The Steel Guitar Forum

What is the worst concert you've ever attended, as a member of the audience?

Mine was Sawyer Brown. I was in the balcony, and screaming women were all around me. They were louder than the band, which is saying something because the band was really loud. The music sucked, too - very dumbed-down country rock - and the lead singer's stage antics were gross.

My ears were still ringing the next morning.

Mine was Vanilla Fudge, in fall 1967. Actually, the opening band was Lothar and the Hand People, featuring Lothar the Theremin, and they were pretty cool. But when VF began to play--I think they started with You Keep Me Hanging On with the pretentious organ intro--the organ was so piercingly, ungodly loud that I endured only a few seconds before deciding I wanted to be able to hear in the future, clapped my hands over my ears and ran out of the theater, spending the rest of their set out in the entrance lobby behind the safety of closed doors. (I thought the music was crappy anyway.) And this was after I had spent three nights transfixed in front of Jimi Hendrix's amps in the same venue a few weeks before!

It was about 1972. Carlos Santana's brother, Jorge, had a band called Malo. That was the perfect name for their performance.

Lee, from South Texas

b0b wrote: as a member of the audience?

ooops, that disqualifies my top 100 since I was always on stage.

One of the most mismatched concerts I ever saw was when Charlie Daniels was firsr making it big,Was in Columbus Ga, at the civic center,There was maybe 5000 redneck[including me] pot smoking straw cowboy hat wearing CDB fans.The opening act was a HEAVY METAL band from NYC,Can't remember the name of the band,but it it was one word,like Kiss,but not them,Was three pieces,guitar,bass,and drums,when they counted off the first song the roof almost came off the building,Would have made Ted Nugent sound like dinner music,I was sitting close to the stage,had to move to the rear of the building,[by the way they were GOOD at what they were doing]but not what those CDB fans came to hear,and they let it be known. DYKBC.

The music sucked, too - very dumbed-down country rock - and the lead singer's stage antics were gross.

b0b, you have such a way with words!

Gratefull Dead in Indy about 1980. Garcia played the same loud licks over & over for two hours. He played well, just boring & loud and we were way up in the nosebleed section.
We saw the Mavericks twice. Once in Sanford Fl. and they were good. Again in Red Bank N.J. and they were arrogant and loud. The producer told them they would never be back. They were so loud we couldn't even carry on a conversation in the lobby so we left. It was painful.

Acoustic Alchemy.
The recordings are with 2 guys playing acoustic guitars. One nylon string, the other steel string. These guys did a lot of albums.

The venue was the Granada Theater. A pretty small venue that was a movie theater back in the day.

I knew I was in trouble when the stage crew was working on a drum mic.

I got up and held my ears, hoping that someone would get the message.
The bass player had 4 four speaker cabs.

I left with my ears ringing.

R2

Well, mine qualifies as a mismatch... I saw the first Shakti with L. Shankar & John McLaughlin, opening for Roy Buchanan. Shakti was sublime, beautiful, terrifying, brilliant - Roy Buchanan was so drunk he couldn't change his own guitar string when it broke. Supposedly he could play guitar, at one time. I've seen the "Good Jerry" and the "Bad Jerry" Dead shows, too... with a "Drunk Phil" thrown in for good measure.

Britt, let's hear more about that Jimi guy!

Charlie, you know how to leave the curious hanging...

Rick Derringer surprisingly did a pathetic gig for us in Honolulu back in the mid 90s.
I tend to totally forget the bad ones, but I'm sure there were some.

Not that they were bad, but when the three so-called Masters (and they probably are) - Di Meola/De Lucia/McLaughlin played the Waikiki Shell 20 years ago, they couldn't hold a wet matchstick flame to the opener, Steve Morse. In a gracious move by the three, they brought him back out for a five minute encore after their boring 2 hours and he blew them all away yet again. Brave on their parts, but kinda stupid too... Prime example of soul over mere number of notes.

For a change, this is not about the volume- in fact a bit of volume might just have kept me awake......
I went to see Martin Carthy and the Watersons. They are iconic figures in traditional English folk music.
Well, the gig went like this, it was late December, so the entire first half was given over to Wassail songs.
Now there is very little melodic variation in Wassail songs, and the Watersons have that "there must be a note here that works" style of harmony, and a, to me, ugly East Yorkshire accent.
Dire!
In the second half I was hoping for some relief, but just when I thought it could not get worse, it did.
The entire second half, fifty minutes of torment, was spent singing fox hunting songs.
A traditional English fox hunting song consists mainly of a list of the names of dogs, all sung to the minutest variation of the same tune.
Utter extreme direness!
If it had been advertised as an illustrated ethno-musicological lecture on traditional seasonal folksongs- well at least I would have known enough to stay away- but this was in a nice theatre and was intended to be entertainment!
I have never been to a trad folk event since.
Cheers
Dave

Dave Boothroyd wrote:...just when I thought it could not get worse, it did.
The entire second half, fifty minutes of torment, was spent singing fox hunting songs.

Now this is funny!

