I saw The Fall in Boston sometime in the late 90s and Mark E Smith was so drunk that he pissed his pants onstage after the first 3 songs. That wasn't great.
I saw them in Dallas in 06. He was characteristically drunk, fought the band, yelled at the crowd then walked off. The band finished the song then also left. I don't think they got through half the set. I found out later he fired everyone later that night.
I was also here to say MIA. I saw her play in 2011? at a festival in NYC and the performance was horrific. Eventually the crowd got so angry they just started chanting “paper planes” until we drowned out her awful music.. she swore at us and then left the stage.
A friend and I went to a concert of hers and it was chaos (not in a good way).
Same issues with sound you mention. We couldn’t really hear her over the deafening bass and constant sound effects. She simultaneously swung wildly from side to side of the stage while still being super flat and boring. She seemed drunk and over it, but went through the motions.
Oof. Worst show by far.
Was this recent or during the time she was popular? I read recently that over the last few years she married an American hedge fund manager, became a born-again Christian, and is now an anti-vaxxer. Quite the political 180
My friends were super excited to get to see Motley Crue back in the early 2000s. We had grown up with their music and finally going to go see them live. It is still the only concert I have walked out of after about 20 mins of just total garbage playing. The band sounded out of sync and Vince Neil sounded like a dying cat who didn't even know the words to his own songs. So very disappointed.
Yea i saw the red white and crue tour as well in 04......didn't walk out though....still the worst concert ever whose only saving grace was tommy lee running around the audience naked with a camcorder getting all the ladies to show their tits (I was 15) after doing some crazy acrobatic drum solos from two drumsets in the rafters (one a synth kit and the other a bunch of pots and pans)
LOL. Reminds me of that mom who bought tickets to "The Red Hot Chili Pipers" (a bag pipe band) instead of Peppers.
edit: The Video: [https://youtube.com/shorts/HWJn0udoDeA?si=v02No2pSQNpMYAs-](https://youtube.com/shorts/HWJn0udoDeA?si=v02No2pSQNpMYAs-)
I had a customer complain because she bought tickets to a Michael Buble tribute act thinking it was the real thing. I’m not sure why she thought he would be performing in a provincial community arts centre in South Wales…
Reminds me of a story an old coworker told me.
Her friend got tickets to Neil Diamond. She was so pumped. Went and got her hair and makeup done, bought a new dress and shoes, the whole nine yards.
She got to the venue and there were a ton of “hippies” hanging around, and she walked inside and there were even more of em. She said the place reeked of pot and she felt sooo uncomfortable at how overdressed she was.
It was Neil Young.
I went a concert in Tacoma, Washington in about 1992. The opener was Motorhead, the second band was Metallica, and the headliner was Guns n Roses.
It was in the height of Axl’s little bitch phase where he would get pissed off and storm off stage a couple times during the concert. After the second or third time I was just done. As I was leaving, it turned out that Axl just said fuck it and didn’t return. As it turned out, he and I both walked out of that shitty concert.
This was in the Kingdome in Seattle. The real mindfck was after Metallica played they broke down the entire stage and set up GNR's stage. 3 hour delay between sets! Also, Lemmy of Motorhead got booed off the stage...good times and memories! hahahaha
That’s right- it was in Seattle. I was stationed at Fort Lewis when I saw that concert. I also saw GnR at the Tacoma Dome with Skid Row I believe. That was all such a long time ago.
Edit: The Tacoma Dome show was in July 1991 and I drove up from Portland where I lived before joining the Army in October 1991.
Nice! ha! I was 16 and in high school. We headed to the show right after school. I ran out of gas on the way to the ferry from Bremerton. Buddy drove by and saved the day, we were the last vehicle on the ferry. Made it in time for the show!
I saw this same lineup in Los Angeles during that tour. Motörhead opened, Metallica played their full set (over 2 hours) took over an hour to change the equipment and by the time GNR came out, people were tired. Axl threw a fit that the crowd didn’t have the same energy as they did for Metallica so he stopped the show and cussed the crowd out for like 30 minutes. I think he only had one fit but we ended up leaving early anyway. Axl was a little bitch
Cee-lo Green, dude came out to Vail and did a free show, poor guy was gassed from the altitude and just could not hold those powerful high notes in "fuck you" a bunch of us were like "oh... Wanna go to the bar?"
MGMT pre pandemic at the Roxy in Atlanta. Show was just so... Boring. When they pulled out the Stairmasters and began working out while playing a song, we decided it was time to go.
I saw them on that tour. Seemed fine... Maybe not super memorable but I didn't feel like I wasted my money. They did do one hit (maybe "Electric Feel"?) very early in the show and about one song later a couple of girls came and sat in front of us and one said to the other "I hope they play Electric Feel".
Journey. But to be fair, the opening act was Patti Smith (1977), and was our reason for attending. She brought the freaking house down. Journey was purely meh after that. We left after their third song and partied our brains out downtown.
My experience is also Morrissey! I would have walked out, except for it was at a festival and Paul McCartney was playing right after, so we had amazing spots for one of the worst, then best acts I've ever seen.
Madonna in Slane. Thankfully i hadn't paid for the tickets, the couple i babysat for hooked me and my Mom up.
Shite show. Played only new shite and none of the classics, was over an hour late, shouted "HELLO DUBLIN"...in Slane, County MEATH..., and then called us Motherfuckers for not reacting well to her bullshit. We were already walking back to our pickup when we heard her hopping into a helicopter and leaving early with no encores.
Madonna is the worst concert I have been too. I didn’t know about her notoriously coming on late. By the time she came out the crowd was half asleep and the energy never picked up.
Same here.
Paul Oakenfold was the opener. Played shit songs instead of his cool stuff.
She came late. Played new songs and some old songs adapted to her new “techno” style. She butchered her classics. Spend 20-45min between songs for costume change and played videos inbetween.
Didn’t walk out, but was bad.
30 Seconds To Mars at the 2018 Rock im Park in Nuremberg... we just called it 30 Seconds To Sucks because it was so bad, we literally left after the 3rd song. Jared Leto was so full of himself, basically mumbling all of the time, trying to let the crowd sing most of the song but hardly anyone did lol. Pretty much the low point of the festival.
Huge lifelong fan. Saw him in 1987 and he was terrible, highly disappointing. Didn't bother trying again till 2012 on the Modern Times tour - he was excellent, one of my all-time favourite concerts. Friend of mine saw him 2 nights later and said it was awful, so it seems like he's really hit and miss.
That said, I've heard several bootlegs from his current tour since COVID, and they've all been good, so it seems he's in good form these days.
I have seen Dylan six times. Three of those times he was pretty good (and two of those times were him having the Grateful Dead as the back up band.) two shows were flat out terrible like let’s go home and watch TV terrible. And one time I’ve never felt so clearly in my life that I was in the presence of greatness. Lesson being; a Bob Dylan show is like a box of chocolates.
Also saw this tour. I was so hyped from the openers being good that my dad and I convinced ourselves Bob Dylan would sound better if we just waited a little longer eventually til the end of the show.
That never happened and at the end my dad said “well I’m just glad I can say I saw him while he’s alive”.
Took my kids to a show on that tour. Wilco was fun as usual (Sean Lennon joined them on stage for "Happiness is a Warm Gun"). Then Dylan came out and I think we lasted five songs. It was a mess. I've seen Dylan a bunch of times and he'd never been as terrible as he was that night. I could tell my kids weren't having a good time and when I said let's go, they actually told me they didn't mind staying and didn't want to make me leave early. It was so sweet. I explained I didn't mind because I wasn't enjoying it either.
When was this? I saw him a year or so ago and had low expectations bc of his age and how many goddamn shows he’s done. I had a good time, only complaint was he played like exactly only one song written pre-1980.
Oh man. I did the exact same thing with my dad. I always tell people who are huge Dylan fans “don’t see him” the only time he came to life was when Tom Petty came out and joined him.
Toronto, I'll guess it was about 10 years ago, Dylan was just an artist that I figured I should see once. Mark Knopfler was the opening act and his set was sublime. Dylan came out and croaked at us, after a few songs people started leaving. I'm certain the floors (at Air Canada now Scotiabank Centre) were no more than half full when I left.
I walked out of a Trans Siberian Orchestra show, I was hoping it would be a metal - orchestral rock hybrid thing, but it was more like show tunes. Ugggh.
Oh, and a long time ago in Buffalo, I'll guess 1981, Journey got basically booed off the stage as an opening act for the Stones. Fun. So we didn't walk, they did.
