Worst Concert Ever?

Marc Stone · Post by **Marc Stone** » 13 Jun 2009 8:33 am

Ugh!!! I forgot all about "Cats". My father dragged me to "Cats" on Bway when I was a kid, and then sang along with the soundtrack in the car for two years. Torture!

To the guy who didn't like the Toby Keith concert: I hope you didn't pay to see that no-talent propaganda machine. The only thing worse than what he did for American music is what he did for American politics. And of the all the ridiculous wasted acts of our gov't, giving that jack*ss a Congressional citation? Further proof that you can go far by appealing to people's lowest instincts of fear and hatred. I think he wound up with a boot in his mouth, not anywhere else. I lost a LOT of respect for Willie Nelson when he hooked up with TK.

Ray Leroux · Post by **Ray Leroux** » 13 Jun 2009 9:33 am

I agreed to an arena concert wich I hate because of the sound issues.It was in Calgary at the saddle dome. So I says to the wife if I'm going then I want good seats. So we bought 8th row back from the stage. Well George put out a so so show but I had expected that due to size and disconnection from the audience however I was not ready for the eight rows of idiots in front of us that stood up as the first song began and never sat down. All standing on chairs most appeared to be 25 and under. The part that finished the concert for me was these people were not there for the music they were there for the status. Each one had a cellphone held in the air and were screaming at whoever was on the other end that G.S was so &^%$# cool and awesome.. well you get the picture. Give me a decent band working hard to cook up a storm in a small club any day, and you can have input on how well they'll play for you by feeding them appreciative energy.

Dave Harmonson · Post by **Dave Harmonson** » 13 Jun 2009 6:03 pm

Some interesting posts on this thread. I think the worst I saw was Mel McDaniel. My band opened for him at an outdoor show in the park. Apparently Mel's party from the night before went pretty late. He was a mess and could barely sing and was cussing the sound man for not giving him enough monitor. We had just played on the system and he had two big wedges with 15" JBL's pointed right at him. I know they were blasting for us. He did about 3 or 4 tunes walked off and let the band play a few. The promoter was mighty P.O'd and talked him into doing some more or not get paid or something to that effect.
I'd done another show with him a few years earlier and he sounded fine, but on this day he was just an embarassment.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 13 Jan 2010 9:41 am

Ben Harper at UC Santa Barbara a few years ago. I walked out. I don't get it. Man, I must be getting old.

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 13 Jan 2010 10:51 am

Ha! Like Jeremy and Chris I also fell asleep at a "Cowboy Junkies" show (on the hard seats at old Massey Hall in Toronto, which are not easy seats to fall asleep in), though I would not say it was bad - just soporific.

Hank Jr. put on a real stinker of a show in Ottawa many years ago - I had driven up from Kingston for it, and there was nothing about it that was remotely worth the drive except for the Mexican food beforehand. That would be one of the worst for sure. A very talented man who has, sadly, rarely lived up to the talent he was born with.

A George Jones "no show" back in the early 80's might qualify as well, despite a noble effort by Tammy and her band to fill the void. They knew he was not going to be there - he was nowhere near Toronto, but they waited till the seats were filled to tell us.

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 13 Jan 2010 11:42 am

To my recollection, the worst concert I've ever seen was both a solo performance and an "Austin City Limits" taping.

Skip Ewing (remember him?) was one of two artists taping that night. Yes, I know they periodically stop the filming to make technical adjustments, etc., but this was ridiculous. In between every song Mr. Ewing wanted a cosmetic technician to make sure his nose was "powdered" and his "Glen Campbell" hair-do was not in the least bit messed up. The songs (and he's supposedly a song writer) seemed to be the least of his interest or concern. I've never cared for his songs, anyway. The only reason I went to this taping was Rodney Crowell was a guest artist, too. What a taping his was! It was the first time I'd heard Rodney Crowell's song, "Highway 17" which gives me the chills to this day. Both artists were performing solo, but the performances were different as day and night.

