Who's the worst band you've seen live?

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1448308098' post='2914370']
Oasis - saw them in Paris about 2004 when they were supporting Neil Young who was also crap. What a terrible gig. Both bands way to loud - no finesse and just sounded the same from start to finish. My mate persuaded me to go as I'd already decided that big venue gigs were a bit of a waste of time and this just confirmed it.
[/quote]yep I can't stand big venues either, overpriced crap atmosphere, I'd rather go and see a good tribute in a small venue than the real thing in an aircraft hanger

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Laibach at the Astoria mid 90's . They mimed . Left after 3 'songs'. Truly awful

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1448308934' post='2914386']
yep I can't stand big venues either, overpriced crap atmosphere, I'd rather go and see a good tribute in a small venue than the real thing in an aircraft hanger
[/quote]

Mmm, tend to agree. The only ' big ' bands I'd go and see are Rush, Metallica and rammstein. Rush may not tour anymore, Metallica are too lazy to record.
That leaves rammstein , which will probably be next year . As for a rammstein tribute , can't see the appeal,of a band in a small venue with a couple of sparklers and a Catherine wheel . Then again , it could work .

[ednaplate]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1448037117' post='2912599']
I'd forgotten one, the all-girl 'band' (I think they were more performance artists than actual musicians tbh) that were on first at the RHCP's gigs when James Brown was second on the bill, think it was a greatest hits tour. Man City's football stadium. Shambolic from start to finish. Think they were Australian but could be wrong, forget their name.
[/quote]
If I remember correctly they were called Chicks On Speed. They were beyond awful and the response from the crowd certainly let them know. I remember Anthony Keidis berating the crowd during the RHCP set for booing COS. I thought James Brown was pretty good though.

Edited November 23, 2015 by ednaplate

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1448039210' post='2912622']


That's funny, TOPT were the very first " proper" band I seen. They were supporting Saxon in 1980, wheels of steel tour. I thought they were great, but then again, I would have enjoyed anyone playing guitars back then. I must admit, Jess Cox doesn't possess the best voice. They did improve later when John Deverill joined. He had a great rock voice!
[/quote]
I think that's where I saw them, at the Lyceum ..
Or was it the electric ballroom ?
That Saxon gig at the Lyceum was weird; they took an eternity to come on stage , and the 'eagle' fell on the drummers head .,
Nearly forgot to mention , I think it was John Sykes First gig with the tygers

Edited November 24, 2015 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE

[Sammers]

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1448207397' post='2913655']
We had tickets to see them when Patrick hurt his shoulder and they cancelled the whole European leg of their tour. Never rescheduled. Dave Grohl broke his bloody leg and came back and performed! Black Keys music, great, attitude, pish!
[/quote]

I'd imagine it's easier playing guitar with a broken leg than it is playing drums with a disclocated shoulder, even if it is only Meg White-esqe stuff.
Although I've seen BK twice and both times I had an awesome time.

Bad gigs for me were probably Kiss and Motley Crue at this years Download fest, lots of fire and jumping about but just a bit crap really - if I could of left I probably would have.

[EliasMooseblaster]

I have seen Yngwie. And thankfully it was not an Yngwie concert; he was a guest at a much more expansive lineup. Unfortunately, I'd already been subjected to an hour or so of shredding, so by the time he came on, he didn't really bring anything new to the party and just looked a bit tragic (we're talking three or four years ago...he really ought to give up on the leather trousers). By the third time he came on I wanted to throttle him.

I remember being colossally underwhelmed by Elbow. I think they'd just released their first album, and my sister persuaded me to take her along on the strength of [i]Anyday Now, [/i]which I thought was a very good song; pleasantly atmospheric, a bit different. They opened with that song and then played a load of seemingly homogeneous downbeat stuff that never seemed to gain much momentum.

However, the [b]most utterly terrible band[/b] I've witnessed...well, I've done the Camden toilet circuit, so I've seen a few. But one really stood out, and if memory serves, they were called All the Jacks. I was playing bass for one of the other three bands who were on that night, so I had the joy of watching the entire car crash unfurl from the beginning.

