Worst Trainwreck You Have Seen Live

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  • Get_Right
    Get_Right Posts: 14,134
    I love all live music and it takes a lot to get me to leave, even if the sound is bad, which has definitely happened a handful of times. Roseland ballroom had great shows, but the WORST sound in NYC. 

    Only show I have ever left early was Metallica at ACL 2018.  I am just not a fan.

    Other than that, the shows that left me bummed out the most have a common theme: Legacy acts that charge a fortune and  indulge in their artistic vision rather than play what the crowd wants to hear. Similar to Cat Stevens mentioned above.  
    Van Morrison, Neil Young, and David Gilmour come to mind, all very disappointing and felt completely ripped off. Play 15 unknown songs and then come out for a three song encore of favorites.  No thanks.  They should take lessons from Paul McCartney.

  • HughFreakingDillon
    HughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 39,537
    Get_Right said:
    I love all live music and it takes a lot to get me to leave, even if the sound is bad, which has definitely happened a handful of times. Roseland ballroom had great shows, but the WORST sound in NYC. 

    Only show I have ever left early was Metallica at ACL 2018.  I am just not a fan.

    Other than that, the shows that left me bummed out the most have a common theme: Legacy acts that charge a fortune and  indulge in their artistic vision rather than play what the crowd wants to hear. Similar to Cat Stevens mentioned above.  
    Van Morrison, Neil Young, and David Gilmour come to mind, all very disappointing and felt completely ripped off. Play 15 unknown songs and then come out for a three song encore of favorites.  No thanks.  They should take lessons from Paul McCartney.

    Eric Clapton, I'm talking to YOU. 
    By The Time They Figure Out What Went Wrong, We'll Be Sitting On A Beach, Earning Twenty Percent.




  • Get_Right
    Get_Right Posts: 14,134
    HughFreakingDillon said:
    Get_Right said:
    I love all live music and it takes a lot to get me to leave, even if the sound is bad, which has definitely happened a handful of times. Roseland ballroom had great shows, but the WORST sound in NYC. 

    Only show I have ever left early was Metallica at ACL 2018.  I am just not a fan.

    Other than that, the shows that left me bummed out the most have a common theme: Legacy acts that charge a fortune and  indulge in their artistic vision rather than play what the crowd wants to hear. Similar to Cat Stevens mentioned above.  
    Van Morrison, Neil Young, and David Gilmour come to mind, all very disappointing and felt completely ripped off. Play 15 unknown songs and then come out for a three song encore of favorites.  No thanks.  They should take lessons from Paul McCartney.

    Eric Clapton, I'm talking to YOU. 

    I should have included him as well, same experience.  
  • nautical_disaster
    nautical_disaster Posts: 348
    I've been fortunate to see some solid shows over the years. The one almost "trainwreck" that comes to mind was a Sloan show (2006ish??). Easily one of the dumbest crowds. My friends and I were drenched with projectile beers within the crowd. One guy climbed on the side of the stage and had a lighter next to the sprinkler system. The band was absolutely exasperated as the show went on. Right before the first set we left the show and were taking a breather in the hallway, debating whether to go to the university pub in the same building. The band actually comes out in the same spot as us for the encore break, and we talked with them about how dumb the crowd was in there lol. Here's the thing: Sloan actually rocked the place despite the fact that they could have phoned it in. Some bands are better with dumb crowds than others.

    (2000) Mansfield I, Mansfield II (2003) Montreal (2005) Montreal, Ottawa (2006) Albany (2008) Montreal I + II (EV) (2022) Québec City


  • JimmyV
    JimmyV Boston's MetroWest Posts: 19,600
    Get_Right said:
    HughFreakingDillon said:
    Get_Right said:
    I love all live music and it takes a lot to get me to leave, even if the sound is bad, which has definitely happened a handful of times. Roseland ballroom had great shows, but the WORST sound in NYC. 

    Only show I have ever left early was Metallica at ACL 2018.  I am just not a fan.

