obscure songs. Did not interact with audience.

I'm with R28 and R42. Saw Diana Ross about 7 years ago on my birthday. She was never on my bucket list to see live but somehow my friends thought I would love it. Was a very bland and boring show. I get it, your hair is big and beautiful but I don't want to watch it bounce and blow around for an hour and a half. Zzzzz. I do realize she's way past her prime but I expected a bit more.

Prince in 2011 at the Forum, he took forever to get to the stage, and was low energy. Then he ended up going into a time space continuum/endless song: “right here, oooo, Inglewood City, oooo”. I left, bored, and went back to West Hollywood City.

I saw Dionne Warwick in San Jose in 2014. A disappointment. At least she warned us ahead of time that she had had multiple problems with the flight there which left her no time to warm up.

Well, I'm just thrilled that Dionne finally found her way to San Jose.

Etta James in the late 80's in Palm Springs. She had just gotten out of Betty Ford and was in a foul mood. Complained that the audience was full of old rich white people (it was) and proceeded to torture us by singing the first four measures of her greatest hits, whereupon she would stop, thrust her pelvis at the audience and laugh. And when I say she stopped, I mean that was the end of the song as far as she was concerned. And her voice sounded fantastic, which only added to the sadomasochistic experience.

[quote]Then, I took my niece to see Ariana Grande in Manchester, and the same distracting nonsense.

[quote]I saw Dionne Warwick in San Jose in 2014. A disappointment. At least she warned us ahead of time that she had had multiple problems with the flight there which left her no time to warm up.

Tell me these are joke posts.

How odd, R65. I saw Etta James at the Lone Star Roadhouse in NYC in the late 80's, and she blew me away. The Roadhouse was a small club; smaller than I would have thought she would play. The crowd was predominantly, butch lesbians, which I was not expecting. I was also not expecting her to be as lewd and as sexually suggestive as she was. She stuck the mic down her pants and humped it. She licked the microphone, etc. I was grossed out at first, but, by the end of the show, I was a fan! She was powerful , and in amazing voice. I saw her a short time later at Avery Fisher Hall -- it was a group, benefit concert -- and she was still in fine voice, but she did not indulge with her sexual patter. It is too bad you saw an off night, because she had the power to move.

Soundgarden, Berkeley Greek, mid 90s.

they were at the height of their fame. it educated me on what a studio band was about.

no charisma--only attempt at audience interaction was a shrewish "i don't want your dirty laundry, Lady!" when some chick tossed her drawers onstage. Cornell can sing (and write) but is not a frontman. he changed guitars with every song for no discernible reason other than wanking and showing off how much money he had spent on guitars.

they sounded horrible, to a man. eventually the rest of the band walked off and left Cornell singing alone. it felt like half the concert was him alone, singing and playing his ever-changing guitar. and doing both badly.

it didn't help that the crowd didn't seem to care, and surged the stage anyway and then i had a panic attack.

Mr. Mister and the Bangles circa 1988. Maybe not the worst, but definitely very mediocre at best.

You can’t pull one over on R66, that’s for sure.

.38 Special at the Warner Theatre in DC, circa 1984.

It was sort of a blind date. The daughter of a co-worker of my mother won some tickets from a radio giveaway and the mothers thought it would be fun to fix the two of us up. The mothers also did not want an 18yo college girl on her own in DC. I too was a college student in DC then and was game for a free concert.

The message came from the concert winner to her mother to my mother and then to me. I THOUGHT I would be attending a Howard Jones concert at the 9:30 Club and dressed appropriately in my New Wave attire (skinny leather tie, pink shirt, black hat, etc). When we got to the concert I realized that it was .38 Special (and I have always hated Southern Rock). I had beer poured on me intentionally, got verbally harassed, and had a lousy time.

Moral of the story: never get set up on a date by your mother.

R71, how did you manage to confuse Howard Jones and .38 Special?

Jefferson Airplane back in the late 60's or early 70's. They were totally fucked up and drugged out on stage. I was fucked up myself but aware enough to realize they were a mess. I seem to recall them just wandering off stage at some point.

My piano recital when I was 16 years old.

R60 Bob Dylan is up there for me too. Saw him a few years ago with my boyfriend who was so excited because he had never seen him before. Did a ton of old standards and almost none of his own songs. Seemed bored and like he could barely make it through the set. It was extra disappointing because I had seen him a year prior and he was great.

I hate to say it The Police reunion tour at the MGM Grand in Vegas. I paid almost $500 for my seat and they were shity. The sound was so loud it give me a migraine. I guess they figured we were all so damn old they had to turn it up. Sting seemed like he was in a bad mood and said something mean to Stewart Copeland. I was so bummed when I left.

[quote] Sting seemed like he was in a bad mood and said something mean to Stewart Copeland.

That’s the gimmick they’ve had since they started, part of The Police chemistry and dynamic. The audience expect it, by now.

I always thought Copeland was really cute, and still is for his age. I can see how he might come across like a pain in the arse, but I come down on his side as he’ll never match Stingo’s legendary cuntiness.

I also saw Dionne Warwick in San Jose. She arrived an hour late and explained to the audience that her driver got lost.

R1 R23 both of those concerts sound awesome

R6 Why did you go see HR? He's a homophobe

R3 Sandra Bernhardt is a musician??

Helen Reddy at Red Rocks Amphitheater back when she was just hitting it big. She came out and sang some songs no one knew, then sat down on a stool and talked for 15 minutes about remodeling her house. Then she did a lackluster performance of "I am Woman" and sauntered off the stage.

Ted Nugent in Portland, Oregon in 1982. I'm not a fan; my roommate got sick and gave me his ticket. Terrible concert. Even though I got in free, I still felt ripped off.

