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Worst live band you have ever seen

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M

March of the Crabs

Member
I'm a huge fan of live music and have gone to 2 or 3 shows a month for about a decade now. In this time I've seen some amazing life-altering shows that really made me love some bands even more than I already did or completely converted me on bands I wasn't into beforehand (this happens a lot at festivals).
This thread isn't about those bands though. It's about those bands (or solo artists) that are so incredibly bad live that you have to wonder how they can make a living off of touring.
Let's share. Who is the worst live act you have ever seen and why? Restrain yourself to just one and don't just pick on some band you hate because that's mean and no fun.

For me it is Five Finger Death Punch. I saw them at a festival out of sheer curiosity (I hadn't really listened to them before) a few years ago and I was astounded at what I saw. I'm not sure if it was something to do with the sound but the instruments sounded completely out of tune, the drummer couldn't keep up with their slow tempo somehow and the vocalist seemed to constantly run out of breath. I think it's the only time I have ever heard booing at a festival.
 
Z

Zombine

Banned
Taking Back Sunday is pretty awful live. It's not really an isolated event either. They are super shit tier all the time.
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
Ozzy. Dude was using a TelePrompTer cuz he doesn't remember his lyrics, and he was sucking a lemon and spraying his throat between every verse. Retire already.
 
M

March of the Crabs

Member
Zombine said:
Taking Back Sunday is pretty awful live. It's not really an isolated event either. They are super shit tier all the time.
Click to expand...

I've heard that too actually! I've never been into them but I knew a girl who absolutely loved them and was super disappointed by them both times she has seen them (although they apparently are very nice to talk to).
 
T

twentytwo22

Member
Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 used to be horrible live. Things may have improved in recent years.

Zombine said:
Taking Back Sunday is pretty awful live. It's not really an isolated event either. They are super shit tier all the time.
Click to expand...

I saw them one time and they were awesome.

(I may have been very drunk).
 
R

Rapscallion

Member
In high school I saw the band "Senses Fail" in Modesto CA. It was a terrible show. The band themselves were pretty bad and several fights broke out in the crowd, but the most off putting thing about the night was that the band was badmouthing their opening act pretty aggressively. IIRC it was because the band was trying to sell some of their CDs outside of the venue, which meant that the venue didn't get a cut? Regardless, it was just a weird experience seeing an established band trying to turn a crowd against a smaller, unknown band.

Just left a bad taste in mouth. I stopped listening to their music shortly after.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Worst band is probably some shitty local band, but the weirdest turnaround I ever saw was System of a Down in 2001 and then again on the tour for the last album they did before they broke up.

The 2001 tour was just a ball of energy, flying around the stage, playing the shit out of their songs.

The Mezmerize Tour was everyone standing still and just playing the songs without any energy or effort, only sometimes interrupted by the guitarist saying nonsensical weed rants into the mic.
 
M

March of the Crabs

Member
twentytwo22 said:
Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 used to be horrible live. Things may have improved in recent years.



I saw them one time and they were awesome.

(I may have been very drunk).
Click to expand...

I almost used Blink as my example because they were awful when I saw them but it was primarily Tom. Mark sounded fine and Travis is a solid drummer. I bet they are way better to see these days now that Tom got booted.
 
A

arts&crafts

Member
Lulzwagon said:
I almost used Blink as my example because they were awful when I saw them but it was primarily Tom. Mark sounded fine and Travis is a solid drummer. I bet they are way better to see these days now that Tom got booted.
Click to expand...
ya its Tom, I saw +44 a ways back and they were good. Angels and airwaves, not as good.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
twentytwo22 said:
Fall Out Boy and Blink 182 used to be horrible live. Things may have improved in recent years.



I saw them one time and they were awesome.

(I may have been very drunk).
Click to expand...

Blink 182, easily the worst band I have seen live. Saw them live in 2001 at Jones Beach part of K-Rock's DFP tour.
 
N

Novocaine

Member
I've seen a lot of awful shows due to going to a lot of music festivals.

But the ones that stick out most were the first time Slipknot came out to Australia (in I think around '98-'99?). Just shocking sound mixing and they made us wait for almost one hour between the support band finishing and them starting.