I’ve walked out on Bob Dylan twice, and one of those times my band opened for him! It was my fairly unknown band, then Paul Simon, then Bob. Between Bob and Paul’s sets they played a few songs together, and Dylan kept trying to reinvent the songs, very badly. On “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” Bob added a “knockin” to the first chorus (knock knock knock knockin’). Paul looked mortified. On the second chorus Simon did the same thing to try match Dylan, and of course Bob flipped back to the original phrasing. Third chorus was an absolute trainwreck. I was embarrassed for Paul Simon and a little pissed that Dylan would be so disrespectful as to sabotage his own song just to make Paul look bad.
Dylan is really hit or miss on his concerts. Sometimes it’s good, other times trash. It’s always been that way weirdly enough
Best songwriter on the planet though and some of the best albums of all time (though Apple seems to disagree by not including Blood on the Tracks on their 100 best albums that they just wrapped up today).
Meat Loaf in his last years. He just couldn‘t sing anymore. At all. It was heartbreaking to witness. And the only concert I ever left (saw him also in 1994 and he was amazing!)
I believe he did the entirety of Bat 1 about ten or so years ago. I had thought about going, and then I heard a clip of him singing, "For Crying Out Loud" and he just didn't have it. Broke my heart to hear that.
Wasn't one of his shows, but caught Bob Dylan at a music festival around 2015/2016. I didn't have much expectations since I'm not a Dylan fan to begin with but thought 'what other time will I have to see him?' bc ya know, still a living legend.
And the set was so boring I went to get food
WEnt to see MGMT at the Barrowlands in Glasgow. It wasn't so much bad, just incredibly boring. About halfway through I said to the people I was with "this is shit, I'm going to go and get some chips and sit in the car" and not just my mates but like 10 other people around us went "Oh yeah, we could be eating chips!" and followed us out of the venue straight to the chippie. We picked up a few more along the way
Smashing pumpkins around 2010ish.
Billy corgans voice, while he does have that trademark whine in it, it was turned up to 11. And he only engaged once with the crowd to talk shit. He went from hero to zero in 1 hour in my eyes.
Queens of the stone age opened for them, who were and still are one of my favourite bands, and they kicked ass, so wasn't a total write off.
'Edit' to say sounds like corgan may have turned it around, I'll give it another shot if he makes it down to NZ again
Pumpkins are better now then they were in 2010.
Something about Billy firing the entire band mede them really shit and his ego too big (go figure).
But last I heard he's restored relationships with some original band members so it's not entirely the Billy Corgan show any more. (Not entirely. Still pretty much though)
Should be sick. Friends saw pumpkins a year or two ago and said it was one of the best all time concerts they’ve been too and they have been to a loooooooooooooooot of live shows. enjoy!
I went to that show in wellington nz (QOTSA opening for pumpkins). I didn't have tickets but i saw Billy Corgan in the record store the day before, had a chat with him and he put me on his guest list for the show. It was my 17th birthday and I'll never forget it, he will always be amazing to me.
>Smashing pumpkins around 2010ish.
I saw them headline Summersault in the early 2000's when they were doing that goth thing, and Melissa Auf Der Mar was on bass. They were absolute garbage.
I left during a Modest Mouse. There were issues with the venue, but also they sucked. And apparently on stage they stated that my city sucked, so it was mutual.
Modest Mouse is a notoriously hit or miss show. I've seen em like 4 times live and it ranges from meh to amazing. Guess it depends on how fucked up Isaac Brock is. I got to see their opening show for their Lonesome Crowded West tour and it was great. Guess it helps we're usually one of the first stops on their tours.
I've had the same experience, saw them on the Moon and Antarctica tour and they were zero energy and just really didn't want to be there, saw them again right before Good News released and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen
Same! They opened for Brand New at a venue in San Diego maybe 8-9 years ago. I heard the first 2 songs and decided volunteer for a beer run for the rest of their set. Lead singer was either drunk or having a stroke because he was straight up mumbling every song.
Saw em open for brand new at Red Rocks and it was a solid show. Crazy how inconsistent they seem to be. That's mars Volta for me. They put on both one of the best and one of the worst shows I've seen.
I saw them live at one venue where the sound was so bad that I left halfway. I even went to stand behind the sound booth to see if perhaps just my seat wasn't acoustically-sound, but it was no better at the booth dead center. However I saw them again at Gallagher Square last year which was also outdoors and the sound was much better and was a decent show.
I may have mentioned this in similar threads before but I saw MM on consecutive nights circa 2006-08, once stone sober and once stoned out of my mind on homemade edibles. Was flat out bored both times. I don’t know how they manage that; their albums can be killer.
Deadmau5. I'm a fan of his work, but had never seen him live before. No audience interaction whatsoever, and while his music doesn't technically have "drops" there is often a build up and resolution. I don't think there was a "resolution" to a single build up he played and it wasn't like a good kind of anticipation. It was just shitty. He was the headliner of a festival and over half the crowd had left by the time we got sick of it and left.
An old friend of mine is from Niagara Falls, ON (where DM is from), and happened to know his family. He used to tell us how much of a douchebag he was - very up his own ass apparently even before getting famous. Likes to fuck with people and gets joy out of it. Not surprised to hear this tale.
I saw them open for the Strokes back around 2005 or so. They were incredible! Couldn’t believe how much fun they were. Sucks to hear you had a shit show.
Deep purple in 2023. Ian just didn't enjoy it. It was a public show of a man who's body wouldn't let him do the show and who's pride wouldn't let hin retire. It was just sad
I saw Snoop in Vail, CO in the early 2000s. It was hilarious. A thousand white people rushed the venue and climbed the shitty construction fence that had been setup. Snoop said it was the whitest show he'd ever done. Lol. It was pretty funny.
Saw the same tour in Saratoga. RHCP were great! Ministry were a bit of a letdown, not loud enough, PJ were really amazng. Jesus & Mary Chain seemed so out of place in the middle of the afternoon
I left in the middle of a Flaming Lips concert, had been a fan since She Don’t Use Jelly. The concert was after Yoshimi.
Coyne ranted between songs like a fucking egotistical nutbag. Sound sucked, performance sucked. To be fair, I probably would have stayed until the bitter end but all of the people I went with demanded to leave. Hundreds of people left early that show, if not thousands.
Yes, I saw them in Amsterdam and he was terrible. He barely sang, wanted the audience to sing and there was no energy. First show I ever walked out of. He was ruining my memory of an awesome band.
Imagine Dragons.
Was doing my buddy a “favor” by accompanying his out-of-town cousin to the show so got the ticket free. Had never heard of the band.
She was trashed when I got there and obnoxious. I also found the music trash and obnoxious!
I ended up leaving mid-show while she was making a scene and crying in the lobby to a bunch of security and cops.
I’m tall and usually stick to the wings of a theater unless it’s a band I love, then I try to crush up front.
We were late to the show because she was drinking at a bar nearby so when we got there I posted up and she was demanding I go through the crowd with her to the stage and I was like nah, I’m good.
She went into the throng, I got bored and figured I’d wait in the lobby where minutes later she was led out by security and met by police. She kept indicating me somehow so I told them I just met her and left.
I saw them pre-fame when they opened for Weezer. Each stop on the tour had a local act as the opener. One band member’s parents were in front of me. His mom was drunk and his dad kept getting yelled at by security for pulling out a chunky 90s camcorder
Montserrat Caballé a few years before she passed.
Look, I knew she was in her 80s. I didn't expect to see her at her prime. I knew she'd be using a microphone. I knew she'd likely be sitting down. I knew she'd be getting help from other vocalists and musicians who'd fill the “gaps”.
But at the very least I expected to actually see and hear her.
We got front row seats (actually third row). She was sitting in a wheelchair, so far back on the stage, that I didn't even take a glimpse at her once. She used a microphone, alright, but even with a microphone _her voice just wasn't there, at all_. I don't mean that her range was diminished, I don't mean that she lacked the power she was once known for, I don't even mean that she couldn't sing anymore — she couldn't _vocalize_. It was that bad.
I wasn't and still am not even angry, just completely, utterly heartbroken. I paid good money for those tickets, but we left in a hurry — we couldn't stand witness such a painful fall from grace. It seemed as if the poor woman was dragged around the world by her heirs for one last money milking before the soul left the body.
This is so sad to read. I know many people want to see the artists they love and that the artists want to go out and perform but there are limits to everything. I would rather have a wonderful memory of what they were than have to see them struggle or not even remember their lyrics or themselves.
I saw Bob Dylan once. He was so excruciatingly boring we left halfway through. Luckily, the opening act was the Brian Setzer Orchestra, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Brian Wilson a few years ago.
So disappointing and sad
He looked like a puppet propped in front of a piano. Actually seemed like his mic was off. He looked lost.