The New Riders of the Purple Sage and Leon Redbone. I can't remember which opened for the other but it was excruciating. Mid 70's.

oh R78 I see what she did there... because her driver did NOT know the way to San Jose...

Sonny & Cher before they had their tv show. A young David Brenner opened for them and did 45 minutes of the worse unfunny comedy EVER. Then a long wait....

Then Cher came out and did a few songs.....another long wait.....then Sonny came out and did a song and some dumb jokes.

Another long wait ... then they came out together and sang "I Got You Babe." And that it was over.

Awful. Pepsi Coliseum, Indiana State Fair Grounds, 1970's.......

*worst* unfunny comedy....

Donny & Marie at the IL state fair in 1978.

Funny, R82, she was much better when I saw her in 2002 in San Francisco.

Cheryl Ladd in 1980

Wow, who knew so many other people saw horrible concerts at Jones Beach! Must be something in the water (I’ll show myself out...).

T-Rex, circa 1974. So BORING. Bang-a-gong went on for what seemed like half an hour. Some friends talked me into it and I sat there out of my mind with boredom until thank god it finally ended. I have listened to Marc Bolan's music recently and it isn't boring at all. He was a forerunner of Glam Rock, so I really should have found it more exciting.

All these bad experiences. Makes you wonder that just paying attention to the audience and performing your music (on time) would make it a great night. Why do they find it so difficult?

Japan in the early 80s. They seemed bored and were boring. No presence or charisma came off the stage. Only Mick Karn made any attempt to connect. I loved their music and still do but they really just seemed utterly fed up with each other.

Amy Winehouse, completely drunk. She practically didn’t sing, just mumbled. It was in a festival, otherwise people would be entitled to a refund.

I also saw Britney once. I didnt expect her to sing any good but was shocked by what a terrible dancer she was (lady gaga is the same). But it was fun.

Anyone who would willingly pay to see Britney Spears in concert deserves to get ripped off.

I’m a parent. The school holiday concerts are terrible. The kids singing is usually pretty good, but the kids playing in the band is always painful.

I am an older brother, R97, so I can’t disagree with you on that one. I could tell you stories of plays I had to sit through that my sisters were the only reason I sat through them at all.

Depeche Mode. Maybe that Personal Jesus tour was all high-brow satire.

GG Allin - he threw shit at me!

Well, why didn’t you throw shit back, R100?

As a godfather many times over, I feel your pain r97.

You have to love the kids and just suck it up.

I was guarding my bussy

Cassandra Wilson in Akron circa 2002-drunk and giggly; Gavin DeGraw, Omaha circa 2015, so drunk he didn't know where he was.

R43 I think that's basically every Replacements show.

The Go Go's and Counting Crows. Both at the Greek Theatre in L.A., but not together. Both surprisingly inept and dull.

Barenaked Ladies, not by my choice

BEST CONCERT: Madonna's Confessions Tour

R108 is unclear on the concept.

For his birthday, I took a friend to see Ricky Martin. I wasn't a fan, but he was fine in an inane kind of kitschy way. The opening act was Jessica Simpson. Holy cow, was she terrible.

R109 missed the best concert ever

I was literally molested at a Linda Ronstadt concert. It was an outside concert at a festival and I went with my boyfriend. Everybody was crammed in closely together and two guys stood behind me. One, or both, started grabbing my ass and squeezing. I couldn't believe what was happening and turned around and gave them dirty looks. Well, that didn't help and every 10 minutes I felt a hand on my ass. I didn't say anything to my bf because I knew it would cause a big scene, so I told him that I wanted to move to a different spot and we did. I'm sure that other people standing around us saw them doing this and did nothing.

To top it all off, Ronstadt gave an uninspired and totally forgettable performance. It was a horrible experience.

Not me but a friend had to get stitches.

Picture it: it's1994. I'm 21 years old. My mom surprises me by buying us tickets to see... Regis and Kathie Lee at the Sundome in Sun City, AZ! It was everything you are thinking it was. Reeege sang "Pennies from Heaven." I don't remember what Kathie Lee sang, but she walked into the audience and a crowd of soccer moms surrounded her like she was Elvis Presley at his peak and wouldn't let her go. She knew what she was doing, she wanted the adoration and she got it... I think my mom bought a Regis and Kathie Lee cookbook in the lobby.

Madonna - the Menopause Tour. She was irrelevant and playing to an empty middle school auditorium in Bunter, Ohio!

[quote]Prince in 2011 at the Forum, he took forever to get to the stage, and was low energy. Then he ended up going into a time space continuum/endless song: “right here, oooo, Inglewood City, oooo”. I left, bored, and went back to West Hollywood City.

Do you remember how many days into the residency that was? I went to one of Prince's shows at The Forum during that 20 days or so he did a residency, I believe I went on the second or third night. Had to wait an eternity for him to hit the stage but once he did it was electric.

Fat Joanne's Holiday Special, upstairs at Hamburger Mary's in Chicago (Andersonville).

If you were there, you know...

I went to a Headbanger’s Ball concert in Milwaukee around 1989 with friends who were into heavy metal. The big act was Anthrax.

It was so loud it was painful. Where I was standing turned into a violent mosh pit and I got punched in the stomach and head until I was able to fight my way to the back and away from the nuts.

Log in another shitty Jones Beach concert. Steely Dan in August 1993. Boring with no energy whatsoever. I know they were almost exclusively studio musicians, but at least act like you have a pulse.

The absolute worst concert I ever went to was Greg Allman in the early 80s. He was really late coming on stage and was so fucked up he couldn't function, much less perform. He sat slumped at the keyboard for awhile, then just passed out. Sad and disappointing.

