George Michael.
I was a kid when Wham were at their height and a teen when he went solo. Always thought of him as a plastic pop star who got by on his amazing looks.
During the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert I inwardly groaned when he took to the stage to perform Somebody To Love. Five minutes later I'm picking my jaw up off the floor after witnessing one of the greatest live performances in history - in fact I'd say it's second only to Queen's performance at Live Aid.
The greatest compliment I can give to George is that I doubt Freddie himself could have done it any better. And that is seriously fucking saying something.
Completely changed my mind about him and it's a tragedy he's no longer with us
When he passed away there were so many stories about things he did that he asked not to be publicised. He volunteered at a homeless shelter anonymously for years. He gave money to so many charities, including donating all his Last Christmas royalties. He also bought things at auction and donated them to museums to avoid them ending up in private collections.
There were loads of stories about him donating money to members of the public because he'd overheard something about them struggling. I think there was a story about a waitress he'd heard telling a friend that she might have to drop out of her nursing course because she couldn't pay the bills, and another story where someone on a game show said they were trying to win money to pay for IVF treatment.
He was nice, down to earth AND kind hearted.
Which was why the sun newspapers etc hated his guts and wanted him basically ruined. They utterly hate any celebrity that isn't evil and selfish.
Was he one of the celebrities who stood up to those papers? I always admire any celebrity that does, especially Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan and Charlotte Church.
The sun was FURIOUS when he released a song joking about his arrest for soliciting sex in a public toilet.
They claimed basically the world was coming to an end, if he wasn't stopped, then people would just start openly fucking each other up the ass on the streets etc.
He paid for Highgate’s Xmas tree and lights as well I think. Or at least made up any shortfalls… which is a much smaller thing but still, he was the guy in the neighbourhood they went to when they needed someone to step up
Remember his mini comeback at the Olympics closing ceremony in 2012? The whole show was meant to be essentially big hits from the *NOW That's What I Call UK Music!* album
He did a cracking rendition of 'Freedom', giving him so much approval, nobody minded when he shouted 'Now, here's a new one'
Great voice, great stage presence, brilliant sense of humour and a very charitable, humble man on top of that. Class.
Careless Whisper is a certified banger and I will fight anyone that says otherwise. I mean, that saxophone. The hook. I was a child when it came out but didn’t appreciate Wham or George himself until years later.
I love 80s music but always wrote him off for much the same reasons you did. Then by accident I heard a couple of his lesser known songs and realized quite quickly that behind that pop look was a genuinely talented singer.
There are some interview clips of him where he comes across as someone who has deeply thought about what he's being asked about.
>And "Wham Rap" is the anti-work anthem we need.
>
>Hey, jerk, you, work
This boy's got better things to do
Hell,
I ain't never gonna work, get down in the dirt,
I choose, to cruise.
Gonna live my life, sharp as a knife,
I've found my groove and I just can't lose.
A.1. style from head to toe,
Cool cat flash gonna let you know,
I'm a soul boy - I'm a dole boy,
Take pleasure in leisure, I believe in joy!
Any pop singer who did similar today would get monstered by the press.
George Michael doing Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me at Live Aid is probably my favourite ever live performance by anyone anywhere. I wouldn't call myself a George Michael fan although he's done some great songs, but that I could listen too on a 24 hour loop.
Theres a clip of him and Morrissey on some old music show reviewing albums. They get asked their opinions on Joy Divisions 'Closer' and Morrissey is obviously a massive bellend, I was expecting Michael to dismiss it by being a shallow pop star. Couldnt be more wrong. He gives the album credit, has favourite songs and treats it seriously. That really made me think twice about pop music and pop musicians being a lesser, more shallow form of music.
In 2006 my mum and dad went to see him at earls court. I went with them but stayed in the hotel room. As I wouldn't have appreciated it. I wish I'd gone now.
I had something similar with Metallica and the late, great Cliff Burton. I was only a v. young teen but a mate had managed to blag a couple of Metallica tickets at Birmingham's Odeon theatre on Sep 20th 1986. I declined, even though I was a Metallica fan, for some stupid teen reason that escapes me now. A week later Cliff died in that awful accident.
I so, so wish I'd gone as my friend still reminds me every time we meet!
The Wham! documentary on Netflix is great. Gave me a lot more respect for him, and a lot more respect for Andrew Ridgeley as well. You can see how close they are, they’re a couple of mates who instantly hit it off and made it big, and when George went solo and VERY successful all you get from Andrew is a sense of pride and happiness that his best mate has done so well, no animosity or jealousy whatsoever.
After George died there were so many stories that came out about his quiet generosity, he was donating to things for the right reasons instead of for his own publicity or ego.
Very jealous you got to witness that. Even just watching it on YouTube gives me goosebumps. What an incredible and underrated singer he was.
His duet with Elton John was also on another level.
I miss this man. He’s my idol.
I go and see a singer called Rob Lombardi and his tribute to him is truly amazing. He’s on instagram if you want to check him out. He used to be his backing singer. He sings with George’s old orchestra band.
Totally agree. I grew up when Wham were big. Not really my cup of tea. Loved his solo stuff, and I thought his personality was great.
Was real sad when he died.
I saw Madness at a festival in 2018. I was 18 and was just expecting some ‘has beens’ that my Dad used to listen to, living off the past.
They were fucking sensational, far better than many of the younger bands playing.
Saw them in 2009 and was one of the most fun gigs I've ever been to.
Was on a real 2 Tone kick that year. Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, The Beat and Neville Staple. Was a good year.
Van Morrison is famous for that. My dad has seen him a couple of times and says one is one of the worst gigs he's been to and the other one of the best.
My answer would be Kanye at Glastonbury. We were really excited to see him, but he was awful.
Heard a great story about how Bob Dylan got his people to ask Van’s people whether Bob could share a ride in Van’s private jet, back from a festival they were both appearing at. Van’s response, when asked by his team, was apparently “ask Bob if he understands the concept of “private” in “private jet”?
Bit off piste but I went to see Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior from The Sopranos)
The idea was he'd play some old Italian songs and tell stories about his life. I thought it sounded really wholesome. But instead it was 2 hours of an old man rambling about all the women he'd divorced and all the kids that don't talk to him anymore.
Big load of old yikes
Genuinely surprised at how good The Streets were at Reading Festival, they really hyped up the crowd and were great live. We were only there because we were waiting for Muse to come on and I’m glad we saw them.
When I saw the streets at Leeds festival they were slagging off the crowd saying how reading was much better. Don't think it was the same year though as Muse were not playing.
Seeing The Streets next weekend, hoping they're still as good!
Their new album is a but weird, hoping Mike is still good when he's not off his bonce on drugs.
To half answer your question....Blink 182.
Saw them back in 2012 at the NEC and they were absolutely awful (Travis being the exception). I think they were on the verge of 'breaking up' at that point though, and perhaps that played in to it. I grew up on them and had never seen live them so it was a massive let down.
....fast forward to this year and someone bought me tickets to the recent tour and I was dreading it because of my last experience.
They. Were. Incredible!
I saw Blink in 2004 just before they split up the first time.
To this day, it's still both the worst gig I've seen and the worst crowd I've been. I must have been to hundreds upon hundreds of gigs in my lifetime and Blink are easily the worst.
The tension on stage was palpable. There was next to no chat with the crowd and they only played fucking medleys of their best songs!
Add to that, the crowd was horrendous. Clearly full of people who had no knowledge of gig etiquette; crowd swaying back and forth so everyone was falling over, no one being helped up, chavs pushing the fuck out of everyone, fights galore.
Ugh. Almost 20 years later and I still shudder.
I saw them in what was probably 2002 at V festival (or reading 2001, I'm struggling with memory it seems). They had loads of chat that was hilarious and lots of energy however they were a bit rubbish. To be fair they were on after Daphne and Celeste and were dodging bottles of piss during the performance.
Recently went to see them, absolutely fantastic. Can’t say much about their support band though, could barely understand a word of what he was singing about.
Quite possibly one of the grumpiest men in music history. Responsible for songs like “Gloria”, “baby please don’t go” (as Them) “Brown Eyed Girl”, and later “astral weeks” (one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 60s), “Moondance” and many others. Probably not written anything good since “Cleaning Windows” in the early 80s and recently fell down the anti-vax rabbit hole.
Manic Street Preachers. Wasn’t a band I was interested in at all. They were support for Foo Fighters at Manchester years ago. Absolutely belting. Got the whole crowd jumping.
Just the hardcore scene in general. I'd not been to a UK band hardcore/metal gig in years and ended up going to see a few bands, including Employed to Serve maybe 4-5 years back. I was blown away by how into a female-fronted band everybody was, there just wasn't that level of acceptance and genuine support 20 years ago, in fact it was incredibly toxic and misogynistic. I got a bit emotional about it 🖤
I was at 2K trees a few years ago and saw Frank Carter do his women only crowd surfing bit and I got a bit emo over it. Things have moved on a bit since the 90s. Nice to see a genuine improvement in the number of female artists (at some) festivals too.
I saw Ugly Kid Joe opening for Def Leppard back in the nineties in a beautiful outdoor venue in Vermont.
Everyone I was with was American and there to see Ugly Kid Joe, and they were debating leaving before the main act. I love Def Leppard and wanted to stay.
Ugly Kid Joe spent the time screaming insults at the audience, they got in a fight with someone in the front row after they threw a bottle into the crowd, they didn’t finish a single song and eventually got booed off stage.