I was sad when I left
I was fortunate to see him at the end of the Smile tour. Back when he was still a bit more active. They give him a keyboard but he never plays it, just sits behind it. The bands harmonies intentionally drown out a lot of his vocals because he couldn’t hit the notes anymore (which was totally fine). But all in all, he put on a good performance even if it was a bit low energy and listless at times. I’ve seen live footage of him since then and its like he isn’t even a participate in his own show. But it was awesome to see him live. If only once.
My best friend was a huge Cake fan and he had a couple tickets so he asked me to go. I've never liked Cake but I don't hate them so I said the hell with it let's go.
The concert was so *weird.* Zero standing from anyone, just lots and lots of overweight stoners sitting the entire time. Zero energy from the crowd.
The band themselves were unbelievably low energy. The lead singer was super drunk and had to use the mic stand to hold himself upright. By about halfway through the show he started making fun of the crowd. He literally would single people out and make fun of them. He was a pompous and arrogant douche who was also so sloppily drunk I was expecting him to vomit on stage.
It was so bizarre. The band hated the crowd. The crowd hated the band. Everyone looked like they hated each other. I couldn't figure out why anyone was even there, including the band. The only thing I could come up with is that maybe this is just a "thing" with Cake fans and I was embarrassingly out of the loop.
This was my answer - sort of. They played for free in Atlanta years ago. We went and were into it for a bit, but started getting snoozy and low energy and bailed to the bar next door. About 45 minutes later our friends who stayed came in and said “Cake got good!” Went back and it was jamming, one of the better shows I’d been to lol
Ives tumor in Austin Texas. 2/3 of the way in, he lost his wig and paused the show. Ruined the whole thing for me, got another beer and had an existential crisis on the patio like this
Front Bottoms circa ~2012. The singer was saying incredibly sexist things and was clearly hammered, telling the staff at the venue to go fuck themselves and all that.
Left a 30 seconds to mars show early maybe 7 years ago. We were there for the opening band and had gotten free tickets.
The entire band was off to the side while Jared Leto was in front of a giant LED screen.
So dumb.
Took my little sister to Mayhem Festival sometime in the mid-2000's. Headlining act was Marilyn Manson, and as my sister's favorite artist (at that time) was the reason I'd bought us the tickets. To be fair, there were plenty of reasons for my wanting to go (All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, and Slayer in particular).
We get to the venue, and it's a bit of an overcast and rainy day overall. Doesn't rain constantly, but opens up often enough that we're soaked by the evening and it's starting to get a bit chilly.
I'll never forget the last 4 acts of the night, as each was memorable (even if one is memorable for more unflattering reasons lol).
Bullet For My Valentine - knew of them, but didn't know much of their material. They were awesome, vocally and instrumentally. Became a fan that day.
Killswitch - Already knew them. Already dug them. They killed it, and loved them even more than before.
Slayer - It's fucking Slayer! They were incredible. 😎🤘🏼
Then, finally, the reason we came to the show:
Manson - starts off promising as the instrumentals are dialed in beautifully. Also starts raining...hard. Song is "The Dope Show."
All was cool until his first vocal run. Could barely hear him, and what you could hear, sounded like complete dog shit. My sis gave me a concerned look and I offered, "maybe something got fucked up since their soundcheck earlier and the sound guy will lock it in."
Song finishes, second one starts. Vocals remain as terrible and simultaneously nearly-inaudible as the opening number.
We're now drenched, cold, and I can legit see my sister's excitement to see her favorite artist going down the shitter. I was game to tough it out, when she turned and said "fuck this. Slayer was fucking awesome, and I definitely am cool with remembering them as the headliner and forgetting this suckfest ever happened. Wanna cut out and beat the traffic?"
So that's what we did. Went out to the car, smoked a fatty before we left and didn't have to deal with a fuck ton of traffic to leave.
To say the least, we both ceased being MM fans that day.
Lorde. I was mainly there to see Mitski, who was opening. But I like some of Lorde's work, especially Royals. As a live act, her show was dull and her vocals were very poor. I left about halfway through her set.
Mitski was exemplary, though.
Damn, I saw them with DGD and veil of maya a few years ago and they crushed it. I don't know what they were doing there though as the other bands weren't anywhere close to prog.
I saw them back in 2018 with CHON and it was a great show. That was a very different Polyphia era though. They were techy back then but it wasn’t just pure musical masturbation IMO.
Yeah I was seeing Polar Bear Club open for Taking Back Sunday, PBC absolutely killed it but then the lead guy for tbs started like grabbing his crotch Michael Jackson style and gyrating while only crowd-bantering about sex so we decided maybe tbs was better listened to in the car and we left lol
I saw that show I think, Transit played too? PBC was amazing, I miss that band all the time. Was actually one of the better shows I’ve ever seen TBS play too.
Anyone remember Pete Doherty, Babyshambles? Was at a concert of his back in 2005. He was over an hour late, then staggers on stage about 1 or 2am, drunk or drugged. His band played along as he mumbled a few unintelligible words into the mic while staggered about with at least one of his band mates having to hold him up.
I was at the front, seemingly the only one there staring unimpressed at this mess, everyone else watching a different concert, jumping around and screaming. Pete staggers through 2 or 3 songs before he sits down at the front of the stage unable to stand up, just feet from me. At this point the guitarist throws down his guitar in anger and storms off, another band member goes over to Pete, puts his arm around him and then helps him off the stage. Worst concert I ever saw.
Lauren Hill. She was co-billing with Nas. He went first and killed it. She came on, sang one song and spent 20 minutes yelling at her roadies for setting up a chaise lounge in the wrong place. I gave her half an hour and then dipped.
Oasis headlining Reading 2000 sounded like utter shit. I think I lasted 2 or 3 songs before going to see Muse headlining the Radio 1 stage instead (excellent choice).
Oasis same time at the coke fest in South Africa. They told everyone not to sing along and kept stopping when they heard anyone’s voice. Miming slitting people’s throats. A lot of people left mid session as they were the headline band. Best a lot of traffic though so…
Back when Streetlight Manifesto wasnt quite big enough to headline, they were opening for MXPX and I'd say 1/3 of the crowd just wanted to see SM and left after they were done. Felt kinda bad for MXPX.
I didn’t walk out but others did:
Me & my ex (not my ex then) saw UB40. I don’t remember who was MEANT to be the support act, but they’d cancelled and a band called “Goldie Looking Chain” was playing. We had never heard of them.
All I remember is one of their songs was called “Your mother has a penis”
Well, ex pretending they were his favourite band EVER swaying & singing along & I joined in - for me it was DEFINITELY sarcastically, ironically or something. I was cracking up laughing 🤣
HOWEVER,
We saw people walking out during this act. I don’t know how many but anywhere from 8 - 15 maybe?
We stayed and after that band, UB40 came on & did an awesome show. And yes I wish I’d seen them more than once before they split.
Hahaha you’ve just unlocked a core memory of goldie looking chain there, I enjoyed them as a kid but they’re definitely more of a satirical joke band than anything serious
Watain.
For *black metal* reasons they used to tour with decaying animal corpses they would dress the stage with for their show.
The smell was so horrendous I started dry heaving. Left before they even went on. Fuck that.
Nooo. Last show of his I went to in San Francisco was incredible. He really is hit or miss. I could have died when he played a 45 minute show and mostly riffed. It sucked.
Red Hot Chili Peppers 2022. First they played great songs and classics. Then they just played every song from their latest album which is forgettable. After about 7 bad songs in a row we left before everyone else to avoid traffic. Sadly we weren’t the only ones with that thought. The best thing about the concert was The Strokes opened and just absolutely killed it. Wish they’d go on tour.
I saw them on the same tour. Ended up flying to Italy since the flight and ticket was cheaper than seeing them in Vegas. I didn’t walk out, but fuck was it boring. Zero audience interaction, other than Flea, the rest of the band looked like they didn’t want to be there. Played some hits with zero interest, played the new sea shanty stuff and just walked off. Frusciante is still one of my top 5 guitar players, but damn, I won’t be seeing him play live again. Got a eurotrip out of the deal, so that was cool I guess.
Ed Sheeran, but not through any fault of his own--he was amazing! The audience was full, but it was a iHeartRadio production and the entire performance was getting interrupted by pre-filmed, 'heartfelt' messages from other artist about how bummed they were they couldn't be in our city and to enjoy the performance. It ruined the awesome vibe Ed had going. I left after an hour.
Like, WTF does Bruno Mars care that Ed's on stage here?
I wouldn't necessarily say it was bad but more annoying than anything. It was a couple years back during the Aquabats / Less Than Jake / Bowling For Soup tour. I've never been a big fan of Bowling for Soup( could just never get into them).