At a festival for a band that I wanted to see the first time I saw Glassjaw was so so disappointing. The singer seemed completely fucked off of his head and they played all their shit songs.
 
M

MadSexual

Member
I've seen some pretty shitty bands, but most were playing their own music proficiently, so this:
teruterubozu said:
Ozzy. Dude was using a TelePrompTer cuz he doesn't remember his lyrics, and he was sucking a lemon and spraying his throat between every verse. Retire already.
Click to expand...

would have to be my response as well.
 
F

fabricated backlash

Member
Marilyn Manson... that lazy bum just striking a few poses, while his "Band" is just pretending to play (hell you could see the roadies behind the amps actually playing the songs)

Deftones, dudes were just lying on stage being stoned as fuck, muffling and failing all their "songs".

Oh yeah and Linkin Park... fucking hell was that painful to listen to.
 
G

gamz

Member
teruterubozu said:
Ozzy. Dude was using a TelePrompTer cuz he doesn't remember his lyrics, and he was sucking a lemon and spraying his throat between every verse. Retire already.
Click to expand...

This.

Hell, I saw him in the 80's when Motley Crue was backing him up and he was terrible. Crue blew him off the stage.
 
G

Gigarator

Member
Angry Grimace said:
Worst band is probably some shitty local band, but the weirdest turnaround I ever saw was System of a Down in 2001 and then again on the tour for the last album they did before they broke up.

The 2001 tour was just a ball of energy, flying around the stage, playing the shit out of their songs.

The Mezmerize Tour was everyone standing still and just playing the songs without any energy or effort, only sometimes interrupted by the guitarist saying nonsensical weed rants into the mic.
Click to expand...

Agreed, System Of A Down was the first gig I ever went to, back in 2005 and I was a big fan. Had a lot of prior knowledge of their shows and how energetic they were so when I finally got the chance to see them... it was the biggest let down. As you say, just no energy and they were doing it by the numbers as if they couldn't give less of a shit.

Still love them and want to see them again in the hope they've rediscovered some of that spark in the last decade or so.
 
S

Strax

Member
My Morning Jacket opening for Foo Fighters in 2001 or 2002. They sounded like a Battle Of The Bands semi-finalist in town of 50000 people
 
D

dsk1210

Member
oc said:
the locust
Click to expand...

Weirdly enough I saw The Locust when I was at a Yeah Yeah Yeah's gig in Glasgow and they were awesome, pure energy and mental. I had never heard of them before and checked out one of their albums, it was shit.
 
R

Ramsiege

Member
Crossfade were about as boring and generic live as they were on the radio. I've never seen an entire audience sit down for an act before or since.
 
C

ColdPizza

Banned
fabricated backlash said:
Marilyn Manson... that lazy bum just striking a few poses, while his "Band" is just pretending to play (hell you could see the roadies behind the amps actually playing the songs)

Deftones, dudes were just lying on stage being stoned as fuck, muffling and failing all their "songs".

Oh yeah and Linkin Park... fucking hell was that painful to listen to.
Click to expand...
Haha, what incarnation of Mansons band was that? I thought the original crew could play.
 
V

Vegetable Lasagna

Member
Taking Back Sunday. Saw them twice. Dude has a horrible voice live. If you want to see how bad it really is... HDNet has a hour long live concert from them. Soooooo truly bad.
 
B

Bread

Banned
xxracerxx said:
MGMT were terrible performers live.
Click to expand...
Yup they had zero energy.

Kid Cudi and Nas were also pretty bad performers when I saw them at Bonnaroo. Nas was forgetting lyrics to his songs off Distant Relatives which was so disappointing because I was so hyped for that performance.
 
Head of Vengarl

Head of Vengarl

Banned
I don't even remember the band's name. They opened for Interpol at a show in San Diego like 4-5 years ago. It's the only time I've heard a band get openly heckled and booed. The guitarist got all pissed and yelled back at the hecklers with a terrible comeback; it was just embarrassing to watch.

Zombine said:
Taking Back Sunday is pretty awful live. It's not really an isolated event either. They are super shit tier all the time.
Click to expand...