It's not uncommon for bands to be unable to make the soundcheck. If you let the soundguy know in advance, it's generally not considered a problem. Turning up fifteen minutes before your set time is, however, the point at which you really ought to go and apologise to the sound engineer and promoter and hope they don't pull your set. These kids decide to go to the bar.

Five minutes later (ten minutes to set time), one of them seems to be hurrying frantically around the room looking for the other bands' guitarists. He's forgotten his guitar strap, and can he borrow one of theirs?

Five minutes to stage time and they've dragged their half-cut backsides onstage and are tuning up. The set hasn't even started and the drummer's making an absolute racket behind the kit. The sound engineer, tiring of this farce, strolls over and tells the singer that if he doesn't finished tuning his guitar and get this shambles sorted out pronto, he'll cut their set. The drummer has a go at the sound engineer. The engineer repeats his ultimatum to the gobby drummer, who is being calmed and/or restrained by the rest of the band.

The music is utterly without merit. It's a snotty, sloppy facsimile of the Libertines' laziest B-sides and even their friends don't seem to be overly thrilled by it. Everyone is quietly grateful when they vacate the stage. I'm surely I wasn't the only left wishing the sound engineer had cut their set.

[ras52]

[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1447965761' post='2911959']
2 for me ; John Martyn at the Lowry about 8 years ago, maybe more. Came on late, pissed and couldn't play. The band tried to cover for him, and his Les Pqul was turned right down, but after 20 minutes we gave it best. We weren't alone - plenty were leaving and comparing notes, as seasoned Martyn fans observed, he was always mercurial, but if he was having a shocker, you were best just to write the night off and go home.
[/quote]

I saw him around 20 years ago - I don't recall if he was late, but he was definitely pissed and couldn't play! Unfortunately his guitar was NOT turned down on this occasion.

[Stylon Pilson]

Probably Franz Ferdinand at Alexandra Palace in late 2005. Dreadful acoustics and the band just didn't seem to want to be there - I reckon they were bored of hearing their own songs.

S.P.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1448016536' post='2912264']
Paul Simon at the NEC. He was great, and so were the band, but it was an enormous venue with sh*t loads of empty seats. Awful sound and no atmosphere
[/quote]

I think I was at that Paul Simon gig. Pretty disappointing as I thought it would be a contender for my fave gig of all time.

Worst "proper" band performance (as opposed to the multitude of dire bands trying to get a break or get out of the pub) was a band called Tetra Splendour. They were supporting the Fun Lovin' Criminals. They were awful. Awful songs, awful sound, awful stage presence, awful playing, awful etc etc... I remember visiting their website to see wtf they were all about... and they were getting absolutely slaughtered on their own forum!

Things must have been bad as they disappeared as Tetra Splendour to only reappear as People in Planes - funnily enough they had already gone through one rename before, something to do with robots but I forget.

They had limited if any success over here but I understand they had a good go in the US... and I also had an awful deja vu moment when watching a chick flick with the gf and they popped up in John Tucker Must Die. I seem to recall they did some music video or something Joaquin Phoenix. Maybe the yanks were getting off on the "English" (but really Welsh) aspect of the band.

Anyway, it sticks in my mind as considering I was having my own attempt at rock stardom, I felt somewhat aggrieved that such tosh could get on a support slot with Fun Lovin' Criminals (who themselves I thought were held in higher praise than they should be).

As I've grown older, I've realised that the music business is a funny old game... a mate of mine had the opportunity of buying onto the support slot with McFly... at a cost of ten of thousands of pounds - which of course, as a struggling band, they couldn't raise. Meanwhile, some kid with a rich dad pays for her to get ignored whilst she goes through the motions of her warbley solo act with acoustic guitar.

[Jonnyboy Rotten]

Last year or the year before I saw Napalm Death support Children of Bodom at the Shepherds Bush Empire.

Napalm Death were horrendus! All noise, no definition or finesse.

[4-string-thing]

I remember seeing a pretty dire band called Fashion, supported by an equally dire Kajagoogoo sometime in the early 80's. Further back, I saw a band called The Dodgers supporting The Steve Gibbons Band and a band called Fischer Z supporting someone who I can't remember, somewhere!

More notable bands that I've seen who were not at their best would include, New Order, Smashing Pumpkins, The Lemonheads, The Proclaimers and The Smiths.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1448386444' post='2914997']
The Smiths.
[/quote]

I refuse to believe that this band could sound anything but ****!

