Most Disappointing Live Act?
Posted by: GraemeH on 18 May 2013
Sometimes the music is bad, sometimes the performer just does not connect - Who have you gone to see full of anticipation only to come away disappointed?
For me it was Van Morrison. No Music, No Contact, No Fun.
G
ditto VM.
I also decided never to see Dylan again after a dirge of a concert - all songs in the same key (voice shot, I guess) and him part of a group stabbing at a keyboard rather than front of stage with a guitar. Dull, dull, dull.
The Stones at Earls Court in the late-mid 70s. The sound system was utter rubbish and we literally couldn't hear a thing. On our way in a tout offered us £50 each for our tickets. How I wish....
Fleetwood Mac,Wembley, early 80s. Average sound, sloppy playing, indifference towards the audience, fighting and bickering on stage. An unprofessional shower the lot of them.
Happily outnumbered and eclipsed by hundreds of other enjoyable concerts. So not a bad batting average.
David Bowie 1996 his first solo tour after Tin Machine. May have been the Outside tour at Wembly.
My wife is a big Bowie fan even she wanted to leave before the end.He decided to perform the whole of the new album and none of his old hits.The tour was universally criticized for being boring.
1994 Gibson guitars night of 100 guitars.The build up to this one off at Wembly made it look like a possible Led Zep reunion.Alan Freeman kept coming on stage saying so and so's back stage.Headline act Paul Rogers
Slipknot about 18 months ago. Came on and started flat out and didn't change pace for the whole set. Was just boring.
Yo Yo Ma, of all people. He was way out of tune, and it drove us nuts.
Bryan Ferry at Southampton in the 80's. Had always been a big fan of Roxy, and still am, but on that particular night it seemed as if he was just going through the motions and would rather have been somewhere else. As a result, so did the audience.
MDS
Ocean Colour Scene at The Rothes Hall, Glenrothes early 2000s. Dull as ditchwater so we left. Irritating part was we'd been kept waiting outside in the freezing cold for ages as the venue couldn't bothered to open up.
steve
.......Glenrothes early 2000s. Dull as ditchwater so we left......
steve
Yup! G
Los Lobos at the barbican about 2005. They played as if they didn't give a shxt and that we weren't there. It was terrible and I had waited so long to see them having heard such good things about their live performances.
The Stones at Green's Playhouse Glasgow, 1973. We had queued all night for tickets and had fantastic seats, dead centre 4 or 5 rows from the front but the sound was the worst I've ever heard at a big concert. An absurdly loud wall of feedback and other noise, couldn't differentiate between vocals and the rest of the mess. It was a disgrace.
I've now got a recording of another show from that tour and they were on fire so what happened to the sound that night I have no idea.
Yeah I agree Ocean Colour scene had great songs to play, but were dull as hell.
Guns n Roses was the worst gig I've been to. Not only were they trash, the crowd really were a gathering of jerks.
Morrissey at the Aragon in Chicago in the late 90s. He came out and played for 20 minutes and then stopped without a word
Morrissey at the Aragon in Chicago in the late 90s. He came out and played for 20 minutes and then stopped without a word
Aragont wat. G
A few gigs have turned out to be really bad....Boston on their UK tour(1979) played at an exhibition centre outside Edinburgh and were just so boring...the place was so large which killed any atmosphere...Coldplay on their second album tour, were so quiet onstage, you could here each others conversation....Ian Gillian not knowing the words to paranoid was something to behold.......I love the Black Crowes but when they played Edinburgh Playhouse, Chris Robinson was so out of it, the crowd abused him all night....he even wanted to fight them...(I have seen them better since then).
Interesting that Van Morrison comes up. I've seen him a few times over the years and the music has generally been great but there was one time in Exeter when he was a complete arse, did a 25 minute set and walked off. Even his backing musicians were bemused. I've seen Bob Dylan many times over the years and have never been disappointed, allowing for the 'maturation'/deterioration of his voice over the years.
Supertramp
Joe Bonamassa in Stuttgart this Year.
Terrible Sound....
The Stranglers in 1985 - Golden Brown Tour. Support act (Hunters and Collectors) brilliant raising expectations. Hour wait and then an extremely tedious and pretentious 20min long introductory film. Crowd on edge, getting tense. Band finally appeared - bad mix, band disinterested 40 mins later they leave the stage amidst boos of 'Stranglers suck'. Thought there'd be a riot by the crowd we were that pissed off, but sadly no...
regards,
Giles
Kossoff was so out of the game that night Paul Rodgers had to help him put a coke bottle into his mouth. He was staggering all over the stage probable combination of both drink and drugs
What made it worse was that they were and still are possibly my favorite band.
Had the same kind of experience with Van the Man one great gig and one awful one.
Saw the Strolling Bones on the '73 tour and it was amongst my Top Ten gigs of all time and then saw them again during their what I like to call Versace period when what they seemed to look like became more important than the music. Mind you can't stand Ronnie Wood as a lead guitar player something in my eyes he has never been.
Dire Straits caught them on their first tour and then their second. God help me but they went through the motions second time around. They played all the songs almost note or note exactly like the albums.
Could list a lot more.
Although in nearly 45 years of concert going I have seen many below par shows, I have only ever walked out of two:-
Santana at Birmingham Odeon - it just went on and on and on and on and on and.......................
The second was ELP at the old Empire Pool. I was a big Nice later ELP fan but when that Moog sprouted wings (like vintage car indicators) and moved around the stage that was the end of the line with them as far as shows.
Van the man comes in for some stick (GraemeH and Steve J)but his show at Birmingham Town Hall with the Caledonia Soul Orchestra back in the day is still my all-time favourite gig. At that point he was connecting with the audience - standing in the crowd, half time in the bar, autographs etc.
Ron
INXS terrible sound issues first night of European tour.
Herbie Hancock on a Headhunters tour feat 25 minute drum solo during one of the songs was more than I could bear.
Wishbone Ash- saw the original line up and they were good and then saw them with Laurie Wisefield whom I had seen and liked in HOME but they had turned into a bunch of prima donnas.
Saw New Order many, many years ago at the Brixton Academy; they were so utterly dire that after one song nobody - and I mean nobody clapped.
Bernard asked "Cat got yer tongue?"
Excruciating.
.......Glenrothes early 2000s. Dull as ditchwater so we left......
steve
Yup! G
Know the town well do you? 
steve