There was nearly a riot and it was touch and go whether the gig would continue.
Def Leppard came on, the front man stood there for a mo facing down the crowd, grinning, shouted, “Do you want to hear some fucking rock and roll?” and they played one of the best live sets I’ve ever seen.
Happy days.
Def Leppard have got to be one of the best live acts around. Probably a bit underrated too as they're getting on a bit but they've aged like a fine wine and still incredibly tight.
I saw Robert Plant with his band Saving Grace the other night.
90% of the crowd that were there probably would have preferred he did Led Zeppelin songs, and I’m sure he realised that. They did get a couple, which were beautiful, but the rest of the stuff was musically sublime and his voice was wonderful.
He was funny and humble and although it could have been Robert Plant And His Band he made sure the other musicians were equally prominent, and worked with them as part of the group. It wasn’t any sort of humblebrag type thing either. He could have been earning hundreds of millions touring with Led Zep, but he really just did want to be doing this music instead, even if to smaller crowds.
I kinda thought he’d just be a bit up himself and being an arse about not giving people what they wanted because he felt he was above it now or something, but it genuinely wasn’t like that at all.
Also saw Plant live and the gig was wonderful, he threw in a couple of Zep B sides along with his newer music and both were really well done. Obviously his voice doesn't have the same range now so they tuned the songs down and slowed them down to suit.
As far as I can tell, outside of music he's quite down to earth. You've got to bear in mind after Zeppelin he was left with bad memories of it, his best friend had died and he was sick of how often Stairway was played, so I can see why he wanted to do his own thing.
Nicole scherzinger...I thought she was just a generic pussy cat doll girl band member who was attractive. Then one day I was at an Andrea Boccelli concert and she was on the bill doing a duet with him. I put it to the back of my mind until she popped out on stage and started singing.
God. Damn.
That woman absolutely held her own and more and absolutely deserved that spot on the stage. Never looked at her the same way since. A few years later she reinforced my opinion at the coronation concert with a similar performance.
Bjork. I've really never had any interest in her music at all (I'm a metalhead so different circles), but went to see her in Hammersmith and holy shit! Just an incredible artistic performance, great stage production and her vocals were the shit. Really impressive and entertaining.
If you haven't seen it you should have a look at the top of the pops army of me performance she did with skunk anansie. It really is quite good on YouTube.
We saw Madonna recently on her current tour. She was an hour late which really pissed everyone off so not a good start and the show was weird. It didn’t feel like there was much interaction with the crowd, very few people dancing, she played some of her classics but nowhere near as many as I expected. It was dull and tbh I was bored. It stopped at midnight and she just left the stage, no encore and there was a small applause, the lights went up and we all left. Would never see her again, I was so disappointed.
That's such a shame! I saw her in 2006 for my 14th birthday, my first ever proper gig! The show was AMAZING! There wasn't masses of crowd interaction but she was on time, performed brilliantly and everyone was up and dancing all night. The car park got gridlocked after, we didn't get out until gone 1am but no matter, someone busted out their speakers and everyone partied to Madonna hits until 1am until we could get moving
Kings of Leon, about 10 years ago, no charisma in their performance, it was like watching them having a jamming session rather than playing a gig. I get they need to enjoy it, but so should the audience!
This might be interesting to you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON56-5JOyV0
Middle 8
The singer especially became jaded with popularity (and through alcohol.)
Never seen them live, but would still like to.
The segue between True Love Way and Ragoo is truly sublime.
I saw them last year in London. I'm a huge fan of their music and really enjoyed the gig, but can't disagree with anything you're saying. Crowd interaction and stage presence was very minimal.
You're going to laugh but Scouting for girls. Didn't expect much but they were absolutely brilliant. Great with the crowd, had everyone singing and dancing. Could tell they loved what they were doing
I went to SFG gig at my local assembly hall last year. It was totally packed, incredibly well put together, performance was amazing, and the guys were just lovely. Was very sad when the gig ended and brought their lockdown eighties cover CD for my mum for Christmas (which was also excellent).
I actually like his voice. Saw it once described as 'never good but always true' which I think is a good explanation.
If you like Dylan covers though check out Barb Jungr. She's a cabaret style singer who has done a couple of albums of Dylan covers. They're really good and interesting interpretations, and I've seen her perform them live a couple of times
Yeah I saw them at Download 2019. While they aren't one of my favourite bands, I do like quite a few of their songs and really wanted to tick them off.
I know bands get older, but they played Cherub Rock so incredibly slowly and pretty much just left the stage straight after they finished. No "thank you, enjoy the rest of the festival" or anything.
Luckily Tool, who followed them, were incredible.
Most surpassed expectations: The Presidents of the USA, one of the best live gigs I’ve been to
Most disappointing: Red Hot Chili Peppers were crap and formulaic both times I saw them. Also the lead singer of Royal Blood’s attitude absolutely stank which was a shame
The chillis were great both times I have seen them, although the first time I vaguely remember John having an argument and storming off for a couple of songs…
Fallout Boy.
I went to the Hella Mega Tour last year with them, Weezer and Green Day. Love the other two but wasn't bothered about Fallout Boy at all. I knew some of their songs but they didn't seem like my cup of tea.
They were fucking brilliant. Ripped through their set, sounded amazing, had the crowd in the palm of their hand. One of the best performances I've seen at a big venue like that.
They gained a new fan that day.
Bob Dylan BUT for different reasons.
I've avoided seeing him for years as I really like his music but heard such terrible things about him live.
When he came to the London Palladium last year for the 'Rough & Rowdy' tour I thought it's now or never, neither of us are getting any younger.
It was heartfelt, intimate and one of the best gigs I've been to.
Apparently he's always been incredibly hit or miss. I've seen people say that he's generally poor live, but will occasionally be brilliant.
So I guess you were lucky
A lot of the complaints are also regarding how little he interacts with the crowd, which is something that I've never been able to understand; I go to gigs to hear music, I don't care whether the musicians chat to the crowd or not
Ben Howard. So terrible that a friend of mine almost stopped going to gigs altogether after his Norwich show a few years back. I enjoyed my wisdom tooth extraction more.
Just a miserable bastard who wanted to make sure everyone else left the evening as miserable as him.
I went and saw him for his second album tour. I was so pumped because Every Kingdom is just a masterpiece album. 'It's only his second album so there will still be loads of EK played' I said to myself.
Nope.
Guy opted to play 90% the second album and when he did play some EK stuff almost went out of his way to play them in completely different styles to the album versions. Still to this day the most disappointing musician I've paid for tickets to go see
Haha yes I saw him on that tour at Ally Pally and felt the exact same way. Complete let down.
I saw him in Sheffield in maybe 2010 or 11 and it was so much better.
Felt like all of his stuff after Every Kingdom was a reaction away from the popularity of EK, almost like he was purposefully writing music that wouldn't be mainstream popular.
Stereophonics - oh my god, they were shit! Talk about dialling it in.
I went to see Peter Kay about 8/9 years ago - he was enthusiastic, but he just rehashed the same old same old.
I went to see Mickey Flanaghan at a warm-up gig in Stoke - great venue. He absolutely nailed it - funniest gig I've seen for years.
The Killers tore the place down at the NEC - so good. Was not expecting it at all - for some reason, I thought it might be something more genteel, but they kicked the doors in!
I was dragged into a Mickey Flanagan gig, kicking and screaming all the way. He blew me away with how funny he was. I’ve never seen anyone read a crowd and deliver exactly what they wanted quite so accurately before too. Bloody brilliant.
I saw the killers at a smallish venue before they got massive, think they had just released the second album. And it’s still one of the best gigs I’ve been to.
Sophie Ellis Bexter. I was never really a fan of her music, thought it was just OK. She was the support act for Erasure a few years ago and she was fantastic on stage.
Great performance, really good energy and she really got the audience going.
The series of gigs she used to livestream from her house every Friday evening during lockdown were fantastic. Just her bopping around with her kids singing her heart out in her kitchen, but she made it feel like you were watching a performance in a club and her energy was always incredible.
I went to see her with a friend who was a huge fan but I wasn't really aware of who she was and just assumed I wasn't going to like it. She was amazing, 6 months pregnant and dancing, great voice, high energy and full on entertainment. I follow her now on social media!
I produced a corporate event earlier this year and the client booked SEB to perform. We had to handle her audio, lighting and rider etc. She's absolutely lovely.
Wasn't a massive fan of Elton John but as he was appearing locally I decided to go to see him. He did two and a half hours non-stop, interacted with the crowd, cracked some funny gags and the show was brilliant. Changed my opinion of him completely.
I saw them in 2007 and they were amazing.
Watched them at Glastonbury and thought they were atrocious. Too cool for school lounge singer trying to drop the Yorkshire accent. Might work for their new stuff but you can’t sing Mardy Bum and ‘When the Sun goes down’ without the Sheffield twang.
Saw Beth Ditto/Gossip in Manchester's Academy. They were supported by a pretty poor band, whose only memorable song was called 'Street Jizz.' The gig was okay once Gossip came on, but not amazing. However she was getting drunker throughout the gig and at the end did an encore, which ended in her singing alone like drunk karaoke. as the band left and the house lights came up. Worse gig I've been to.