    Other than that, the shows that left me bummed out the most have a common theme: Legacy acts that charge a fortune and  indulge in their artistic vision rather than play what the crowd wants to hear. Similar to Cat Stevens mentioned above.  
    Van Morrison, Neil Young, and David Gilmour come to mind, all very disappointing and felt completely ripped off. Play 15 unknown songs and then come out for a three song encore of favorites.  No thanks.  They should take lessons from Paul McCartney.

    Eric Clapton, I'm talking to YOU. 

    I should have included him as well, same experience.  
    Absolutely. We didn't recognize a single song the night we saw him. To be fair, it was 1995 and my musical knowledge then wasn't what it is now, so I would probably get a lot more out of it today. Also, setlists from previous shows weren't so easy to come by pre-internet, so we didn't know that he was on an old-school blues tour.

    Still. Play a couple hits, dude. 
    ___________________________________________

    "...I changed by not changing at all..."
  • hihobibo
    hihobibo Tampa, FL Posts: 1,140
    Get_Right said:

    Other than that, the shows that left me bummed out the most have a common theme: Legacy acts that charge a fortune and  indulge in their artistic vision rather than play what the crowd wants to hear. Similar to Cat Stevens mentioned above.  
    Van Morrison, Neil Young, and David Gilmour come to mind, all very disappointing and felt completely ripped off. Play 15 unknown songs and then come out for a three song encore of favorites.  No thanks.  They should take lessons from Paul McCartney.

    I agree with Neil Young. Not a trainwreck, and this was around 1998, but it was like watching the local bar band of 60 year olds out there jamming to what they wanted to play. Maybe one known song in the whole set. 

    Only thing that comes to mind for me as a trainwreck, was Hole no-showing the show when they toured with Marilyn Manson. They announced at the venue that Hole wasn't going to be playing that night, so all we had was 60 minutes of Manson, who did great, but went on a little after 8:00. So the show was over at 9:30 or so. 
  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,494
    northerndragon said:
    Dillinger Escape Plan and Mars Volta. 
    The two worst bands I have ever seen. Both made me almost walk out altogether to make the assault on my auditory senses stop. Mars Volta is the absolute worst. There are no real words for how bad that experience was. 
    Dillinger live was one of my favorite shows ever.  Not into Math core huh?
  • JeBurkhardt
    JeBurkhardt Posts: 5,332
    Stevie Nicks at the Shoreline Amphitheater in 1986. My friend was a guitar player and was a huge Peter Frampton fan. Peter was opening for Stevie, so we went. Peter was great, but Stevie was in the midst of her heavy cocaine use period. Her voice was shot and she was really not all there. It was sad to see because she was and is very talented. We made it maybe 4 songs before we bailed.  
  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,494
    JeBurkhardt said:
    Stevie Nicks at the Shoreline Amphitheater in 1986. My friend was a guitar player and was a huge Peter Frampton fan. Peter was opening for Stevie, so we went. Peter was great, but Stevie was in the midst of her heavy cocaine use period. Her voice was shot and she was really not all there. It was sad to see because she was and is very talented. We made it maybe 4 songs before we bailed.  
    I plan on skipping her performance at SHN next year too.  No desire to see her.
  • hihobibo
    hihobibo Tampa, FL Posts: 1,140
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJrIN7Ag4zE
  • pjl44
    pjl44 Posts: 10,547
    Get_Right said:
    I love all live music and it takes a lot to get me to leave, even if the sound is bad, which has definitely happened a handful of times. Roseland ballroom had great shows, but the WORST sound in NYC. 

    Only show I have ever left early was Metallica at ACL 2018.  I am just not a fan.

    Other than that, the shows that left me bummed out the most have a common theme: Legacy acts that charge a fortune and  indulge in their artistic vision rather than play what the crowd wants to hear. Similar to Cat Stevens mentioned above.  
    Van Morrison, Neil Young, and David Gilmour come to mind, all very disappointing and felt completely ripped off. Play 15 unknown songs and then come out for a three song encore of favorites.  No thanks.  They should take lessons from Paul McCartney.