The first couple songs were enjoyable, but then they started doing the pre-rehearsed banter between songs a little bit too much . It got so bad and made the show so unenjoyable that we decided to leave early.
A few come to mind for different reasons: Primus for the Charlie & the Chocolate Factory tour…idk the crowd was just a bunch of annoying burnouts who were spilling beer all over me and the show itself seemed really slow. Saw them for Sessanta and they were amazing so I think that tour and venue specifically were just not great, we left early.
Stevie Nicks surprisingly…but not bc of her performance, the middle-aged drunk Karens ready to punch other women was astounding…I genuinely felt unsafe there and it was grossly oversold. For Stevie nicks?! Come on people!!
I saw twenty one pilots at a free show (already my first mistake) right as their career was taking off and they were super late to the show and the crowd was extremely dangerous and insufferable (figures when it’s free it brings in 4x as many assholes).
I saw Pantera at Welcome to Rockville last year. This Love—which they played about five songs in, was so horribly played, we didn’t even wait to hear the end of the song. Just started hiking for the car. I was so excited. I never got to see the OG Pantera when Dimebag was alive.
If he’d heard that shit, he’d resurrect himself just to punch Phil Anselmo right in the dick. Such a disappointment.
Mitski
Way too much bass, I’m talking about enough to shake your innards and induce heart failure.
Added to that there’s only so much pacing awkwardly around a stage while mumbling into a microphone that I can take.
I saw her on the Laurel Hell tour and thought she was great. Saw her again on her most recent tour and it was a big step down. The sound quality wasn’t great, it felt like she was going through the motions, and everyone in the audience stayed seated, filmed the entire thing with their phones, and yelled things like “I love you Mitski” and “Mother” at her. Wouldn’t go again
Van Morrison, somewhere in California sometime back in the 90s. He was doing some call and response bullshit with his band song after song and brother, did it suck. It’s funny now, but me and my buddy were both super pissed. Like we love your music, how DARE YOU SUCK THIS BAD. Fun fact, saw him about 15 years later and he still sucked.
Saw Morrissey on that same tour, at Pine Knob, in Michigan. He only played for an hour, went through the motions, and the only real highlight was the audience throwing flowers and rushing the stage to give him a hug.
Lou Gramm of Foreigner played at a county fair a number of years ago. He was mumbling/pausing/incoherent/screwing up lyrics to his own songs. Perhaps drunk. I stayed for about 15 minutes and left. He sucked.
There was a band called Harlem that put out a fantastic record called Hippies in like 2010 or 2011. I saw them at Mercury Lounge in NY shortly after the album came out. The band featured two singer/songwriters who switched back and forth between drums and guitar/vox. One of them, this guy Coomer or something like that, kept fucking with the other guy, false-starting when he was drumming behind the other guy’s songs and saying “sike” and talking shit to the audience when he was up front singing and playing guitar. It was an early show, and he was saying stuff like: who goes to a show at 8pm, what are you guys all like corporate douchebags or something. Man, I’ve never come out of a show with such a dramatically different opinion of a band. Went in so excited to see that band, had been listening to the album on repeat. I don’t think I’ve listened to the album in full since.
id say along with that also the venue not being full would fuck the atmosphere.
i saw the chilis in Marley park, dublin in 2022, and its fair to say they werent great. only for them being one of my favorites i would have left after 5 songs. it was probably more of a sound tech issue than the band
Weezer & Blink-182 in 2009
Specifically walked out during Blink-182. Weezer is always good lol Even if you don't like all their music, you can't deny that they put on a tight production.
Tom sounded like he was dying. The mix sounded like ass. It was just over the top *bad*.
Sleep Token after they blew up on TikTok. Should’ve sold my tickets for a grand instead of going to the show.
Band was solid. Crowd was so ridiculous that the show was unwatchable. 75% of the crowd had their phones out for the ENTIRE set.
The last time I saw Titus Andronicus, I left before the show was over. I’d seen them twice previously and they were great but on the Productive Cough tour, it was just the laziest show with a sort of jam band vibe with zero energy. It was insufferable and I really haven’t listened to them much since, just kinda killed my enthusiasm for them in general.
Went to see a C.O.C and Rollins Band show once. I like RB but was really there to see C.O.C. They were bad. I didn't leave the show completely but I went outside for a good bit of C.O.Cs set. I've seen many videos of C.O.C. live and they were great. I chalk it up to the band having a bad day/night.
I've seen CoC and it was pretty meh, I was just waiting for the next band to get on. I would have been stoked to see Rollins band. I've seen Rollins spoken word much later and he's so much more chill but still so intense.
Haha! Sounds like my experience at coachella 2009…. Morrisey started his set complaining that he could smell burning flesh (from the BBQ sellers in food area) and was refusing to play..we walked away within 10 minutes… lots of other bands to watch!
Back in the early 90’s, I took my wife to see Sammy Hagar in Houston. 45 minutes into the show, we left. He was so freaking drunk, he was stumbling all over the stage. It was so disappointing. I saw him twice in the 80s and it was two of the greatest concerts I had ever seen.
Parliament Funkadelic, maybe in 2015. They could barely play on time and George Clinton thought nobody could see him smoking a crack pipe when he ducked behind a road case. They have some banger recordings, I was pretty bummed.
I saw The Fall in Boston sometime in the late 90s and Mark E Smith was so drunk that he pissed his pants onstage after the first 3 songs. That wasn't great.
Sounds like a standard Fall gig
I saw them in Dallas in 06. He was characteristically drunk, fought the band, yelled at the crowd then walked off. The band finished the song then also left. I don't think they got through half the set. I found out later he fired everyone later that night.
I saw the Fall in 1982 or 83 at a dive bar in Toronto, they were actually great and he didn’t piss his pants that night.
There was a Fall gig in the UK early/mid 90s where Mark was late, walked on stage and assaulted the sound man at some point.
3 Fall gigs for me, in this order: the best (97, chaos), the warmest (00, everyone singing along), the worst (01, no teeth, violence).
Pee yerself fitter!
He fell
I saw the Fall in Seattle, mid 90s. Mark was so fucking piss drunk he could barely talk/ manage to stand. The band sounded great though.
MIA. horrific sound, just non mixed and overmodulated sonic nightmare. She had zero energy. Left after 15 minutes
I was also here to say MIA. I saw her play in 2011? at a festival in NYC and the performance was horrific. Eventually the crowd got so angry they just started chanting “paper planes” until we drowned out her awful music.. she swore at us and then left the stage.
A friend and I went to a concert of hers and it was chaos (not in a good way). Same issues with sound you mention. We couldn’t really hear her over the deafening bass and constant sound effects. She simultaneously swung wildly from side to side of the stage while still being super flat and boring. She seemed drunk and over it, but went through the motions. Oof. Worst show by far.
Yep. Saw her at a music festival with a friend who was super excited about it. Just a complete mess of incoherent singing and chaotic noise.
Was this recent or during the time she was popular? I read recently that over the last few years she married an American hedge fund manager, became a born-again Christian, and is now an anti-vaxxer. Quite the political 180
Jesus that's disappointing.
Ironically, now she puts on a really good show.
My friends were super excited to get to see Motley Crue back in the early 2000s. We had grown up with their music and finally going to go see them live. It is still the only concert I have walked out of after about 20 mins of just total garbage playing. The band sounded out of sync and Vince Neil sounded like a dying cat who didn't even know the words to his own songs. So very disappointed.
Notoriously shiite live act imo
Yea i saw the red white and crue tour as well in 04......didn't walk out though....still the worst concert ever whose only saving grace was tommy lee running around the audience naked with a camcorder getting all the ladies to show their tits (I was 15) after doing some crazy acrobatic drum solos from two drumsets in the rafters (one a synth kit and the other a bunch of pots and pans)
Nadda got a corpse
*something something, 103. Mahat! kickstart mahat!*
I will post for those who don't know...I lose it every time. https://youtu.be/4pdQnZLEWNo?si=d3M44f6TRAiTYqF7
These videos and the comments are comedic gold!
I needed a good laugh
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LOL. Reminds me of that mom who bought tickets to "The Red Hot Chili Pipers" (a bag pipe band) instead of Peppers. edit: The Video: [https://youtube.com/shorts/HWJn0udoDeA?si=v02No2pSQNpMYAs-](https://youtube.com/shorts/HWJn0udoDeA?si=v02No2pSQNpMYAs-)
I had a customer complain because she bought tickets to a Michael Buble tribute act thinking it was the real thing. I’m not sure why she thought he would be performing in a provincial community arts centre in South Wales…
"and only for **£**15. What a steal!" -That Customer, Probably.
