Well the worst was Chuck Berry back in 77 at the Ritz in NY as he came for a payday and talked every song.

The Stones were amazing on the Steel Wheels tour and just dreadful on the Voodoo Lounge tour.

Oh yes we have the Beatles to blame for the boy bands. First look at the time period where 90% of acts played covers and the Beatles wrote there own songs. Then see how with each album they progressed and every band was 3 miles behind them. But I know when these Boy bands come up with songs like- I am the Walrus, Strawberry fields, Happiness is a warm gun,Revolution, While my guitar gently weeps, Here comes the sun, A day in the life, Get Back, Hey Jude,Lucy in the sky with diamonds,Let it be, Something, Tomorrow never knows -and 170 more that they wrote I can totally see the connection. It is one thing if you dont like them but dont make yourself look foolish.

Well the worst was Chuck Berry back in 77 at the Ritz in NY as he came for a payday and talked every song.

The Stones were amazing on the Steel Wheels tour and just dreadful on the Voodoo Lounge tour.

Oh yes we have the Beatles to blame for the boy bands. First look at the time period where 90% of acts played covers and the Beatles wrote there own songs. Then see how with each album they progressed and every band was 3 miles behind them. But I know when these Boy bands come up with songs like- I am the Walrus, Strawberry fields, Happiness is a warm gun,Revolution, While my guitar gently weeps, Here comes the sun, A day in the life, Get Back, Hey Jude,Lucy in the sky with diamonds,Let it be, Something, Tomorrow never knows -and 170 more that they wrote I can totally see the connection. It is one thing if you dont like them but dont make yourself look foolish.

Lynard Skynard - Not because they were bad... but because the drunk harley davidson hick behind me kept stumbling while rocking out and spilling beer on me. I might have tried to kick his $@! but for one thing... i'm not much of a fighter so it would have been embarrassing to start a fight with a dude drunk out of his gourd and come out on the losing end. Second... he was pretty pathetic and i felt somewhat bad for him with his wife having to hold him up for the better part of the show and apologize for his behavior.

Tom Petty- One of my favorite artists so it was such a disappointment when the heartbreakers left the stage for about 45 min so he could sit on a stool and play acoustic versions of the songs i wish Mike Campbell and the rest of the folks would be playing.

The Melvins - Do people really like this band on purpose? I saw them open for primus and the guy opened the set with a god awful feed back loop and stood looking into space as if that were some cosmic noise from the gods. I was up front so threw my lighter at him.

Here are some notable bad concerts and why:

1) Santana in a small San Francisco club in the early '80s: Carlos spent the WHOLE gig turned around facing the drummer. I was right at the stage and saw almost no guitar playing the entire night.

2) Ozzy on the Diary of a Madman Tour: The first night of the tour was Halloween night (of all days) in San Francisco. The show was general admission and very unruly. Ozzy tried to get the crowd to mellow out, but that did not work. Further, as this was the first concert of the tour, his singing was sub-par. The concert lasted about 1 hr 15 minutes when Ozzy pulled the plug ... no encores. Also, RR died not too long afterward ...

3) Black Sabbath w/ Dio on vocals with the Outlaws opening: This was on the Mob Rules tour. Crowd boo'd the Outlaws who were actually pretty good. The Outlaws lead singer got hit square in the face with a roll of streamered toilet paper from the crowd which REALLY pissed him off. They stopped mid-song and walked off telling the audience to f-you. Further, Sabbath came on and they were bor-ring ... I do not think any band member took more thaqn three steps all night. Very disappointed ...

4) Ted Nugent -- This was the first tour without his '70s band. I was not expecting this at all. Now, back then, Ted Nugent played as a four piece backed by (the very talented guitarist/vocalist) Derek St. Holmes, with Ted playing a hollowbody Gibson Byrdland. Derek had been the lead singer for about half of Nugent's studio work (incl Stranglehold, Stormtrooping, Hey Baby, and many, many others). Derek is also a great guitar player. HOWEVER -- in this new era of Ted -- Ted came out playing a Les Paul and backed by no less than THREE other guitar players (also playing Les Pauls), none of whom sang or played lead. Oh, and Ted was in a loin cloth. What the crap was this?? I missed the "old Ted" by one year ...

