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Worst live band you have ever seen

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J

jstripes

Banned
I was disappointed when I saw Rush.

They played like someone stuck a CD in a deck and pushed play.

When I go to a concert, I want something more. Some embellishment, changing things up a bit. I've seen Metric twice, and they'll do an intense 10 minute version of a 4 minute song, even switching to a cover and back midway through.
 
M

MadSol

Unconfirmed Member
Air Supply at a county fair, the girl that talked me into taking her was all out of love by the time it was done.
 
Q

Qasiel

Member
devonodev said:
All Time Low. Their songs are great, but I've seen them 3 times at festivals now. The whole time is just them doing all they can other than playing music to make their fangirls scream, and making weird sexual comments to their mostly underage crowd. I don't even remember if they played the songs well, I just remember all the talking inbetween songs.
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The same could be said about the time I saw 30 Seconds to Mars at Download a couple years ago. Jared Leto needs to pull his creepy head out of his arse, or at least someone else in the band should step up and do it for him.
 
N

Nightshade

Member
Bread said:
Yeah that was her gimmick. She drank Jack Daniels out of a bottle at the show I went to and like sprayed the crowd with it and they loved it. I was happy to be out of the splash zone.

Fun show though.
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Sounds about right for CC.

Also not sure if they're still doing shows together but FlyLo + Thundercat used to tour a lot together and were awesome. Can't imagine a bad Thundercat show.
 
G

GalacticMouse

Member
I'm kind of surprised at all of the bad experiences with Blink-182. I saw them on their reunion tour with Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco back in 2009 and all three bands were fantastic. With regards to Blink, I'm not sure Mark and Tom's voices lend themselves well to a live venue, but they were energetic and worked the crowd. I had a blast at that show.

For me, Muse was the worst act I've seen. They were the openers for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Stadium Arcadium tour and they came on stage, never said a word to the crowd and just jammed for about an hour then walked off. No individual songs, just an hour of playing with a song faded in and out of here and there for good measure. I'm admittedly indifferent to Muse, but man that was bad. It was an arena show too...most people just stayed in their seats for their set.
 
G

Gigarator

Member
Qasiel said:
The same could be said about the time I saw 30 Seconds to Mars at Download a couple years ago. Jared Leto needs to pull his creepy head out of his arse, or at least someone else in the band should step up and do it for him.
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Would that be when they subbed Rammstein? All I remember was everybody was chucking bottles at the guys stuck on the zipline instead of paying any attention to 30STM.

Man, that zipline was some A+ entertainment.
 
T

timothyonfire

Member
Mine was an isolated event but back in 08-09, it was the Rockstar Energy tour, IIRC it had Thursday, Four Year Strong and Bring Me The Horizon and others.

BMTH was the one band I wanted to see and the live show was atrocious. I blame the sound person working the event but for only that band, you couldn't hear shit or make anything out. It was just complete noise. I tried several different spots within the venue to see if it helped but nothing did.

Seen them live a couple years later and they were mint.
 
R

RubberLuffy

Banned
Between the Buried And Me. They opened for Coheed and Cambria when I saw I them and they almost put me to sleep.

Conversely, I've seen Co&Ca 3 times and they were fucking amazing and energetic each time.
 
N

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
The Melvins, Perfect Circle, Jack Johnson, Queensryche.. all for different reasons.

Best I saw was Rev. Horton Heat, Peter Frampton, Tortoise and Tool.
 
M

MGrant

Member
MGMT bored me to tears opening for Of Montreal. Boring setlist, no energy, no interaction with the audience.
 
Ristifer

Ristifer

Member
The complaints about Mastodon are valid on the Brent front, though he has improved lately. But the rest of the band kills it. Troy acts as the frontman, Bill is the stoic one, and Brann is the wacky drummer, who can still sing fairly well for wailing away on the drums.
 
W

wowzors

Member
Worst live band I have ever seen was orgy, they just didn't act like I expected. It wasn't terrible just not that entertaining.

Best was mindless self indulgence, you get exactly what you expect a shit show of craziness. Stromae is really awesome live but its more his costume changes and graphics in the background while he dances like a goob.
 
T

Thug Waffle

Member
wowzors said:
Worst live band I have ever seen was orgy, they just didn't act like I expected. It wasn't terrible just not that entertaining.

Best was mindless self indulgence, you get exactly what you expect a shit show of craziness. Stromae is really awesome live but its more his costume changes and graphics in the background while he dances like a goob.
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what i wouldn't give to see MSI live...
 
