Music: Worst concert experiences?

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Let’s face it, every artist has them. Whether it’s substance abuse, the weather, or personal problems, I think every band has had a bad show

I don’t want to limit the stories but I want to hear about the band having problems not having a bad day or a car breakdown

Mine would be Motorhead. It was about three weeks before Lemmy died and he looked horrible and pretty much gasping for air, not the last memory i want of a band i love

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[spintheblackcircle]

Got thrown up on at a Sammy Hagar concert in 1985 at the Cow Palace

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Got thrown up on at a Sammy Hagar concert in 1985 at the Cow Palace

By a random or someone you were with?

 

[spintheblackcircle]

By a random or someone you were with?

Stranger in the row behind me.

 

[beowulf]

Would have to be the riot at the Olympic Stadium as a teenager in 93 after Metallica's Hetfield was burned on stage by a pyro and they played only 45 minutes, waiting 2 hrs almost for Guns n Roses to start and Axl having a hissy fit and leaving the stage after 45 minutes or so also causing the riot.

 

[Unholy Diver]

nothing too terrible

Garth Brooks @ PPG Paints Arena

Concert itself was fine, I hate country music, so I went somewhat begrudgingly but it was for the wife as she is a big fan

My issue was my seat was next to some enormous smelly hillbilly, so, on top of not really caring for the show itself, I had a 350-400 lb "air freshener" wedged into the seat to my side

 

[ManwithNoIdentity]

Would have to be the riot at the Olympic Stadium as a teenager in 93 after Metallica's Hetfield was burned on stage by a pyro and they played only 45 minutes, waiting 2 hrs almost for Guns n Roses to start and Axl having a hissy fit and leaving the stage after 45 minutes or so also causing the riot.

I saw that tour too and Axl was very late and put on a horrible show, they’re still one of my bands despite that

 

[Behn Wilson]

Have not had any terrible concert experiences but a couple of irritating ones.

Saw Red Hot Chili Peppers headline and their set was ridiculously short, like under half an hour,. I was like what the heck? Have not been a fan since. Wonder why they did this?

Also saw New Barbarians, band featuring Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. They hyped mega guest stars, Robert Plant level. Fans tore stage down night before in Milwaukee when there were none. Towards end of show here they said we dont know you were promised but here is a guest star and they brought out local blues legend Junior Wells. You can tell it was last minute damage control. Disappointing but at least it was a guest. But sound was as bad as any show Ive ever been at, a hoorible concert. Think if main show was better they would not have revolted in Milwaukee.

 

[Jack Straw]

Great concert, but some weirdness. I saw Bowie on the Glass Spider Tour in '87, in an outdoor concert outside of Paris. One of the opening acts was the Cult, they did not go over big with the French audience who started throwing plastic water bottles and bread at them. They finished their set, and then just to piss off the crowd they came back for an encore after which the lead singer dropped his pants and mooned the crowd.

My friend and I had gotten there early and had a great spot reasonably close to the stage, but before Bowie came on someone let off tear gas. All of a sudden the crowd in front of us is rushing towards us in panic, and then the gas reached us. Fortunately it wasn't too bad by that point but we did have to retreat and lose our prime spot.

So, great show. After the show, no fkg way to GET BACK TO PARIS. We had taken metro and/or bus to get there (don't remember), and that had all stopped running. So now there is a line of people, like refugees from a war zone, walking along the main road back to the city (about 5 miles). Fortunately for some unknown reason, one of the cars heading back stopped and picked us up and gave us a lift back to the city.

All in all a memorable experience.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Not a concert goer but my dad was a part time music writer so I asked him, just a couple:


Robert Gordon- Always a great show but was always inexplicably 2-4 hours late. He'd do a full set but finish at 2 or 3 instead of 12 (probably drugs)

Meat Loaf in the 70s- He was sucking down oxygen from a tank between and during songs and my dad thought he wasn't going to make it through the show

Joe Cocker- Beyond wasted- spent 20 minutes trying to put on his shoes

1989 Legends tour at the Skydome- Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis withdrew. Chuck Berry refused to play until they stopped showing him on the jumbotron (didn't want to be filmed, how ironic), Bo Diddley spent half the show tuning his guitar. Little Richard and Ronnie Hawkins saved the show to an extent. There's actually an article about it: - FLAWED PERFORMANCES

 

[Behn Wilson]

Bad (or miscast for the venue) opening acts can add charm to the experience.

I remember seeing Molly Hatchet/ Thirty Eight Special and for some reason they put The Babies, a pretty boy pop group on the bill. They had a hit Head First I believe. Must have been on same label. Concert was at Aragon Ball Room (nicknamed Aragon Brawl Room) in Chicago. Babies came on second to loud boos before they even started. Not exaggerating they played a couple of notes, someone hit the singer in the head with a full cup of beer and they put their instruments down and left the stage. Too leave this quick it was obvious they had been getting this treatment the whole tour.

Another one was an all day death metal tour,, I forget the name of it. But they put this Godawful rapper call Necro, he called his material Death Rap. Crowd was boo'ing him and he was inciting the audience calling names etc. What they were thinking putting him on the tour, what a mistake. Even a good rapper would have had a hard time here as it was not the audience for it but he sucked. He was pulled off the tour after that night, surprised it took that long. I am not a rap fan but if they put someone like Ice T on there, the crowd would have respected him. Necro just flat out sucked

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Velvet Revolver

Saw them about a decade ago and they're still the only concert I've walked out on. Unfortunately it was a night with bad Scott Weiland. He was high out of his mind, forgot half the lyrics and mumbled the other half incorrectly, could barely stand up, just a complete sh*t show.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Wiz Khalifa - at the university I went to in the Pittsburgh area. I was about 20 then, and was massively into Wiz, since he was blowing up at that time and was representing Pittsburgh. The opening acts were decent (Chevy Woods and Wale). But their sets were pretty short with long breaks in between. The DJ between sets was playing a handful of Wiz Khalifa songs, which is pretty lame to do, in my opinion. Wiz took over an hour to come out, which wouldn't be a problem in most venues where you can partake in some 'refreshments', but being at a college event center, this wasn't really an option.