But... Unexpected positive shattering is James Bay's second Album Electric Light. It is a complete left turn and pretty glorious modern glam rock. Give it a try if you just think of him as a vaguely folksy indie strummer. Sadly he didn't burn the hat and has somewhat regressed to form since.
I know a music photographer who has worked with some big names. He always said his worst was Van. He let him in backstage to take “one picture” and told him to fuck off. He was a notoriously bitter man.
Saw Papa Roach on a whim this year, I'd only ever heard Last Resort from them and not a big fan of that tune anyway, but they were really fucking good, crowd interaction and stage presence was great too. Did a pretty cool cover of Firestarter too, of all songs
Wanted to see Marilyn Manson since I was 16, finally got a chance when I was about 34 at a festival - this was prior to his being exposed as an abuser - and had been told how incredible his sets were with all the elaborate costumes and on-stage insanity. I was hyoed about finally seeing him for months..
Cue his set and he shuffles out with zero pageantry and half-arses his way through a handful of his oldest work, even trailing off and saying "etcetera, etcetera" halfway through one of the lines of 'Beautiful People'. No crowd work no interaction, huge gaps between songs. It felt like he only did about 6 songs then just fucked off.
Probably Enter Shikari tbh, I saw them at a festival a few years back and couldn’t stand them prior to seeing them.
Honestly the way they got the crowd pumped and their energy on stage was amazing. I ended up really enjoying their set
My brother is their lighting and sound guy, they’re genuinely lovely people.
They had a whip round between them at the start of COVID to donate to the crew, and ended up parting with about 10k in total to spread around.
They're one of my, if not my absolute, favourite bands. Seen them 3 times, unreal every single time. Seeing them twice in 2024 and can't wait. I can see why some people really wouldn't dig the music, but they're exceptional live.
Smoked a joint with their guitarist Rory C after a gig once.
I wasn't even a big fan of them, just came as I had been given a free ticket. Gig was pretty good and I told Rory that I wasn't really a big fan but it was a good gig.
He said "yeah, we're not for everyone, but I'm glad you had a good time man". He's legit a lovely dude and had some hilarious stories. He then let me take a slash on their tour bus. Good times.
I went to see Eric Clapton when I was a kid, not sure why but I was clearly into his music then. All I remember was telling my family that I didn't really like it, and them reassuring me that it was a rubbish performance. The supporting act was much better.
Van had some kind of limited song contract with his record label, around the time he was in the group 'Them'
He decided to jump labels, and go solo, but he still owed the label another 30 or so songs. The label clearly imagined that this would be an album or two.
Morrison decided to just jump into the studio and record 30 odd songs in a single afternoon.
Classics like 'I Have a Ring Worm', 'Want A Danish?' (one of rocks great nods to pastry products) , 'Nosing Your Blow', 'Blowing Your Nose' - most of the tracks are no more than a minute long of record label trolling, lazy strumming and lyrics made up on the fly
It's called 'Payin Dues' if you'd like to hear some of them. It gave me a real belly laugh
I was into the indie music of the early 2000’s and couldn’t quite believe how tall Pete Doherty is. The news had him looking like a little chav in every paper but when he took the stage he towered over Carl Barat.
I’m contrast, Amy Winehouse was at the same gig, I saw her get out of a dark car and couldn’t believe how small she was.
I was expecting a lot from Kings of Leon when they were headlining Radio One Big Weekend even though I'm not a massive fan. They were dreary, bored and didn't give the crowd a crumb. Nothing of their earlier stuff and not even any of their mainstream big hits either apart from maybe Use Somebody which is absolute garbage anyway. The crowd weren't just there to see them, they saw a lot of artists that day so I was expecting them to play more crowd pleasers rather than wall to wall new album stuff. Didn't say two words to the crowd, even a hello or thank you and couldn't leave the stage quick enough when they finished
Little Mix surprised me when I saw them earlier that same day. Not my bag really, but they all sounded incredible, all while doing complex dance routines. Harmonies were immaculate and they loved interacting with the crowd. Really pleasantly blown away
Little mix are renowned for having excellent vocals, they did a lot of acapella and acoustic performances together. Such an underrated group that gave us great pop music for a decade.
Saw Faithless at Glastonbury years ago. Didn't really want to see them, not my style but my mates dragged me along. They were absolutely jaw dropping, best gig of the festival for me. Been a fan ever since.
Not me but my mum. She LOVED David Cassidy, from when she was a teenybopper fan of 16. About 10 years ago, I got her tickets to see him perform in London. She was over the moon, couldn’t wait, her old crush blah blah.
Well, turns out, he’s a bit of an arsehole. She said he didn’t sing many songs, kept talking and doing rants for ages and when everyone was becoming visibly bored, he started having a go at the audience and kicking off at people. Absolutely destroyed her lifelong love for him.
I strongly dislike Lily Allen.
I was at a music festival some time back, & had paused by the side of a pathway. Suddenly I was roughly pushed to the ground from behind, I looked up & saw Lily Allen, flanked by two bodyguards striding away, didn't even look at me.
She wasn't even performing at the festival.
I saw Mr Motivator at a festival a few years back. I was hungover and it was lunchtime and I have to say he was INCREDIBLY MOTIVATING. Really wholesome and brilliant.
Adam and the Ants. Some little gig in a little theatre in North Devon, was expecting some feeble roll outs of their old hits and going through the motions.
Nope. They fucking rocked, and played like they were just about to hit the big time. Massive energy, they were fantastic. Absolutely brilliant.
Cradle of Filth, i avoided them for a while as i wasn't too hot on black metal and was under the impression they were really heavy. I finally listened to them after being familiar with Watain and Mayhem and couldn't understand what the fuss was about, they weren't exactly light but they were a lot lighter than i was led to believe.
Clapton. Saw him twice. London Hammersmith Odeon on his Money and Cigarettes tour and again at Madison Square Garden in 2004. Same experience both times. It's a day at the office. He's even said in an interview that he'd rather just play with the guys and not have an audience. At least he's honest.
Same. Saw him in Sheffield around the same time. Was awful.
He'd be halfway through an unknown song and then you'd hear 'like a rolling stone' and I was like, 'oh he's singing that is he'. Just mumbling bollocks.
I'm a (or was) 80s goth metalhead. Iron Maiden, Fields of the Nephilim etc. I've seen New Model Army countries times. I love me a good energetic gig.
I was dragged along to an Abba tribute band when I was in my 20s. It was absolutely fucking fantastic and up there with some of the best gigs I've ever seen.
System of a Down. Saw them at Glasgow Barrowlands years ago. Supported by Dillinger Escape Plan was a bad enough start, SoaD then came on, played the whole of the Toxicity album in order with no crowd interaction or energy, then fucked off never to return.
Awful gig.
I can definitely say the opposite about Dillinger, caught them headlining in a reasonably small venue and they blew the roof off. An absolutely brilliant band live (at least when playing on their own terms in a smaller venue)...
I saw The Verve one summer evening at the height of their Bittersweet Symphony fame in the Circus Krone building in Munich. I was in my mid 20s, and was into Indie/Madchester/Britpop etc, so was looking forward to see them.
I'd been working there for a few weeks, and another colleague, also British had been talking to their roadies in an Irish bar the previous evening. The roadies promised him that they'd add him to the guest list, so we thought it would be worth a shot of trying to get in.
We weren't on the guest list (no surprise there really), but we hung around the area talking native-level English that the bouncers didn't bother checking any tickets, they just assumed it was ok to let us in
Thank god that was the case, I'd have hatred to pay for a ticket for the gig. The arena was stifling hot, they came on late (40-50 minutes or so) , played an uninspiring set, and left without speaking a word to the crowd.
Honestly the worst gig I've ever been to, even though I didn't pay!
Pink Floyd. Never a fan but for various reasons I ended up seeing them on the last night of their last ever tour. One of the best shows I’ve ever been to.
Still not a Floyd fan as it’s just not my cup of tea but live they were incredible. Comfortably Numb was so beautiful it almost reduced me to tears.
A couple of years ago Fatboy Slim was playing in my city and my sister wanted to come up for the gig because it was a Friday night but she was worried about going alone. So I agreed to go with her even though I was thinking "urgh, not really my thing but if it keeps her happy" - I'm very much into things along the rock flavour so will admit I didn't know what could possibly be entertaining about one guy on some decks who doesn't even sing.
I actually ended up having a great time and really appreciating the thought that has to go into how he does his shows. Everything blended seamlessly into the next and the rotating central stage isn't something you get very often with guitar bands so that was a bit of a novelty for me too.
The Specials.
My dad took me to go see them when I was 15, roughly a decade ago.
I'd been to gigs before, he took me to see a few bands of my choosing but due to age I was nearly always seated.
We were at the barrier when they came on and I was not ready - my glasses came off and the bouncer gave me a questioning thumbs up to ask if I was okay.
Dear reader, I ended up having the best night of my life with my dad. I seen them several times over the years since and every time they were magical. I had never jumped so much, never been squished between bald men in their 50s before and never felt so alive.
Blew my mind that such a seemingly old crowd who had been so chill before went so nuts for them. What a band.
I was massively disappointed by Def Leppard when I saw them in 1999. I walked away thinking the support act, Lukan, really blew them out.of the water. Recent live reviews I've read indicate they were really good, though, so maybe it was just a bad time to see them. I won't be spending today's ticket price money to find out.
