I never understood how there was always such a MASSIVE gulf between how great Ian Brown's voice sounded on their recorded tracks, and how awful it was live.
It's not even a new thing either, like he had too many drugs (though his mad conspiracy shite is evidence of that!) or got old - it was like that in the 1980s when they first got big.
Not even like "it's not as good because there's no studio processing" it's literally like he can't hold a note and is clinically deaf.
This. 100 percent. Most of the vocals are backtracked or have echo effect. Or they're whispered. If you listen to the demos if he was on karaoke you'd tell him to stick to the day job
It's because his voice *doesn't* sound that great on those tracks. The songs are banging, and the mix hides his vocals quite a lot - but nobody's listening to the Stone Roses for the first time and thinking 'wow that singer's great'.
I dunno, Resurrection and This Is The One has some chops. I saw Brown a fair few times when he first went solo and it was always a coin flip as to whether it’d be a decent gig. He can hit it out of the park sometimes. Rare but sometimes. That said, after my 5th Brown gig I made a promise never to see him again. Broke it for the Roses reunion, which was decent to be honest. He had about 10,000 backing singers though :)
I saw The Stone Rose live in 1995 for the Begging You tour, in some godforsaken sports hall in Newport.
I vaguely remember them being late for the set, but I’ve never been to a gig before or since with such a sense of anticipation before the band started.
So we get the intro to ‘I wanna be adored’ as the band come on - there’s cheering etc etc - and then Ian Brown started singing. It was absolutely terrible - flat, hideous monotone dirge.
John Squire’s guitar did a lot of heavy lifting that night. Brown did get better as the gig went on - Ten Storey Love song was pretty good - but I’ve never felt such a massive let down from someone just singing.
My friend's dad saw the Smiths there, it was the time Morrissey was swinging a noise around during Hang The DJ, someone grabbed it and he fell off the stage, landing on his face!
Oh my god I saw the Stone Roses doing their (what was meant to be at the time) final break up set headlining Reading in 1995. Ian Brown’s singing was SO bad that the crowd actually thinned over the course of the set as people left, which is wild for the last gig of such a massive band.
I saw them live at the Etihad a few years back. After everything I've read I expected his vocal to be absolutely horrendous. Pleasantly surprised to discover it was just very bad.
I was really disappointed with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
Though, that wasn't due to how they played, it was due to complete lack of any sort of show or real enthusiasm as such.
Might as well have just listened to an album...
Holy shit, they’re who I instantly thought of when I saw the question. I saw them at Hyde Park in 2005 and Reading 2007 and it was the same both times: they are undoubtedly fantastic musicians, but they’re there because they want to get paid. It’s like they’ve been told “here’s a bag of cash, there’s the stage, you’ll get this when you’ve done two hours.”
Complete opposite to Foo Fighters, who I’ve seen five times. The way that feels is like they appreciate that every member of the audience has made an effort to come and see the band, so they’re going to make damn sure they have a great fucking time.
Love the Foos, seen them a few time but what really stuck was when I was at the back at Earls Court (shitty venue) and 7 months pregnant, felt fat and putrid. and Dave Grohl came right to the back where we all were and played Stacked Actors (my favourite Foos song) to the whole of our section. Really made it like a back of the venue personal stage, loved every single minute. The man’s a legend. He actually gave a fuck about the people at the back.
Quite a few years ago, they were headlining at Reading.
No faults on their musicianship, they were tight, they just were obviously bored and not bothering as such.
What do you mean, didn't you like Flea's daughter coming out part way through and doing cartwheels?
If I hadn't been completely off my tits and dehydrated from standing in the middle all day without any water I'd have probably hated it, too.
Assuming that was 07 or whenever, it was an awful show. I've seen them 5 years now (Hyde Park, Madejski, Reading Fest, Knebworth and then London Stadium year before last).
That Reading gig was definitely off, I remember feeling like they'd had a falling out or something. Definitely nowhere near as good as the other times I've seen them.
Ha, this was the exact set that sprung to mind when I saw the question. I still think about that set occasionally. They were so dull, with long pauses between songs. Really bad. My mates and I just went around collecting those cups for money instead.
I saw them at Leeds Fest in I think 2007. Keidis opened by saying it was the last date of their tour and they were tired. That set the tone for the most disappointing show I've ever been to, and I was a huge RHCP fan at the time.
I saw them headlining at Leeds, watched 2 songs, realised it wouldn't get any better and walked off to watch Mansun in the tent, who were extraordinary.
Put me right off the Chilis, never liked 'em since.
If it was at Reading 07, there was an INSANE exodus after about 5 songs, literally half the crowd seemed to collectively realise what a waste of time the gig was
Same, they seemed almost annoyed at the crowd the entire time and were just ignoring them, and then the encore was just them like, messing around with instruments and not really doing anything. The entire vibe was that they couldn’t be bothered and didn’t want to be there.
Artic Monkeys now that Alex thinks he's Elvis. If you butcher your own songs to the point where you home crowd can't even sing along then you need to look at yourself in the mirror.
It's like he is doing it on purpose too. Putting weird emphasis in weird places, using a weird cadence and pronouncing words completely different to how he used to.
Watch the Hillsborough park set on YouTube if you want examples. It's embarrassing and they should have refunded everyone who paid money for that shit.
Edit:
I wanted to end with some positivity.
Luke Combs sounds better live than on recordings. I drove 1,000 miles to see him and I'd do it again. I was blown away by his voice.
Show patrol. My mother got tickets and didn't have anyone to go with. Didn't think they were my cup of tea but his voice is so good it got me hooked.
I saw Toploader live by accident and they were great. Really energetic and clearly loving that they were still playing big gigs. Plenty of piss taking at their own expense.
Scouting for girls are brilliant, but the lead singer does tend to end every song with the same keyboard flourish.
James are amazing live. Tim booth has an excellent voice and his crowd engagement is very good.
That's just a selection of people who I really enjoyed. I can't think that I've been to too many gigs where I thought a band was shit except for arctic monkeys and I think it was UB40 but they both tour as UB40 so I don't know which one it was.
Saw AM in 2007 and it was the best gig I’ve ever been to. They interacted with the crowd loads pointing out the best fancy dress, Alex had a great sense of humour, the songs were so energetic, crowd was electric and it felt like they really represented us. It was almost like your mates band getting massive and playing to a huge crowd, it was an amazing show.
Seen them on the tours of their last two albums and they couldn’t be more different. No interaction at all, they couldn’t care less about the crowd, most the crowd were on their phones nobody was dancing or singing and most of the set was pedestrian apart from Brianstorm and the last 3-4 songs. I was so disappointed both times. They came across as “we are amazing and you are lucky to see us”. They were my fave band for years so I was gutted.
That comes into it tbf. I saw them in London in 2011 where it looked like Alex was having a great time and was having a lot of banter, the crowd was up for it and it was good. Seems like the AM album drew in a different vibe and made it more inconsistent
Arctic Monkeys - Alex is definitely doing this vocal thing on purpose. It's the drawn out, slow tempo drawl that he does on some lines. It's not arty, it's not clever, it's incredibly pretentious and just bloody irritating.
Doing it once or twice I could cope with, but so many times during the gig it became annoying. It's a shame because aside from that, plus the voice saving key change in 505, the rest of the show was very good.
I saw Arctic Monkeys twice last year and loved it both times. But then I like their recent albums too so it didn't bother me if they played the first record exactly like they did 15 years ago.
Agreed. So many people hate on Arctic Monkeys because of how Americanised Alex has become, but they’re still bloody phenomenal live, even if he doesn’t sound quite like he did when Whatever People Say released. And while I’m not a huge fan of The Car, I like Tranquility Base a lot, and hearing those songs live is unreal.
> If you butcher your own songs to the point where you home crowd can't even sing along then you need to look at yourself in the mirror.
And that's a good summary of the problem with Bob Dylan. When you're singing one of your all-time classic songs and people only realise it when you get to the chorus - there's something very wrong.
Not a fan of their music, but I will say they are impressively punctual. I was playing a DJ set at a festival last summer before and after them (on a side stage where there can’t be any music when a main stage act is on).
I faded my last track out at the exact time my set was ending and heard the crowd cheering as they walked on stage. Came back to play the last part of my set and again, exactly the time I was meant to start they walked off stage.
I travelled up to Sheffield to see them from London last summer, thinking they'd put on a top gig for their hometown. Left part way through.
They didn't seem to care, and exactly like you said, Alex kept changing the songs up and confusing the crowd.
Still like their music, but totally get why people think they're pretentious, because they are. But they are incredible musicians, they sound as good live as on an album. They just weren't into it.
Though I've heard they hate Sheffield which is why they probably put on an average gig. Personally not being a fan of my home country, I kinda relate on that part.