He then played a really short set, most of which was just him basically being hype-man on his own tracks. After the show there was about 15 of us who waited for him to come out hoping he'd sign some autographs or maybe just stroll through and say hi to us. He took about 45 minutes to come out of the venue, and without looking our direction gave a nonchalant wave and got on his bus.

Haven't been a fan of his ever since then.

 

[Xelebes]

Went to a rave, somebody got stabbed outside and the whole thing got shut down.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Crowd crush leading to my first ever panic attack at an of Montreal show in Philly on Halloween. Thankfully my girlfriend's sister recognized that something was wrong and got me out of there and helped me breathe again. The soon-to-be ex was upset that this 'ruined' her chance to see her favorite band...we'll just ignore that part where she didn't budge from her spot and had seen them live at least half a dozen times in the previous 3 years.

Suffice to say the relationship didn't survive the night...yet I'm still friends with her sister 15 years later.

 

[beowulf]

Went to a rave, somebody got stabbed outside and the whole thing got shut down.

Are raves considered concerts? Never really thought of that until seeing your post.

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

worst experience i had was seeing slayer at a small venue in the 90's. the band was great. what sucked was that i had to take a massive piss. i had to hold it in because the club goons kept dragging outta control dudes to the bathroom to maul and stomp them.

 

[HisIceness]

I've got two.

Rihanna, I didn't want to go but it was a date thing so I went. Loud as hell, probably to cover up from the fact that she can't sing w/o autotune.

John Mayer. I get the feeling he thinks he's a more significant artist than he really is. Boring show, was sometime after he performed at Michael Jackson's funeral and I guess his ego was still stemming from the praise he got for that. He mentioned something about being named an "influential artist" and no one cared.

 

[Roo Returns]

I've got two.

Rihanna, I didn't want to go but it was a date thing so I went. Loud as hell, probably to cover up from the fact that she can't sing w/o autotune.

John Mayer. I get the feeling he thinks he's a more significant artist than he really is. Boring show, was sometime after he performed at Michael Jackson's funeral and I guess his ego was still stemming from the praise he got for that. He mentioned something about being named an "influential artist" and no one cared.

The guy should be Stevie Ray Vaughn or Jimi Hendrix yet he chooses to write pop songs for teenage girls.

Apparently Steve Jobs called him a douche.....I think that's funny and props to Jobs.

 

[Roo Returns]

A friend got bopped in the face during a Beastie Boys show (with A Tribe Called Quest opening) in 1998. He was wearing a Mets hat and this was the height of Mets-Yankees rivalry. Some drunk Yankees fans initiated contact.

I saw a show of some indie singer (forget her name it was a freebie from a friend) and her laptop/PA died during the beginning of the set. Her band had to do an entire set acapella. It wasn't rehearsed so it was all out of time.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Many, many years ago, my gf offered me tickets to a Jean Leloup show. After one song, he got offended that the crowd was sitting (it was in an opera house with no real room to stand) and started cussing at the front rows, so he played tam-tam for 40 minutes straight and got off. I thought it was hilarious, but the gf still hates him for that.

On the complete opposite, once saw The Matches in Montreal, they flew in to play for an empty room (we must have been 12-15 max) and they played their whole set with energy and enthusiasm. Great little band that sadly called it quit too soon.

---

Doesn't match the op's criteria because it was no fault of the band, but I once drove 6h to see Mr. Bungle in Toronto. They got stock at the border, got in more than 1h late, and could only play 25 minutes because there was a dance party in the venue. Saw them a couple of times after that, always a great show. I drove 6h again to see them in New York 20 years later as old folks, still great.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

John Mayer. I get the feeling he thinks he's a more significant artist than he really is. Boring show, was sometime after he performed at Michael Jackson's funeral and I guess his ego was still stemming from the praise he got for that. He mentioned something about being named an "influential artist" and no one cared.

I've always gotten that vibe from him since around 2010 when he came out with that song "Who Says", guess I wasn't wrong.

 

[Jack Straw]

The guy should be Stevie Ray Vaughn or Jimi Hendrix yet he chooses to write pop songs for teenage girls.

Apparently Steve Jobs called him a douche.....I think that's funny and props to Jobs.

Mayer is a completely different (and excellent) musician when he plays with Dead & Company. They've had a number of different lead guitarists since Garcia died (Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring) and Mayer is my favorite.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I got a ton of fake blood dumped on me at a GWAR show. Missed the urine tho.

Oh wait, we were supposed to talk about WORST concert experiences?

 

[Roo Returns]

Mayer is a completely different (and excellent) musician when he plays with Dead & Company. They've had a number of different lead guitarists since Garcia died (Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring) and Mayer is my favorite.

That's great. The issue I have with that are where are the songs? I'm not even saying radio hits just songs that are known and talked about?

Phil Collins played with Brian Eno, Joe Lally from Fugazi made an album with two of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and John Entwhistle played with Glenn Tipton. All were wonderful projects but only for the hardcores like us.