Bad Music Gigs/Concerts that you've been to.

I once thought I'd try a concert of modern music at an art gallery in Mannheim. I had played some modern stuff on the piano and some of it was OK. Open mind and all that. I must have been about 20.

Anyway, this was a chamber ensemble, all screeching away at odds with each other. I didn't go back after the interval.

Elton John at the 02. The stage was decorated in a way that made it difficult for us to see him. He didn’t perform but sat at the piano and sang to his cronies in the front few rows whom we could see were getting free drinks from a trolley. The audience was so bored that no one got up to dance or cheer.
It didn’t help that my cousin brought along a friend who suffered from vertigo and hadn’t realised we would be sitting near the top of the venue and my cousin couldn’t remember where she’d parked her car or the route home.

Tons of very modern jazz with dh.

Also, we travelled miles and miles to see Tony William's Lifeline and we spent ages watching the stage being set up, changed, set up again. We even remarked that it was good to see a band taking such care over it. They didn't turn up.

Sadly, David Bowie at Milton Keynes bowl was dreadful as was the memorable time we went to see the Stones and a drunk threw up all over my shoes.

Whitney Houston some years ago was very disappointing. She was neatly an hour late and insisted the arena was heated to tropical temperatures. As it was July to start, the audience were nearly passing out. We had to ask each other of it was really her she sounded so different and a little worse for wear. So sad because she was beautiful and had a superb voice.

As regards to live gigs in 60`s and early 70`s went to a few , locally we used to go to Coventry Theatre by coach on a Sunday to see multi group shows which were common then .
Another Multi group show was at Wembley Empire pool (Arena) with a Stars Organisation for Spastics do, the other one at the same venue was the Monkees .
I did also see Delaney and Bonnie and Friends t Birmingham Town Hall featuring Eric Clapton and George Harrison in support .
As I was serving in the RAF at the time we had bands playing some were bands under there original name prior to changes for example Ambrose Slade , but also bands like Black Sabbath , plus Desmond Dekker , Troggs , Equals , Geno Washington also in the NAAFI clubs .
Away from that Ben E King at a club in Crewe backed by the Average White band , 4 tops , Stevie Wonder and Booker T at venues in West Midlands
Mick

Rush in Manchester

But only because someone vomited all over my feet

Our worst was an outdoor concert at Milton Keynes Bowl, probably in the 80s. Top of the bill was Bon Jovi. The bands were all good but the organisation was terrible. The security was heavy handed, all our drink bottles were removed by the entrance where it looked as though they were building a wall of discarded plastic bottles which was almost waist high and as deep. They wanted us to buy their stuff at inflated prices.

It was a hot day so hydration was important. We had to queue for everything, cup of tea from a machine, plastic cup of anything, then the loos. I got oral thrush due to this one day of not being able to sip at random. I knew then that it would be the last outdoor concert I'd attend. We'd previously been to the Monsters of Rock at Castle Donington several times with no problems whatsoever.

Some wag on the bus home asked loudly, "Has anyone got a sandwich, an ice cube sandwich?" which just about summed it up for all of us. Never again.

At the Apollo in Glasgow in the 70s. The band Nazareth were well known at the time and Scottish so obviously thought they didn't have to try to hard for a local audience. They were dire. And the support act was a never to be heard of again punk band who couldnt sing and couldn't play either.

I went to see The Nice at Salford Uni in the late 60s. They were so loud everyone stood at the back as the wall of sound made your teeth vibrate. But Keith Emerson was wonderful on the keyboard and later went on to form a Emerson, Lake and Palmer. I have never forgotten his musicality.

Are we allowed to remember local band gigs? because my fondest memory is from a few years ago when a local super hero band were set to do a gig in our local pub.

To start with one of the members (back up vocals and harmonica) refused to play (wouldn't even enter the pub) because the pub sold meat meals and he's a strict vegan.

When the other four eventually assembled on stage, two of them had a loud argument over the playlist, so they stormed off in different directions, the remaining two very shame faced, picked up their instruments and sulked off. They never returned. It was a free gig, so no one really minded but in retrospect I think it hilarious.

We went to see River Dance in Hyde Park. We booked to stay overnight in a hotel very close to HP but when we booked in they were overbooked so they took us by taxi to a higher grade hotel but it was further away from HP. When we arrived at the venue we were on the front row of the raised seats and when it started the people in front stood up and none of us in our row could see a thing. Some people complained to the stewards but as soon as they moved away the people in front stood up again so we had to watch most of it on the tv screens.

Friends persuaded us to go with them to see Status Quo. The supporting band were extremely loud and SQ were nearly as loud and we were very close to the speakers. DH’s hearing has never been the same since.