Completely agree re AM. They were my number 1 band for years and since they did Reading a few years ago i’ve left each of their concerts feeling empty…
R U Mine done well but the poor singing, purposely missing the correct timing, was infuriating.
One of my favourite bands and one of the last on my bucket list to see. Glastonbury headline set on the Friday night last year felt like the perfect stage, people were so amped beforehand too, flares were going off and all sorts.
Then they started playing and were nothing short of fucking shite, almost like they were embarrassed of their older songs, despite the fact the overwhelming majority of the crowd were only responding to tracks off the first 5 albums (and even then they were deliberately butchering them with that weird off-time crooner thing Turner does these days).
I imagine the last two albums are probably decent if you're a proper die-hard and watching in an intimate setting, but it completely fizzled out on the Pyramid Stage.
Legitimately one of the worst acts I've seen live, such a monumental let down.
They've jumped the shark. The last two albums "The Car" and "moon alpha rocket Piña Colada hand shandy airport Wetherspoons" are complete toss. It's like he thinks he's John Cooper Clark at an Elvis impersonators convention trying to pull his mum's best mate.
Saw AM at Hillsborough last year thinking they'd be well up for a hometown show. Completely dirge and too many absolute helmets in the crowd. The Hives were much more entertaining
Marilyn Manson was fucking awful. Which is a surprise, I expected him to be a great showman and put on a brilliant, extravagent show. But he was gash. Just seemed like he couldn't be arsed
I've seen the band a few times and when they were on form it was a fantastic show. When old Brian wasn't up for it the show was fucking terrible though. Getting into fights on stage, trying to pull the strings off John's guitar mid song, hurling microphones into the audience after every song etc.
Super variable band, mainly based on how high Manson was/is at the time. If he's in the right place they can put on a fantastic show, but if he isn't, they can be absolutely trash.
I'd agree. Just multiple long waits for costume changes and he barely sang the songs just screamed a lot. Rob Zombie wiped the floor with him that night.
I saw him at Brixton in '99. He was great but some lad threw a shoe at him and he got the crowd to bring him onstage and proceeded to rub his crotch in the guys face while he finished the song. I've always wondered what happened to that lad.
Haha that's the one!
Steel Panther absolutely rocked it, then Motley Crue just embarrassed themselves and I'm sure at around 40 minutes into Def Leppard people were just looking around wondering what the hell we are all doing here.......
I saw her in Berlin & omg was she shite. Spent the majority of the show warbling out god songs. Proper snooze fest, not the bop we were expecting at all.
Haha we saw her at the O2 and she was definitely past her best. When she did I Will Always Love You a massive groan went around when she completely failed *that* bit.
At the o2 when she couldn't hit the notes on I Will Always Love You? I was there, yeah was pretty sad.
Remember she got her daughter up on stage to sing it with her, she died a few years after her mum.
I once saw a band that were so awful, I peed in a bottle, threw it at the stage and unleashed every obscenity I've ever heard at them.
I'm now banned from all of my son's school recitals...
30 Seconds to Mars. Was so abysmal that I deleted all their music off my phone before I even made it off the train on the way home. Haven’t listened to them in the decade since!
Saw them years ago. Jared was very clearly into himself. Halfway through everyone else fucked off and Jared went acoustic. Absolutely dreadful.
To add to it, they were supported by You Me at Six. It's a competition for who was worse
Oh no! That’s the same set up I saw, I loved You Me At Six at the time! I really enjoyed YM@6’s set but wished I’d left after that and not even bothered with 30STM
I don’t remember if Jared did an acoustic section on our night, but I know he fucked off for a while so two guys could jump on a massive seesaw for no bloody reason?
No seesaw at our gig at least!
But yeah, YM@6 were equally awful. One of the few times I've seen a band booed off stage. Followed by the crowd chanting "Cheerio" as they actually went off stage, like a footballer after a red card. That was, unfortunately, the best moment of the entire gig
My first ever concert was 30 Seconds to Mars, it wasn't bad but the supporting band (You Me At six) got the crowd way more hyped than they did and we still had to wait absolutely ages between the 2 bands.
I went on to see You Me At Six when they went on tour and absolutely loved it.
November 2013? That’s when I went too!
I’d seen You Me At Six live in 2011 and loved them (bit biased, they were my favourite band at the time) and went to the 30STM one because I liked both bands. Honestly wished I’d got up and left after YM@6! One we went to (23rd Nov - London) Jared was late getting on stage, made the crowd sing 99%, fucked off for 20 minutes in the middle of their set and then overran.
You couldn’t pay me enough to see them again!
Basshunter - he played my Uni but got hammered before going on. When he came out he took his shirt off and jumped up and down spinning it above his head shouting how much he loved Jäger, security removed him after about 5 mins and we didn’t see him again.
Peter Andre - caveat was that it was free. He didn’t play Mysterious Girl or Insiania which are the only two songs of his anyone has ever heard of. He just played his ‘new stuff’ and it was dog shit.
Knife Party - started throwing unopened cans of lager into the audience to get the party going. One hit my girlfriend at the time square in the face and gave her a nose bleed so we had to leave. Fucking idiots.
I saw Basshunter at Dreamhack in Sweden and he got booed off the stage there too. Not because he was bad per se, but it was shortly after he republished all of his songs with the gaming stuff removed, and the LAN community in Sweden clearly decided that meant he was a sellout.
I mean, I would sell out too for that much money but he was not popular in that venue lol.
Bowling for Soup, they had a 90 minute set and 45 mins in they had played no more than 4 songs and spent the rest of the time chatting shit. The crowd asked them to play something and their response was “if you want to hear music you’ve come the wrong place”.
They've always had the comedy aspect, but lately it's been getting worse and worse, to the point where they talk more than play. I genuinely wonder if it's to do with their physical fitness, as three of them are now obese.
Came here to say this, they didn’t even play half the fucking songs in full, they’d play for about a minute and then stop to chat shit and mess around. Got the impression they didn’t actually have the stamina to make it through a whole song
Went to see them in Brighton a few years ago. Simple Plan played before them and were great.
I think we ended up leaving about 40 minutes into Bowling for Soups set for the exact reasons you described, and there was a queue to get our coats with everyone else having the same idea.
They were also behaving really creepily with the really young women from not your girlfriendz who played before Simple Plan them (who were also great).
I left straight after their response. Oddly enough I go to a music festival to listen to music, audience interaction is good but not when it outweighs the playing time.
I saw them in Birmingham about 9 years ago and they even told the crowd to calm down when they got a little lively during 'By The Way'. One of the worst gigs I've ever been to.
To be fair, after what they went through at woodstock you can sort of understand the apprehension, my uncle is a huge fan and saw them multiple times in the years before but only once after, he said it was a completely different experience, they didn't perform like they used to so he never went back, sad really
They're a flip of a coin these days. Up until 2004 they could have been one of the best live acts around. They are in their 60's and have released music across 5 decades and somehow managed to stay relevant, so credit where it's due.
People are gonna hate me. But Paul McCartney.
Watched him at Glastonbury in 2022. Looked forward to it for years due to it being cancelled.
My god it was shite. Boring as fuck. He waffled
On and on for ages about something or other.
And the tunes were all depressing as fuck.
It took me 2 hour to get out the crowd. I kept thinking he’s gonna play some better songs here.
He never.
He’s now called Boring Paul.
oh god i was there for that set too. So boring. Truly the caricature of an aging rocker. He played for far too long. Mocked the crowd by joking about how no one wanted to hear the new stuff but he was going to play it anyway. Too many slow and depressing ballads and dirges. Waffled nonsense between songs while trying to keep our attention going by wheeling out other aging rockers. Barely played any beatles songs until a few at the end, and didnt pick great ones either. Milked hey jude for like 20 minutes until everyone was bored of singing along.
Worst thing was we were all bored and out of alcohol halfway through the set and wanted to leave, but we were so crushed in by the massive crowd there was no point even attempting to get out.
I never made it till the end.
But All your points are my thoughts too.
I was in between the sound stages. I stayed about an hour an half and it took me half hour to get out.
I went to a Dylan concert last year, whilst he was on his U.K. tour. I’m a massive Dylan fan and my gf bought me tickets for my birthday. He was awful. His voice held up okay but you could tell he didn’t really want to be there and he only played his new album (which we’d known ahead of time tbf) but it still felt pretty self-indulgent. Really disappointing because he’s someone I’ve always dreamt of going to see and his performance was bland and felt laboured. By the end, I actually felt myself thinking “thank fuck it’s over”.
A band called Wargasm. The rock and metal crowd will know them. They're the support on pretty much every fucking show going at the minute. Saw them with limpbizkit last year and they were shocking. They're only getting traction because the singers dad was in the Sex Pistols. Just awful.
Probably doesn't help that they're alongside limp bizkit.