Niall Horan in 2018. He was lumbering around like a sweaty, red-face brute and his voice sounded like a cow mooing. Never again even though I got a cheap Groupon deal and the tickets were only $10 each.

I'll call it the most disappointing rather than worst. Jimi Hendrix at Boston Garden 1970. He was very late and performed under an hour. When he was on it was worth my $6.50 ticket, though.

Another one for Bob Dylan. Saw him at the Irvine Amphitheater maybe 7/8 years ago now. Wilco opened. They were fantastic. Nancy Sinatra showed up and played a few songs. She was great.

Then Dylan came on. I grew up on him (he was my dad's fav) and was super excited about the show. What followed? Two hours of excruciating horrible sounds emanating from Bob's person. It took an hour before he played a song anyone knew - Tangled Up in Blue. Then more drivel.

My friend and I finally left two hours into the show. As did most of the audience - which Dylan had to be aware of.

Which begs to the question: Why does he still do it? He clearly hates performing. Wouldn't play more than 2 or 3 hits in a two hour set. He certainly doesn't need the money. Eh, whatever.

The worst: Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation tour 1989, Inglewood Forum

The whole thing was just so sterile. It lacked any sense of spontaneity whatsoever. The music sounded canned, and she was obviously singing along to pre-recorded vocal tracks. It was basically like watching the world's longest music video performed live. Garbage.

Honorable mentions:

Luther Vandross, 1988, Inglewood Forum

I love him, but it was one slow ballad after another, until I felt myself actually falling asleep. Even his uptempo songs are so smooth and lacking in edge, it all just blended together into one long snooze-fest.

Whitney Houston, 1990, some outdoor venue in Orange County

She sounded great, but she was surprisingly lacking in onstage charisma. Boring as hell.

Adam Ant, about 1985-ish, at the Greek Theater.

This was the "Vive Le Rock" tour. His career was in a downward spiral, the place was probably less than half full, and most of the people there probably got free tickets (myself included). He probably wasn't that bad, but nowhere near good enough to make up for the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd.

Kool and the Gang, about 1987, at the Universal Amphitheater.

Their lead singer, J.T. Taylor, had just left, which spelled the end of their run as a top-tier, hitmaking act. But they were still a big enough name at that point that they could headline one last theater tour before they were permanently relegated to county fairs and the nostalgia circuit. Losing a lead singer with a distinct, instantly-recognizable voice makes a huge difference. It was like watching a pretty good Kool and the Gang tribute band.

R123 = So full of shit/55 year old obsessed Madonna stan.

The ones I paid a lot for but can't remember a thing about because I was so fried.

Aretha Franklin. She came onstage and seemed drunk and confused. She sat her purse down next to her and started playing "O Christmas Tree" on the piano--it was July. Her band looked just as confused as the audience but slowly started to follow along as she sang the Christmas song. The whole concert was cut short and everybody in attendance was pissed off.

R124 Eat shit, fag. I fucking hate Madonna, you couldn't pay me to see her live. Idiot.

Does anyone here remember the group Snap!? Well, they suck! The concert was a joke! Not only musically but at the end of the show the rapper guy started spouting off against gays. He is a POS!

R83 he must’ve been such a weirdo. I’ve seen earlier footage of his shows and he’s actually wearing a tail? That guy is such a freak show. Remember when he was enamored with a 17-year-old and had her parents sign her off to him? What a creep.

Nonsense. You were two hours early, R16

Mannheim Steamroller. I had heard of them, and thought they sung classic Christmas songs. That is not what I got.

Grace Jones in the '90s. She was 3 hours late, then performed to a pre-recorded track for less than 30 minutes. At one point, the track got garbled and she said to whoever was operating it, "I'll fuck you.," which was funny but not worth the wait. She smoked weed to My Jamaican Guy which is what we should have been doing.

Barbra Streisand at the Hollywood Bowl. She'd sing three songs then take a break and have someone else come out. Then she'd complain about allergies every time she croaked out a bad note which was often.

Coin toss between Madonna and Smashing Pumpkins. I walked out of both shows less than halfway in. Total garbage, pompous no-talents.

REM in the early 80s, Irvine Ampitheater. They were clearly pissed off at having to play a larger venue than they were used to, and were hostile and condescending to the audience. I used to love them but haven’t been a fan since...assholes.

R135 same loved REM then saw them at Glen Helen in Devore CA and they didn’t want to be there.

R122 off topic I love Wilco

R127 well we found the bobblehead cunt from LSA

R112 are you a man or woman. Or t

Ryan Adams the Fillmore SF 2004. Drunk and rambling. Left a non fan, Madge, the Confessions tour. I believe that's the tour she started showing up really late, over two hours late. No spontenaiety, mechanical, as if singing and dancing was too taxing.

Motley Crue at Boston Fenway Park 2022

Stevie Nicks in Miami sometime in the mid 80s. Love her, but she was a mess. Drunk, high, both? I don't know, but the whole show was a trainwreck and if memory serves she went into rehab very soon after.

Rickie Lee Jones at the Fillmore in SF a few years ago. Totally out of it.

She’s also one of my best concerts (1996, before it all went to shit) but Mariah twice for me. Both times because she cut the setlist short vs previous concerts on the same tour, but also because she spent half the time off stage changing and obviously lip synced certain songs or parts of songs.

Saw Whitney on her final tour and even though her vocals were pretty shot to shit, at least she was on stage for 95% of the concert, did a full show and sang live (however dodgy some of the notes may have been).

Britney Spears, Circus tour. The whole thing was awful.