Funny thing, I thought most musicians felt about Skip Ewing the same as me. About a month after the taping, I was at a rehearsal for a band I was to do some dates with. I thought I was being clever and made some disparaging remarks about the Skip Ewing taping. I was promptly admonished that the band was covering many of Mr. Ewing's songs and my comments were not appreciated. Needless to say, I didn't get that gig, but I didn't lose any sleep over it, either.

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Bill Dobkins · Post by **Bill Dobkins** » 13 Jan 2010 12:00 pm

Earl Thomas Conley, Great writer but can't sing for
sh-t.
BD

J. R. McClung · Post by **J. R. McClung** » 13 Jan 2010 4:32 pm

Definitely TEN YEARS AFTER. Spring 1973.
Alvin Lee was just not up to snuff. He kept doing impromptu Chuck-Berry-style stuff and the band was trying to follow along. All this at volume levels well beyond ear-splitting. I tore off bits of my handkerchief and stuffed it into my ears.
Nothing classy from their album CRICKLEWOOD GREEN or anything like that.

But, worth the price of admission, the opening band was WILD TURKEY. Yes, with former JETHRO TULL bassist Glen Cornick. They were well-rehearsed and spot-on. And we suspected the drummer to be Clive Bunker, another former TULLIAN, but he was not introduced.

Chris Schlotzhauer · Post by **Chris Schlotzhauer** » 13 Jan 2010 6:01 pm

Any "Red Dirt" band concert I've ever attended

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 14 Jan 2010 12:41 am

Have to say Confederate RR.

Drummer, I think now passed was terrible. No discernable rythym. Used Chely Wrights' keyboard and guitar, as his probably walked.

Chely and her band were good, but it was one of Paycheck's last openers, and though turned down, he and his steel player were the best of "show". Winter 97 I think. Dunno who the steel player was.

EJL

Other than that Neil Young always sucked live, and Country Joe never seemed to bring The Fish.. Hendrix threw a fit when he was here in town. Can't blame him.

Two BEST ones were Buddy Miles and the Beach Boys, in 71 and 66 respectively. Also liked Canned heat, but I think it was being stoned....

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 14 Jan 2010 10:33 am

Neil Yound has NEVER sucked.
"they didn't get what they wanted, but I got what I wanted".

Ben Jones · Post by **Ben Jones** » 14 Jan 2010 1:10 pm

theres alot to choose from, including ones where only half a song was played, or where the perfomrer was intentionally trying to aggravate or insult the audience, but I'd have to say sitting thru the Grateful Deads three hour set was by far the worst for me. I did it three times just to be sure...yup, Im sure. i think a full hour of that three hour set was an insipid drum solo with footage of aborginal dances playing behind them. no amount of drugs can make that good..and yes I treid.

Abbey Lincoln came onstage and berated the audience for being white and paying $50 to see her. I guess i wasnt expecting in my face confrontational racist performance art of that variety at a jazz vocal concert. Still at least it didnt last three hours.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 14 Jan 2010 1:52 pm

Neil Yound has NEVER sucked.

Ron, that may be true about Neil Yound, but not Neil Young. Thank you, Eric, I didn't want to be the first one to say it here on the Forum, for obvious reasons. $:\$

Earl Calvert · Post by **Earl Calvert** » 14 Jan 2010 11:25 pm

In 1987 we went to see the "Three Legends" Merle Haggard, George Jones and Conway Twitty at the Opera House in Seattle. Merle was the no-show, so George and Conway played extra long sets. George wanted to do a Merle Haggard song, but his drummer couldn't get the right beat so he yelled at him and restarted the song. The drummer missed it again and George yelled at him to just stay out if he can't get it right. The drummer played real quiet after that and George spent the next forty minutes apologizing to him over and over.

Conway did a great show...I respected him greatly after that, even though I never liked his songs.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 15 Jan 2010 5:42 am

Threadnomancy!