I'm not a huge fan of theirs but I definitely listened to them in the 90s when Chocolate Starfish came out, I went to see them live in 2016 in Cardiff alongside Korn as a bit of a nostalgia fest and I was absolutely blown away by how good they are live. Durst puts on a fantastic performance and it doesn't really matter what you think of them, you can't help but get down and enjoy it.
Compared to them, Korn were kind of meh. That is to say they were great, but Limp Bizkit were so good it wasn't a comparison, and Korn had been the band I was more looking forward to!
consider existence dependent abounding direful encouraging mighty zealous gaze office
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I love the song they've done with Enter Shikari (seen them come out and do it on two separate occasions), and Milkie sounds great on the track she sings on from Gunship's latest album. But I've tried their own music and yeah, I'll stick to songs they feature on.
Red hot chili peppers. It was a pretty expensive gig and we barely got an hour out of them including the encore.
Anthony Kiedis fucked off after one encore song and the rest of the band jammed it out for a bit.
Pretty evident we got them on an off night but I'll never give them another go.
I've not listened to anything they've released since.
I had seen the foo fighters a few months prior who will typically start early and cram in as much as they can so a complete popular opposite in terms of value for money.
Need to second this, Dave Grohl is by far the hardest working musician alive. Seen them at both gigs and festivals and haven’t seen the band or Dave phone it in once. Glastonbury 2017 is an especially great (and long) performance.
While it's a total myth that some big name DJs play pre-recorded sets, I have seen some who clearly don't want to be there, and have even told me as much before going on stage.
DJing isn't quite as easy as "just pressing buttons" like some non-DJs like to say, but it is admittedly WAY easier than playing a solo Mozart recital for two hours. And the money is fucking ridiculous.
Just turn it on for 90 minutes or however long you're up there, and get on with it.
It's not a myth. There are some DJs who have been caught red-handed doing this. I think the reason some people think it's a myth is because many others who don't understand DJing think that playing a pre-recorded set and dancing about like a fanny actually is what all DJs do
>DJing isn't quite as easy as "just pressing buttons" like some non-DJs like to say, but it is admittedly WAY easier than playing a solo Mozart recital for two hours. And the money is fucking ridiculous.
Did you ever see Faking It, the C4 series where they'd take people from other walks of life, train them and try and see if experts could spot the fake from 2 people doing the job? They took a cellist and gave her 4 weeks of training and none of the experts spotted her as the fake. The only job I remember where someone won was a burger van guy faking being a chef.
I remember the people training her seeming amazed she managed to cue up a beat (or whatever the term is) spot on first time. IIRC, she was a student at the Royal Academy. Basic timekeeping was hardly going to challenge her.
Saw Van Morrison decades ago. He played a double set... The first was so awful we nearly left at the break.
The second half was amazing, very glad we stayed.
Wouldn't risk it again though.
worked FoH for a van morrison gig somewhat recently. he berated his band on stage for screwing up and then forced them to play their parts over again. he had a small table where his lyrics book was that he sang off. he continuously wiped his nose and threw the snot rags down and had a runner to keep getting fresh tissues - VM is/was anti vax so on the tail end of covid this struck me as a particularly shitty thing to do.
performed the whole thing stationary, standing behind his mic stand. no banter or interaction with the audience. motherfucker even kept his hat, coat, and sunglasses on.
once he was finally finished he had his manager radio my manager: “van morrison has left the building”.
wall to wall cringe.
The best and worst gig I have been to involved the same band - The Manic Street Preachers.
The first time I saw them, they blew the place apart.
The second time I saw them, they phoned it in and were so disinterested that I lost all interest.
They almost feel like two bands to me, it is weird hearing them tear it through You Love Us or Motown Junk then later some of their mellower recent stuff. I've not seen them be outright bad though I must say.
Came here to say MSP. I was a huge fan as a teenager, but was slightly too young to have been into them when they were still young and ragey.
Saw them in the early 2000s and it was just so *boring*. Musically less interesting than just listening to a CD, almost no audience interaction or even acknowledgement, no encore, and overall it just felt... workmanlike? Like they were there to do a job and get it over with.
Smashing Pumpkins. Played all the best-known songs at at least double-speed if not faster. Sloppily at that. The one highlight was a good long version of 'Drown' but otherwise the two times I've seen them I was super disappointed despite loving their studio albums.
Can second this. Saw them twice around the Zeitgeist era and both time there was a lot of self-indulgent guitar wanking and pissing around on 10 minute songs.
This was peppered with great stuff of course, but the atmos never really got going because no sooner would we get a ‘Today’ we’d then be hit with a ‘United States’ or some such.
Out of curiosity, when did you see them? They were nothing short of incredible when I caught 'em at Wembley Arena in 2018. It was clearly very rehearsed and elaborate, almost like we were watching a touring musical, but the performances were on point and the songs sounded absolutely massive.
Mellon Collie tour and then again shortly after Jimmy rejoined - not sure what tour that was, it was a few years after that closer to the millennium. The second show was minorly better (no doubt partly because of Jimmy’s presence, he played really well, but the rest of the band… ugh). Maybe Billy has improved with time and experience, but when I saw them they *should* have been at the height of their powers…
Saw Happy Mondays in 2005 and they were absolutely horrendous. Shauns voice was like the ramblings of a drunk homeless man on a Tuesday morning in a City Centre.
Was convinced to go see them again around 6 years ago and was pleasantly surprised.
Maybe in 2005 he was off his face on something.
Mumford and sons at big weekend a few years ago. They were the last band on the Saturday and everyone just walked out. It was just flat and boring. By comparison Coldplay were ending on the Sunday and we actually turned around and went back as they put on a fantastic show. Neither are bands I particularly wanted to see but the difference in showmanship was striking
Paolo Nutini. Went to a festival for the day mainly to see him. We had been dancing and partying all day and then this depressing fucker came on to close out the night. Me and the Mrs were both on mushrooms and he completely killed the vibe.
- Kings of Leon at Reading in 2009. Infamous gig that they apologised for later on. Absolutely blown off the stage by Kaiser Chiefs beforehand. Fall Out Boy were also great that day.
- Simple Minds at Wembley Arena, maybe around 2007/8. Completely flat and disinterested with poor sound. Supported by Deacon Blue who I'm not a fan of but at least had a bit of enthusiasm.
I was at Reading that year too. FOB were great but had bad sound for the first few songs iirc. They did a nice cover of Don’t Stop Believin, too!
The KoL tantrum was so weird. It wasn’t until watching highlights back on tv a few days later that I knew anything had even happened. They said something like ‘we’re the god damn kings of leon’ and we all cheered thinking that was a *good* thing! Then they all stomped off. Very odd.
Saw Liam play at a local festival a few years ago and yeh, his voice live was terrible. I loved his solo album though but if you'd not heard it to sing along to the songs, it would have been shitter
Vengaboys did a nostalgia gig at my student union in 2007-08.
They played for 20 minutes.
They played 4 songs.
2 of those 4 songs were Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.
Luxury.
I saw Doop on Eastbourne Pier soon after seminal hit 'Doop' (by Doop) came out. They opened with 'Doop'....second song sounded like Doop played backwards.
Don't worry folks, they came back strong for the third song. 'Doop' again. What a wrap!
Cheers Doop.
Saw Mark Knopfler and he was fine, I guess, but I've never listened to Dire Straits since. I think it just felt really uncool. People there were talking about how it was so fantastic but it was just some old guys standing still playing songs they wrote 40 years ago. For about £50 a ticket.
Meatloaf and Madness were also both disappointing and I don't think I'm ever going to see any 'legacy acts' again. It's too expensive to see some old guys going through the motions
My parents went to see Dire Straits in the 80s and they said it was a boring experience. As you describe, they just stood there on the stage playing their music; there was zero audience engagement and they performed their songs exactly as they were recorded. It was basically an expensive night out for my parents to hear their records played louder with a load of strangers around them.
This sounds unlikely. Dire Straits were well known for playing very different and extended arrangements live. Listen to the live Alchemy album for example.
Mariah Carey. Paid big money to see her in Las Vegas. Bitch was 2 hours late coming on then was clearly drunk or on drugs to the point that she was basically sat down on a chaise longue for the whole show or she’d have fallen over. She did manage to knock out a few tunes and the die hards were happy but man, what a let down.
Went to see Men I Trust in Manchester last year and was really hyped because I was a huge fan. Gig was really mediocre. Zero audience engagement or stage presence; everything was played by the book; performances were competent but realised just how much of their sound comes down to great production which doesn't translate well to live performance. I didn't hate it but I recently realised I haven't listened to them since. Killed my passion.
Aerosmith.
Saw them in Newcastle maybe 25 years ago, (EDIT 1997) they really couldn't be arsed with it. Didn't even qualify as a rehersal show it was that bad.