J

jimmyd

Member
JoJoShabadoo said:
Yeah, I've been ignoring this little tidbit as I'm going to see Sabbath live later this year... No choice but to get hammered and just feel the riffs I guess haha.
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Seen Sabbath a couple months ago... "Tony 'fucking' Iommi" is worth it alone. Ozzy is fine but he is just a bit of a novelty factor in the band now.
 
M

Mr.Monitor

Member
Not necessarily the worst band I've ever seen live but the biggest let down was easily Death Grips. Saw them in New Orleans last year and they had no energy whatsoever, MC Ride in particular was just a really awkward performer. Crowd kinda sucked too, bunch of shirtless bros.
 
S

ShowDog

Member
I saw Rise Against open for MCR during the Black Parade tour. I can't speak for their energy level because I didn't stick around to watch too long, they sounded awful. I think it was their equipment or sound setup.

I'm not a fan of MCR but they kicked ass that night. Great show by them.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
jstripes said:
I was disappointed when I saw Rush.

They played like someone stuck a CD in a deck and pushed play.

When I go to a concert, I want something more. Some embellishment, changing things up a bit. I've seen Metric twice, and they'll do an intense 10 minute version of a 4 minute song, even switching to a cover and back midway through.
Click to expand...

I went on YouTube a while ago and watched some Rush concert vids from their early days through now. The decline's so steep. I get that with age you're going to lose a step, but if you can't reasonably perform a show then you should hang it up. It's like watching once great athletes who have hung on for a few seasons too long.
 
SDCowboy

SDCowboy

Member
jstripes said:
I was disappointed when I saw Rush.

They played like someone stuck a CD in a deck and pushed play.

When I go to a concert, I want something more. Some embellishment, changing things up a bit. I've seen Metric twice, and they'll do an intense 10 minute version of a 4 minute song, even switching to a cover and back midway through.
Click to expand...

I saw them several years ago and it was pretty good. Geddy Lee's voice was straight up terrible, but there was an amazing, super long, guitar solo and drum solo that made up for it. That and when the synths hit for Subdivisions' intro, and the crowd went wild, it was something to behold.
 
.la1n

.la1n

Member
The Pixies, saw them last year when they opened for Robert Plant. If it wasn't for Kim making a legitimate effort to interact with the crowd it would have been a complete disaster. I had built them up to my wife based on shows I had seen in the 90s, had to hold that L.
 
choco-fish

choco-fish

Member
Triggerhappytel said:
I saw Ian Brown (solo stuff; not with the Stone Roses) with my wife about 15 years ago, and he was awful. Quite clearly coked out of his head; he couldn't hold a tune, didn't actually bother singing a lot and did a short set. Very disappointing.
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I don't remember how off his head was but saw him at V in 2005 I think, and no-one gave a shit about his solo stuff. Right at the end of the set he played 3 tracks from the Stone Roses and the crowd went from zombie to manic, I was at the back of the tent but still got slammed all over the shop.

My choice? Probably gonna get some hate but Kasabian in 2004, they felt like some kind of rolling stones tribute act and I've had no interest in them since.
 
B

balohna

Member
I saw Gang of Four and it was... weird. The performance wasn't the best, and on top of that the vibe was weird. I don't know what I expected, but a 50 year old man shirtless and bugging out on stage while middle aged women dance and "woo" at him wasn't it.

Cat Power was also kinda whatever, set list was boring and the show was short. She sounds good live, though.


On the positive side, Sonic Youth and Beastie Boys were both great despite live recordings sometimes seeming to indicate otherwise. Part of it is being there, both bands really knew how to play to their crowd and seemed extremely comfortable on stage. I saw both bands 30+ years into their careers, though.
 
1

123rl

Member
Cerebral Ballzy. Yes, that's really their name. They were supporting a band I love - The King Blues.

They sounded shit, were clearly drunk and high, and had some truly shit songs. Not that I could understand any of it since the singer was slurring his speech and falling over. Plus their name really pisses me off.


*they have nothing to do with the King Blues btw. I don't want there to be any association between the two bands. The KB are fucking awesome
 
G

Gin_And_Ironic

Banned
Slayer, without a fucking doubt.

Halfway through a song they stopped to chant "kill kill kill" over and over again.

😂 What a fucking whack band
 
W

Watevaman

Member
Not the worst performance but Korpiklaani didn't seem like they wanted to be at the show I went to. The opening band, Tyr, did a great job when Korpiklaani ended up being late to the stage, playing some improvised stuff to keep the crowd occupied.
 