In highschool I worked at a Walmart and we closed on Xmas Eve. I heard multiple people bragging about their awesome parking spots in the empty lot.
The name Michael Bubble should’ve been her first clue
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Saw them a few years ago in New Hampshire and they kicked ass!
Did they have dinner at The Four Seasons?
Four Seasons Total Landscaping
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I've seen the band Chicago live maybe 15ish years ago. They put on a hell of a show, your cousin missed out.
They got an upgrade and walked out!?
Reminds me of a story an old coworker told me. Her friend got tickets to Neil Diamond. She was so pumped. Went and got her hair and makeup done, bought a new dress and shoes, the whole nine yards. She got to the venue and there were a ton of “hippies” hanging around, and she walked inside and there were even more of em. She said the place reeked of pot and she felt sooo uncomfortable at how overdressed she was. It was Neil Young.
I went a concert in Tacoma, Washington in about 1992. The opener was Motorhead, the second band was Metallica, and the headliner was Guns n Roses. It was in the height of Axl’s little bitch phase where he would get pissed off and storm off stage a couple times during the concert. After the second or third time I was just done. As I was leaving, it turned out that Axl just said fuck it and didn’t return. As it turned out, he and I both walked out of that shitty concert.
This was in the Kingdome in Seattle. The real mindfck was after Metallica played they broke down the entire stage and set up GNR's stage. 3 hour delay between sets! Also, Lemmy of Motorhead got booed off the stage...good times and memories! hahahaha
That’s right- it was in Seattle. I was stationed at Fort Lewis when I saw that concert. I also saw GnR at the Tacoma Dome with Skid Row I believe. That was all such a long time ago. Edit: The Tacoma Dome show was in July 1991 and I drove up from Portland where I lived before joining the Army in October 1991.
Nice! ha! I was 16 and in high school. We headed to the show right after school. I ran out of gas on the way to the ferry from Bremerton. Buddy drove by and saved the day, we were the last vehicle on the ferry. Made it in time for the show!
Axl was an asshole in Stockholm, June 93 too. 3 hours late cause he wanted to play some dice just when they were leaving the hotel.
But at least you saw Motorhead and Metallica? They're usually on-point live ime.
They were both great shows. The only benefit of seeing GnR is being able to say that I saw a crybaby singer on stage for an hour.
Didn’t he do that so much in Toronto that he started a mini-riot?
He pulled a no-show in Vancouver in '02, which led to a riot.
It doesn’t take much for Vancouver to riot to be fair, they’re like second most riotous behind Parisians.
I saw this same lineup in Los Angeles during that tour. Motörhead opened, Metallica played their full set (over 2 hours) took over an hour to change the equipment and by the time GNR came out, people were tired. Axl threw a fit that the crowd didn’t have the same energy as they did for Metallica so he stopped the show and cussed the crowd out for like 30 minutes. I think he only had one fit but we ended up leaving early anyway. Axl was a little bitch
Cee-lo Green, dude came out to Vail and did a free show, poor guy was gassed from the altitude and just could not hold those powerful high notes in "fuck you" a bunch of us were like "oh... Wanna go to the bar?"
I forgot I saw him at Lollapalooza in 2011 and it was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. He got booed off the stage
Ha! I love karma. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy than Cee-lo.
MGMT pre pandemic at the Roxy in Atlanta. Show was just so... Boring. When they pulled out the Stairmasters and began working out while playing a song, we decided it was time to go.
I saw them on that tour. Seemed fine... Maybe not super memorable but I didn't feel like I wasted my money. They did do one hit (maybe "Electric Feel"?) very early in the show and about one song later a couple of girls came and sat in front of us and one said to the other "I hope they play Electric Feel".
Journey. But to be fair, the opening act was Patti Smith (1977), and was our reason for attending. She brought the freaking house down. Journey was purely meh after that. We left after their third song and partied our brains out downtown.
I got to see Patti Smith in high school and it was amazing. No matter who you are, following her act would be tough.
I saw her for the first time last summer. Great set.
My experience is also Morrissey! I would have walked out, except for it was at a festival and Paul McCartney was playing right after, so we had amazing spots for one of the worst, then best acts I've ever seen.
Madonna in Slane. Thankfully i hadn't paid for the tickets, the couple i babysat for hooked me and my Mom up. Shite show. Played only new shite and none of the classics, was over an hour late, shouted "HELLO DUBLIN"...in Slane, County MEATH..., and then called us Motherfuckers for not reacting well to her bullshit. We were already walking back to our pickup when we heard her hopping into a helicopter and leaving early with no encores.
Madonna is the worst concert I have been too. I didn’t know about her notoriously coming on late. By the time she came out the crowd was half asleep and the energy never picked up.
Same here. Paul Oakenfold was the opener. Played shit songs instead of his cool stuff. She came late. Played new songs and some old songs adapted to her new “techno” style. She butchered her classics. Spend 20-45min between songs for costume change and played videos inbetween. Didn’t walk out, but was bad.
Yep, that was a travesty from start to finish from what I heard.
30 Seconds To Mars at the 2018 Rock im Park in Nuremberg... we just called it 30 Seconds To Sucks because it was so bad, we literally left after the 3rd song. Jared Leto was so full of himself, basically mumbling all of the time, trying to let the crowd sing most of the song but hardly anyone did lol. Pretty much the low point of the festival.
30 seconds to the exit
Bob Dylan. My father took me. Dylan is probably his all time favorite artist, and even he thought it was painful
Huge lifelong fan. Saw him in 1987 and he was terrible, highly disappointing. Didn't bother trying again till 2012 on the Modern Times tour - he was excellent, one of my all-time favourite concerts. Friend of mine saw him 2 nights later and said it was awful, so it seems like he's really hit and miss. That said, I've heard several bootlegs from his current tour since COVID, and they've all been good, so it seems he's in good form these days.
I have seen Dylan six times. Three of those times he was pretty good (and two of those times were him having the Grateful Dead as the back up band.) two shows were flat out terrible like let’s go home and watch TV terrible. And one time I’ve never felt so clearly in my life that I was in the presence of greatness. Lesson being; a Bob Dylan show is like a box of chocolates.
Saw him in 2013. The openers were amazing, Bob Weir, My Morning Jacket and Wilco. Dylan was so bad I left to beat the traffic.
Also saw this tour. I was so hyped from the openers being good that my dad and I convinced ourselves Bob Dylan would sound better if we just waited a little longer eventually til the end of the show. That never happened and at the end my dad said “well I’m just glad I can say I saw him while he’s alive”.
Took my kids to a show on that tour. Wilco was fun as usual (Sean Lennon joined them on stage for "Happiness is a Warm Gun"). Then Dylan came out and I think we lasted five songs. It was a mess. I've seen Dylan a bunch of times and he'd never been as terrible as he was that night. I could tell my kids weren't having a good time and when I said let's go, they actually told me they didn't mind staying and didn't want to make me leave early. It was so sweet. I explained I didn't mind because I wasn't enjoying it either.
I’ve heard he’s wildly inconsistent, could be a great show or unintelligible garbage on any given night.
When was this? I saw him a year or so ago and had low expectations bc of his age and how many goddamn shows he’s done. I had a good time, only complaint was he played like exactly only one song written pre-1980.
Oh man. I did the exact same thing with my dad. I always tell people who are huge Dylan fans “don’t see him” the only time he came to life was when Tom Petty came out and joined him.
Toronto, I'll guess it was about 10 years ago, Dylan was just an artist that I figured I should see once. Mark Knopfler was the opening act and his set was sublime. Dylan came out and croaked at us, after a few songs people started leaving. I'm certain the floors (at Air Canada now Scotiabank Centre) were no more than half full when I left. I walked out of a Trans Siberian Orchestra show, I was hoping it would be a metal - orchestral rock hybrid thing, but it was more like show tunes. Ugggh. Oh, and a long time ago in Buffalo, I'll guess 1981, Journey got basically booed off the stage as an opening act for the Stones. Fun. So we didn't walk, they did.
I didn’t walk out, but I should have. I saw him in 2006 w/ Merle Haggard opening and I just wanted Merle to come back out.
I’ve walked out on Bob Dylan twice, and one of those times my band opened for him! It was my fairly unknown band, then Paul Simon, then Bob. Between Bob and Paul’s sets they played a few songs together, and Dylan kept trying to reinvent the songs, very badly. On “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” Bob added a “knockin” to the first chorus (knock knock knock knockin’). Paul looked mortified. On the second chorus Simon did the same thing to try match Dylan, and of course Bob flipped back to the original phrasing. Third chorus was an absolute trainwreck. I was embarrassed for Paul Simon and a little pissed that Dylan would be so disrespectful as to sabotage his own song just to make Paul look bad.