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

Wow... I love this thread.
I have never seen Clapton and now I'm afraid to!?!

Worse concert ever for me was (free tickets please keep in mind)

Goo Goo Dolls.

I saw them years ago in Mississauga, Ontario and they play all their radio singles which is fine and what you expect. What they don't tell you is that almost every other song is sung by the guitarist who's voice may be the worse thing ever! It was torture.
Felt like the band had a deal....... you can sing half the songs live provided none of them are ever released as a single

Besides that I saw KISS last year in Toronto. I am a huge KISS fan and have been forever and I know they will never be the band they were, but this last concert was pretty bad. There sound cut out within 10 seconds of the show..... the crowd waited 10 minutes for them to return only to have Paul's mic turned off. Total buzz kill
They could have made up for it by playing more or extra songs but they didn't. Horrible

I've seen Clapton five times (Journeyman tour, Rush soundtrack/Unplugged/"Tears In Heaven" tour, From The Cradle tour, Pilgrim Tour, and the Crossroads show in Dallas in 2004, and I have never had a bad experience.

Admittedly, some shows were better than others, but each time I walked away satisfied and more appreciative of his music than before. I expected very little out of the "Pilgrim" show (due to the fact that the album sucked), but he put life into the songs that Babyface had killed...I had previously detested the song "Drowning in a River of Tears" as schlocky pseudo-soul, but live, the song SMOKED---it had reinstated all the passion that the production process/style had stamped out of the recordings/CD.

I have to admit that I haven't really liked many of his recent albums as a whole--Pilgrim, Reptile, Back Home, etc.---but his live performances have been good-to-great, even when playing songs from those discs.

If I were you, I'd go ahead and give him a chance...

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Thanks..... I have seen video of him live and thought he is a must see, just never heard so many people unhappy with his concert. If I ever get the chance I am going to go..... had to miss a legend if you have the chance

Jeff Beck in Chicago.

SO EFFING LOUD one could not concentrate on anything but the pain and pounding head. Can't remember a single song or what they looked like or what he was playing or anything...only the memory of being sonically assaulted.

My worst is a Michael Bolton show. I went because my sister-in-law loved him and she bought the wife and I tickets. They gave us a ride to the concert as well. We saw more of his band than him. So much effects you could hardly hear anything he sang or said. Definitely a headache experience.

In second place was a free concert from Survivor. The singer was good to great but the guitar player was possibly the worst I have seen live.

On the other end of the spectrum, I saw Clapton on the Journeyman tour in Cincinnati in 1990 or 1991. I won front row center tickets from a radio station. He was really amazing. Nathan East kept telling him, "Man, you're really on tonight!" The place was rocking and they played 4 encores. Eric actually thanked the crowd after the last one and said that this was it. I was in an arena on the cement floor and the floor was actually moving when the crowd was going nuts. I thought the place was going to come down around me. After that show I didn't think I was worthy enough to touch a guitar.

I think everyone has some bad shows if you have played enough. I know I've had times where I was a little sick or tired from working so much. I know the weekend after my Mom's funeral wasn't my best show.

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I'm with you fellers!
www.thissideup.us

Enough said. Didn't need to read the rest. My sympathies.

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"While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

My dad said, "I'm going to miss you."
I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)

I agree. I saw Dylan a few years ago, and he sucked bad. Completely inaudible. I left the concert telling my wife, "well, at least I can say that I saw him in concert." But it really sucked.

Probably the worst concert I can think of would be Poison. Yeah, I know. They opened for David Lee Roth but I was actually going to the concert to see Poison play. They were lipsyncing and you could tell. The entire crowd was pissed off and not into it at all. Luckily Roth turned out to be damn good in concert so at least I didn't leave pissed.

When Roth had Poison open was the "Skyscraper" tour. That was with -- argubly the best rock band ever constructed -- Steve Vai, Billy Sheehan, and Greg Bisonnet. I also saw that tour, and it was awesome. Chops to the n-th degree everywhere you turn. Great show. Roth's biggest mistake ever was not keeping that band together ... huge mistake on his part.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

+1

True, true If you don't like what you hear, don't waste your money. Entertain yourself with the others around you

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"I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend."

-Freddie Mercury

Kiss in the late 80's no make up.....terrible. We left after a couple of songs.

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst