Dissapointing/worst live bands and Best
 

The recent "Live Band " thread had me wondering, with ALL the live band /concerts you've seen, who were the "let downs".
Mine: Led Zepplin : Neunkirchen, Germany, John Bonham passed out after 3 songs, the last being "Nobody's Fault But Mine". Rescheduled for Munich which was a great concert.

Ian Gilliam: Trashed the monitors and stage system after 6 songs throwing the equipment into the audience, declaring "this sounds like cr*p" and storming off the stage.

Best: ZZ Top, Johnny Winter, Sonia Dada, BoDeans, Clash, Nina Simone, Emmy Lou Harris, Jeff Beck, etc..

Interesting: ZZ Top was my worst. Boring and computerized.

The best: REM. Them boys rock!

AC/DC rocked on their Highway to Hell tour(Aerosmith was too drunk,or whatever that day, they were much better when I saw them with KISS a few years ago). The Who pretty much kicked ass too on Who Are You tour.

Rolling Stones - saw them in the Muenchen Olympia Stadium around 1990. They sucked bad.

Dire Straits. I actually fell asleep during the concert

The first concert I attended was Aerosmith in '78 - they were falling down drunk & sucked badly...

However, the opening act was a band nobody had heard of called AC/DC with a raging Bon Scott- WOW! One of the best shows I've witnessed.

Best:
Charlie Daniels Band with .38 Special opening, Rush, Jack Johnson, Boston, Motley Crue

Worst
Guns n Roses, Sick Puppy, Motley Crue (drunk and off key that night)

Joe Cocker at Parker's Ballroom, an intimate dinner-and-a-show type venue. Everyone was close enough to see he was falling down drunk. He didn't get to his second song before the manager threw him out and bought all of our dinners.

Best was Bruce Springsteen by far. I'm not a big fan of his music, but holy smokes does he put on a show. Over four hours long, he quit coming out for encores after about the third or fourth and announced he was just going to stay out until some one made him leave. Eventually they did; the lights came up, some one spoke with him on stage, and he told us he was told he had to quit. Unbelievable energy.

Worst: Phish. Some concerts, it seemed, they really didn't want to be there. Their performances followed their attitude. Jimmy Buffett. I've been to 7 concerts, and all were virtually identical.

Best: Phish. When they had it together, they were phenominal. Saw them open up one year (I think it was 1999) with "Ramble On". Great stuff. Ben Folds. This guy is a genius. I'd never seen anyone hand-strum the strings on a piano before him...

Best (or most suprising) was Little feat with the Allman Bros about 12 years ago. The entire set non-stop was over 2-1/2 hours in a small venue - They played like it was their last time on earth - awsome!!

Worst - ZZ - Too much poofy, too goofy and a very short set, WAY too much electronic stuff /music in the background. Actually the Black Crowes opened up and stole the show!

I guess I've been lucky. I've been to more concerts than I can count and I can't remember a really bad one. I've seen plenty of bad bands in bars and some bad opening bands for major acts. I saw Eric Johnson have an off night once, but that was still pretty good. I saw Phish in '94 and they were pretty good.

Saw that same tour in Oakland, shortly after the Who thing in Cinncinnati where all those people got trampled. Bona Scott was the first person I ever saw do a dive into the crowd at a huge outdoor stadium. She's got the Jack indeed

Worst = the dead at the shrine auditorium, feel asleep

Best = Many but Bachman Turner Overdrive and Jo Jo Gunn was pretty darn good, Arlo Guthrie put on a good show... allot more rock and roll than what they played on the radio. Beach boys were always good... their concerts were like a big party. Lynerd Skynard... well duh.

+1 for Brooooooce.

And Tom Petty (like Bruce, he just loves what he does), Devo (first integrated A/V performance), Don Henley, Michael Penn/Aimee Mann, Sting, The Stones, The Who, Nirvana, RHCP...

Oh yeah, saw Tom Petty at the Whisky on the release of their first album... didn't know the guy... never heard any of his music but I loved the show.

The band was in full black leathers.

best Paul Mc Cartney Wings over America 1976.... still have the program

worst ... foghat

Back in '85 or '86 the first year Reba won performer of the year I was stationed in Cheyenne, WY. I worked all the Frontier Days events and she was scheduled for two shows with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The first night she came out and did a full set. People were actually booing her and leaving the stands!!!

Nitty Gritty came on to an almost empty grand stand. They were WONDERFUL!!!

Next night, Reba comes out, does a couple of songs to booing and the introduces The Dirt Band. Standing room only goes wild!

Reba was, and remains, the WORST show I ever saw. Best: Tony Bennett (masterful!), The Dirt Band, Queen, Neil Young, and George Strait.

Worst by far: The Cars Heartbeat City Tour. Wang Chung opened and blew them away. Wang Chung people! I don't think The Cars were even on speaking terms at that point.

Best?

Well, The Who in Seattle in the late 80's was pretty good. Townsend sliced his hand open doing his signature round-houses on the guitar. They had a substitute guitarist the following night in Vancouver, B.C. Too bad for them.

Pearl Jam November 6th, 2000 was pretty special as well. Last concert of the tour. The day before the 2000 Presidential Elections (big surprise...Eddie had something to say about this). First time they played "Alive" since the deaths in Demark (which was the song they were playing during that unfortunate event). Hell of a party. Check it out on CD.

Pearl Jam back when they were called Mookie Blaylock...Seattle, WA...Off-Ramp. Wow, these guys are good...maybe they'll make it... ;)

U2 Joshua Tree Tour, Vancouver, B.C. Stood in line all night for tickets to this one in Seattle. Six (6!) people from the counter they sold out. A local radio station had a promotion including tickets and a bus ride. Done. $60 bucks later we're there. Wow, strip clubs and a 19 year old drinking age!

Barely make the show (go figure)...and miss the bus home. Interesting night after that!

Partying at a strip club in Vancouver, B.C. with the RHCP's after their show at B.C. Place in the mid-90's. I didn't even know they were in town but when they showed up at the club things got interesting really, really quickly! :) The place was packed and my buddy and I were sitting at a large table near the stage. The manager comes over as asks if we mind if these people share our table. I had my back to them but my buddies face told the tale. "Yeah, sure, no problem" he says, "have a seat"... ;)

The Dead...take your pick. Always an experience. :)

Ted Nugent
Cancelled at the last minute.
:mad:

Funny. You know who is a big commercial success with a gutsy and soulful sound and terrific wongwriting skills but is known as a huge bust on stage? Bryan Adams. Excellent songriter and singer. Terrible stage presence.