R145: ha I saw that too but got stupidly cheap tickets and just laughed at the whole thing with my friends. So it was probably one of the funnest concerts for that but the worst for vocals, the performer actually mentally being in the room, etc.

The Stray Cats. They were playing a tiny club that could barely hold 59 people, I don’t know how the club did it, but they managed to stuff 150 people in that dump. You literally could not move. Clouds of steam from the mass of people combined with cigarette smoke forned a noxious cloud. The smell is better off left to the imagination Fearing slow death by suffocation, I fled into a balmy 80 degree night. It was like walking into a meat cooler.

Hootie and the Blowfish

Someone above mentioned Chaka Khan. Yep. What a mess. I walked out.

David Bowie and his Giant Obstruction, I mean Glass Spider Tour. The set obstructed a 3rd of the performance unless you were sitting direct center. It was outdoors near Boston in the fall and the weather was cold and windy.

Woodstock 99. I got raped!

I've seen a few listed here that I actually enjoyed (Whitney in 1990, for instance, had no stage presence or stage show, but that voice was insanely good, and she was genuinely happy to be there in a small outdoor setting) and one that I think just depending on the night (saw Pumpkins and Garbage in 96 in Philly and both acts were sensational, with Shirley Manson even coming out during the Pumpkins' set to sing along).

I hate saying my worst, because I love them: Depeche Mode at the old Spectrum in 1998. The sound was so overwhelming (and that space wasn't exactly designed for modern speakers) that I needed to leave early and literally cried in the parking lot because it had been so oppressively loud that I couldn't make out the words.

R11 Of course it was meh. It's fucking Journey.

R6 Why would you go see HR solo? Isn't he a big homophobe?

WHET to Zemen-Wambuis?

R23 That sounds awesome. Neil Young's distorted "wanking" on the guitar has more soul than all the other technically "great" guitar players combined. I would much rather listen Young's improvising on his guitar for hours than 5 minutes of Steve Vai or Joey Satriani or any other pompous guitar "god".

R147 it was your fault for going to that venue.

R134 is a lying sack of shit.

[quote] Fat Joanne's Holiday Special, upstairs at Hamburger Mary's in Chicago (Andersonville). If you were there, you know...

was it a Hell in a Handbag production?

R112 thks for the laugh…

every 10 minutes I felt a hand on my ass. I didn't say anything to my bf because I knew it would cause a big scene

My friend tells me he went to see an Anita Baker show and she fell asleep while singing - standing up!!

R152 I’m so disappointed for you about your Depeche Mode experience, they’re probably one of my favorite groups ever.

My last show in late 2017 probably killed my willingness to go to any concert forever, but it had nothing to do with the performers - in this case, the Revolution (who despite the obvious absence of Prince put on a great show - I am biased on that as I love Wendy and Lisa).

It was the audience members. All the shows I've disliked in the last 10-15 years were either bad behavior by audience members, including the ever popular "Hey! Let's record the show with our phones so we can have a lengthy, detailed conversation with each other right at this very moment!" Or in one case, at a City Winery location where performers do battle with silverware, dishes and wait staff, it was the noisy staffers laughing and screaming in the back.

As far as the performers themselves, I think I've only had a few bad shows. I left a Squeeze concert at Ravinia (where Aimee Mann opened - strange as she was definitely more popular at that moment) because the two leads of the band, who have a long history of feuding, were openly being evil cunts to each other on stage and it wasn't really fun to watch.

Have seen the Go-Go's a half dozen times - someone upthread mentioned them as a bad concert. They are hit or miss, depending largely on whether they are getting along or whether Bitchlinda has stirred up shit again and they are all cunting at each other.

I saw a Moody Blues / Chicago concert in the 90s that I won tickets from the radio station and if it hadn't been free I would have walked. Both were tepid and terrible. Luckily I met some cute guy in a leather jacket and dropped him off at his place.....and then went inside for a while. So not a complete washout : )

Oh, the Magnetic Fields. It was both a very good concert (hands down the band/vocalist that sounds closest to recording) but also? Stephin Merritt is a dour cunt who expects the audience to sit as if they are in church and not make any noise. Based on what I posted above I sure appreciate the idea of this - focusing on the music and not on phones/conversations - but he took it to a very extreme degree.

Barbra's second Back to Brooklyn concert. A few politicians in the audience, including the Clintons. All of the worst cgaractetustics people have said about her were on display, including saying she likes to direct because she likes telling people what to do, a preachy political segment, saying she did the concert because she wanrs the money to buy a painting, at the end too lazy to walk off the stage and coming back and admitting it.

Her voice was crap, tickets expensive, no warmth or charisma, just a cranky classless old Jew from Brooklyn. People were leaving in droves way before the end.

^^^and saying fuck for no particular reason.

The Grateful Dead at the Memphis Pyramid in 1995. The acoustics were terrible in that place (and I'm not particularly a fan of the Dead's music to start with), and the crowd lit up so many joints that it was as if a fog bank had blown into the building. Eventually I ended up with a sore throat and scratchy red eyes from the ever-present cloud of pot smoke and left before the concert was done.

Madonna's concert felt empty and soulless when I saw her in 2015

Britney Spears Femme Fatale Tour in Budapest. She must have been drugged or something because she was completely dead behind the eyes and couldn't do basic dance moves. Like this one time during Womanizer when she had to get down on the floor and do some hip thrusting thing it took her forever to get down on one knee like she was some 90 year old grandma.

My cousin and I still laugh at how bad it was.

R166 So that was right before Jerry Garcia passed away?

Travis Scott at Astroworld

[quote] Madonna's concert felt empty and soulless when I saw her in 2015

Her concerts were empty and soulless years before!