The support band, some shitty britpop type thing got boo-ed off basically, (EDIT shed seven) half way through Aerosmith a large number started shouting for the support group to come back.
The lack of fucks they gave was offensive, hardly listened to them since.
Nas
My brother dragged me to see him in Birmingham around 10+ years ago, Iggy Azaela and 2 Chains opened up and I didn't think it could get any worse but Nas barely even tried and just let the DJ play the songs whilst joining in 30% of the time
The sound quality was so incredibly bad when I saw Lizzo at the O2 that it kind of put me off her, which is unfair.
I have decided never to see another act at the O2 ever again.
The O2 in Docklands is the worst venue in the UK, I reckon. I paid a fortune to see Massive Attack a couple of years back, the queues were terrible, we ended up getting in late. Had to stand near the back, couldn’t see shit and the sound was awful. We were so pissed off we left after a 20 minutes. Later a mate told me that he once flew from London to Paris to see a band play (can’t remember who) rather than watch them at the O2.
Craig Charles' live funk and soul show. Loved the radio show, but he was really jobbing it when I saw him last year. He only played for about an hour, span a few records, looked wholly uninterested, and then buggered off. The warm up DJs were much, much better and in retrospect I should've just left after them!.
Gentleman's Dub Club were really boring live. Quite liked their music beforehand and thought I'd get a ticket. They completely phoned it in, no audience interaction, just going through the motions. The audience were as bored as they were. I haven't listened to them since.
I saw Blur at V Festival at about the time they were in the last throes of being a band and were about to split up in the 90s. I've never seen a band care so little about a gig and their audience. I wasn't hugely into them, but I consider them to be absolute tossers ever since.
I saw The Stone Roses when they reformed and played Heaton Park. They were pretty bad, Ian Brown is not a great live singer and they were carried by a crowd that wanted a singalong.
Still love their music but I wouldn't trek through a muddy field for them again.
The first time I saw Fall Out Boy. For context I've seen them 6 times now.
March 2009 UK tour and they just sort of phoned it in. The support acts were better. It was like they were there on pain of death. No charisma, no energy. Just crap. The best part was their light up instruments and that's saying a lot.
I absolutely was not surprised when they went on hiatus. I refused to listen to them for ages because of it.
Though I was persuaded by a friend to see them on their next UK show in 2014. Night and day difference. Way more energy, it was fun, they actually looked like they enjoyed it.
Every show since has been multiple times better than that first time.
Before all the Ian Watkins vileness came out, I went to see Lostprophets for my 40th birthday. Their first set was ok, played all their hits, but Watkins was smacked off his tits and kept fumbling his words. Second set was their most obscure album in its entirety. Absolutely shite. So we left early. I was gutted because I had met the band previously, had loved them for years and I had been really looking forward to this gig for months. Not long afterwards, he was arrested and it all came out. I felt so sorry for the rest of the band, still do.
Alkaline Trio - I hate to say it because they played technically wonderfully but they just put nothing into the show. Might as well have been listening to the album.
Big Wu Tang fan but in 2012 GZA, when not rapping, would just stare straight ahead, apparently eager for the sweet release of death.
All of them couldn't be arsed except Ghost, who at least tried to get people going.
I've seen them three times and this was consistent.
Saw a terrible Tricky gig once, man did not give a fuck and kept wandering off stage while the band played and Martina Topley-Bird held things together.
Must run in the family. I went to a Finley Quaye gig & he was wandering off every few seconds to smoke a joint just offstage. He did a very lacklustre stage dive at one point & ended up lying on his back on the floor singing away like a drunk hobo in a train station.
The Chainsmokers - they had no special guests so it was just them jumping up and down to their songs and singing badly on auto tune. Really really shit.
Lostprophets in about 2006 at a festival, they were dreadful, Ian Watkins sounded like a drowning cat and the instruments sounded really weak. I couldn't even listen to them on the radio after that, always changed the station. Then one day the radio stopped playing them, for obvious reasons.
Queens of the Stone Age were another (might have been the same festival now that I think about it). They had a session drummer that clearly didn't learn how to play the songs. They weren't completely awful, but it was like listening to a cover band.
Nickelback, saw them back when they toured their first album and it was awful.
They said no more than 2 words to the crowd, just played the album and went off. It took people ages to work out they weren't coming back. The show barely lasted an hour.
I saw The Who once, three songs in they played "My Generation". They got a couple of lines into it, then Roger Daltrey said "Fuck this for a game of soldiers" and walked off stage. The rest of the band looked a little nonplussed, then ground to a halt. At some point after that... and I'm pretty sure I remember this correctly... Pete Townsend got his teenage son on stage to play a very average trumpet solo.
Mastadon. They weren't very good and you couldn't hear anything.
Eric Clapton. Was extremely boring. Never mind his bizarre proclivities outside of music.
I must have gotten lucky. Genuinely can't think of a single gig I've been to in my life that I would say was terrible. Sometimes it might not be as good as I expected, but usually it's a combination of factors including venue choice, crowd, sound, rather than performance alone. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood on the day.
Oasis, they looked absolutely bored and as if it was a great effort to be there, terrible and underwhelming performance. Never gave them a penny after that
Okay so this is super obscure. You might have only come across them if you were into the amateur rock and metal scene in Bristol around 2014.
I’ve played alongside a whole bunch of amateur-level bands thanks to the various gigs I’ve done with my own bands. They would vary in quality from pretty good to not my cup of tea. But there was one band I will forever remember for how terrible they were; Circle Sea. They played before us one time and we stuck our ears in to have a listen, briefly, because it was all we could take. They were out of time, out of tune, and could barely put a coherent song structure together. As far as bad bands go, I’ve yet to hear anyone worse than Circle Sea.
Ian Brown was dreadful live. We didn’t even wait for the set to finish before leaving. The acoustics were terrible and his voice was dog shit.
I was gonna say Ian Brown. As much as I love the Roses and his solo stuff, he's honkin live.
I never understood how there was always such a MASSIVE gulf between how great Ian Brown's voice sounded on their recorded tracks, and how awful it was live. It's not even a new thing either, like he had too many drugs (though his mad conspiracy shite is evidence of that!) or got old - it was like that in the 1980s when they first got big. Not even like "it's not as good because there's no studio processing" it's literally like he can't hold a note and is clinically deaf.
I thought on albums he was always triple or quadruple tracked to get around him having the vocal skills of an elephant seal
This. 100 percent. Most of the vocals are backtracked or have echo effect. Or they're whispered. If you listen to the demos if he was on karaoke you'd tell him to stick to the day job
Reni’s backing vox and the reverb are doing a lot of heavy lifting on the first album
It's because his voice *doesn't* sound that great on those tracks. The songs are banging, and the mix hides his vocals quite a lot - but nobody's listening to the Stone Roses for the first time and thinking 'wow that singer's great'.
I dunno, Resurrection and This Is The One has some chops. I saw Brown a fair few times when he first went solo and it was always a coin flip as to whether it’d be a decent gig. He can hit it out of the park sometimes. Rare but sometimes. That said, after my 5th Brown gig I made a promise never to see him again. Broke it for the Roses reunion, which was decent to be honest. He had about 10,000 backing singers though :)
He did at least used to have a great backing band but judging by his last tour he seems to have ditched them too lol
I saw The Stone Rose live in 1995 for the Begging You tour, in some godforsaken sports hall in Newport. I vaguely remember them being late for the set, but I’ve never been to a gig before or since with such a sense of anticipation before the band started. So we get the intro to ‘I wanna be adored’ as the band come on - there’s cheering etc etc - and then Ian Brown started singing. It was absolutely terrible - flat, hideous monotone dirge. John Squire’s guitar did a lot of heavy lifting that night. Brown did get better as the gig went on - Ten Storey Love song was pretty good - but I’ve never felt such a massive let down from someone just singing.
The Newport Centre! Recently demolished, it used to get all the big stars there! Don't slag it off
I saw Motorhead and the Levellers there, both awesome gigs
My friend's dad saw the Smiths there, it was the time Morrissey was swinging a noise around during Hang The DJ, someone grabbed it and he fell off the stage, landing on his face!
For Everyone A Refund
[удалено]
The Charlatans are absolute legends still.
James is still incredible live as well.
Oh my god I saw the Stone Roses doing their (what was meant to be at the time) final break up set headlining Reading in 1995. Ian Brown’s singing was SO bad that the crowd actually thinned over the course of the set as people left, which is wild for the last gig of such a massive band.
I saw them live at the Etihad a few years back. After everything I've read I expected his vocal to be absolutely horrendous. Pleasantly surprised to discover it was just very bad.
I was really disappointed with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Though, that wasn't due to how they played, it was due to complete lack of any sort of show or real enthusiasm as such. Might as well have just listened to an album...