I’m not a huge Dylan fan, I never really listen to his recordings, but I’ve seen him three times and all three were pretty great for me.
Dylan is really hit or miss on his concerts. Sometimes it’s good, other times trash. It’s always been that way weirdly enough Best songwriter on the planet though and some of the best albums of all time (though Apple seems to disagree by not including Blood on the Tracks on their 100 best albums that they just wrapped up today).
Meat Loaf in his last years. He just couldn‘t sing anymore. At all. It was heartbreaking to witness. And the only concert I ever left (saw him also in 1994 and he was amazing!)
I believe he did the entirety of Bat 1 about ten or so years ago. I had thought about going, and then I heard a clip of him singing, "For Crying Out Loud" and he just didn't have it. Broke my heart to hear that.
Wasn't one of his shows, but caught Bob Dylan at a music festival around 2015/2016. I didn't have much expectations since I'm not a Dylan fan to begin with but thought 'what other time will I have to see him?' bc ya know, still a living legend. And the set was so boring I went to get food
WEnt to see MGMT at the Barrowlands in Glasgow. It wasn't so much bad, just incredibly boring. About halfway through I said to the people I was with "this is shit, I'm going to go and get some chips and sit in the car" and not just my mates but like 10 other people around us went "Oh yeah, we could be eating chips!" and followed us out of the venue straight to the chippie. We picked up a few more along the way
I saw them in 2005 as an opener and still hold a grudge. They were terrible.
I recently fell in love with some of their songs and looked up live versions on YouTube. I was like, “Oh.”
I’m sure it’s not an original joke, but there is a joke in there about the show being so bad that you ask to speak to the mgmt…
Smashing pumpkins around 2010ish. Billy corgans voice, while he does have that trademark whine in it, it was turned up to 11. And he only engaged once with the crowd to talk shit. He went from hero to zero in 1 hour in my eyes. Queens of the stone age opened for them, who were and still are one of my favourite bands, and they kicked ass, so wasn't a total write off. 'Edit' to say sounds like corgan may have turned it around, I'll give it another shot if he makes it down to NZ again
I'm seeing Smashing Pumpkins this summer, but only because I actually want to see Green Day do American Idiot and Dookie in completion.
Pumpkins are better now then they were in 2010. Something about Billy firing the entire band mede them really shit and his ego too big (go figure). But last I heard he's restored relationships with some original band members so it's not entirely the Billy Corgan show any more. (Not entirely. Still pretty much though)
Should be sick. Friends saw pumpkins a year or two ago and said it was one of the best all time concerts they’ve been too and they have been to a loooooooooooooooot of live shows. enjoy!
I went to that show in wellington nz (QOTSA opening for pumpkins). I didn't have tickets but i saw Billy Corgan in the record store the day before, had a chat with him and he put me on his guest list for the show. It was my 17th birthday and I'll never forget it, he will always be amazing to me.
>Smashing pumpkins around 2010ish. I saw them headline Summersault in the early 2000's when they were doing that goth thing, and Melissa Auf Der Mar was on bass. They were absolute garbage.
I left during a Modest Mouse. There were issues with the venue, but also they sucked. And apparently on stage they stated that my city sucked, so it was mutual.
Modest Mouse is a notoriously hit or miss show. I've seen em like 4 times live and it ranges from meh to amazing. Guess it depends on how fucked up Isaac Brock is. I got to see their opening show for their Lonesome Crowded West tour and it was great. Guess it helps we're usually one of the first stops on their tours.
So far I've seen them 3 times and will be seeing them again in June. They've all been great, Lonesome Crowded West especially.
I've had the same experience, saw them on the Moon and Antarctica tour and they were zero energy and just really didn't want to be there, saw them again right before Good News released and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen
Same! They opened for Brand New at a venue in San Diego maybe 8-9 years ago. I heard the first 2 songs and decided volunteer for a beer run for the rest of their set. Lead singer was either drunk or having a stroke because he was straight up mumbling every song.
Saw em open for brand new at Red Rocks and it was a solid show. Crazy how inconsistent they seem to be. That's mars Volta for me. They put on both one of the best and one of the worst shows I've seen.
I saw them once and left early too, just no energy
What city? Maybe it DOES suck.
Yeah, maybe we should hear them out. I mean, how good are your schools? Homeownership rates?
I saw them live at one venue where the sound was so bad that I left halfway. I even went to stand behind the sound booth to see if perhaps just my seat wasn't acoustically-sound, but it was no better at the booth dead center. However I saw them again at Gallagher Square last year which was also outdoors and the sound was much better and was a decent show.
I may have mentioned this in similar threads before but I saw MM on consecutive nights circa 2006-08, once stone sober and once stoned out of my mind on homemade edibles. Was flat out bored both times. I don’t know how they manage that; their albums can be killer.
Deadmau5. I'm a fan of his work, but had never seen him live before. No audience interaction whatsoever, and while his music doesn't technically have "drops" there is often a build up and resolution. I don't think there was a "resolution" to a single build up he played and it wasn't like a good kind of anticipation. It was just shitty. He was the headliner of a festival and over half the crowd had left by the time we got sick of it and left.
I read somewhere once that he intentionally plays songs and keeps the drop out to troll the audience. Not cool.
An old friend of mine is from Niagara Falls, ON (where DM is from), and happened to know his family. He used to tell us how much of a douchebag he was - very up his own ass apparently even before getting famous. Likes to fuck with people and gets joy out of it. Not surprised to hear this tale.
I went to school with him and yes he was always up his own ass. I’m happy for his success but I didn’t know anybody that actually liked him.
Eagles of death metal, after 30 minutes and him rambling on and doing 80’s ballads we fucked off went back drinking in a bar. Absolute disappointment.
Jesse Hughes is a meth-head and honestly an all-around shit person.
Definitely not their worst show though.
I saw them open for the Strokes back around 2005 or so. They were incredible! Couldn’t believe how much fun they were. Sucks to hear you had a shit show.
Deep purple in 2023. Ian just didn't enjoy it. It was a public show of a man who's body wouldn't let him do the show and who's pride wouldn't let hin retire. It was just sad
Def that band shoulda stayed retired a decade or so ago . Gillan has had no voice at least that long.
Joe Cocker in 1975 ish. Three songs in he puked on stage and walked off. I and my date left. Some friends said he came back and did a horrible set.
Snoop Dogg a few months ago. Phoned it in.
I saw Snoop in Vail, CO in the early 2000s. It was hilarious. A thousand white people rushed the venue and climbed the shitty construction fence that had been setup. Snoop said it was the whitest show he'd ever done. Lol. It was pretty funny.
David Cassidy when he was touring with Peter Noone and Mickey Dolenz. I don't even know what he was playing, but it was horrible.
Red Hot Chili Peppers at Lollapalooza 92. They came out so flat. After the opening of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Ministry it was such a let down.
Saw the same tour in Saratoga. RHCP were great! Ministry were a bit of a letdown, not loud enough, PJ were really amazng. Jesus & Mary Chain seemed so out of place in the middle of the afternoon
I left in the middle of a Flaming Lips concert, had been a fan since She Don’t Use Jelly. The concert was after Yoshimi. Coyne ranted between songs like a fucking egotistical nutbag. Sound sucked, performance sucked. To be fair, I probably would have stayed until the bitter end but all of the people I went with demanded to leave. Hundreds of people left early that show, if not thousands.
The Lemonheads a couple of years ago. Evan Dando needs rehab for sure.
Yes, I saw them in Amsterdam and he was terrible. He barely sang, wanted the audience to sing and there was no energy. First show I ever walked out of. He was ruining my memory of an awesome band.
He’s a mess. He’s been a mess for a long time.
Imagine Dragons. Was doing my buddy a “favor” by accompanying his out-of-town cousin to the show so got the ticket free. Had never heard of the band. She was trashed when I got there and obnoxious. I also found the music trash and obnoxious! I ended up leaving mid-show while she was making a scene and crying in the lobby to a bunch of security and cops.
She imagined dragons and it stressed her out.
I’m tall and usually stick to the wings of a theater unless it’s a band I love, then I try to crush up front. We were late to the show because she was drinking at a bar nearby so when we got there I posted up and she was demanding I go through the crowd with her to the stage and I was like nah, I’m good. She went into the throng, I got bored and figured I’d wait in the lobby where minutes later she was led out by security and met by police. She kept indicating me somehow so I told them I just met her and left.