R184 here. I should mention I saw her at Madison Square Garden twice in 1993 or 94. It was extraordinary, electric, one for the ages.

^^^MARY!

Patti Smith mid career. The minute she started to roll around on the stage emitting guttural moans

Worst: Motley Crue. Sound was so terrible you couldnt hear Vince Neil and his fat ass pranced around on stage pretending to sing. Tommy was good on drums and piano. Loud sound effects, fancy strobe lighting, the music itself sucked. Alice Cooper opened - he was fantastic.

Bon Jovi. He did jazz hands too much. Seems like a pompous arrogant ass. Walked around during Bed of Roses kissing women. Women knocked over security and rushed the stage. One over exited cunt next to me kept flailing her arms and smacking me.

Best: TOOL. Metallica (great sound and banter with crowd). Guns n Roses (Axl was on time and they played straight from 8-11pm with no opener).

Bowie during his 2004 Reality tour, effortless and flawless, fantastic voice. Scorpions, great voice on Klaus.

Billy Talent, Canadian punk rock band, they always put on a good fun show. The Tea Party, another Canadian rock band, their shows were good back in the 90s/early 2000s but repetive now.

R173 I believe it. She’s not my taste.

Diana Ross in 2010. Barely spoke to the audience and just walked back and forth on stage. No energy and can’t dance.

Saw Diana Ross in 2010 too. It was a small theater and young girl walked up the aisle alone to give Diana a stuffed animal and Diana just shook her head and went back on singing. Everyone saw the young girl get rejected and it left a bad taste in my mouth the rest of the show.

R157 Fuck you. Hos was I supposed to know how many people that dump would hold?

R172 we haven't had R184 yet so none of us know what you're talking about

[quote]Saw Diana Ross in 2010 too. It was a small theater and young girl walked up the aisle alone to give Diana a stuffed animal and Diana just shook her head and went back on singing. Everyone saw the young girl get rejected and it left a bad taste in my mouth the rest of the show.

Wow, what a bitch. She could have easily taken the stuffed animal and set it off to the side of the stage. After all, she didn’t do anything but walk back and forth across the stage while singing anyway, so it’s not like it would have been an inconvenience.

Definitely would never see her again. So boring.

Morrissey, again. Clearly hating every minute.

Chaka Khan opening for EW&F, the band had to feed her all of her lines, really sad.

Diana Krall. Oddball who talked too much. Her opening act, Gregory Porter, was sublime.

Pink Martini. I knew very little about the group, but the lead singer behaved like a diva, without the bonafides to back it up, and the group was so pedestrian.

Heart live in 2019 was also a major disappointment. Way too many cover songs and when they did one of their big 80’s hits it was some “stripped down” version of it.

Years ago, I went to a Jingleball concert at Madison Square Garden. It's hosted every year by a major radio station and always has a lineup of big stars.

I remember Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake, Destiny's Child, and a ton of others, each singing about 3-4 songs.

It was earsplittingly loud and the screaming teen girls all around me made it even worse.

That's when I realized I was now too old for these stadium concerts.

[quote] Madonna's concert felt empty and soulless when I saw her in 2015

Sadly, that's what I've always felt about her concerts too. My partner is a big fan, so I've been to most of her tours.

She sang and danced fine but there was an emotional wall between her and the audience. She can't banter at all with the audience.

All spectacle; no warmth

Culture Club, Saratoga Springs, late 1999 or 2000. Boy George was a mess. They were performing with Howard Jones and The Human League. Howard Jones was great, The Human League was tolerable, but Culture Club was rough.

U2 - MSG They were extremely loud and not very entertaining. The guy in front of me was huge and wouldn't sit down for two seconds. Left halfway through.

Andrea Bocelli - Not my thing, but my husband wanted to go and then he ended up having to travel for work. Yes, he is blind but he didn't move an inch on stage and had zero personality, stage presence, charisma, whatever you want to call it. He was walked out onstage to sing and walked off when the band soloed. He could have been wheeled out strapped to a hand truck and it would have had the same effect. Left in the middle.

Another vote for Madonna's Madame X Tour @ BAM. After waiting 2 1/2 hours for her, she put on the most boring set. Audience left in droves.

R187 I had tickets to Madame X in Boston but she cancelled! I had wondered if the rumors of people booing and/or walking out were true or exaggerated.

I went to a Joan Baez concert over ten years ago. It was a solo show and it was held in our lovingly restored performance space. Her voice was in great shape but there was no interaction with the audience and no warmth. After a bit the audience became bored and restive. Oddly, an assistance brought her a different guitar after every song or maybe each guitar was retuned.

I used to get free tickets to everything when I lived in Nashville. Although it’s not my favorite genre, Reba and Garth could really put on a show. Reba was amazing.

I fell asleep during a Vince Gill concert. Tanya Tucker was in the audience and I wished she’d get up on stage instead. Mary Chapin Carpenter is an amazing songwriter but has zero stage presence. Another snoozer.

Also. Do yourself a favor if a friend wants you to go to a Dave Matthew’s concert. Jump off a bridge instead. Horrid hippie jamming for hours.

Bradford Cox, the lead singer of Deerhunter. He may not be well known by DLers but he's a singular character -- openly gay, very tall. He has Marfan Syndrome, and at least as of 2019 he was claiming to still be a virgin at age 36.

Anyway, about a decade ago he put out a couple solo albums under the moniker Atlas Sound. Back in 2012 he had a show at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. I'm a fan, but it was boring: just him on stage with an acoustic guitar and a bunch of electronic loops that he was manipulating with a foot pedal. I'd previously seen Deerhunter live and it was a terrific show; I remember thinking, well, this one's a dud.