Probably the one bad show that really sticks with me was David Crosby and Graham Nash, around 1974 in Anaheim. They had been arguing backstage and carried it on to the stage. I don't think I've ever seen more disrespect for a crowd (other than at various punk shows, but this was different). Drugs were almost certainly a big part of their problem.

I remember Nash forgetting the last line of a ballad, uttering an obscenity, slamming his hands down on the keyboard (painfully loud when amplified) and storming off stage. And that was one of the highlights.

I didn't see them in any combination again until the late 90s, and then only as part of a Neil Young Bridge Concert. They had improved, maybe because they were clean and sober by then.

Most of the other truly awful shows I've attended have been like Mr. Bovine, as part of the problem.

Years ago my Daughter treated me to a Hank Williams Jr. concert at Irivine Meadows, Ca. It was really bad, Hank seemed to be feeling no pain, if you know what I mean. The band was primarily playing Heavy Rock and the sound was ear shattering. Couldn'nt wait to get out of there.

Seems that the most common complaint here is volume, followed by inebriated performers.

The second-worst to me was Velvet Underground at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. They just did not play well. I got the impression that they didn't know how. It felt like they weren't really musicians - just a group of people who picked up instruments to form a trendy little business of touring and performing. Like a fashion show. Boring!

I have seen the Grateful Dead on a bad night, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Hall and Oates. I walked out.

Our worst concert was George Strait in Saskatoon. It certainly wasn't George or the band but was where our seating was. Way up in nose blead section... had to look on the giant screen to see what was going on and the sound was just a echo. Not surprisingly our best concert was also George Strait in Calgary. Third row from stage. Absolutely the best!!!

Terry

There's this intimate little venue around here called R. A. Fountain General Store that has a great mix of eclectic soloists and groups. So, one night I
ventured over to hear the highly touted "Alaskan
Fiddle Poet". Well, there was a fine line between what this guy did on the fiddle and not being able to play at all. His poetry went something like, "I
had a friend who built a cabin in the woods, but it burned down." (I know poetry doesn't always have to
rhyme, but it needs to be more than a stream of blather. I now suspect he wasn't even from Alaska.

Fleetwood Mac opening for the Beach Boys,Mile High Stadium,summer '76.Mic squeals,thin weak sound.Lindsey Buckingham just couldn't replicate with one guitar live what he did with all those overdubs.

The BBs were propped up with half a dozen backing musicians and still sounded sloppy.No Brian Wilson.Dennis did a sloshed and embarrassing "You are So Beautiful".Every so often PBS airs a BB's documentary that has footage from this tour(and maybe this show)that even though the sound has been VERY expertly massaged shows how all their excesses and fights had damaged their ability to perform.

BTW I'd seen them years before when "Deuce Coupe" was on the charts(again,no Brian.Al Jardine was playing bass and singing Brian's parts.David Marks and Carl Wilson on guitar)They rocked hard and sang superbly.It was just great.

Can't remember the year, probably early 90s. Willie Nelson at Skydome in Toronto. It wasn't the full stadium, just a section of it curtained off. George Fox opened--and he was good. Willy was a disappointment. I didn't interact with the audience until the end when he said "we have one more song for you."
It seemed like him and the band were just having a jam session in front of the audience. They all talked to each other--we might as well have not been there.

The acoustics were crap as well.

I hate it when a band comes out for an "encore" that nobody clapped for, after sucking all night... go away, already.

It would have to be Jefferson Airplane, early 70's at a motor racetrack in NJ. Papa John Screach front and center. I never knew who he was or where he came from but he was all over the Airplane and Hot Tuna at the time. Maybe he was a real good acoustic blues fiddler. But electrified, he was painful. And he wasn't shy. Volume has rarely been an issue with me but his electrified fiddle caterwailing was physically painful.

Hank Williams,Jr.in Meridian,MS.The band played several instrumentals first because Jr hadn't arrived.When he finally made it,he was as drunk as a boiled owl.He didn't sing,just yelling and screaming at a deafening volume.Then they turned the lights out for the last couple of songs and when they came back on,Jr and the band were gone.The entire show could have been faked.I don't know,but the whole thing stunk.

Andy

A friend dragged me to see the Cowboy Junkies...maybe it was an off night for them, because my friend swore they were usually great, but this performance was an apt commentary on their name...the music was stupor inducing...only time I've fallen asleep at a "Rock" concert.

Same as b0b. The Palace, I think here in Louisville several years ago. They would commonly have 3 successive acts in concert.

It was John Anderson, Sammy Kershaw and Sawyer Brown.

Sound engineer never did figure out John's dynamics and his vocals were lost much of his concert. Old Sammy's set was very good however. Steelers Glenn Rieuff and Jim Bob Gairrett with those 2 best I remember.

Building was filled with screaming, hat wearing, teeny boppers waiting for the headliner Sawyer Brown and Mark's on stage hopping.

The other 2 acts were on first, so we were able to get away shortly after the ensuing SB adulation took over. And yes, the volume was overpowering. All bottom end...drums and bass