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How about disappointing concerts? Yer experience?


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The worst for sure was Bob Dylan at Madison Square Garden around 1980. Dylan comes out with a Gospel Choir backing him and plays not one Dylan song - all gospel music. I was with a friend whose brother was working sound that night and we asked him if Dylan was going to play any Dylan. He said not tonight and we left the show before the end of the first set.

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WAY back when.......Blind Faith was playing in Portland. They were delayed getting into town and started well past the scheduled time. Things were going well when they hit curfew and the Coliseum cut the power. PD came on stage to shut it down. Ginger Baker went nuts and started throwing his drums into the crowd, which was in no hurry to disperse. Def did not get what we paid for.

An honorary mention, at a small jazz club in Hollywood many years later. Shirley Horn played and was clearly "impaired". She ended early with a slurred perfunctory, "You've been a great audience". To which someone near us called out, "We still are" as she stumbled off.

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I worked a show, and while I have seen many groups I do no like, the Flaming Lips played Naugatuck, the rubber city. They played to under 8 people. 27 minute version of "this one goes out to the one I love". They must have been obligated to play, between the City and Boston on a Weds. nite. They got only derision from me, my boss initially thought they were great, but they played 45 minutes. Well he lost on that, but considering a few years later he got Nirvana right before they broke, he did great on balance.

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On 4/1/2021 at 2:22 PM, HamerCustomEr said:

It is interesting to me how seeing a good or bad concert is luck of the draw.  I saw Skid Row open up for Guns 'N Roses in Toronto on the Use Your Illusion Tour in June of 1991, and of the 100+ big concerts I have seen, it was one of the best.

On the other hand, I saw Pink Floyd in Toronto in the late 1980s (I think it was the first concert tour they had done since The Wall)  and it was so bad, I can't remember a single thing about it!  (I have a selective memory in that my memory for positive things is great, but my memory of negative experiences is bad).  I remember the build up as it was billed as the concert of the century, and I remember showing up at Exhibition Stadium... and then nothing.  Maybe some fireworks?

 

I have to agree with you as I was at both shows! Guns and Roses were very good, but I had seen Buddy Guy for the first time the night before and he blew me away.

Pink Floyd was perhaps the most disappointing concert I've ever been to, as I had been waiting with such anticipation (ie. the kind of emotion you can only work up as a teen). I had been playing the **** out of the (rough in a good way) Ivor Wynne bootleg, so when they came on and were slick to the point of killing the music, I was completely underwhelmed. I kept waiting for it to get better - it never did.

Another underwhelming concert was Jeff Beck at the Molson Ampitheatre - about 10-15 years ago. It just didn't work for me. Too many notes lost in the boomy hall.

I saw the Allmans twice at the Ampitheatre - the first time was great, the second time they had the worst sound imaginable. And if you can't hear the solos, the Allmans are awfully boring!

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One that comes to mind was Motley Crue in Atlanta, must've been 15 years ago.  Maybe two songs in, I think it may have been Live Wire, Vince Neil performed a particularly unathletic leap from a speaker cabinet and crumpled on the stage.  The band just kept playing while he was rolling around and stage hands rushed out to help him.  After about 5 min. of the guys standing around on stage the crowd started getting restless, yelling, throwing things at the stage, then finally Nikki Sixx came out and said "well Vince is getting picked up by a fuckin' ambulance to go to Grady hospital for a shattered ankle, and there won't be a show tonight- we'll hook y'all up when we come back!" I remember thinking as the crowd started to get really pissed, how does Nikki know the hospital choices in ATL?...

Another was one of those situations where you're taking a buddy to see an artist you really like and your buddy is skeptical.  This was Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks playing at the Variety Playhouse in ATL, I've been a huge fan for years and as sloppy as Pavement could be, the Jicks were almost always great live.  This night, however; Malk was trashed and was hell-bent on letting everyone in the building know that he didn't want to be there.  Starting, then stopping songs, giving lip to hecklers, playing songs in tunings that didn't work then berating the guitar tech... Huge letdown show, and my buddy still gives me shit whenever I praise anything Malkmus-related.   

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15 hours ago, LefThanDed said:

Boston. First tour 1977. Horrible.

Hell, I know I can Google vids, but you were there, so I'll ask.  Was it that Scholz (and company) weren't able to reproduce the huge and crystalline wall of sound in a live setting in the same manner found on the recording?  The couple of clips I've seen on YT (years ago) seemed to suggest as much. 

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The Who - Shea Stadium (Flushing, NY) June, 1982.
Huge Who fan here (as I always point out), so for me to criticize them means that thing I am criticizing must be really bad.

I was 18 and my mother was away in Europe, and since my older sister was totally irresponsible, I was in charge of the house.  This gave me carte blanche to take total advantage of the trust bestowed on me.

My girlfriend was away at Emerson University in Boston, so it seemed like the thing to do to get her to hop on the bus to New York and the two of us would sleep at my house (two people in a twin bed!! YAY!), hang out, release pent up teen fluids, and then grab a cab to Queens to scalp tickets to see The Clash and The Who - my two favorite bands of all time.