THEN some drunk, presumably bored asshole in the audience shouted: "PLAY MY SHARONA!" For some reason, this made Cox go immediately insane. He's like, "OK motherfucker, if that's what you want, let's do this!" -- he brings out the opening band, and they launch into an increasingly unhinged cover of "My Sharona" ... for about an hour. It was truly bizarre.

My husband and I left after about 20 minutes when it became clear this was going to be the rest of the show. The audience was leaving in droves at this point. I know it went on for an hour only because it was so epically bad that it got written up in the media.

[quote] Dave Matthew’s concert

Oh, dear!

Were any of Britney‘s tours actually good?

Gaga ARTFLOP Ball

[quote]Culture Club, Saratoga Springs, late 1999 or 2000. Boy George was a mess. They were performing with Howard Jones and The Human League. Howard Jones was great, The Human League was tolerable, but Culture Club was rough.

I’m glad I skipped that because I remember considering seeing that tour but didn’t. Sounds like I didn’t miss much.

Any other Madame X horror stories?

George Jones...he kept the audience waiting for nearly an hour before his tour manage announced Mr. Jones was "too sick" to perform.

An older friend who liked live music concerts told me the worst she ever went to was the Carpenters in the early 1970s.

Apparently, they weren't lip-synching so much in that era. Karen had kind of a low clear voice that they recorded at very high volume to maximize her sound on records.

In this concert, she couldn't hear herself over the crowd noise, got angry, and stalked off the stage mid-song. Richard came out to lecture the crowd about "the noise". After a long wait, Karen reappeared to do another song, but again, didn't like the crowd noise and stomped off the stage for good...after only about 2 incomplete songs.

Dionne Warwick 4 yrs ago wore sweats, lit up a cigarette and only performed for about 30 minutes. She stood there and announced “that’s all you’re getting” then left the stage. No encore. What a shitfest!

"Well, what you, R199 expect..."

"Hussy, I wasn't gonna clean your house!"

.....

Boy George/Culture Club can very hit or miss.

Have been to shows where George is in fine spirits but I remember a show a few years after Cheapness and Beauty where he just was not in a good mood - cunting to everyone about everything.

CC's playing depends on how everyone is getting along at the time.

[quote] Heart live in 2019 was also a major disappointment. Way too many cover songs and when they did one of their big 80’s hits it was some “stripped down” version of it.

Interesting, I saw them three years earlier and it was one of the best concerts I've ever attended. Mostly their greatest hits, with a smattering of new songs from [italic]Beautiful Broken[/quote]. Nancy was shaky at first, but "Straight On" seemed to get her firing on all cylinders and they rocked the house down for the rest of the night.

oop

A friend of mine saw the Osmond Brothers perform about 25 years ago at their theater in Branson, MO, and said it was so awful it was memorably hilarious. I've always been slightly envious.

Went with my brother and his then girlfriend to see Limp Bizkit back when they were still popular. Fred Durst's singing can best be compared to that of Peter Boyle when he sang Puttin' On The Ritz in Young Frankenstein.

Morrisey. Drove 2 hours to see him. He played for maybe 45 mins and the concert was continuously interrupted by boys running onto the stage then getting kicked out by security only to be let in again and them running onto stage again. He sounded awful and at the end started throwing punches at the boys trying to touch him. Lamest concert ever.

I saw Culture Club a few years ago, he sounded like crap. Actually got up and left halfway . Couldn’t take his bland covers of David Bowie and others.

I twice saw Elliot Smith perform (once in Portland, OR, and once in Knoxville), and they were very strange concerts. He had anti-charisma when he walked on stage and sat down--I've never seen anything like it. It was like a black hole suddenly opened up on stage. But then when he performed he was great, although he did not talk at all to the audience from onstage.

Leonard Cohen at MSG on his last tour. I was only familiar with a few songs and the people behind me were drunk and obnoxious. I couldn’t say anything to them because a friend had taken me to the concert as a guest.. I didn’t want to make a scene but I was seething the whole night, He did something like three encores but we left before he finished to catch a train, Upon leaving the usher told me watching him perform was making him suicidal. It was a good show if you were a fan which I just wasn’t. He did have amazing energy for a man in his 80s.

[quote] Sonny & Cher before they had their tv show.

Sonny and Cher's careers were in the toilet at that time. As a musical act they were washed up. Maybe that's why the show was bad; they just didn't know what to do with themselves anymore. It wasn't until Sonny reinvented them into a comedy/musical act where he was the butt of Cher's jokes that their careers got back on track. Their tv show made them stars again.

[quote] Kiss (ca. 1975): Just awful. I was young and it was my first concert.

What was so bad about it? Kiss was supposedly a great band live. In the 70s they were one of the hottest bands around for a time and always had a fan base.

kesha at Jones Beach 2010- mostly lip synced this was tiktok on the clock era

the national 2018 -forest hills so dull yet lead singer wasted beyond belief which a few others mentioned. it just made me sad for him but also kinda annoyed as a fan

G, trying to sing at the Barbara Cook tribute.

Another vote for Neil Young. Just insanely boring. I actually dont remember the show at all. It wasnt memorable in the least.

Bruce Springsteen at the Webster Bank Arena (now I think it is the Total Mortgage Arena) in Bridgeport CT. During his "Tom Joad" period, about 2010. It was so boring, I fell asleep. He refused to play any of his better known songs, just kept pimping out the shit that no one wanted to listen to

I'm sitting through a Pet Shop Boys show wondering why the fuck they aren't doing What Have I Done To Deserve This.

I went to a Linda Rondstadt concert at Jones Beach.

She sang only from her Big Band album with a large orchestra.