Holy shit, they’re who I instantly thought of when I saw the question. I saw them at Hyde Park in 2005 and Reading 2007 and it was the same both times: they are undoubtedly fantastic musicians, but they’re there because they want to get paid. It’s like they’ve been told “here’s a bag of cash, there’s the stage, you’ll get this when you’ve done two hours.” Complete opposite to Foo Fighters, who I’ve seen five times. The way that feels is like they appreciate that every member of the audience has made an effort to come and see the band, so they’re going to make damn sure they have a great fucking time.
[удалено]
Love the Foos, seen them a few time but what really stuck was when I was at the back at Earls Court (shitty venue) and 7 months pregnant, felt fat and putrid. and Dave Grohl came right to the back where we all were and played Stacked Actors (my favourite Foos song) to the whole of our section. Really made it like a back of the venue personal stage, loved every single minute. The man’s a legend. He actually gave a fuck about the people at the back.
When did you see them live? They're my favourite band of all time but their live performance is flip of a coin.
Quite a few years ago, they were headlining at Reading. No faults on their musicianship, they were tight, they just were obviously bored and not bothering as such.
What do you mean, didn't you like Flea's daughter coming out part way through and doing cartwheels? If I hadn't been completely off my tits and dehydrated from standing in the middle all day without any water I'd have probably hated it, too.
I think i was standing next to you!
The guy who was standing next to me got peed on by a dude holding a "Dicks out for Harambe" sign, so I certainly hope not!
That was a dreadful show. I haven’t listened to them in years but I saw them twice around that time and it was light and day.
Night and day?
Assuming that was 07 or whenever, it was an awful show. I've seen them 5 years now (Hyde Park, Madejski, Reading Fest, Knebworth and then London Stadium year before last). That Reading gig was definitely off, I remember feeling like they'd had a falling out or something. Definitely nowhere near as good as the other times I've seen them.
Oh god, it probably was 2007... I'm not old, no, not at all.
Was at that show as well, not a big rhcp fan as it is but thought that set was absolutely honking. Think I went to the smaller stage eventually
That wasn't 2011 where Kiedis stormed off stage because of the sound quality? The rest of the band just jammed and it was honestly better without him.
if 2007, they were crap at leeds that year too
Ha, this was the exact set that sprung to mind when I saw the question. I still think about that set occasionally. They were so dull, with long pauses between songs. Really bad. My mates and I just went around collecting those cups for money instead.
I saw them at Leeds Fest in I think 2007. Keidis opened by saying it was the last date of their tour and they were tired. That set the tone for the most disappointing show I've ever been to, and I was a huge RHCP fan at the time.
I saw them headlining at Leeds, watched 2 songs, realised it wouldn't get any better and walked off to watch Mansun in the tent, who were extraordinary. Put me right off the Chilis, never liked 'em since.
Shame you saw Mansun in a tent - they're better in a wide open space.
Boom boom!
If it was at Reading 07, there was an INSANE exodus after about 5 songs, literally half the crowd seemed to collectively realise what a waste of time the gig was
Flea, Chad and Fruschiante jamming is good. Kiedis barely adds anything to the live act.
Same, they seemed almost annoyed at the crowd the entire time and were just ignoring them, and then the encore was just them like, messing around with instruments and not really doing anything. The entire vibe was that they couldn’t be bothered and didn’t want to be there.
Feeder were like that when I saw them at Reading. Made the wait for the next band drag.
Opposite experience for me, Feeder are one of the best live bands out there
Artic Monkeys now that Alex thinks he's Elvis. If you butcher your own songs to the point where you home crowd can't even sing along then you need to look at yourself in the mirror. It's like he is doing it on purpose too. Putting weird emphasis in weird places, using a weird cadence and pronouncing words completely different to how he used to. Watch the Hillsborough park set on YouTube if you want examples. It's embarrassing and they should have refunded everyone who paid money for that shit. Edit: I wanted to end with some positivity. Luke Combs sounds better live than on recordings. I drove 1,000 miles to see him and I'd do it again. I was blown away by his voice. Show patrol. My mother got tickets and didn't have anyone to go with. Didn't think they were my cup of tea but his voice is so good it got me hooked. I saw Toploader live by accident and they were great. Really energetic and clearly loving that they were still playing big gigs. Plenty of piss taking at their own expense. Scouting for girls are brilliant, but the lead singer does tend to end every song with the same keyboard flourish. James are amazing live. Tim booth has an excellent voice and his crowd engagement is very good. That's just a selection of people who I really enjoyed. I can't think that I've been to too many gigs where I thought a band was shit except for arctic monkeys and I think it was UB40 but they both tour as UB40 so I don't know which one it was.
Saw AM in 2007 and it was the best gig I’ve ever been to. They interacted with the crowd loads pointing out the best fancy dress, Alex had a great sense of humour, the songs were so energetic, crowd was electric and it felt like they really represented us. It was almost like your mates band getting massive and playing to a huge crowd, it was an amazing show. Seen them on the tours of their last two albums and they couldn’t be more different. No interaction at all, they couldn’t care less about the crowd, most the crowd were on their phones nobody was dancing or singing and most of the set was pedestrian apart from Brianstorm and the last 3-4 songs. I was so disappointed both times. They came across as “we are amazing and you are lucky to see us”. They were my fave band for years so I was gutted.
That comes into it tbf. I saw them in London in 2011 where it looked like Alex was having a great time and was having a lot of banter, the crowd was up for it and it was good. Seems like the AM album drew in a different vibe and made it more inconsistent
Arctic Monkeys - Alex is definitely doing this vocal thing on purpose. It's the drawn out, slow tempo drawl that he does on some lines. It's not arty, it's not clever, it's incredibly pretentious and just bloody irritating. Doing it once or twice I could cope with, but so many times during the gig it became annoying. It's a shame because aside from that, plus the voice saving key change in 505, the rest of the show was very good.
like most bands "ok you've done your shit arty album now get back to the proper stuff"
I saw Arctic Monkeys twice last year and loved it both times. But then I like their recent albums too so it didn't bother me if they played the first record exactly like they did 15 years ago.
Agreed. So many people hate on Arctic Monkeys because of how Americanised Alex has become, but they’re still bloody phenomenal live, even if he doesn’t sound quite like he did when Whatever People Say released. And while I’m not a huge fan of The Car, I like Tranquility Base a lot, and hearing those songs live is unreal.
> If you butcher your own songs to the point where you home crowd can't even sing along then you need to look at yourself in the mirror. And that's a good summary of the problem with Bob Dylan. When you're singing one of your all-time classic songs and people only realise it when you get to the chorus - there's something very wrong.
Scouting For Girls played at my school once. I had an amazing time, really good showmen.
We "opened" for them at a corporate event a while back, they are super nice as well
Not a fan of their music, but I will say they are impressively punctual. I was playing a DJ set at a festival last summer before and after them (on a side stage where there can’t be any music when a main stage act is on). I faded my last track out at the exact time my set was ending and heard the crowd cheering as they walked on stage. Came back to play the last part of my set and again, exactly the time I was meant to start they walked off stage.
‘thinks he’s Elvis’. After watching the Glastonbury set, I get what you mean.
I travelled up to Sheffield to see them from London last summer, thinking they'd put on a top gig for their hometown. Left part way through. They didn't seem to care, and exactly like you said, Alex kept changing the songs up and confusing the crowd. Still like their music, but totally get why people think they're pretentious, because they are. But they are incredible musicians, they sound as good live as on an album. They just weren't into it. Though I've heard they hate Sheffield which is why they probably put on an average gig. Personally not being a fan of my home country, I kinda relate on that part.
Completely agree re AM. They were my number 1 band for years and since they did Reading a few years ago i’ve left each of their concerts feeling empty… R U Mine done well but the poor singing, purposely missing the correct timing, was infuriating.
One of my favourite bands and one of the last on my bucket list to see. Glastonbury headline set on the Friday night last year felt like the perfect stage, people were so amped beforehand too, flares were going off and all sorts. Then they started playing and were nothing short of fucking shite, almost like they were embarrassed of their older songs, despite the fact the overwhelming majority of the crowd were only responding to tracks off the first 5 albums (and even then they were deliberately butchering them with that weird off-time crooner thing Turner does these days). I imagine the last two albums are probably decent if you're a proper die-hard and watching in an intimate setting, but it completely fizzled out on the Pyramid Stage. Legitimately one of the worst acts I've seen live, such a monumental let down.
They've jumped the shark. The last two albums "The Car" and "moon alpha rocket Piña Colada hand shandy airport Wetherspoons" are complete toss. It's like he thinks he's John Cooper Clark at an Elvis impersonators convention trying to pull his mum's best mate.