Eastbourne bandstand last September, Bob Marley cover band. The evening was colder than we expected, all the local cliques had nicked the best seats, or had items draped over ‘reserving’ them. Band were late, they were having a disagreement over the sound checks, one stormed off, then they all disappeared, no announcements, nothing. We gave up, retired to local, warm pub and played pool, as we walked back to the b&b later we couldn’t hear anything. I did apply to get our money back, no joy.
lovebeigecardigans1955 I went to two Monsters of Rock, great fun, where you there with the wood trucks?

Bob Dylan at Earl’s Court in the 80’s. He was in his born-again Christian phase and most of the concert consisted of some very large ladies warbling away at gospel songs with bosoms heaving.

When Dylan did appear, he mumbled and muttered his way through a few songs and that was it.

We took our boys with us and I seem to recall the tickets were £35 each so that was a lot of money back then! Dh and the boys have seen BD since then and he’s been superb but I haven’t, so that’s my memory of him.

We've seen some greats over the years, mostly fantastic. However, a few years ago we went to see Don McLean (Starry Starry Night). He was abysmal. We left at the interval.

In the 70s, I saw The Boomtown Rats, The Stranglers, Rainbow (Ritchie Blackmore) and The Clash. All good.

In the 80s, it was Queen, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Rait . All great.

In the 90s/00s, I saw Queen again (Paul Rodgers instead of Freddie Mercury), Rod Stewart, Tom Jones, UB40. All except UB40 were great. Ali Campbell and co. came on late, didn't speak to the audience at all, didn't smile or look glad to be there. The sound was awful. Maxi Priest was on as the support act, and they/he saved the whole thing by being so good.

Van Morrison,I think he was bored there was no rapport with the audience and he cut the show short...just walked off.Apart from that which was disappointing a couple of support acts that we sat out in the bar at the Armadillo in Glasgow and Bert Jansch who I love but was awful in the Queens Hall ,again a seat in the bar after 15 minutes of torture .
On the other hand loads of brilliant music ,sme years at Celtic Connections we've seen 15 or 20 gigs and a fab outdoor concert in Haddington around the millenium with James Taylor and a guy we'd never heard of ...he was so good we've now seen him 25 times.Take a bow Eric Bibb .

paddyanne My DH saw Van Morrison and said exactly the same as you.

My brother saw Queen at Reading Uni when they had first formed. He said they were awful.
(I still love them, though, and really miss Freddie.)

I thought they were all good at the time, but admit in hindsight "The Faces" didn't always sound so great, can't believe I actually liked Rod Stewart once, I find him quite preposterous now. Anyway having queued up for hours to see them at the now defunct Rainbow in Finsbury Park, I told myself at the time they were worth the wait. Also seem to remember waiting a long, long time for "The Who" to appear at The Oval whilst umpteen flunkies did that whole "testing, testing" palaver into the mike that from memory went on longer than the actual act you were waiting for, or maybe it just seemed like it. At the time they were quite fresh from "Woodstock" and looked and sounded just like they did in the film, they were probably worth the wait, as were Led Zeppelin.

One of my sons was so jealous when I told him about all the acts I'd seen

I saw Captain Beefheart at Birmingham Town Hall in the seventies. I had to leave, along with a lot of others, after an hour. They were so bad. I would have preferred to listen to cats singing or foxes fighting. The Musicians were as bad.

Another disappointed Van Morrison concert goer, Newcastle City Hall, he was on less than 1 hour and was dreadful, concert finished 9.15 we were back in the car and on our way home by half past.!!

I can't say it was a bad gig but Knebworth 1986 Elton John's performance was appalling, not a single note in tune!! Paul McCartney and Wings were great singing Beatles songs but as soon as they started on Wings songs nobody applauded. The Cliff Richard session seemed to be the one that everyone used to go get a drink or visit the loo. The rest of the concert was great though, Eric Clapton was wonderful, as ever, and Pink Floyd's 10pmtill midnight session complete with laser light show was out of this world.

I can concur with mancgirl regarding the late Whitney Houston.
At a concert in Glasgow it was late starting with the very same reasons regarding the auditorium temperature.
Came on, sung three songs, went off and an announcement was made that due to the death of someone in America the concert was postponed....
Shame because when she sang she was amazing, but rip-off springs to mind!

We saw Eric Clapton at the Rainbow in the late ‘70’s. He went off stage after about 10 mins and was absent for ages.
He finally came back with Pete Townsend supporting him.

That made my night because I loved Pete Townsend, but my partner, who had been really looking forward to seeing Eric Clapton was massively disappointed.

We learned later that Clapton was struggling with addiction issues at the time ... However, it’s still my partner’s ‘worst gig I ever went to’.