She did a fine job but after a while it just got boring

Carlos Santana. He couldn’t have been less interested.

I won front row tickets from a radio station to Ricky Martin in his prime, late 90s. The band was outstanding but Ricky seemed bored. No real emotion or excitement. He had a nice voice but he seemed to be just going through the motions.

I couldnt stop laughing after a frau threw her panties on stage and they whacked him right in the face mid-song. He didnt even flinch, pull back, smile, laugh or react in any way. Completely stone faced.

Bush. 1995

Van Morrison outside in Boston about 25 years ago. His backup Singer actually sang most of the leads on the songs. Van just stood behind a huge music stand with a big black fedora on and said nothing and sang nothing.

I saw Barry Manilow in 2021. Outdoor arena. The performance was fine but I was appalled it only lasted about 70 minutes.

Amazed at how many of these bad concerts were caused by the performer (s) being drunk, stoned, late, lazy, etc. Makes me want to stay home and listen to recorded music. Much easier and cheaper. And you always know what you're getting.

Except for Springsteen and classical, r224, I have always preferred listening to recorded music.

This thread has taught me never to attend a concert at Jones Beach.

I was supposed to see Guns n Roses and Metallica at the Rosemont Horizon in the early 90's but they canceled the show because Axl had a warrant out for his arrest. Thousands of people were already in the parking lot and he skipped town minutes before the show. Asshole. AND we never got our refunds for the tickets.

R150 Almost any Bowie fan I’ve talked to who saw Glass Spider say it was his worst tour ever

Tanya Tucker back in the late 70s. Went with a cousin who liked her. She sang like 3 songs - said some awful stuff about Glen Campbell - announced she just couldn't go on and walked off stage. Quite frankly I found the whole thing amusing but my cousin was really angry about it.

Kid Rock Concert in DC on 1/6/2021.

Obviously I was misinformed.

But Yee-Haw! The extries were worth it!

Madonna Madame X. Jesus Crust, it was abysmal.

R231 which city did you see her in?

Mariah Carey - 2006. Very boring. She had a DJ spinning records in between her songs that got old real fast. She barely moved on stage except to do weird cutesy poses.

Janet Jackson - Velvet Rope Tour 1998. It was at this point I realized she just does the same tour over and over again just plugging in new songs. Cry on a stool, retarded storybook inflatable sets, faux screwing a guy from the audience. Terribly dated and tired choreography.

I must be in the minority cause I've seen Diana Ross and Miss Dionne both fairly recently and had a blast at both shows. Saw David Bowie a few years before he passed and he did a phenomenal 3+ hour show with all the hits. Saw Madame X in Philly and had a blast, as did the others around me.

R199 that’s fucking hilarious!

The Killers in 2009. Awful sound and the band seemed like they didn't want to be there. The show had no momentum or energy; they just kind of slogged through their setlist.

When the Beastie Boys opened for Madonna on her Virgin tour in 1985-ish. We went out to the venue's food court to get away from the mess on stage.

[quote] Mary Chapin Carpenter is an amazing songwriter but has zero stage presence. Another snoozer.

I love MCC but I think for a good long stretch she was booked into stadium or amphitheater shows and she should be in a club of about 500. She is more folky. Agree that she doesn't have whatever showmanship one needs to keep things going in a larger space.

Corpse in 2019. She was dressed like an old man.

Springsteen- Ghost of Tom Joad tour. Ugh!!!

Public Image Ltd 91. Lydon performed terribly, it seemed like it was on purpose. At one point he sneered at the audience and commented on how we actually paid for this. So punk rock.

I don't think I've gone to a bad one as I only go to concerts that I REALLY want to go to. Nothing random or that I am half interested in.

Rush, 1993.

Freedy Johnston, 1997.

Kings of Leon, 2010ish.

The Wallflowers reunion in 2012 was a total snoozefest. Zero energy. Rather than turning on the charm, Jakob Dylan just moped around, and spent the second half of the show hurling passive aggressive jibes at the lethargic crowd in between songs. We would have walked out but we were too drained of vital life essence to even move.

Todd Rundgren - it was the 80's and he was not performing any of his hits. His songs were boring as hell and he gave off an air of not wanting to be there.

REM in the 80’s. This was when they didn’t play their hits. Only album tracks.

R245 beat me to it. I saw REM but in the 90s at their peak game and Michael Stipe was such a pompous ass and so condescending to the audience. Right before Shiny Happy People, he said (dripping with sarcasm) “Now here’s one I know you’ll REALLY like.”

But the absolute worst concert I’ve ever been to was the Hollywood Bowl’s 50th anniversary of when The Beatles performed there. Led by Dave Stewart with “special guests.” I was bringing my sister to the Bowl for her first time and thought that could be an exciting introduction. Nope. The special guests were Billy Ray Cyrus and Dave Stewart’s son…

It was abysmal.

Reluctantly got roped into Leeds rock festival one year in the early-mid 2010s (can't remember which), and while there were a few good acts I wanted to see and enjoy, such as Queens Of The Stone Age and Skindred, there were also a ton of forgettable or awful bands. That time period was still somewhat entrenched in the annoying dull twee hipster-indie-pop trend, and there was also a lot of schlock-rock going around. Just a bad scene.

My sister is a major unironic Red Hot Chili Peppers fan (fuck knows why, she's a Zoomer) and forced me to watch their whole set, and I have never been more bored and annoyed in a concert setting. It felt like Fun Song Factory, all bright colours and childish dancing and shitty 'jazzy' noodling. I guess the instrumentation was good, but it went on too long jamming and vamping. They were cringe then and they're cringe now. Also, isn't Anthony Kiedis a massive creep? I got that vibe seeing him perform.