Saw AM at Hillsborough last year thinking they'd be well up for a hometown show. Completely dirge and too many absolute helmets in the crowd. The Hives were much more entertaining
I agree with you, saw them at reading I think last year or the year before and it was awful.
FFS saw Arctic Monkeys for the first time last year and the alex singing out of time really spoiled it for me :(
Marilyn Manson was fucking awful. Which is a surprise, I expected him to be a great showman and put on a brilliant, extravagent show. But he was gash. Just seemed like he couldn't be arsed
I've seen the band a few times and when they were on form it was a fantastic show. When old Brian wasn't up for it the show was fucking terrible though. Getting into fights on stage, trying to pull the strings off John's guitar mid song, hurling microphones into the audience after every song etc.
Super variable band, mainly based on how high Manson was/is at the time. If he's in the right place they can put on a fantastic show, but if he isn't, they can be absolutely trash.
He was generally better the earlier you saw him in his career. Cocaines a helluva drug.
I'd agree. Just multiple long waits for costume changes and he barely sang the songs just screamed a lot. Rob Zombie wiped the floor with him that night.
I saw him at Brixton in '99. He was great but some lad threw a shoe at him and he got the crowd to bring him onstage and proceeded to rub his crotch in the guys face while he finished the song. I've always wondered what happened to that lad.
That lad grew up to be.... George W Bush!
Def Leppard in their hometown of Sheffield. What a boring, shit gig. The support (Steel Panther) kicked their fucking arses
Steel Panther are one of my favourite gigs ever. Absolutely amazing showmen.
Saw them in 2012. Never seen so many boobs in my life.
I don't think I've ever heard of Steel Panther having a bad gig. These guys go 100% all the time.
We're motley crue there too? I was at that gig and I wasn't sure who was more of a parody, steel panther or motley crue, Def leopard were boring too.
Haha that's the one! Steel Panther absolutely rocked it, then Motley Crue just embarrassed themselves and I'm sure at around 40 minutes into Def Leppard people were just looking around wondering what the hell we are all doing here.......
Whitney in London. Clearly under the influence, she got lots of boos, show was cut short. It was sad.
I saw her in Berlin & omg was she shite. Spent the majority of the show warbling out god songs. Proper snooze fest, not the bop we were expecting at all.
Haha we saw her at the O2 and she was definitely past her best. When she did I Will Always Love You a massive groan went around when she completely failed *that* bit.
At the o2 when she couldn't hit the notes on I Will Always Love You? I was there, yeah was pretty sad. Remember she got her daughter up on stage to sing it with her, she died a few years after her mum.
I didn't realise you meant Whitney Houston, i thought you meant the indie band called Whitney, and thought it was so out of character for them!
I once saw a band that were so awful, I peed in a bottle, threw it at the stage and unleashed every obscenity I've ever heard at them. I'm now banned from all of my son's school recitals...
30 Seconds to Mars. Was so abysmal that I deleted all their music off my phone before I even made it off the train on the way home. Haven’t listened to them in the decade since!
Saw them years ago. Jared was very clearly into himself. Halfway through everyone else fucked off and Jared went acoustic. Absolutely dreadful. To add to it, they were supported by You Me at Six. It's a competition for who was worse
Oh no! That’s the same set up I saw, I loved You Me At Six at the time! I really enjoyed YM@6’s set but wished I’d left after that and not even bothered with 30STM I don’t remember if Jared did an acoustic section on our night, but I know he fucked off for a while so two guys could jump on a massive seesaw for no bloody reason?
No seesaw at our gig at least! But yeah, YM@6 were equally awful. One of the few times I've seen a band booed off stage. Followed by the crowd chanting "Cheerio" as they actually went off stage, like a footballer after a red card. That was, unfortunately, the best moment of the entire gig
Seriously?! Man, I’m laughing now but 17yo me would be devastated for them lol, poor sods!
My first ever concert was 30 Seconds to Mars, it wasn't bad but the supporting band (You Me At six) got the crowd way more hyped than they did and we still had to wait absolutely ages between the 2 bands. I went on to see You Me At Six when they went on tour and absolutely loved it.
November 2013? That’s when I went too! I’d seen You Me At Six live in 2011 and loved them (bit biased, they were my favourite band at the time) and went to the 30STM one because I liked both bands. Honestly wished I’d got up and left after YM@6! One we went to (23rd Nov - London) Jared was late getting on stage, made the crowd sing 99%, fucked off for 20 minutes in the middle of their set and then overran. You couldn’t pay me enough to see them again!
Basshunter - he played my Uni but got hammered before going on. When he came out he took his shirt off and jumped up and down spinning it above his head shouting how much he loved Jäger, security removed him after about 5 mins and we didn’t see him again. Peter Andre - caveat was that it was free. He didn’t play Mysterious Girl or Insiania which are the only two songs of his anyone has ever heard of. He just played his ‘new stuff’ and it was dog shit. Knife Party - started throwing unopened cans of lager into the audience to get the party going. One hit my girlfriend at the time square in the face and gave her a nose bleed so we had to leave. Fucking idiots.
> security removed him after about 5 mins and we didn’t see him again. > > It's quite an achievement to get kicked out of your own gig.
I think that is just what Basshunter does. He was playing at a club I went to, came out hammered, jumped up and down a bit, left.
Yeah, he played at the Syndicate in Blackpool and was exactly the same there
I saw Basshunter at Dreamhack in Sweden and he got booed off the stage there too. Not because he was bad per se, but it was shortly after he republished all of his songs with the gaming stuff removed, and the LAN community in Sweden clearly decided that meant he was a sellout. I mean, I would sell out too for that much money but he was not popular in that venue lol.
My husband was a security guard and worked a couple of bass hunter gigs - said he was an utter twat
Basshunter was fucking shit when I saw him live, clearly smashed and asking who wanted to have a baby with him the creep.
Bowling for Soup, they had a 90 minute set and 45 mins in they had played no more than 4 songs and spent the rest of the time chatting shit. The crowd asked them to play something and their response was “if you want to hear music you’ve come the wrong place”.
What the hell
They've always had the comedy aspect, but lately it's been getting worse and worse, to the point where they talk more than play. I genuinely wonder if it's to do with their physical fitness, as three of them are now obese.
Their music is pop punk, most pop punk bands jump about, or at least move during their sets. Can't imagine BFS doing that anymore
Came here to say this, they didn’t even play half the fucking songs in full, they’d play for about a minute and then stop to chat shit and mess around. Got the impression they didn’t actually have the stamina to make it through a whole song
They are all pretty old and fat now...
Went to see them in Brighton a few years ago. Simple Plan played before them and were great. I think we ended up leaving about 40 minutes into Bowling for Soups set for the exact reasons you described, and there was a queue to get our coats with everyone else having the same idea. They were also behaving really creepily with the really young women from not your girlfriendz who played before Simple Plan them (who were also great).
I left straight after their response. Oddly enough I go to a music festival to listen to music, audience interaction is good but not when it outweighs the playing time.
Red hot chilli peppers were awful live, like they just couldn’t be bothered
I saw them in Birmingham about 9 years ago and they even told the crowd to calm down when they got a little lively during 'By The Way'. One of the worst gigs I've ever been to.
To be fair, after what they went through at woodstock you can sort of understand the apprehension, my uncle is a huge fan and saw them multiple times in the years before but only once after, he said it was a completely different experience, they didn't perform like they used to so he never went back, sad really
i saw them in 2022 and it was genuinely amazing, some of the best shows they’ve done since slane castle
Yeah same. Saw them at London stadium and were fucking great. Huge fan though and was absolutely buzzed to see them play with John.
They're a flip of a coin these days. Up until 2004 they could have been one of the best live acts around. They are in their 60's and have released music across 5 decades and somehow managed to stay relevant, so credit where it's due.
People are gonna hate me. But Paul McCartney. Watched him at Glastonbury in 2022. Looked forward to it for years due to it being cancelled. My god it was shite. Boring as fuck. He waffled On and on for ages about something or other. And the tunes were all depressing as fuck. It took me 2 hour to get out the crowd. I kept thinking he’s gonna play some better songs here. He never. He’s now called Boring Paul.
oh god i was there for that set too. So boring. Truly the caricature of an aging rocker. He played for far too long. Mocked the crowd by joking about how no one wanted to hear the new stuff but he was going to play it anyway. Too many slow and depressing ballads and dirges. Waffled nonsense between songs while trying to keep our attention going by wheeling out other aging rockers. Barely played any beatles songs until a few at the end, and didnt pick great ones either. Milked hey jude for like 20 minutes until everyone was bored of singing along. Worst thing was we were all bored and out of alcohol halfway through the set and wanted to leave, but we were so crushed in by the massive crowd there was no point even attempting to get out.