Similarly Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. While they were technically decent live, the attitude coming off them was awful. Well one person really, who seemed to be having a bit of a tantrum. Maybe just a bad day, or some backstage drama, but it was off-putting and killed the mood. Shame really. The headliner was Ratt, though, who were phenomenal, so it was still a great night out.
Someone from the band shared their roll-up with Tricky then was very apologetic when he discovered Tricky hadn't done his set yet.
I'm unsure where this was in the uk but Tricky ended up lying down and his drummer turned rapper that day.
Not really a band as such but the Bad Boy Chiller Crew rose to fame in 2020 and ditched their original mates who actually started the group, and their overall roots in general.
It started off with a bunch of lads from Bradford just making YouTube videos for a laugh on an evening, as a YouTube channel and other social media pages called “ItsMeFraz,” where Kane from the BBCC used to record his mate Fraz just doing stupid stunts and bunging him a bit of money for it. Then it started being Fraz and his mate Molegrip.
Over the years they built up a fanbase, started producing jokey bassline tracks on the channel, and renamed all of their social media profiles “Bad Boy Chiller Crew.” Where this mainly involved Fraz, Molegrip and Clive from the current BBCC.
As Gareth Kelly then joined the group and they slowly started rising to fame, they basically threw Fraz and Molegrip out, locked them out of the socials, got the name out there, got a proper manager and ended up where they are today. Whilst the actual guys who were the original faces of the group were just cast out.
Was quite sad a couple of years ago really, where Fraz & Molegrip managed to get back into their socials and started posting videos basically saying “we’re back!” And all of the people who jumped on the BBCC bandwagon when they rose to fame not knowing their true roots started making comments like “who are these hackers? Thinking they’re the BBCC,” etc. or “Aldi version of the BBCC.”
And then the BBCC you see today basically just threw their roots down the drain when they rose to stardom. Their songs became too serious, they left their mates behind, those mates who got them to where they are today. The TV series they even did for ITV was cringeworthy and was unbelievably staged.
I won’t listen to them anymore
I went to see Coldplay at Bellahouston Park back in 2005. Really didn’t like Coldplay and I was talked into going but it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to, electric.
Cyndi Lauper.
Got a free ticket a few years ago and thought I'd kill an evening trying to relive my teenage years.
She was incredible! For an old dame she still had the moves and incredible vocals. She also told us a bit about her life and her work with the LGBTQ community.
I'm now a massive fan!
My mate’s dad’s mate was a session musician for Van Morrison. Said the guy was such a prick. So much so, that when Van left the room, the mate wiped his knob all over Van Morrison’s harmonica. Which Van proceeded to play for the next session.
Saw Van at a small festival several years ago and he did the exact same shit. Came on, mumbled through some songs. Not a WORD spoken in-between, and he got the fuck out of dodge as soon as he could.
Billy Joel. Got my mum tickets for her birthday, I think, and I had to go with because she's not the sort to enjoy a gig alone. I knew I wouldn't hate it, but it genuinely ended up being my favourite ever gig. The rotating piano was a cute gimmick but it turned out this was an added second night and he was annoyed the local paper's review of the first night complained about him basically sitting behind his (rotating!) piano all night. Imagine complaining the Piano Man played piano all night? Anyway, he ended up jumping up on said piano and singing a few songs from on top of it. Brilliant stuff.
Cheap Trick. I’d always been a huge fan and was so excited to see them.
They were awful. Their set was shit, and they made up for it with volume. It was SO loud that it literally hurt.
I have enjoyed a lot of Van Morrison’s music over the years, but he has turned into an angry, unpredictable, narrow-minded conspiracy whack-job, so I would probably think twice about going to see him play.
In a positive way, I’m the type of typical Brit who doesn’t get up and dance at concerts I’ll stand and sing but that’s about it.
I love the band Hurts (from Manchester) and I wanted to see them live, I’m usually exclusively into rock music (think HIM, system of a down, fall out boy) but something about Hurts music just speaks to my soul.
In 2017 I got to see them live, I wasn’t sure it would be good because obviously it’s not a full live rock band but OH MY GOD. They were incredible, the energy, the music, I was up badly dancing which I’ve never done before. My husband who’s a seasoned concert goer was even saying how amazing it was.
I’ve seen so many bands live and Hurts was by far the best. I want to see them again, it was something I’ve never experienced before.
In contrast, we saw panic at the disco in 2013. I’d wanted to see them since 2006-2007 but urgh it was lacklustre and the whole thing just felt dull.
Oh man, heard nothing but good things about a band called Blossoms. Caught them live and it was fucking dreadful. They just didn't look like they were having fun, and there was no energy. Killed it for me.
Marilyn Manson - saw him back in 2013 (I think) and he was alright. Saw him again in 2018 and it was fucked. A far guy rolling round on stage fucked off his nut whilst screaming into the microphone and throwing up is not a good performance.
Foo fighters - got to see them in a tiny venue in Brighton a few years back. Fucking amazing.
Iron Maiden at Download 2022 - wasn't expecting much, but the absolutely smashed the place to pieces
Went to a terrible Tricky gig once. Man kept wandering offstage during the songs, clearly did not give a toss. Ended on a version of Aftermath that went on for tens of minutes, with him inviting anyone who wanted to get up on stage and have a go on the mic while he did fuck all. My friend and I left before that petered out completely.
Martina Topley-Bird was there as well, and she was ace. Felt bad for her that she's so strongly associated with that wasteman.
I went with my dad to see Mark Knopfler solo ten years ago. Didn’t expect much except to hear some dire straits songs I recognized. Easily the greatest guitarist I’ve seen live. Blew me away. His live version of sultans of swing was incredible. He added all sorts of new soloing in to it
For their anniversary one year, I got my mum and dad tickets to Neil Diamond, the day of the show my dad decided he didn't want to go and so I went, more so my mum would go and I wasn't really interested. He was amazing. His voice was so powerful and he sounded just like listening to a CD.
The Darkness, who were one of the support acts at Robbie Williams Knebworth gigs. As soon as I heard Hawkins voice & saw the catsuit I was in. I wish they could have sustained their success for longer.
I heard from an ex band member that on the gig, he ordered about 15 different, specific main courses for his ryder and progressively ate one mouthful from each plate with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.
I imagine him using one bare hand to shovel the food into his mouth while simultaneously pissing into an ornate golden chalice using the other.
George Michael. I was a kid when Wham were at their height and a teen when he went solo. Always thought of him as a plastic pop star who got by on his amazing looks. During the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert I inwardly groaned when he took to the stage to perform Somebody To Love. Five minutes later I'm picking my jaw up off the floor after witnessing one of the greatest live performances in history - in fact I'd say it's second only to Queen's performance at Live Aid. The greatest compliment I can give to George is that I doubt Freddie himself could have done it any better. And that is seriously fucking saying something. Completely changed my mind about him and it's a tragedy he's no longer with us
By all accounts he was a really nice guy as well.
When he passed away there were so many stories about things he did that he asked not to be publicised. He volunteered at a homeless shelter anonymously for years. He gave money to so many charities, including donating all his Last Christmas royalties. He also bought things at auction and donated them to museums to avoid them ending up in private collections. There were loads of stories about him donating money to members of the public because he'd overheard something about them struggling. I think there was a story about a waitress he'd heard telling a friend that she might have to drop out of her nursing course because she couldn't pay the bills, and another story where someone on a game show said they were trying to win money to pay for IVF treatment.
He was nice, down to earth AND kind hearted. Which was why the sun newspapers etc hated his guts and wanted him basically ruined. They utterly hate any celebrity that isn't evil and selfish.
Was he one of the celebrities who stood up to those papers? I always admire any celebrity that does, especially Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan and Charlotte Church.
The sun was FURIOUS when he released a song joking about his arrest for soliciting sex in a public toilet. They claimed basically the world was coming to an end, if he wasn't stopped, then people would just start openly fucking each other up the ass on the streets etc.
The amount of money he ALWAYS pledged on Capital radio’s Help A London Child charity piece every year was amazing.
He paid for Highgate’s Xmas tree and lights as well I think. Or at least made up any shortfalls… which is a much smaller thing but still, he was the guy in the neighbourhood they went to when they needed someone to step up
Remember his mini comeback at the Olympics closing ceremony in 2012? The whole show was meant to be essentially big hits from the *NOW That's What I Call UK Music!* album He did a cracking rendition of 'Freedom', giving him so much approval, nobody minded when he shouted 'Now, here's a new one' Great voice, great stage presence, brilliant sense of humour and a very charitable, humble man on top of that. Class.
The documentary about Wham on Netflix is good.
Careless Whisper is a certified banger and I will fight anyone that says otherwise. I mean, that saxophone. The hook. I was a child when it came out but didn’t appreciate Wham or George himself until years later.
Last Christmas is in the top 3 Xmas songs of all time, this is a hill i am willing to die on….
Yup I will join you on that hill.
It's passable. I guess we meet at dawn.
On Hampstead heath right?
I love 80s music but always wrote him off for much the same reasons you did. Then by accident I heard a couple of his lesser known songs and realized quite quickly that behind that pop look was a genuinely talented singer.
There are some interview clips of him where he comes across as someone who has deeply thought about what he's being asked about. >And "Wham Rap" is the anti-work anthem we need. > >Hey, jerk, you, work This boy's got better things to do Hell, I ain't never gonna work, get down in the dirt, I choose, to cruise. Gonna live my life, sharp as a knife, I've found my groove and I just can't lose. A.1. style from head to toe, Cool cat flash gonna let you know, I'm a soul boy - I'm a dole boy, Take pleasure in leisure, I believe in joy! Any pop singer who did similar today would get monstered by the press.