R247 For awhile there, actually for many years, it seemed like every single festival I went to had the Chili Peppers headlining. LIke, come ON, there are so so so many more bands out there. But they're a surefire ticket seller and people go nuts for them. The last time I was excited to see the Chili Peppers live was in 1990.

R248 really I wish I knew how those guys get all the gigs they do and why people throw money at them. They must be multi-millionaires.

Still I hate their gimmick and most of their music, though. I will concede their early albums were interesting, raw and different. In fairness, I do like a couple of their songs, 'True Men Don't Kill Coyotes' and 'Knock Me Down'.

R221 but you got to see '90s Gavin Rossdale, at his sexiest....

[quote] I twice saw Elliot Smith perform (once in Portland, OR, and once in Knoxville), and they were very strange concerts. He had anti-charisma when he walked on stage and sat down--I've never seen anything like it. It was like a black hole suddenly opened up on stage.

I feel like that's the kind of thing devoted Elliot Smith fans would want from him.

R249 "Knock Me Down" was my jam, absolutely. To be fair, they are really hard workers, crazy talented and have swagger. It's just kinda boring after 35 straight years.

R151 Woodstock ‘69. I gave birth!

Babs in her Back to Brooklyn. I left before the end.

My Mum to this day still talks about how disappointed she once was seeing Ronan Keating solo. Said he had the thinnest voice and no stage presence.

I was like, what you get for being a Boyzone fan, isn't it. CLEARLY Westlife were and are the superior Irish boyband.

Ian Dury and The Blockheads. Yes I’m old. Scary crowd - mostly punk and I was just New Wave. When “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” started, so did a riot in the mosh pit. People then started ripping chairs out of the floor and hurling them at each other and onto the stage. Music stopped, lights went up and we fled back to the safety of suburbia.

Was Back to Brooklyn that bad?

It wasn't bad bad r257 but what i found tedious was that it was about her and less about the music. Well, duh.

R44 I saw Tsar as well. They opened for Social Distortion . They put the "cute" guy at the merch table.

R123 I saw Adam Ant there as well and yes, we won tickets.

R246 I remember Michael Stipe turning his back on the audience and refusing to sing.

Ultimately mine was the Pearl Jam/Golden Gate Park/Ticketmaster fiasco. Tickets were a bitch to get, Eddie claimed food poisoning after five songs (totally wasted) and Neil Ypung finished the show. At least I like Neil Young.

McBusted didn't work for me at all, though I have to admit to enjoying myself at McFly and Busted concerts separately (I have a younger sister and at the time she needed a chaperone).

Supergroups just come over as awkward nostalgic cashgrabs much of the time.

R135 & R136…same.

I saw REM in KC on their Green tour. Stipe was a total dick.

Fuck him. He’s lucky I even bothered. I never did again.

I’ve seen The Go-Go’s a few times…they were my first concert in 1984, and then a couple of times after they “reunited..all the shows were great.

Agree about Smashing Pumpkins, though. Saw them in Louisville in the 90s and BOY they sucked.

I also saw one of Chaka Khan’s drunk, abbreviated shows. Excruciating.

Saw the B-52s for the first time in the 2000s and they were awful, bored, didn’t want to be there…very short set. A few years later I begrudgingly went to see them again and they were fantastic. I guess you never know.

I saw Erasure at the Roman in Nashville and the sound was so bad it was almost intolerable. I also saw Annie Lennox there around the same time, and it was perfect. Probably the best concert I’ve ever attended.

I saw some little known local band at a sweaty, underground club in Liverpool called The Cavern, around 1961 or so.

The Beagles? The Beat-O's? Something like that.

They clearly were going nowhere. Their drummer, Pete, was clearly the only one with any talent or charisma.

I wonder whatever became of those losers.

1. Jack White in NYC. He left the stage after 40 min or so. One rumor was that some fan pissed him off. 2. Technotronic (Pump up the Jam act) played 6 numbers: 4 songs, 2 of them twice. (circa 1990 in Prague.)

Westlife in Dublin. I wasn’t a fan. It was something to do in Dublin at night and the hotel concierge had tickets. They weren’t really awfully awful, just bubblegum music which sucked.

I don’t usually go to concerts unlike I like the band so I’m inclined to like them. I didn’t much about them before we went and didn’t want to know much more after we did.

The gay kid has a great voice, though. Otherwise totally aimed at 13 year old girls.

Unless, not unlike in R265

I also walked out of Chaka Kahn in London. Singer Dan Hartman had a group of tickets for some of us. At intermission he said "We're out of here"

Garth Brooks at Yankee Stadium. Not really a fan but thought I'd get tickets for the spectacle of it all. Ticket said RAIN OR SHINE. He was supposed to go on at 8pm. It didn't even start lightly sprinkling until after 9pm. Still no Garth. By 10pm it was raining. Stadium ordered people to huddle inside. We finally had to leave after 11pm so we didn't miss the last trains. It had stopped raining by then. Found out later he took the stage at 11:58pm just so he wouldn't have to issue refunds if he took the stage after midnight. I hate that pompous windbag's guts now. Rain or shine MY ASS.

DIRE STRAITS

Only one I've ever walked out on, and I'm elderly:

Ravi Shankar.

Bob Dylan. It was my third time seeing him so I knew what to expect.

However, I innocently assumed he and the band would have done a sound check before the show. They clearly hadn’t and the quality of the sound was appalling.

R22 Ja Rule performed near me when I was living in Niles, OH. I could hear the whole show right from my window, I lived right by the stadium he was performing at. He started the show by screaming out "What up Cleveland!!!" - um, dude, you're not in Cleveland...