    When did you see Gilmour? The one time I caught him he played a healthy amount of Floyd.
  • pjl44
    pjl44 Posts: 10,547
    tempo_n_groove said:
    northerndragon said:
    Dillinger Escape Plan and Mars Volta. 
    The two worst bands I have ever seen. Both made me almost walk out altogether to make the assault on my auditory senses stop. Mars Volta is the absolute worst. There are no real words for how bad that experience was. 
    Dillinger live was one of my favorite shows ever.  Not into Math core huh?
    Love love love Dillinger but I can see someone showing up cold and having no idea how to connect with what they're seeing.

    Same for old Mars Volta shows I guess. One of my favorite bands ever but some of those sets where they were deep in the shit could be a labor.
  • Get_Right
    Get_Right Posts: 14,134
    pjl44 said:
    Get_Right said:
    I love all live music and it takes a lot to get me to leave, even if the sound is bad, which has definitely happened a handful of times. Roseland ballroom had great shows, but the WORST sound in NYC. 

    Only show I have ever left early was Metallica at ACL 2018.  I am just not a fan.

    Other than that, the shows that left me bummed out the most have a common theme: Legacy acts that charge a fortune and  indulge in their artistic vision rather than play what the crowd wants to hear. Similar to Cat Stevens mentioned above.  
    Van Morrison, Neil Young, and David Gilmour come to mind, all very disappointing and felt completely ripped off. Play 15 unknown songs and then come out for a three song encore of favorites.  No thanks.  They should take lessons from Paul McCartney.

    When did you see Gilmour? The one time I caught him he played a healthy amount of Floyd.

    2006 and he did play some Floyd, but is was the same old stuff. Breathe, Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb etc. Echoes was nice but it felt contrived. I have also seen him a few times before starting with the about face tour.

  • tempo_n_groove
    tempo_n_groove Posts: 41,494
    pjl44 said:
    tempo_n_groove said:
    northerndragon said:
    Dillinger Escape Plan and Mars Volta. 
    The two worst bands I have ever seen. Both made me almost walk out altogether to make the assault on my auditory senses stop. Mars Volta is the absolute worst. There are no real words for how bad that experience was. 
    Dillinger live was one of my favorite shows ever.  Not into Math core huh?
    Love love love Dillinger but I can see someone showing up cold and having no idea how to connect with what they're seeing.

    Same for old Mars Volta shows I guess. One of my favorite bands ever but some of those sets where they were deep in the shit could be a labor.
    Funny you say that about DEP.  My gf was listening to satellite radio and they come on.  She tells me "that band Dillinger you like came on the radio and yeah, I'm glad I didn't go w you to those shows."

    This is from a gal who listens to EVERYTHING, lol!
  • curmudgeoness
    curmudgeoness Brigadoon, foodie capital Posts: 4,130
    tempo_n_groove said:
    2015 or 16 Headliner Bob Dylan.  Before them we had Ryan Bingham, Wilco and Beck as openers so it was a good show.

    When Dylan sang, or lack thereof, the crowd left in droves.

    His voice was hoarse and monotone.

    I saw Bob Dylan around then -- at Tanglewood, Mavis Staples opened for him. Mavis Staples, national treasure that she is, was great. Bob Dylan otoh was, by a country mile, the worst live act I've ever seen.

    The sound system was garbage, but maybe that was for the best. The stage appeared to be lit by a single 40-watt bulb. Dylan in no way acknowledged that there was an audience. I'm not a huge Dylan fan, so I didn't go in expecting to know songs beyond the hits that we all know; and I'd seen him on Letterman years ago, so I wasn't expecting great vocals. But.