[Graham]

[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1448383984' post='2914965']
Last year or the year before I saw Napalm Death support Children of Bodom at the Shepherds Bush Empire.

Napalm Death were horrendus! All noise, no definition or finesse.
[/quote]
I've only seen Napalm once (Hammerfest 2009), but they were spectacular; however I appreciate grind isn't for everyone

[PaulWarning]

ah, Napalm Death, once supported them, or they could have supported us, can't member now, around 1981, 82, couldn't believe it when they actually got somewhere

[Smythe]

A band called Chicks On Speed who were supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Etihad Stadium 2003-ish. Absolutely diabolical, the amount of pints they had thrown at them throughout the whole 3 songs or so they managed to play doesn't even hazard a guess.

[Manwithvan]

Gong at some pub in Leicester around 2000. Awful sound which rendered their space noises ludicrous. Sad to say this, as I saw them in the mid 70s at Northampton County Ground. One of my first gigs - I was 14 or 15 and loved it.

[Chienmortbb]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1448389719' post='2915045']
I refuse to believe that this band could sound anything but ****!
[/quote]I have to listen to Leonard Cohen to cheer me up after hearing the Smiths

[paddy109]

Happy Monday's (I think in Cardiff) - Shaun Ryder kept stopping the band because him and them weren't in time or even playing the same song! Probably too wrecked to care.

On the pluse side Stereo Mc's were supporting and were bloody brilliant.

[pfretrock]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1448389719' post='2915045']
I refuse to believe that this band could sound anything but ****!
[/quote]
I'd rather drink my own wee.

[Low End Bee]

Circulus.They decided to not be as advertised 'electric medieval' and do an acoustic set. So acoustic that they refused to use the provided PA at all.
Not that they really needed a PA as the band leader bashed on for 15 miutes about tuning to 432hz as 440hz is oppresive for some reason. He then introduced their new violin player in gushing tones for another interminable few minutes. He was of course knocking pointy slippers with her. Then they played some very quiet music that he kept stopping so he could impart more spiritually important knowledge as and when it came to him. I walked out after giving him some of my spiritually important knowledge without charging him £13 for it.
It made the Johnny Thunders gig I went to where he only managed to slur vacantly through nearly three songs before retiring the worse for wear seem like bliss.

[dmccombe7]

[quote name='kevin_lindsay' timestamp='1448007315' post='2912163']
Rush in Glasgow on the Clockwork Angels tour. Horrendously bad sound mix where I was sitting. This was surprising as I was a few rows directly behind the sound desk! All I could hear was drums and keyboards. I know Alex Lifeson was playing guitar as I could see it on the video screens, but I couldn't hear him or Geddy! I left after about 5 songs. On leaving the hall, the guys checking the tickets said, "don't blame you mate". Hahaha. Real shame, as I love the band.


[/quote]
I was at the gig too further back from you behind desk and thought it sounded ok. Never a great venue for sound anyways but I could hear everything being played. Think you must have been a bit unlucky there.

Edited November 30, 2015 by dmccombe7

[dmccombe7]

Walked out of Whitesnake at Glasgow Apollo back in early 80's sound was terrible few rows from front at Bernie Marsden side. Also walked out of Peter Gabriel in early 80's too but that was because I wasn't really into it and only went because my mates persuaded me to go.

[Bigwan]

Seen some woeful excrement in my time, but easily the worst was Cubinate. Dance beats with metal guitar and a "singer" who had nothing to say to the booing crowd except "We are the future c**ksuckers"...

Where are they now i wonder... Said nobody ever!

[ubit]

[quote name='Sammers' timestamp='1448373991' post='2914842']


I'd imagine it's easier playing guitar with a broken leg than it is playing drums with a disclocated shoulder, even if it is only Meg White-esqe stuff.
Although I've seen BK twice and both times I had an awesome time.

Bad gigs for me were probably Kiss and Motley Crue at this years Download fest, lots of fire and jumping about but just a bit crap really - if I could of left I probably would have.
[/quote]

I did say reschedule . I never expected him to play with his sore shoulder. I love the Black Keys by the way.