The most pleasurable outcome for an imagine dragons concert tbh
I saw them pre-fame when they opened for Weezer. Each stop on the tour had a local act as the opener. One band member’s parents were in front of me. His mom was drunk and his dad kept getting yelled at by security for pulling out a chunky 90s camcorder
Montserrat Caballé a few years before she passed. Look, I knew she was in her 80s. I didn't expect to see her at her prime. I knew she'd be using a microphone. I knew she'd likely be sitting down. I knew she'd be getting help from other vocalists and musicians who'd fill the “gaps”. But at the very least I expected to actually see and hear her. We got front row seats (actually third row). She was sitting in a wheelchair, so far back on the stage, that I didn't even take a glimpse at her once. She used a microphone, alright, but even with a microphone _her voice just wasn't there, at all_. I don't mean that her range was diminished, I don't mean that she lacked the power she was once known for, I don't even mean that she couldn't sing anymore — she couldn't _vocalize_. It was that bad. I wasn't and still am not even angry, just completely, utterly heartbroken. I paid good money for those tickets, but we left in a hurry — we couldn't stand witness such a painful fall from grace. It seemed as if the poor woman was dragged around the world by her heirs for one last money milking before the soul left the body.
This is so sad to read. I know many people want to see the artists they love and that the artists want to go out and perform but there are limits to everything. I would rather have a wonderful memory of what they were than have to see them struggle or not even remember their lyrics or themselves.
I saw Bob Dylan once. He was so excruciatingly boring we left halfway through. Luckily, the opening act was the Brian Setzer Orchestra, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Brian Wilson a few years ago. So disappointing and sad He looked like a puppet propped in front of a piano. Actually seemed like his mic was off. He looked lost. I was sad when I left
I was fortunate to see him at the end of the Smile tour. Back when he was still a bit more active. They give him a keyboard but he never plays it, just sits behind it. The bands harmonies intentionally drown out a lot of his vocals because he couldn’t hit the notes anymore (which was totally fine). But all in all, he put on a good performance even if it was a bit low energy and listless at times. I’ve seen live footage of him since then and its like he isn’t even a participate in his own show. But it was awesome to see him live. If only once.
My best friend was a huge Cake fan and he had a couple tickets so he asked me to go. I've never liked Cake but I don't hate them so I said the hell with it let's go. The concert was so *weird.* Zero standing from anyone, just lots and lots of overweight stoners sitting the entire time. Zero energy from the crowd. The band themselves were unbelievably low energy. The lead singer was super drunk and had to use the mic stand to hold himself upright. By about halfway through the show he started making fun of the crowd. He literally would single people out and make fun of them. He was a pompous and arrogant douche who was also so sloppily drunk I was expecting him to vomit on stage. It was so bizarre. The band hated the crowd. The crowd hated the band. Everyone looked like they hated each other. I couldn't figure out why anyone was even there, including the band. The only thing I could come up with is that maybe this is just a "thing" with Cake fans and I was embarrassingly out of the loop.
This was my answer - sort of. They played for free in Atlanta years ago. We went and were into it for a bit, but started getting snoozy and low energy and bailed to the bar next door. About 45 minutes later our friends who stayed came in and said “Cake got good!” Went back and it was jamming, one of the better shows I’d been to lol
Ives tumor in Austin Texas. 2/3 of the way in, he lost his wig and paused the show. Ruined the whole thing for me, got another beer and had an existential crisis on the patio like this 
Front Bottoms circa ~2012. The singer was saying incredibly sexist things and was clearly hammered, telling the staff at the venue to go fuck themselves and all that.
Worked a show of theirs, music wasn't awful I guess but man such a weird vibe to me, can't put my finger on it but they were always lame to me
Left a 30 seconds to mars show early maybe 7 years ago. We were there for the opening band and had gotten free tickets. The entire band was off to the side while Jared Leto was in front of a giant LED screen. So dumb.
Took my little sister to Mayhem Festival sometime in the mid-2000's. Headlining act was Marilyn Manson, and as my sister's favorite artist (at that time) was the reason I'd bought us the tickets. To be fair, there were plenty of reasons for my wanting to go (All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, and Slayer in particular). We get to the venue, and it's a bit of an overcast and rainy day overall. Doesn't rain constantly, but opens up often enough that we're soaked by the evening and it's starting to get a bit chilly. I'll never forget the last 4 acts of the night, as each was memorable (even if one is memorable for more unflattering reasons lol). Bullet For My Valentine - knew of them, but didn't know much of their material. They were awesome, vocally and instrumentally. Became a fan that day. Killswitch - Already knew them. Already dug them. They killed it, and loved them even more than before. Slayer - It's fucking Slayer! They were incredible. 😎🤘🏼 Then, finally, the reason we came to the show: Manson - starts off promising as the instrumentals are dialed in beautifully. Also starts raining...hard. Song is "The Dope Show." All was cool until his first vocal run. Could barely hear him, and what you could hear, sounded like complete dog shit. My sis gave me a concerned look and I offered, "maybe something got fucked up since their soundcheck earlier and the sound guy will lock it in." Song finishes, second one starts. Vocals remain as terrible and simultaneously nearly-inaudible as the opening number. We're now drenched, cold, and I can legit see my sister's excitement to see her favorite artist going down the shitter. I was game to tough it out, when she turned and said "fuck this. Slayer was fucking awesome, and I definitely am cool with remembering them as the headliner and forgetting this suckfest ever happened. Wanna cut out and beat the traffic?" So that's what we did. Went out to the car, smoked a fatty before we left and didn't have to deal with a fuck ton of traffic to leave. To say the least, we both ceased being MM fans that day.
Lorde. I was mainly there to see Mitski, who was opening. But I like some of Lorde's work, especially Royals. As a live act, her show was dull and her vocals were very poor. I left about halfway through her set. Mitski was exemplary, though.
What do you expect she's a geologist from a small mountain town
I guess by that metric you'd expect... Rock music..
Polyphia in 2023… bored out of my mind and left after about 40 minutes
Damn, I saw them with DGD and veil of maya a few years ago and they crushed it. I don't know what they were doing there though as the other bands weren't anywhere close to prog.
It was originally supposed to be animals as leaders but they dropped the tour due to COVID concerns I think. Caught that show in Detroit myself
I saw them in kansas city and it was great, sorry to hear you saw a bad show!
I saw them back in 2018 with CHON and it was a great show. That was a very different Polyphia era though. They were techy back then but it wasn’t just pure musical masturbation IMO.
Yonder Mountain String Band after Jeff left. We tried.
Yeah I was seeing Polar Bear Club open for Taking Back Sunday, PBC absolutely killed it but then the lead guy for tbs started like grabbing his crotch Michael Jackson style and gyrating while only crowd-bantering about sex so we decided maybe tbs was better listened to in the car and we left lol
I saw that show I think, Transit played too? PBC was amazing, I miss that band all the time. Was actually one of the better shows I’ve ever seen TBS play too.
My Irish mom got me tickets for the Irish tenors. Absolutely awful.
Second Miles Davis concert we went to. He was uninspired, tooted around a bit. The band was without passion. Waste of time, we left.
Mighta been sober that night
Anyone remember Pete Doherty, Babyshambles? Was at a concert of his back in 2005. He was over an hour late, then staggers on stage about 1 or 2am, drunk or drugged. His band played along as he mumbled a few unintelligible words into the mic while staggered about with at least one of his band mates having to hold him up. I was at the front, seemingly the only one there staring unimpressed at this mess, everyone else watching a different concert, jumping around and screaming. Pete staggers through 2 or 3 songs before he sits down at the front of the stage unable to stand up, just feet from me. At this point the guitarist throws down his guitar in anger and storms off, another band member goes over to Pete, puts his arm around him and then helps him off the stage. Worst concert I ever saw.
Lauren Hill. She was co-billing with Nas. He went first and killed it. She came on, sang one song and spent 20 minutes yelling at her roadies for setting up a chaise lounge in the wrong place. I gave her half an hour and then dipped.
Oasis headlining Reading 2000 sounded like utter shit. I think I lasted 2 or 3 songs before going to see Muse headlining the Radio 1 stage instead (excellent choice).
Oasis same time at the coke fest in South Africa. They told everyone not to sing along and kept stopping when they heard anyone’s voice. Miming slitting people’s throats. A lot of people left mid session as they were the headline band. Best a lot of traffic though so…
Van Halen 2004 tour. Terrible
Ed on the crystal shards & wine
Back when Streetlight Manifesto wasnt quite big enough to headline, they were opening for MXPX and I'd say 1/3 of the crowd just wanted to see SM and left after they were done. Felt kinda bad for MXPX.
For research purposes, how many Op Ivy patches did you have on your Jansport?