    The vocals/ lyrics were unintelligible, so forget the whole notion of "Dylan the poet." Who knows what he was saying? And the hits? They had been re-worked -- or mangled, depending on your viewpoint -- to the point of being virtually unrecognizable. We left before intermission, along with hundreds of other people (there was a steady flow of people to the parking lot), as the remains of "Tangled Up In Blue" blared over the speakers. It's hard to describe the violence that was wrought on one of the greatest songs ever written. We can debate the artist's prerogative endlessly, I suppose, but what I heard that night was akin to Kafka trying to destroy his manuscripts. It's one thing to sit through a mediocre-at-best opening act or to catch a local bar band on an off-night; IMO witnessing an unwatchable, unlistenable performance by a legendary artist is an entirely different matter.
    All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.
  • HughFreakingDillon
    HughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 39,537
    nautical_disaster said:
    I've been fortunate to see some solid shows over the years. The one almost "trainwreck" that comes to mind was a Sloan show (2006ish??). Easily one of the dumbest crowds. My friends and I were drenched with projectile beers within the crowd. One guy climbed on the side of the stage and had a lighter next to the sprinkler system. The band was absolutely exasperated as the show went on. Right before the first set we left the show and were taking a breather in the hallway, debating whether to go to the university pub in the same building. The band actually comes out in the same spot as us for the encore break, and we talked with them about how dumb the crowd was in there lol. Here's the thing: Sloan actually rocked the place despite the fact that they could have phoned it in. Some bands are better with dumb crowds than others.
    "it's not the band I hate, it's their fans" seems apropos here. 
    By The Time They Figure Out What Went Wrong, We'll Be Sitting On A Beach, Earning Twenty Percent.




  • Merkin Baller
    Merkin Baller Posts: 12,813
    Smashing Pumpkins headlining Lollapalooza in '94 were so bad I swore then & there I would never spend another dime on them. (& still haven't to this day) 

    Black Crowes headlining the Further fest ('98 maybe?). Had several songs they had to start over, they were a disaster. I love the Crowes, and have seen them since, but that was pretty bad. 



    (Dis)Honorable mention: I saw Cake 4 or 5 years, ago, they co-headlined w/ Ben Folds. They played 11 songs over the course of a 75 minute set... It's not like they were jamming out on songs either, they more or less played the studio versions....the guy talked for over 1/3 of the set. F that. 
  • goldrush
    goldrush everybody knows this is nowhere Posts: 7,803
    HughFreakingDillon said:
    the message being received here seems to be don't EVER bother going to see Counting Crows. 
    I’ve really enjoyed Counting Crows every time I’ve seen them.

    The last time I defended them in here I was shouted down for being too much of a fanboy so I’ll just leave it at that.
    “Do not postpone happiness”
    (Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)

    “Put yer good money on the sunrise”
    (Tim Rogers)
  • goldrush
    goldrush everybody knows this is nowhere Posts: 7,803
    The first one that springs to mind is Extreme at Donington, 1994. They came on after Pantera and Sepultura and just killed the whole vibe of the crowd.

    The only show I can remember leaving early was Incubus in Cardiff, 2004. They seemed as bored as the crowd was and were blown away by the support, Hundred Reasons.
    “Do not postpone happiness”
    (Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)

    “Put yer good money on the sunrise”
    (Tim Rogers)
  • nautical_disaster
    nautical_disaster Posts: 348
    HughFreakingDillon said:
    nautical_disaster said:
    I've been fortunate to see some solid shows over the years. The one almost "trainwreck" that comes to mind was a Sloan show (2006ish??). Easily one of the dumbest crowds. My friends and I were drenched with projectile beers within the crowd. One guy climbed on the side of the stage and had a lighter next to the sprinkler system. The band was absolutely exasperated as the show went on. Right before the end of the first set we left the show and were taking a breather in the hallway, debating whether to go to the university pub in the same building. The band actually comes out in the same spot as us for the encore break, and we talked with them about how dumb the crowd was in there lol. Here's the thing: Sloan actually rocked the place despite the fact that they could have phoned it in. Some bands are better with dumb crowds than others.
    "it's not the band I hate, it's their fans" seems apropos here. 
    haha yup 100%

    (2000) Mansfield I, Mansfield II (2003) Montreal (2005) Montreal, Ottawa (2006) Albany (2008) Montreal I + II (EV) (2022) Québec City


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