I saw them live and they were good. I'm not a fan (was with my gf at the time) but they certainly weren't terrible.
 
J

Jb

Member
MIA was opening for a Nas show I went to a couple of years ago. Nas killed it but she had like 3 good songs and the rest was painfully generic. Plus her singing was really bad.
 
F

falconxcrunner09

Member
X Ambassadors

They opened for Muse when I saw them in Jan. I have never heard of this band before and they were so fucking bad. I didn't anyone could be worse than Blink 182 but they seemed to pull it off. Felt like I was being tortured listening to that shit. Had to walk out and walk around the TD Garden to try and zone them out while they played.

I do have to give props to the keyboardist since he was blind, but he needed to calm down. He was flailing his limbs everywhere.
 
M

Megalosaro

Banned
I saw Smash Mouth in Portland Oregon in 1999.

God that was awful. Just terrible. The lead singer was drunk off his as and openly hostile.

I saw Newsboys once too. I was dragged to a weekend long religious retreat and they played during it. It was the worst weekend of my life.
 
J

jay

Member
fabricated backlash said:
Marilyn Manson... that lazy bum just striking a few poses, while his "Band" is just pretending to play (hell you could see the roadies behind the amps actually playing the songs)

Deftones, dudes were just lying on stage being stoned as fuck, muffling and failing all their "songs".

Oh yeah and Linkin Park... fucking hell was that painful to listen to.
Click to expand...

This is a sign to see better bands.
 
I

IfAllElseFales

Member
Saw My Chemical Romance at a festival while I was waiting for the Foo Fighters. MCR was pretty bad. Seemed like they were bored the entire time.
 
C

CloudWolf

Member
I've seen Metro Station (Miley Cyrus's brother's band), All Time Low, Black Eyed Peas and Ke$ha live. All four were equally terrible.

All American Rejects gets a special mention.
 
F

Fudgepuppy

Banned
I saw Cradle of Filth at a festival in 2011, they were awful.

Mixing was muddled, both singers were awful, running out of breath and not being able to keep any pitch.
 
A

AtomicShroom

Member
Can only agree on Blink-182... Saw them live at a festival some two years ago and it was completely devoid of energy. It felt like they didn't want to be there, hadn't slept in 3 days, and were being forced to perform at gunpoint or something. I left after 3 songs.
 
T

Tuffty

Member
Admittedly I haven't seen many bands live, but in my experience it's Kings of Leon. Zero energy, didn't interact with the crowd at all.
 
K

kris.

Banned
saw some band called Vanna open for Norma Jean like 2 years ago? their vocalist was wearing his own merch and was yelling at kids about how television and the media are evil and all this bullshit. it was dumb and their music was really stale, boring metalcore.
 
D

Darth Pinche

Member
Foxy Shazam, they were terrible sounding and trying so hard to be quirky and offbeat it was annoying.

The Hives, the singer was a drunk mess, slurring all the lyrics.
 
O

Owari

Member
Zombine said:
Taking Back Sunday is pretty awful live. It's not really an isolated event either. They are super shit tier all the time.
Click to expand...
Are you high? Taking Back Sunday is incredible live. They've gotten older so Adam's not as crazy (he used to literally climb the rafters and sing upside down as recently as 2012) but during their hayday they were the best rock band ever to see live.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HzkeNWthzT0
You must be mistaken.
 
M

March of the Crabs

Member
kris. said:
saw some band called Vanna open for Norma Jean like 2 years ago? their vocalist was wearing his own merch and was yelling at kids about how television and the media are evil and all this bullshit. it was dumb and their music was really stale, boring metalcore.
Click to expand...

Haha I've seen Vanna. My memory of them is weirdly similar. Very bad.
 
B

B Killenger

Member
MxPx, they did not care AT ALL. The worst thing I've ever seen happen at a show is someone got stabbed by a bouncer at a Bleeding Through show in Cincinnati after 2 songs. They wouldn't let us leave and so it was a bunch of angry 20 somethings. This was some show put on by MTV2, so it was Bleeding Through and Cradle of Filth, that was the overall worst show I've ever been to, and I saw Live and Counting Crows with a visit by Dennis Rodman.
 
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