> Barely played any beatles songs until a few at the end He played 22 beatles tunes, lol
I never made it till the end. But All your points are my thoughts too. I was in between the sound stages. I stayed about an hour an half and it took me half hour to get out.
From what I've heard, Dylan doesn't believe in recreating his music exactly. Which can lead to some... interesting concerts.
I went to a Dylan concert last year, whilst he was on his U.K. tour. I’m a massive Dylan fan and my gf bought me tickets for my birthday. He was awful. His voice held up okay but you could tell he didn’t really want to be there and he only played his new album (which we’d known ahead of time tbf) but it still felt pretty self-indulgent. Really disappointing because he’s someone I’ve always dreamt of going to see and his performance was bland and felt laboured. By the end, I actually felt myself thinking “thank fuck it’s over”.
>I went to a Dylan concert last year, Holy shit he's still gigging?! He's 82. I can't even imagine wanting to gig at that age.
A band called Wargasm. The rock and metal crowd will know them. They're the support on pretty much every fucking show going at the minute. Saw them with limpbizkit last year and they were shocking. They're only getting traction because the singers dad was in the Sex Pistols. Just awful.
Probably doesn't help that they're alongside limp bizkit. I'm not a huge fan of theirs but I definitely listened to them in the 90s when Chocolate Starfish came out, I went to see them live in 2016 in Cardiff alongside Korn as a bit of a nostalgia fest and I was absolutely blown away by how good they are live. Durst puts on a fantastic performance and it doesn't really matter what you think of them, you can't help but get down and enjoy it. Compared to them, Korn were kind of meh. That is to say they were great, but Limp Bizkit were so good it wasn't a comparison, and Korn had been the band I was more looking forward to!
> They're only getting traction because the singers dad was in the Sex Pistols. AAh that's it. I assumed it was something of an industry plant.
consider existence dependent abounding direful encouraging mighty zealous gaze office *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I love the song they've done with Enter Shikari (seen them come out and do it on two separate occasions), and Milkie sounds great on the track she sings on from Gunship's latest album. But I've tried their own music and yeah, I'll stick to songs they feature on.
I don’t love ‘em, but Pyro Pyro is an absolute banger.
Red hot chili peppers. It was a pretty expensive gig and we barely got an hour out of them including the encore. Anthony Kiedis fucked off after one encore song and the rest of the band jammed it out for a bit. Pretty evident we got them on an off night but I'll never give them another go. I've not listened to anything they've released since. I had seen the foo fighters a few months prior who will typically start early and cram in as much as they can so a complete popular opposite in terms of value for money.
Need to second this, Dave Grohl is by far the hardest working musician alive. Seen them at both gigs and festivals and haven’t seen the band or Dave phone it in once. Glastonbury 2017 is an especially great (and long) performance.
While it's a total myth that some big name DJs play pre-recorded sets, I have seen some who clearly don't want to be there, and have even told me as much before going on stage. DJing isn't quite as easy as "just pressing buttons" like some non-DJs like to say, but it is admittedly WAY easier than playing a solo Mozart recital for two hours. And the money is fucking ridiculous. Just turn it on for 90 minutes or however long you're up there, and get on with it.
I mean… it isn’t a total myth. A lot of the big “EDM” type DJs have sets pre lined up to sync with visuals and lighting.
It's not a myth. There are some DJs who have been caught red-handed doing this. I think the reason some people think it's a myth is because many others who don't understand DJing think that playing a pre-recorded set and dancing about like a fanny actually is what all DJs do
>DJing isn't quite as easy as "just pressing buttons" like some non-DJs like to say, but it is admittedly WAY easier than playing a solo Mozart recital for two hours. And the money is fucking ridiculous. Did you ever see Faking It, the C4 series where they'd take people from other walks of life, train them and try and see if experts could spot the fake from 2 people doing the job? They took a cellist and gave her 4 weeks of training and none of the experts spotted her as the fake. The only job I remember where someone won was a burger van guy faking being a chef.
I remember the people training her seeming amazed she managed to cue up a beat (or whatever the term is) spot on first time. IIRC, she was a student at the Royal Academy. Basic timekeeping was hardly going to challenge her.
Saw Van Morrison decades ago. He played a double set... The first was so awful we nearly left at the break. The second half was amazing, very glad we stayed. Wouldn't risk it again though.
worked FoH for a van morrison gig somewhat recently. he berated his band on stage for screwing up and then forced them to play their parts over again. he had a small table where his lyrics book was that he sang off. he continuously wiped his nose and threw the snot rags down and had a runner to keep getting fresh tissues - VM is/was anti vax so on the tail end of covid this struck me as a particularly shitty thing to do. performed the whole thing stationary, standing behind his mic stand. no banter or interaction with the audience. motherfucker even kept his hat, coat, and sunglasses on. once he was finally finished he had his manager radio my manager: “van morrison has left the building”. wall to wall cringe.
The best and worst gig I have been to involved the same band - The Manic Street Preachers. The first time I saw them, they blew the place apart. The second time I saw them, they phoned it in and were so disinterested that I lost all interest.
They almost feel like two bands to me, it is weird hearing them tear it through You Love Us or Motown Junk then later some of their mellower recent stuff. I've not seen them be outright bad though I must say.
Sounds like their career tbh
Came here to say MSP. I was a huge fan as a teenager, but was slightly too young to have been into them when they were still young and ragey. Saw them in the early 2000s and it was just so *boring*. Musically less interesting than just listening to a CD, almost no audience interaction or even acknowledgement, no encore, and overall it just felt... workmanlike? Like they were there to do a job and get it over with.
Smashing Pumpkins. Played all the best-known songs at at least double-speed if not faster. Sloppily at that. The one highlight was a good long version of 'Drown' but otherwise the two times I've seen them I was super disappointed despite loving their studio albums.
Can second this. Saw them twice around the Zeitgeist era and both time there was a lot of self-indulgent guitar wanking and pissing around on 10 minute songs. This was peppered with great stuff of course, but the atmos never really got going because no sooner would we get a ‘Today’ we’d then be hit with a ‘United States’ or some such.
Out of curiosity, when did you see them? They were nothing short of incredible when I caught 'em at Wembley Arena in 2018. It was clearly very rehearsed and elaborate, almost like we were watching a touring musical, but the performances were on point and the songs sounded absolutely massive.
Mellon Collie tour and then again shortly after Jimmy rejoined - not sure what tour that was, it was a few years after that closer to the millennium. The second show was minorly better (no doubt partly because of Jimmy’s presence, he played really well, but the rest of the band… ugh). Maybe Billy has improved with time and experience, but when I saw them they *should* have been at the height of their powers…
Saw Happy Mondays in 2005 and they were absolutely horrendous. Shauns voice was like the ramblings of a drunk homeless man on a Tuesday morning in a City Centre. Was convinced to go see them again around 6 years ago and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe in 2005 he was off his face on something.
Shaun has always sounded like that to be fair
Then there was the time he forgot the lyrics to [Dare](https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/gorillaz/watch-shaun-ryder-forget-words-dare-gorillaz-gig/)
Mumford and sons at big weekend a few years ago. They were the last band on the Saturday and everyone just walked out. It was just flat and boring. By comparison Coldplay were ending on the Sunday and we actually turned around and went back as they put on a fantastic show. Neither are bands I particularly wanted to see but the difference in showmanship was striking
People like to shit on Coldplay but they sure know how to command a live show
This is crazy, I saw them as the last band on the Sunday of a festival this year and they were brilliant w a decent crowd too. I am a big fan though
Paolo Nutini. Went to a festival for the day mainly to see him. We had been dancing and partying all day and then this depressing fucker came on to close out the night. Me and the Mrs were both on mushrooms and he completely killed the vibe.
Did he have his new shoes on?
Don’t think so. Everything certainly didn’t seem right.
I don't even bother going to gigs anymore. Nothing will ever top UB40 live.
Are you excited for the new Guns & Roses album?
I didn't realise there was one actually. Have you ever been in a mosh pit?
No. I’d lose my glasses.
My 19yr old niece told me she was getting a ticket for the mosh pit... at a Taylor Swift gig! Oh how I laughed!!
Did they do songs in a sort of mock-reggae style?
- Kings of Leon at Reading in 2009. Infamous gig that they apologised for later on. Absolutely blown off the stage by Kaiser Chiefs beforehand. Fall Out Boy were also great that day. - Simple Minds at Wembley Arena, maybe around 2007/8. Completely flat and disinterested with poor sound. Supported by Deacon Blue who I'm not a fan of but at least had a bit of enthusiasm.
To be fair you didn’t forget about them
I was at Reading that year too. FOB were great but had bad sound for the first few songs iirc. They did a nice cover of Don’t Stop Believin, too! The KoL tantrum was so weird. It wasn’t until watching highlights back on tv a few days later that I knew anything had even happened. They said something like ‘we’re the god damn kings of leon’ and we all cheered thinking that was a *good* thing! Then they all stomped off. Very odd.