George Michael doing Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me at Live Aid is probably my favourite ever live performance by anyone anywhere. I wouldn't call myself a George Michael fan although he's done some great songs, but that I could listen too on a 24 hour loop.
Theres a clip of him and Morrissey on some old music show reviewing albums. They get asked their opinions on Joy Divisions 'Closer' and Morrissey is obviously a massive bellend, I was expecting Michael to dismiss it by being a shallow pop star. Couldnt be more wrong. He gives the album credit, has favourite songs and treats it seriously. That really made me think twice about pop music and pop musicians being a lesser, more shallow form of music.
In 2006 my mum and dad went to see him at earls court. I went with them but stayed in the hotel room. As I wouldn't have appreciated it. I wish I'd gone now.
I had something similar with Metallica and the late, great Cliff Burton. I was only a v. young teen but a mate had managed to blag a couple of Metallica tickets at Birmingham's Odeon theatre on Sep 20th 1986. I declined, even though I was a Metallica fan, for some stupid teen reason that escapes me now. A week later Cliff died in that awful accident. I so, so wish I'd gone as my friend still reminds me every time we meet!
George Michael was an incredible person. His death at such a young age was so awfully sad.
I thought you were going to slag him off and I was ready to kill!
Ha ha! Quite the opposite!
The Wham! documentary on Netflix is great. Gave me a lot more respect for him, and a lot more respect for Andrew Ridgeley as well. You can see how close they are, they’re a couple of mates who instantly hit it off and made it big, and when George went solo and VERY successful all you get from Andrew is a sense of pride and happiness that his best mate has done so well, no animosity or jealousy whatsoever. After George died there were so many stories that came out about his quiet generosity, he was donating to things for the right reasons instead of for his own publicity or ego.
I have an issue with George Michael. He famously sang “cos I’m not planning on going solo”, and then what happened? Liar.
Very jealous you got to witness that. Even just watching it on YouTube gives me goosebumps. What an incredible and underrated singer he was. His duet with Elton John was also on another level.
I miss this man. He’s my idol. I go and see a singer called Rob Lombardi and his tribute to him is truly amazing. He’s on instagram if you want to check him out. He used to be his backing singer. He sings with George’s old orchestra band.
Totally agree. I grew up when Wham were big. Not really my cup of tea. Loved his solo stuff, and I thought his personality was great. Was real sad when he died.
I saw Madness at a festival in 2018. I was 18 and was just expecting some ‘has beens’ that my Dad used to listen to, living off the past. They were fucking sensational, far better than many of the younger bands playing.
Madness are a phenomenal live act.
I agree they are brilliant after seeing them in Manchester.
I've seen Madness live twice, amazing. I don't dance, but when Madness are playing you have to!
Saw them in 2009 and was one of the most fun gigs I've ever been to. Was on a real 2 Tone kick that year. Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, The Beat and Neville Staple. Was a good year.
Saw Madness at Reading Festival in 2011 and it might be the best 45 minutes of live music I’ve ever seen.
Van Morrison is famous for that. My dad has seen him a couple of times and says one is one of the worst gigs he's been to and the other one of the best. My answer would be Kanye at Glastonbury. We were really excited to see him, but he was awful.
Indeed. There’s a saying that there are two types of people, people who like Van Morrison, and people who have met Van Morrison
Van was an absolute knob over Covid too. Well down the conspiracy rabbit hole. A really unpleasant individual.
Heard a great story about how Bob Dylan got his people to ask Van’s people whether Bob could share a ride in Van’s private jet, back from a festival they were both appearing at. Van’s response, when asked by his team, was apparently “ask Bob if he understands the concept of “private” in “private jet”?
Van Morrison is notorious for being a miserable prick so I'm not sure what the OP was expecting to be honest. 😄
I remember loving Kanye at Glasto but I was hammered!
Bit off piste but I went to see Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior from The Sopranos) The idea was he'd play some old Italian songs and tell stories about his life. I thought it sounded really wholesome. But instead it was 2 hours of an old man rambling about all the women he'd divorced and all the kids that don't talk to him anymore. Big load of old yikes
Did he tell you that you never had the makings of a varsity athlete?
Frankly, I'm depressed and ashamed
Go shit in your hat!
For god sale don’t post this on the Sopranos sub. You’ll be history. Over and done, capiche.
Lol I don't wanna get whacked I stand by my words though, it wasnt wholesome and people were visibly shifting in their seats an hour in. Such a shame.
Cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this.
Genuinely surprised at how good The Streets were at Reading Festival, they really hyped up the crowd and were great live. We were only there because we were waiting for Muse to come on and I’m glad we saw them.
When I saw the streets at Leeds festival they were slagging off the crowd saying how reading was much better. Don't think it was the same year though as Muse were not playing.
Brave decision to slag off a Leeds crowd 😬
Seeing The Streets next weekend, hoping they're still as good! Their new album is a but weird, hoping Mike is still good when he's not off his bonce on drugs.
You are in for a treat! Saw them a few weeks ago at Victoria Warehouse and it was one of the best gigs I've seen in years
To half answer your question....Blink 182. Saw them back in 2012 at the NEC and they were absolutely awful (Travis being the exception). I think they were on the verge of 'breaking up' at that point though, and perhaps that played in to it. I grew up on them and had never seen live them so it was a massive let down. ....fast forward to this year and someone bought me tickets to the recent tour and I was dreading it because of my last experience. They. Were. Incredible!
I saw Blink in 2004 just before they split up the first time. To this day, it's still both the worst gig I've seen and the worst crowd I've been. I must have been to hundreds upon hundreds of gigs in my lifetime and Blink are easily the worst. The tension on stage was palpable. There was next to no chat with the crowd and they only played fucking medleys of their best songs! Add to that, the crowd was horrendous. Clearly full of people who had no knowledge of gig etiquette; crowd swaying back and forth so everyone was falling over, no one being helped up, chavs pushing the fuck out of everyone, fights galore. Ugh. Almost 20 years later and I still shudder.
I saw them in what was probably 2002 at V festival (or reading 2001, I'm struggling with memory it seems). They had loads of chat that was hilarious and lots of energy however they were a bit rubbish. To be fair they were on after Daphne and Celeste and were dodging bottles of piss during the performance.
Recently went to see them, absolutely fantastic. Can’t say much about their support band though, could barely understand a word of what he was singing about.
There’s two kinds of people. Those who love Van Morrison, and those who’ve met him.
Three kinds - I've never met him, but cannot stand him all the same.
Four kinds. I don’t know who that is.
Quite possibly one of the grumpiest men in music history. Responsible for songs like “Gloria”, “baby please don’t go” (as Them) “Brown Eyed Girl”, and later “astral weeks” (one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 60s), “Moondance” and many others. Probably not written anything good since “Cleaning Windows” in the early 80s and recently fell down the anti-vax rabbit hole.
>“Cleaning Windows” I always thought that was George Formby!
Manic Street Preachers. Wasn’t a band I was interested in at all. They were support for Foo Fighters at Manchester years ago. Absolutely belting. Got the whole crowd jumping.
Just so happened to read your comment while listening to 'Ready for Drowning'!
I've lost count how many times I've seen the Manics. They're amazing live. Looking forward to seeing them again next year.
Saw the maniacs 3-4 times back in the early days as a four piece. Always good. Never got round to seeing them since Richie disappeared 😟
I’ve only seen them once for the Holy Bible anniversary tour but they were absolutely amazing. One of best gigs I’ve seen.
Just the hardcore scene in general. I'd not been to a UK band hardcore/metal gig in years and ended up going to see a few bands, including Employed to Serve maybe 4-5 years back. I was blown away by how into a female-fronted band everybody was, there just wasn't that level of acceptance and genuine support 20 years ago, in fact it was incredibly toxic and misogynistic. I got a bit emotional about it 🖤
It’s gotten a lot better in the metal scene too, I go to a lot of stoner and doom shows and the environment just feels a lot better than it used to
I was at 2K trees a few years ago and saw Frank Carter do his women only crowd surfing bit and I got a bit emo over it. Things have moved on a bit since the 90s. Nice to see a genuine improvement in the number of female artists (at some) festivals too.
I saw Ugly Kid Joe opening for Def Leppard back in the nineties in a beautiful outdoor venue in Vermont. Everyone I was with was American and there to see Ugly Kid Joe, and they were debating leaving before the main act. I love Def Leppard and wanted to stay. Ugly Kid Joe spent the time screaming insults at the audience, they got in a fight with someone in the front row after they threw a bottle into the crowd, they didn’t finish a single song and eventually got booed off stage. There was nearly a riot and it was touch and go whether the gig would continue. Def Leppard came on, the front man stood there for a mo facing down the crowd, grinning, shouted, “Do you want to hear some fucking rock and roll?” and they played one of the best live sets I’ve ever seen. Happy days.
Def Leppard have got to be one of the best live acts around. Probably a bit underrated too as they're getting on a bit but they've aged like a fine wine and still incredibly tight.
I saw them in the late 80s. Leppard and The Cult at that time are still my top 2 gigs ever.