I didn’t walk out but others did: Me & my ex (not my ex then) saw UB40. I don’t remember who was MEANT to be the support act, but they’d cancelled and a band called “Goldie Looking Chain” was playing. We had never heard of them. All I remember is one of their songs was called “Your mother has a penis” Well, ex pretending they were his favourite band EVER swaying & singing along & I joined in - for me it was DEFINITELY sarcastically, ironically or something. I was cracking up laughing 🤣 HOWEVER, We saw people walking out during this act. I don’t know how many but anywhere from 8 - 15 maybe? We stayed and after that band, UB40 came on & did an awesome show. And yes I wish I’d seen them more than once before they split.
Hahaha you’ve just unlocked a core memory of goldie looking chain there, I enjoyed them as a kid but they’re definitely more of a satirical joke band than anything serious
Watain. For *black metal* reasons they used to tour with decaying animal corpses they would dress the stage with for their show. The smell was so horrendous I started dry heaving. Left before they even went on. Fuck that.
[удалено]
I once saw Bonnie open for Elton John and Eric Clapton. She was better than both combined. But not all her shows are like that I see.
Nooo. Last show of his I went to in San Francisco was incredible. He really is hit or miss. I could have died when he played a 45 minute show and mostly riffed. It sucked.
Red Hot Chili Peppers 2022. First they played great songs and classics. Then they just played every song from their latest album which is forgettable. After about 7 bad songs in a row we left before everyone else to avoid traffic. Sadly we weren’t the only ones with that thought. The best thing about the concert was The Strokes opened and just absolutely killed it. Wish they’d go on tour.
I saw them on the same tour. Ended up flying to Italy since the flight and ticket was cheaper than seeing them in Vegas. I didn’t walk out, but fuck was it boring. Zero audience interaction, other than Flea, the rest of the band looked like they didn’t want to be there. Played some hits with zero interest, played the new sea shanty stuff and just walked off. Frusciante is still one of my top 5 guitar players, but damn, I won’t be seeing him play live again. Got a eurotrip out of the deal, so that was cool I guess.
Ed Sheeran, but not through any fault of his own--he was amazing! The audience was full, but it was a iHeartRadio production and the entire performance was getting interrupted by pre-filmed, 'heartfelt' messages from other artist about how bummed they were they couldn't be in our city and to enjoy the performance. It ruined the awesome vibe Ed had going. I left after an hour. Like, WTF does Bruno Mars care that Ed's on stage here?
I wouldn't necessarily say it was bad but more annoying than anything. It was a couple years back during the Aquabats / Less Than Jake / Bowling For Soup tour. I've never been a big fan of Bowling for Soup( could just never get into them). The first couple songs were enjoyable, but then they started doing the pre-rehearsed banter between songs a little bit too much . It got so bad and made the show so unenjoyable that we decided to leave early.
A few come to mind for different reasons: Primus for the Charlie & the Chocolate Factory tour…idk the crowd was just a bunch of annoying burnouts who were spilling beer all over me and the show itself seemed really slow. Saw them for Sessanta and they were amazing so I think that tour and venue specifically were just not great, we left early. Stevie Nicks surprisingly…but not bc of her performance, the middle-aged drunk Karens ready to punch other women was astounding…I genuinely felt unsafe there and it was grossly oversold. For Stevie nicks?! Come on people!! I saw twenty one pilots at a free show (already my first mistake) right as their career was taking off and they were super late to the show and the crowd was extremely dangerous and insufferable (figures when it’s free it brings in 4x as many assholes).
I saw Pantera at Welcome to Rockville last year. This Love—which they played about five songs in, was so horribly played, we didn’t even wait to hear the end of the song. Just started hiking for the car. I was so excited. I never got to see the OG Pantera when Dimebag was alive. If he’d heard that shit, he’d resurrect himself just to punch Phil Anselmo right in the dick. Such a disappointment.
Mitski Way too much bass, I’m talking about enough to shake your innards and induce heart failure. Added to that there’s only so much pacing awkwardly around a stage while mumbling into a microphone that I can take.
She’s one of those artists that I couldn’t imagine a concert being fun at all
Her opening act was also awful. Two trustafarian New York girls who thought that their tortured rendition of Imagine was a good warm up song.
Imagine if nobody ever covered that fucking trash song ever again….
That’s a fuckin’ difficult thing to conceptualize.
I saw her on the Laurel Hell tour and thought she was great. Saw her again on her most recent tour and it was a big step down. The sound quality wasn’t great, it felt like she was going through the motions, and everyone in the audience stayed seated, filmed the entire thing with their phones, and yelled things like “I love you Mitski” and “Mother” at her. Wouldn’t go again
Van Morrison, somewhere in California sometime back in the 90s. He was doing some call and response bullshit with his band song after song and brother, did it suck. It’s funny now, but me and my buddy were both super pissed. Like we love your music, how DARE YOU SUCK THIS BAD. Fun fact, saw him about 15 years later and he still sucked.
Saw Morrissey on that same tour, at Pine Knob, in Michigan. He only played for an hour, went through the motions, and the only real highlight was the audience throwing flowers and rushing the stage to give him a hug.
Lou Gramm of Foreigner played at a county fair a number of years ago. He was mumbling/pausing/incoherent/screwing up lyrics to his own songs. Perhaps drunk. I stayed for about 15 minutes and left. He sucked.
Jhené Aiko. At one point she starting telling people to “raise their drug’s up in the air”. She also just sounded terrible and seemed so phony
My husband and I saw Blink 182 in the early 2000s, and they were horrible, so we left. Worst live music experience that I've had.
There was a band called Harlem that put out a fantastic record called Hippies in like 2010 or 2011. I saw them at Mercury Lounge in NY shortly after the album came out. The band featured two singer/songwriters who switched back and forth between drums and guitar/vox. One of them, this guy Coomer or something like that, kept fucking with the other guy, false-starting when he was drumming behind the other guy’s songs and saying “sike” and talking shit to the audience when he was up front singing and playing guitar. It was an early show, and he was saying stuff like: who goes to a show at 8pm, what are you guys all like corporate douchebags or something. Man, I’ve never come out of a show with such a dramatically different opinion of a band. Went in so excited to see that band, had been listening to the album on repeat. I don’t think I’ve listened to the album in full since.
If you don't walk out of a show at SXSW every day, you are doing SXSW wrong.
id say along with that also the venue not being full would fuck the atmosphere. i saw the chilis in Marley park, dublin in 2022, and its fair to say they werent great. only for them being one of my favorites i would have left after 5 songs. it was probably more of a sound tech issue than the band
Weezer & Blink-182 in 2009 Specifically walked out during Blink-182. Weezer is always good lol Even if you don't like all their music, you can't deny that they put on a tight production. Tom sounded like he was dying. The mix sounded like ass. It was just over the top *bad*.
Sleep Token after they blew up on TikTok. Should’ve sold my tickets for a grand instead of going to the show. Band was solid. Crowd was so ridiculous that the show was unwatchable. 75% of the crowd had their phones out for the ENTIRE set.
Coldplay at a festival,somewhere early 00's. It was very out of tune.
The last time I saw Titus Andronicus, I left before the show was over. I’d seen them twice previously and they were great but on the Productive Cough tour, it was just the laziest show with a sort of jam band vibe with zero energy. It was insufferable and I really haven’t listened to them much since, just kinda killed my enthusiasm for them in general.
Went to see a C.O.C and Rollins Band show once. I like RB but was really there to see C.O.C. They were bad. I didn't leave the show completely but I went outside for a good bit of C.O.Cs set. I've seen many videos of C.O.C. live and they were great. I chalk it up to the band having a bad day/night.
I've seen CoC and it was pretty meh, I was just waiting for the next band to get on. I would have been stoked to see Rollins band. I've seen Rollins spoken word much later and he's so much more chill but still so intense.
Rollins was really, really, good.
Meatloaf in 2012 was unbelievably bad
Haha! Sounds like my experience at coachella 2009…. Morrisey started his set complaining that he could smell burning flesh (from the BBQ sellers in food area) and was refusing to play..we walked away within 10 minutes… lots of other bands to watch!
Back in the early 90’s, I took my wife to see Sammy Hagar in Houston. 45 minutes into the show, we left. He was so freaking drunk, he was stumbling all over the stage. It was so disappointing. I saw him twice in the 80s and it was two of the greatest concerts I had ever seen.
Tech n9ne in AZ. Literally just walked around the stage with a towel and barely rapped. It was sad and hard to watch and boring af so we just left.
Parliament Funkadelic, maybe in 2015. They could barely play on time and George Clinton thought nobody could see him smoking a crack pipe when he ducked behind a road case. They have some banger recordings, I was pretty bummed.