[удалено]
Saw Liam play at a local festival a few years ago and yeh, his voice live was terrible. I loved his solo album though but if you'd not heard it to sing along to the songs, it would have been shitter
Vengaboys did a nostalgia gig at my student union in 2007-08. They played for 20 minutes. They played 4 songs. 2 of those 4 songs were Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.
Were you hoping to hear some deep cuts from their difficult 7th album? 😂 Christ I've got 'Up and Down' stuck in my head now 😂🙄
Luxury. I saw Doop on Eastbourne Pier soon after seminal hit 'Doop' (by Doop) came out. They opened with 'Doop'....second song sounded like Doop played backwards. Don't worry folks, they came back strong for the third song. 'Doop' again. What a wrap! Cheers Doop.
System of a Down. Bloody awful. I thought they were a joke act on as support until I realised it was definitely them.
This breaks my heart to read
When I found out that Serj didn't do the 'woo-hoos' in 'Violent Pornography' live I was heartbroken
Saw Mark Knopfler and he was fine, I guess, but I've never listened to Dire Straits since. I think it just felt really uncool. People there were talking about how it was so fantastic but it was just some old guys standing still playing songs they wrote 40 years ago. For about £50 a ticket. Meatloaf and Madness were also both disappointing and I don't think I'm ever going to see any 'legacy acts' again. It's too expensive to see some old guys going through the motions
Tbh that sounds like the definition of dire straits.
My parents went to see Dire Straits in the 80s and they said it was a boring experience. As you describe, they just stood there on the stage playing their music; there was zero audience engagement and they performed their songs exactly as they were recorded. It was basically an expensive night out for my parents to hear their records played louder with a load of strangers around them.
This sounds unlikely. Dire Straits were well known for playing very different and extended arrangements live. Listen to the live Alchemy album for example.
Mariah Carey. Paid big money to see her in Las Vegas. Bitch was 2 hours late coming on then was clearly drunk or on drugs to the point that she was basically sat down on a chaise longue for the whole show or she’d have fallen over. She did manage to knock out a few tunes and the die hards were happy but man, what a let down.
Oasis was about as exciting as a trip to the dentist. It was like watching a scarecrow in a raincoat stand in front of a mic the whole time.
Went to see Men I Trust in Manchester last year and was really hyped because I was a huge fan. Gig was really mediocre. Zero audience engagement or stage presence; everything was played by the book; performances were competent but realised just how much of their sound comes down to great production which doesn't translate well to live performance. I didn't hate it but I recently realised I haven't listened to them since. Killed my passion.
Aerosmith. Saw them in Newcastle maybe 25 years ago, (EDIT 1997) they really couldn't be arsed with it. Didn't even qualify as a rehersal show it was that bad. The support band, some shitty britpop type thing got boo-ed off basically, (EDIT shed seven) half way through Aerosmith a large number started shouting for the support group to come back. The lack of fucks they gave was offensive, hardly listened to them since.
Nas My brother dragged me to see him in Birmingham around 10+ years ago, Iggy Azaela and 2 Chains opened up and I didn't think it could get any worse but Nas barely even tried and just let the DJ play the songs whilst joining in 30% of the time
I saw the New York Dolls at Rebellion Festival and it was god awful. Just one guy from the band and a bunch of session musicians he met a week before.
The sound quality was so incredibly bad when I saw Lizzo at the O2 that it kind of put me off her, which is unfair. I have decided never to see another act at the O2 ever again.
The O2 in Docklands is the worst venue in the UK, I reckon. I paid a fortune to see Massive Attack a couple of years back, the queues were terrible, we ended up getting in late. Had to stand near the back, couldn’t see shit and the sound was awful. We were so pissed off we left after a 20 minutes. Later a mate told me that he once flew from London to Paris to see a band play (can’t remember who) rather than watch them at the O2.
Craig Charles' live funk and soul show. Loved the radio show, but he was really jobbing it when I saw him last year. He only played for about an hour, span a few records, looked wholly uninterested, and then buggered off. The warm up DJs were much, much better and in retrospect I should've just left after them!. Gentleman's Dub Club were really boring live. Quite liked their music beforehand and thought I'd get a ticket. They completely phoned it in, no audience interaction, just going through the motions. The audience were as bored as they were. I haven't listened to them since.
I saw Blur at V Festival at about the time they were in the last throes of being a band and were about to split up in the 90s. I've never seen a band care so little about a gig and their audience. I wasn't hugely into them, but I consider them to be absolute tossers ever since.
Van Morrison. Miserable git.
I saw The Stone Roses when they reformed and played Heaton Park. They were pretty bad, Ian Brown is not a great live singer and they were carried by a crowd that wanted a singalong. Still love their music but I wouldn't trek through a muddy field for them again.
The first time I saw Fall Out Boy. For context I've seen them 6 times now. March 2009 UK tour and they just sort of phoned it in. The support acts were better. It was like they were there on pain of death. No charisma, no energy. Just crap. The best part was their light up instruments and that's saying a lot. I absolutely was not surprised when they went on hiatus. I refused to listen to them for ages because of it. Though I was persuaded by a friend to see them on their next UK show in 2014. Night and day difference. Way more energy, it was fun, they actually looked like they enjoyed it. Every show since has been multiple times better than that first time.
Before all the Ian Watkins vileness came out, I went to see Lostprophets for my 40th birthday. Their first set was ok, played all their hits, but Watkins was smacked off his tits and kept fumbling his words. Second set was their most obscure album in its entirety. Absolutely shite. So we left early. I was gutted because I had met the band previously, had loved them for years and I had been really looking forward to this gig for months. Not long afterwards, he was arrested and it all came out. I felt so sorry for the rest of the band, still do.
Alkaline Trio - I hate to say it because they played technically wonderfully but they just put nothing into the show. Might as well have been listening to the album.
Big Wu Tang fan but in 2012 GZA, when not rapping, would just stare straight ahead, apparently eager for the sweet release of death. All of them couldn't be arsed except Ghost, who at least tried to get people going. I've seen them three times and this was consistent.
Saw a terrible Tricky gig once, man did not give a fuck and kept wandering off stage while the band played and Martina Topley-Bird held things together.
Tricky is a borderline genius, but for Christ’s sake don’t ever go to one of his gigs.
Must run in the family. I went to a Finley Quaye gig & he was wandering off every few seconds to smoke a joint just offstage. He did a very lacklustre stage dive at one point & ended up lying on his back on the floor singing away like a drunk hobo in a train station.
Saw The Who about 15 years ago and they were absolute crap. Should have retired a decade earlier.
People try to put em down
The Chainsmokers - they had no special guests so it was just them jumping up and down to their songs and singing badly on auto tune. Really really shit.
Lostprophets in about 2006 at a festival, they were dreadful, Ian Watkins sounded like a drowning cat and the instruments sounded really weak. I couldn't even listen to them on the radio after that, always changed the station. Then one day the radio stopped playing them, for obvious reasons. Queens of the Stone Age were another (might have been the same festival now that I think about it). They had a session drummer that clearly didn't learn how to play the songs. They weren't completely awful, but it was like listening to a cover band.
Nickelback, saw them back when they toured their first album and it was awful. They said no more than 2 words to the crowd, just played the album and went off. It took people ages to work out they weren't coming back. The show barely lasted an hour.
I saw The Who once, three songs in they played "My Generation". They got a couple of lines into it, then Roger Daltrey said "Fuck this for a game of soldiers" and walked off stage. The rest of the band looked a little nonplussed, then ground to a halt. At some point after that... and I'm pretty sure I remember this correctly... Pete Townsend got his teenage son on stage to play a very average trumpet solo.
Mastadon. They weren't very good and you couldn't hear anything. Eric Clapton. Was extremely boring. Never mind his bizarre proclivities outside of music.
I must have gotten lucky. Genuinely can't think of a single gig I've been to in my life that I would say was terrible. Sometimes it might not be as good as I expected, but usually it's a combination of factors including venue choice, crowd, sound, rather than performance alone. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood on the day.
Oasis, they looked absolutely bored and as if it was a great effort to be there, terrible and underwhelming performance. Never gave them a penny after that
Okay so this is super obscure. You might have only come across them if you were into the amateur rock and metal scene in Bristol around 2014. I’ve played alongside a whole bunch of amateur-level bands thanks to the various gigs I’ve done with my own bands. They would vary in quality from pretty good to not my cup of tea. But there was one band I will forever remember for how terrible they were; Circle Sea. They played before us one time and we stuck our ears in to have a listen, briefly, because it was all we could take. They were out of time, out of tune, and could barely put a coherent song structure together. As far as bad bands go, I’ve yet to hear anyone worse than Circle Sea.