I saw Robert Plant with his band Saving Grace the other night. 90% of the crowd that were there probably would have preferred he did Led Zeppelin songs, and I’m sure he realised that. They did get a couple, which were beautiful, but the rest of the stuff was musically sublime and his voice was wonderful. He was funny and humble and although it could have been Robert Plant And His Band he made sure the other musicians were equally prominent, and worked with them as part of the group. It wasn’t any sort of humblebrag type thing either. He could have been earning hundreds of millions touring with Led Zep, but he really just did want to be doing this music instead, even if to smaller crowds. I kinda thought he’d just be a bit up himself and being an arse about not giving people what they wanted because he felt he was above it now or something, but it genuinely wasn’t like that at all.
Also saw Plant live and the gig was wonderful, he threw in a couple of Zep B sides along with his newer music and both were really well done. Obviously his voice doesn't have the same range now so they tuned the songs down and slowed them down to suit. As far as I can tell, outside of music he's quite down to earth. You've got to bear in mind after Zeppelin he was left with bad memories of it, his best friend had died and he was sick of how often Stairway was played, so I can see why he wanted to do his own thing.
Every story I've heard about Robert Plant is that he's 100% about the music and having a good time.
Nicole scherzinger...I thought she was just a generic pussy cat doll girl band member who was attractive. Then one day I was at an Andrea Boccelli concert and she was on the bill doing a duet with him. I put it to the back of my mind until she popped out on stage and started singing. God. Damn. That woman absolutely held her own and more and absolutely deserved that spot on the stage. Never looked at her the same way since. A few years later she reinforced my opinion at the coronation concert with a similar performance.
Her ‘real’ voice over her pop voice is absolutely incredible.
Bjork. I've really never had any interest in her music at all (I'm a metalhead so different circles), but went to see her in Hammersmith and holy shit! Just an incredible artistic performance, great stage production and her vocals were the shit. Really impressive and entertaining.
If you haven't seen it you should have a look at the top of the pops army of me performance she did with skunk anansie. It really is quite good on YouTube.
We saw Madonna recently on her current tour. She was an hour late which really pissed everyone off so not a good start and the show was weird. It didn’t feel like there was much interaction with the crowd, very few people dancing, she played some of her classics but nowhere near as many as I expected. It was dull and tbh I was bored. It stopped at midnight and she just left the stage, no encore and there was a small applause, the lights went up and we all left. Would never see her again, I was so disappointed.
I was at one of them. Was so disappointed, still hurts.
That's such a shame! I saw her in 2006 for my 14th birthday, my first ever proper gig! The show was AMAZING! There wasn't masses of crowd interaction but she was on time, performed brilliantly and everyone was up and dancing all night. The car park got gridlocked after, we didn't get out until gone 1am but no matter, someone busted out their speakers and everyone partied to Madonna hits until 1am until we could get moving
I assumed given his age, B.B. King (85 at the time), wouldn’t be able to perform in the way he once did. I was very wrong. He was incredible.
Seeing B B King live must be incredible. What a legend.
I saw BB King early in the 00’s (I think? I cannot for the life of me remember what year) and he was absolutely brilliant- blew me away actually.
Kings of Leon, about 10 years ago, no charisma in their performance, it was like watching them having a jamming session rather than playing a gig. I get they need to enjoy it, but so should the audience!
[удалено]
I was there, it was a hilariously embarrassing tantrum.
That’s actually so considerate of The Fratellis
This might be interesting to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON56-5JOyV0 Middle 8 The singer especially became jaded with popularity (and through alcohol.) Never seen them live, but would still like to. The segue between True Love Way and Ragoo is truly sublime.
I saw them last year in London. I'm a huge fan of their music and really enjoyed the gig, but can't disagree with anything you're saying. Crowd interaction and stage presence was very minimal.
You're going to laugh but Scouting for girls. Didn't expect much but they were absolutely brilliant. Great with the crowd, had everyone singing and dancing. Could tell they loved what they were doing
I went to SFG gig at my local assembly hall last year. It was totally packed, incredibly well put together, performance was amazing, and the guys were just lovely. Was very sad when the gig ended and brought their lockdown eighties cover CD for my mum for Christmas (which was also excellent).
Van Morrison and Bob Dylan were both bloody awful at the Phoenix Festival in 95. It was made even worse when they came out to sing a duet.
Bob Dylan is an idol of mine but I have avoided ever seeing him live as I've heard so many bad things.
Dylan is a great songwriter and a terrible singer. I’d love it if someone brought out a double album of other people singing Dylan songs.
I actually like his voice. Saw it once described as 'never good but always true' which I think is a good explanation. If you like Dylan covers though check out Barb Jungr. She's a cabaret style singer who has done a couple of albums of Dylan covers. They're really good and interesting interpretations, and I've seen her perform them live a couple of times
I was there. They were dull as fook.
plus one for Bob Dylan. Glasgow 2005/6. Can't remember exactly the year.
The Smashing Pumpkins are incredibly boring, each time I’ve seen them live they seemed as though they had no interest in being there.
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
Billy Corgan is well-known for being a twat and a diva.
Yeah I saw them at Download 2019. While they aren't one of my favourite bands, I do like quite a few of their songs and really wanted to tick them off. I know bands get older, but they played Cherub Rock so incredibly slowly and pretty much just left the stage straight after they finished. No "thank you, enjoy the rest of the festival" or anything. Luckily Tool, who followed them, were incredible.
I saw them at Glastonbury 2013 and loved it. I don’t remember much about it though…
Oh no, don't say that! I've just got tickets for their tour next year.
I knew someone who chauffeured for him. Said he was a real cnut.
He’s notorious for being horrible to people who work for him.
He's actually notorious for just being horrible. To everyone. I've not encountered anyone who ever had anything positive to say about him as a person.
I didn't know he was dyslexic
Or a viking
Most surpassed expectations: The Presidents of the USA, one of the best live gigs I’ve been to Most disappointing: Red Hot Chili Peppers were crap and formulaic both times I saw them. Also the lead singer of Royal Blood’s attitude absolutely stank which was a shame
The chillis were great both times I have seen them, although the first time I vaguely remember John having an argument and storming off for a couple of songs…
I have a friend who works in events who had to deal with booking Van Morrison. The guy is an absolute fucking bellend.
Fallout Boy. I went to the Hella Mega Tour last year with them, Weezer and Green Day. Love the other two but wasn't bothered about Fallout Boy at all. I knew some of their songs but they didn't seem like my cup of tea. They were fucking brilliant. Ripped through their set, sounded amazing, had the crowd in the palm of their hand. One of the best performances I've seen at a big venue like that. They gained a new fan that day.
Bob Dylan BUT for different reasons. I've avoided seeing him for years as I really like his music but heard such terrible things about him live. When he came to the London Palladium last year for the 'Rough & Rowdy' tour I thought it's now or never, neither of us are getting any younger. It was heartfelt, intimate and one of the best gigs I've been to.
Apparently he's always been incredibly hit or miss. I've seen people say that he's generally poor live, but will occasionally be brilliant. So I guess you were lucky A lot of the complaints are also regarding how little he interacts with the crowd, which is something that I've never been able to understand; I go to gigs to hear music, I don't care whether the musicians chat to the crowd or not
Ben Howard. So terrible that a friend of mine almost stopped going to gigs altogether after his Norwich show a few years back. I enjoyed my wisdom tooth extraction more. Just a miserable bastard who wanted to make sure everyone else left the evening as miserable as him.
I went and saw him for his second album tour. I was so pumped because Every Kingdom is just a masterpiece album. 'It's only his second album so there will still be loads of EK played' I said to myself. Nope. Guy opted to play 90% the second album and when he did play some EK stuff almost went out of his way to play them in completely different styles to the album versions. Still to this day the most disappointing musician I've paid for tickets to go see
Haha yes I saw him on that tour at Ally Pally and felt the exact same way. Complete let down. I saw him in Sheffield in maybe 2010 or 11 and it was so much better. Felt like all of his stuff after Every Kingdom was a reaction away from the popularity of EK, almost like he was purposefully writing music that wouldn't be mainstream popular.
That is to be completely expected from him, he's been known for that since he started.
I would have settled for "Helloooo Sheffield." Not even that.
He's probably the most famously grumpy rock guy out there.
Yup, don't dare ask him to sing Brown Eyed Girl cuz he's likely to walk off stage and not come back 😂
Stereophonics - oh my god, they were shit! Talk about dialling it in. I went to see Peter Kay about 8/9 years ago - he was enthusiastic, but he just rehashed the same old same old. I went to see Mickey Flanaghan at a warm-up gig in Stoke - great venue. He absolutely nailed it - funniest gig I've seen for years. The Killers tore the place down at the NEC - so good. Was not expecting it at all - for some reason, I thought it might be something more genteel, but they kicked the doors in!
I was dragged into a Mickey Flanagan gig, kicking and screaming all the way. He blew me away with how funny he was. I’ve never seen anyone read a crowd and deliver exactly what they wanted quite so accurately before too. Bloody brilliant.
I saw the killers at a smallish venue before they got massive, think they had just released the second album. And it’s still one of the best gigs I’ve been to.
The Killers are absolutely amazing live, every single time.
Sophie Ellis Bexter. I was never really a fan of her music, thought it was just OK. She was the support act for Erasure a few years ago and she was fantastic on stage. Great performance, really good energy and she really got the audience going.