Looking back, this is pretty much a list of things I wouldn't even attempt these days, but back then? Sure! Why the fuck not?

So, she arrives, we enjoy some private time, wake up enjoy some more private time, eat, and then make our way to Shea Stadium with no plan other than the faith that we can secure seats to the show without getting arrested.
How are we going to get back to Westchester County after we're out of money?
I'm sure I don't know, but now is not the time to worry about such trivialities.

By some miracle we get to Shea.
This is when I realized (remember I was only 18) that there are people that can read body language, even when you think that you're not telegraphing it.
We had the look of two people who, a). did not belong in Queens, and b). did not have tickets to this evening's festivities.
At least in this case it was a good thing because there were several "clairvoyant" passers by who offered us tickets.
We bought a pair (without getting mugged) and went inside.

Turns out the two tickets weren't anywhere near each other, so ol' girl sat on my lap for 4 hours.
Add that to the list of things I wouldn't even consider at 54 years old.

As for the show, it was all lack luster. The Clash brought their "club" gear, all mic'd up through the PA, and that didn't exactly have the punch they needed to reach the cheap seats where my legs had long since fallen asleep.
They seemed to be trying hard, though.

Then there was The Who.

1st of all, let me say that I hated Kenny Jones' drumming. If they could have picked a worse person to "replace" Keith Moon, he must have called in sick the day they were auditioning.
Easily the most boring drummer ever to sit in with them.

And Pete...  I don't know why, but the 37 year old Pete trying to look like a "Rocker" seemed a lot more strange than the 100 year old guy currently lumbering around the stage.  (And as a side note, I must once again implore him to PLEASE STOP!! YOU'RE D-O-N-E!  IT'S O-V-E-R!)

Roger had some voice left back then, but hey, that was only 39 fucking years ago.
YOU'RE DONE. TOO!!  PLEASE STOP!!

Ok... off on a rant.  Sorry.

Back to the show.
The acoustics were, let's say, what you would expect from the baseball park where the Mets played.

They put on a much better show in '89 at Giants Stadium on the Tommy Anniversary tour (with Simon Phillips on drums, thank Christ).
They had energy and a great sound system.
Easily the loudest show I've seen outdoors.

 

 

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I saw them in Nov '82 at the Tangerine Bowl. Despite Keith Moon not being on drums, the show was one of the best I'd ever seen. Long set, they came on just before 8PM if IIRC, and knocked around 11:45. That was after two openers that started off onstage at 5pm, The B-52s and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The crowd didn't exactly care for the B-52s, but they sure gave it their all, garbage thrown on stage and all. Rude freaking crowd! Both openers I thought were fun. The show as a whole was fantastic.

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4 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

I saw them in Nov '82 at the Tangerine Bowl. Despite Keith Moon not being on drums, the show was one of the best I'd ever seen. Long set, they came on just before 8PM if IIRC, and knocked around 11:45. That was after two openers that started off onstage at 5pm, The B-52s and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The crowd didn't exactly care for the B-52s, but they sure gave it their all, garbage thrown on stage and all. Rude freaking crowd! Both openers I thought were fun. The show as a whole was fantastic.

That's another thing.  I'm over the "long set" thing.
Like Greg Behrendt says, "Just give me your tightest hour."  Especially if there are 2 openers.

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8 minutes ago, kizanski said:

That's another thing.  I'm over the "long set" thing.
Like Greg Behrendt says, "Just give me your tightest hour."  Especially if there are 2 openers.

Did you wear your Get Off My Lawn T-shirt when you went to see them?

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13 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

Did you wear your Get Off My Lawn T-shirt when you went to see them?

No, that's me now.  

Back then I couldn't give a shit and it was fun to not give a shit. 

Now I just don't give a shit.  

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33 minutes ago, Steve Haynie said:

How did you afford to get home? 

You know, I have no idea.  And I've been trying to remember since my post earlier.  

I didn't drink or partake back then, so that's not the reason.  

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Clapton Behind the Sun Tour in Chicago. He played halfheartedly.  I spent more time trying to get out of the parking lot than he did onstage.  Read in the paper the next day that he went into the city and jammed with Blues guys into the wee small hours.

Los Lobos - twice.  The first time was in Chicago in the mid 90s.  I like loud music, but they were playing at ear splitting levels and we ended up leaving early for our health.  Second time was a few years ago in NC.  The show was poorly advertised and the theater wasn't even a quarter full.  They were clearly not happy.  They played a song off of This Time and we all cheered.  After the song, Cesar said pretty sarcastically "Oh.  You guys are familiar with our music?"

Tedeschi Trucks, also in NC.  I was really looking forward to the show and they were just flat.  Susan seemed really tired.  At one point, she literally said "B.B. King died. So there's that......."

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2 hours ago, supergenius365 said:

Tedeschi Trucks, also in NC.  I was really looking forward to the show and they were just flat.  Susan seemed really tired.  At one point, she literally said "B.B. King died. So there's that......."

So much for, "The show must go on."

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