F

Fluvian

Banned
Linkin Park, I was 13 and I dragged my older brother there with me, i thought we had standing tickets but we had seated ones and we had to watch an already mediocre concert from across the O2 arena. Worst of all I paid 8 pounds for a fucking coke.
 
U

Unspoken90

Member
Evanescence (I listened to them way longer than I should have) in 2011. Amy's voice was horrible live.

They weren't terrible or anything, but I remember being very bored at a Nightwish concert. So bored I just left during their set.
 
F

FaintDeftone

Junior Member
System of a Down was pretty bad live. Given, they could have very well had a bad day, but man there was NO energy on-stage at all and it was very bland. I was pretty bummed.

I saw Alice in Chains live too (when they got their first new lead singer) and they kept forgetting the lyrics. It was pretty rough.
 
K

Kjellson

Member
Rihanna at a music festival in Sweden 2012. She was drunk, late as shit, and before playing one of her songs she said something like "I want to dedicate the next song to the victims of the attack that happened here last year", referencing to the Utøya attacks in Norway.
 
O

old manatee

Banned
Bob Dylan. he shuffled out with a wide brimmed hat on and stared at the ground for the entire show. I never even saw his face. I couldn't even tell what song he was playing most of the time because he was just mumbling. Pretty much just let his band play while he hid under his hat and half-heartedly played the guitar. Ani Difranco opened for him and was like a million times better.
 
Rellik

Rellik

Member
Deftones and Spineshank at the same festival. Both because of the singers just muffling everything. Chino Moreno mixed it up with impressions of a dying cat.

Iron Maiden were the best.

Randam said:
You sure about that?

Never heard of anything like this before.

Why not just let the roadies on stage then?


I guess they were tuning guitars and not playing the songs.
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Yeah that sounds BS to me. I've seen Manson a few times live and although Manson himself turned up 30 minutes late, and then puts in a shit performance while clearly out of his mind on drugs, the band behind him always performed. But this was the John 5 era though. Not sure how the band is these days.
 
A

Arthr2ShdsJcksn

Banned
Went to Lollapalooza last weekend, and I thought that the Third Eye Blind show was really bland. I mean, they sucked back when they were big, and now they felt more like a band a county fair than someone who should be playing a festival. Also, there was a huge crowd for them, which I'm attributing to weak competition in the timeslot, and the fact that they made a little bit of news during the RNC. The only cool thing was that a dude with palsy who was confined to a wheelchair got body surfed, and then the lead singer had security hoist him up on stage.
 
M

mavericktopgun

Member
Good:
-Foo Fighters
-Rammstein
-Silverchair
-Tool
-Bush
-Die Ärzte
-Placebo
-Oasis
-Disturbed


Bad:
-Smashing Pumpkins
-All American Rejects
-Offspring
-Blink 182
-hundreds more
 
C

capitalCORN

Member
The Smashing Pumpkins (at least Adore and prior) sounded like a bad cover band of themselves. I'd say it would be an impressive feat, if it weren't so sad.
 
1

123rl

Member
mavericktopgun said:
Good:
-Foo Fighters
-Rammstein
-Silverchair
-Tool
-Bush
-Die Ärzte
-Placebo
-Oasis
-Disturbed


Bad:
-Smashing Pumpkins
-All American Rejects
-Offspring
-Blink 182
-hundreds more
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Fully agreed on Foo Fighters. They really are one of the best live acts in the world. Absolutely stunningly entertaining throughout a 2 1/2 hour show. The only live acts I'd say I've enjoyed anywhere near as much are Arctic Monkeys and Thrice. I saw Thrice live in LA this year and I was completely and utterly blown away

On the flip side, I'd agree with Offspring being bad. I love the band but they were dreadful when I saw them in 2011. They didn't want to be there. I saw them in 2002 and remember enjoying it, so I just put it down to a bad night for them.
 
S

shamanick

Member
Worst was Oasis in 95, somebody threw a shoe on stage and they stopped playing after like 20 minutes.

Best was probably Ween in Vancouver, White Pepper tour. Or Radiohead in a tiny bar for the Bends tour.
 
K

kingslunk

Member
Lothars said:
Mars Volta was one of the worst sounding bands I have ever been to, They were opening for Red Hot Chilli Peppers so at least the concert wasn't a bust but they were terrible.
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Saw Mars Volta on the bedlam tour and thought they were great. Can't imagine seeing them in a stadium though.
 
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