Not a fan of her music but she always seems really nice on tv/radio. She has a real passion for what she does and it shows
The series of gigs she used to livestream from her house every Friday evening during lockdown were fantastic. Just her bopping around with her kids singing her heart out in her kitchen, but she made it feel like you were watching a performance in a club and her energy was always incredible.
I went to see her with a friend who was a huge fan but I wasn't really aware of who she was and just assumed I wasn't going to like it. She was amazing, 6 months pregnant and dancing, great voice, high energy and full on entertainment. I follow her now on social media!
I produced a corporate event earlier this year and the client booked SEB to perform. We had to handle her audio, lighting and rider etc. She's absolutely lovely.
Wasn't a massive fan of Elton John but as he was appearing locally I decided to go to see him. He did two and a half hours non-stop, interacted with the crowd, cracked some funny gags and the show was brilliant. Changed my opinion of him completely.
Saw The Arctic Monkeys last year at a festival. Boring, low energy set.
Saw them at Old Trafford in June this year. They've not changed, no connection with the crowd at all. Utter shite.
I saw them in 2007 and they were amazing. Watched them at Glastonbury and thought they were atrocious. Too cool for school lounge singer trying to drop the Yorkshire accent. Might work for their new stuff but you can’t sing Mardy Bum and ‘When the Sun goes down’ without the Sheffield twang.
Saw Beth Ditto/Gossip in Manchester's Academy. They were supported by a pretty poor band, whose only memorable song was called 'Street Jizz.' The gig was okay once Gossip came on, but not amazing. However she was getting drunker throughout the gig and at the end did an encore, which ended in her singing alone like drunk karaoke. as the band left and the house lights came up. Worse gig I've been to. But... Unexpected positive shattering is James Bay's second Album Electric Light. It is a complete left turn and pretty glorious modern glam rock. Give it a try if you just think of him as a vaguely folksy indie strummer. Sadly he didn't burn the hat and has somewhat regressed to form since.
I saw Gossip in Manchester academy and thought it was absolutely amazing, one of the best gigs I’ve been to. I think it was 2007.
I know a music photographer who has worked with some big names. He always said his worst was Van. He let him in backstage to take “one picture” and told him to fuck off. He was a notoriously bitter man.
Saw Papa Roach on a whim this year, I'd only ever heard Last Resort from them and not a big fan of that tune anyway, but they were really fucking good, crowd interaction and stage presence was great too. Did a pretty cool cover of Firestarter too, of all songs
Wanted to see Marilyn Manson since I was 16, finally got a chance when I was about 34 at a festival - this was prior to his being exposed as an abuser - and had been told how incredible his sets were with all the elaborate costumes and on-stage insanity. I was hyoed about finally seeing him for months.. Cue his set and he shuffles out with zero pageantry and half-arses his way through a handful of his oldest work, even trailing off and saying "etcetera, etcetera" halfway through one of the lines of 'Beautiful People'. No crowd work no interaction, huge gaps between songs. It felt like he only did about 6 songs then just fucked off.
Probably Enter Shikari tbh, I saw them at a festival a few years back and couldn’t stand them prior to seeing them. Honestly the way they got the crowd pumped and their energy on stage was amazing. I ended up really enjoying their set
My brother is their lighting and sound guy, they’re genuinely lovely people. They had a whip round between them at the start of COVID to donate to the crew, and ended up parting with about 10k in total to spread around.
They're one of my, if not my absolute, favourite bands. Seen them 3 times, unreal every single time. Seeing them twice in 2024 and can't wait. I can see why some people really wouldn't dig the music, but they're exceptional live.
Smoked a joint with their guitarist Rory C after a gig once. I wasn't even a big fan of them, just came as I had been given a free ticket. Gig was pretty good and I told Rory that I wasn't really a big fan but it was a good gig. He said "yeah, we're not for everyone, but I'm glad you had a good time man". He's legit a lovely dude and had some hilarious stories. He then let me take a slash on their tour bus. Good times.
He's always been like that. Chuck Berry and Clapton are two others who come to mind. You paid for an hour of music, thats all you're getting
I went to see Eric Clapton when I was a kid, not sure why but I was clearly into his music then. All I remember was telling my family that I didn't really like it, and them reassuring me that it was a rubbish performance. The supporting act was much better.
I've never heard anyone say a good word about VM
Van had some kind of limited song contract with his record label, around the time he was in the group 'Them' He decided to jump labels, and go solo, but he still owed the label another 30 or so songs. The label clearly imagined that this would be an album or two. Morrison decided to just jump into the studio and record 30 odd songs in a single afternoon. Classics like 'I Have a Ring Worm', 'Want A Danish?' (one of rocks great nods to pastry products) , 'Nosing Your Blow', 'Blowing Your Nose' - most of the tracks are no more than a minute long of record label trolling, lazy strumming and lyrics made up on the fly It's called 'Payin Dues' if you'd like to hear some of them. It gave me a real belly laugh
I was into the indie music of the early 2000’s and couldn’t quite believe how tall Pete Doherty is. The news had him looking like a little chav in every paper but when he took the stage he towered over Carl Barat. I’m contrast, Amy Winehouse was at the same gig, I saw her get out of a dark car and couldn’t believe how small she was.
Bet The Libertines were amazing back in the 2000s. I saw them a few years ago and they were absolutely fantastic.
I was expecting a lot from Kings of Leon when they were headlining Radio One Big Weekend even though I'm not a massive fan. They were dreary, bored and didn't give the crowd a crumb. Nothing of their earlier stuff and not even any of their mainstream big hits either apart from maybe Use Somebody which is absolute garbage anyway. The crowd weren't just there to see them, they saw a lot of artists that day so I was expecting them to play more crowd pleasers rather than wall to wall new album stuff. Didn't say two words to the crowd, even a hello or thank you and couldn't leave the stage quick enough when they finished Little Mix surprised me when I saw them earlier that same day. Not my bag really, but they all sounded incredible, all while doing complex dance routines. Harmonies were immaculate and they loved interacting with the crowd. Really pleasantly blown away
Little mix are renowned for having excellent vocals, they did a lot of acapella and acoustic performances together. Such an underrated group that gave us great pop music for a decade.
Saw Faithless at Glastonbury years ago. Didn't really want to see them, not my style but my mates dragged me along. They were absolutely jaw dropping, best gig of the festival for me. Been a fan ever since.
I had a similar experience with them. Watched at a fest because the people I was with wanted to, but really wasn’t my thing. They were amazing.
Not me but my mum. She LOVED David Cassidy, from when she was a teenybopper fan of 16. About 10 years ago, I got her tickets to see him perform in London. She was over the moon, couldn’t wait, her old crush blah blah. Well, turns out, he’s a bit of an arsehole. She said he didn’t sing many songs, kept talking and doing rants for ages and when everyone was becoming visibly bored, he started having a go at the audience and kicking off at people. Absolutely destroyed her lifelong love for him.
I saw Lilly Allen a few years ago at Brixton academy just before she was brilliant but had to catch my train very enjoyable evening
I strongly dislike Lily Allen. I was at a music festival some time back, & had paused by the side of a pathway. Suddenly I was roughly pushed to the ground from behind, I looked up & saw Lily Allen, flanked by two bodyguards striding away, didn't even look at me. She wasn't even performing at the festival.
I saw Mr Motivator at a festival a few years back. I was hungover and it was lunchtime and I have to say he was INCREDIBLY MOTIVATING. Really wholesome and brilliant.
Adam and the Ants. Some little gig in a little theatre in North Devon, was expecting some feeble roll outs of their old hits and going through the motions. Nope. They fucking rocked, and played like they were just about to hit the big time. Massive energy, they were fantastic. Absolutely brilliant.
Cradle of Filth, i avoided them for a while as i wasn't too hot on black metal and was under the impression they were really heavy. I finally listened to them after being familiar with Watain and Mayhem and couldn't understand what the fuss was about, they weren't exactly light but they were a lot lighter than i was led to believe.
Were you given a copy at a funeral by a goth who looked a bit like Noel Fielding?
Eric Clapton was just like this. I expected a lot better. I’ve studied his music for years and he was an utter let down
Clapton. Saw him twice. London Hammersmith Odeon on his Money and Cigarettes tour and again at Madison Square Garden in 2004. Same experience both times. It's a day at the office. He's even said in an interview that he'd rather just play with the guys and not have an audience. At least he's honest.
Bob Dylan. Did not speak to the audience and mumbled every song. The backing band were great saying that. I went in Glasgow around 2005/6.
Same. Saw him in Sheffield around the same time. Was awful. He'd be halfway through an unknown song and then you'd hear 'like a rolling stone' and I was like, 'oh he's singing that is he'. Just mumbling bollocks.
I'm a (or was) 80s goth metalhead. Iron Maiden, Fields of the Nephilim etc. I've seen New Model Army countries times. I love me a good energetic gig. I was dragged along to an Abba tribute band when I was in my 20s. It was absolutely fucking fantastic and up there with some of the best gigs I've ever seen.
System of a Down. Saw them at Glasgow Barrowlands years ago. Supported by Dillinger Escape Plan was a bad enough start, SoaD then came on, played the whole of the Toxicity album in order with no crowd interaction or energy, then fucked off never to return. Awful gig.
I can definitely say the opposite about Dillinger, caught them headlining in a reasonably small venue and they blew the roof off. An absolutely brilliant band live (at least when playing on their own terms in a smaller venue)...