Ken Thompson · Post by **Ken Thompson** » 15 Jan 2010 12:31 pm

The 1987 "Legends" tour brought back memories to me. I was working backstage when Merle, George and Conway came to Great Falls. I have three memories of that night.

First, I met George who was an absolute gentleman. And he is shorter than me.

Second, Merle's manager asked me to keep all the people that were waiting for a meet & greet away from where he would be walking on stage. He was not up for meet & greet (I know why) but he did manage to put on a show.

Third, I watched as Conway's manager led him through the dark area back stage and up the stairs to the stage. Conway looked like he was doing the Thorozine shuffle as he walked with his hand on his managers shoulder. Imagine following someone in the dark and trying not to trip over them. It was not his fault, he was just trying to manuever. But the sight was funny. The amazing part was, as he made it to the top of the stairs and began to walk on stage he transformed into the super star. He lifted his arm and did the signature move of pointing to the sky and circling his hand and arm as he began "Hello
Darlin". So I saw him transform from a very human man struggling to walk in the dark to a super human man on stage. I will never forget that sight.

Sorry, it was not the worst concert, but one of the best. I just couldn't resist to comment on my observations of that night.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 15 Jan 2010 12:48 pm

Watkins Glen, 1973. I was so far back in the crowd for the Greatful Dead set that you could only hear the music when the wind blew in the right direction, and what you could hear was horribly out of tune. Moved closer to the stage for the Band's set when it started to pour rain. I started hitchhiking after the Band's set and never heard the Almond Brothers set.

"Ramblin' Jack Elliott, McCabe's, '90s.

I recently visited Wolfgang's Vault archives with a 16-ton chip of skepticism on my shoulder because I couldn't believe for a second he could ever have been any good. Surprisingly, during the Camelot era, he kinda was.

I keep looking for him on each successive week's episode of "Intervention" on the Arts & Inebriation Network."

I've seen Jack drunk and I've seen Jack when he was the best. Really depends on his mood I guess. He can be great, but I've also seen him when he spent most of the time on the stage drinking and talking with very few songs in between.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 15 Jan 2010 1:02 pm

Jack does tend to ramble.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 16 Jan 2010 12:37 am

The Superpickers, Buddy Emmons and Phil Baugh, in 1988. Phil Baugh was so drunk he couldn't play. I thought he was going to pass out at any minute. It was a disaster. Buddy did his best, but Baugh kept playing the wrong chords, out of rhythm, and threw Buddy the other musicians off.

I had one of the first DAT recorders, and had made arrangements to hook it into the P.A. and record the concert. This would have been he first digital recording of a live Buddy Emmons concert, and the recording would have been made into a CD. But it was so bad that Buddy asked me to destroy the tapes, which I did.

Buddy and Jack Lox who produced the concert, were furious. This was the only time I had ever seen Phil Baugh. He may have been wonderful at one time, but he was not wonderful this time.

James Cann · Post by **James Cann** » 17 Jan 2010 8:41 pm

Not the worst by any stretch, but it was really disappointing to see Paul McCartney in Phoenix two years ago: simply put, far too loud. Why a guy of his stature needs that is beyond me. It never occurred to me to bring earplugs, and I suffered for it.

Post by **b0b** » 17 Jan 2010 10:46 pm

Maybe he's deaf.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 18 Jan 2010 7:23 am

Forty-five years later, he's still playing at Shea Stadium volume.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 18 Jan 2010 8:15 am

The post and replies about Paul McCartney about being to loud.
As you surely know (maybe better than me), he could have had a bearable volume on stage, only the audience had to suffer, because of the soundmen.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 18 Jan 2010 10:11 am

Of course. In that case, the soundmen were deaf.

James Cann · Post by **James Cann** » 18 Jan 2010 12:53 pm

Perhaps more likely, too full of themselves, as, per this particular forum, soundmen seem to be.

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