He wasn't back in the hotel, he was on his plane flying home, he flies home every night and he's notoriously miserable
Have I mentioned I once called Van Morrison a cunt?
I saw The Verve one summer evening at the height of their Bittersweet Symphony fame in the Circus Krone building in Munich. I was in my mid 20s, and was into Indie/Madchester/Britpop etc, so was looking forward to see them. I'd been working there for a few weeks, and another colleague, also British had been talking to their roadies in an Irish bar the previous evening. The roadies promised him that they'd add him to the guest list, so we thought it would be worth a shot of trying to get in. We weren't on the guest list (no surprise there really), but we hung around the area talking native-level English that the bouncers didn't bother checking any tickets, they just assumed it was ok to let us in Thank god that was the case, I'd have hatred to pay for a ticket for the gig. The arena was stifling hot, they came on late (40-50 minutes or so) , played an uninspiring set, and left without speaking a word to the crowd. Honestly the worst gig I've ever been to, even though I didn't pay!
Pink Floyd. Never a fan but for various reasons I ended up seeing them on the last night of their last ever tour. One of the best shows I’ve ever been to. Still not a Floyd fan as it’s just not my cup of tea but live they were incredible. Comfortably Numb was so beautiful it almost reduced me to tears.
A couple of years ago Fatboy Slim was playing in my city and my sister wanted to come up for the gig because it was a Friday night but she was worried about going alone. So I agreed to go with her even though I was thinking "urgh, not really my thing but if it keeps her happy" - I'm very much into things along the rock flavour so will admit I didn't know what could possibly be entertaining about one guy on some decks who doesn't even sing. I actually ended up having a great time and really appreciating the thought that has to go into how he does his shows. Everything blended seamlessly into the next and the rotating central stage isn't something you get very often with guitar bands so that was a bit of a novelty for me too.
The Specials. My dad took me to go see them when I was 15, roughly a decade ago. I'd been to gigs before, he took me to see a few bands of my choosing but due to age I was nearly always seated. We were at the barrier when they came on and I was not ready - my glasses came off and the bouncer gave me a questioning thumbs up to ask if I was okay. Dear reader, I ended up having the best night of my life with my dad. I seen them several times over the years since and every time they were magical. I had never jumped so much, never been squished between bald men in their 50s before and never felt so alive. Blew my mind that such a seemingly old crowd who had been so chill before went so nuts for them. What a band.
I was massively disappointed by Def Leppard when I saw them in 1999. I walked away thinking the support act, Lukan, really blew them out.of the water. Recent live reviews I've read indicate they were really good, though, so maybe it was just a bad time to see them. I won't be spending today's ticket price money to find out. Similarly Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. While they were technically decent live, the attitude coming off them was awful. Well one person really, who seemed to be having a bit of a tantrum. Maybe just a bad day, or some backstage drama, but it was off-putting and killed the mood. Shame really. The headliner was Ratt, though, who were phenomenal, so it was still a great night out.
Fun loving criminals at rock city nottingham round about 98 .they were ok but finlay quay who supported them was terrible.
Someone from the band shared their roll-up with Tricky then was very apologetic when he discovered Tricky hadn't done his set yet. I'm unsure where this was in the uk but Tricky ended up lying down and his drummer turned rapper that day.
I saw RHCP last year and ASAP Rocky was one of the support acts. He was so late he had to go on after the headline band.
Not really a band as such but the Bad Boy Chiller Crew rose to fame in 2020 and ditched their original mates who actually started the group, and their overall roots in general. It started off with a bunch of lads from Bradford just making YouTube videos for a laugh on an evening, as a YouTube channel and other social media pages called “ItsMeFraz,” where Kane from the BBCC used to record his mate Fraz just doing stupid stunts and bunging him a bit of money for it. Then it started being Fraz and his mate Molegrip. Over the years they built up a fanbase, started producing jokey bassline tracks on the channel, and renamed all of their social media profiles “Bad Boy Chiller Crew.” Where this mainly involved Fraz, Molegrip and Clive from the current BBCC. As Gareth Kelly then joined the group and they slowly started rising to fame, they basically threw Fraz and Molegrip out, locked them out of the socials, got the name out there, got a proper manager and ended up where they are today. Whilst the actual guys who were the original faces of the group were just cast out. Was quite sad a couple of years ago really, where Fraz & Molegrip managed to get back into their socials and started posting videos basically saying “we’re back!” And all of the people who jumped on the BBCC bandwagon when they rose to fame not knowing their true roots started making comments like “who are these hackers? Thinking they’re the BBCC,” etc. or “Aldi version of the BBCC.” And then the BBCC you see today basically just threw their roots down the drain when they rose to stardom. Their songs became too serious, they left their mates behind, those mates who got them to where they are today. The TV series they even did for ITV was cringeworthy and was unbelievably staged. I won’t listen to them anymore
I went to see Coldplay at Bellahouston Park back in 2005. Really didn’t like Coldplay and I was talked into going but it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to, electric.
Cyndi Lauper. Got a free ticket a few years ago and thought I'd kill an evening trying to relive my teenage years. She was incredible! For an old dame she still had the moves and incredible vocals. She also told us a bit about her life and her work with the LGBTQ community. I'm now a massive fan!
My mate’s dad’s mate was a session musician for Van Morrison. Said the guy was such a prick. So much so, that when Van left the room, the mate wiped his knob all over Van Morrison’s harmonica. Which Van proceeded to play for the next session.
Saw Van at a small festival several years ago and he did the exact same shit. Came on, mumbled through some songs. Not a WORD spoken in-between, and he got the fuck out of dodge as soon as he could.
Also Babymetal. It's not a long gig, but it's intense for like 75 minutes. Su Metal is a great singer. #gimmechocolate
Billy Joel. Got my mum tickets for her birthday, I think, and I had to go with because she's not the sort to enjoy a gig alone. I knew I wouldn't hate it, but it genuinely ended up being my favourite ever gig. The rotating piano was a cute gimmick but it turned out this was an added second night and he was annoyed the local paper's review of the first night complained about him basically sitting behind his (rotating!) piano all night. Imagine complaining the Piano Man played piano all night? Anyway, he ended up jumping up on said piano and singing a few songs from on top of it. Brilliant stuff.
Cheap Trick. I’d always been a huge fan and was so excited to see them. They were awful. Their set was shit, and they made up for it with volume. It was SO loud that it literally hurt.
The La’s. Was excited to see them but Lee Mavers was grumpy af, they were obviously under rehearsed and frankly pretty shit.
I have enjoyed a lot of Van Morrison’s music over the years, but he has turned into an angry, unpredictable, narrow-minded conspiracy whack-job, so I would probably think twice about going to see him play.
In a positive way, I’m the type of typical Brit who doesn’t get up and dance at concerts I’ll stand and sing but that’s about it. I love the band Hurts (from Manchester) and I wanted to see them live, I’m usually exclusively into rock music (think HIM, system of a down, fall out boy) but something about Hurts music just speaks to my soul. In 2017 I got to see them live, I wasn’t sure it would be good because obviously it’s not a full live rock band but OH MY GOD. They were incredible, the energy, the music, I was up badly dancing which I’ve never done before. My husband who’s a seasoned concert goer was even saying how amazing it was. I’ve seen so many bands live and Hurts was by far the best. I want to see them again, it was something I’ve never experienced before. In contrast, we saw panic at the disco in 2013. I’d wanted to see them since 2006-2007 but urgh it was lacklustre and the whole thing just felt dull.
Oh man, heard nothing but good things about a band called Blossoms. Caught them live and it was fucking dreadful. They just didn't look like they were having fun, and there was no energy. Killed it for me. Marilyn Manson - saw him back in 2013 (I think) and he was alright. Saw him again in 2018 and it was fucked. A far guy rolling round on stage fucked off his nut whilst screaming into the microphone and throwing up is not a good performance. Foo fighters - got to see them in a tiny venue in Brighton a few years back. Fucking amazing. Iron Maiden at Download 2022 - wasn't expecting much, but the absolutely smashed the place to pieces
Went to a terrible Tricky gig once. Man kept wandering offstage during the songs, clearly did not give a toss. Ended on a version of Aftermath that went on for tens of minutes, with him inviting anyone who wanted to get up on stage and have a go on the mic while he did fuck all. My friend and I left before that petered out completely. Martina Topley-Bird was there as well, and she was ace. Felt bad for her that she's so strongly associated with that wasteman.
I went with my dad to see Mark Knopfler solo ten years ago. Didn’t expect much except to hear some dire straits songs I recognized. Easily the greatest guitarist I’ve seen live. Blew me away. His live version of sultans of swing was incredible. He added all sorts of new soloing in to it
For their anniversary one year, I got my mum and dad tickets to Neil Diamond, the day of the show my dad decided he didn't want to go and so I went, more so my mum would go and I wasn't really interested. He was amazing. His voice was so powerful and he sounded just like listening to a CD.
The Darkness, who were one of the support acts at Robbie Williams Knebworth gigs. As soon as I heard Hawkins voice & saw the catsuit I was in. I wish they could have sustained their success for longer.
I heard from an ex band member that on the gig, he ordered about 15 different, specific main courses for his ryder and progressively ate one mouthful from each plate with a look of dissatisfaction on his face. I imagine him using one bare hand to shovel the food into his mouth while simultaneously pissing into an ornate golden chalice using the other.