Groups you wish you hadn’t seen

[rudebhoy]

I went to see the Chieftains in Newcastle many years ago. They played the shortest set I've ever experienced, including a stage full of Scottish bagpipers, which I hated. They were getting on a bit at the time & I think they just wanted an early night with a cup of cocoa. I had a letter about this published in the Newcastle Journal "Disgusted, South Shields". A complete rip off.

you should change your username to that

 

[patricks148]

As mentioned in the other thread The Velvet underground. Their music was a big influence on my musical tastes and a few of my friends as a teenager.
Cool looking punks from the 1960 was always appealing. Alas they were all old men/women in 1990. Ever since that day iv vowed to never see old men playing.

 

[WGCRider]

I quoted this one on the other thread, Prince. No interaction with the crowd, too far away to see him clearly. May as well have just watched videos of him at home.

A few year ago when Prince did his series of shows at the O2 he was also playing in nightclubs after the show. So the show would finish at 10:30 or whatever then he would play another show in a nightclub from around 12:00 to 5 or 6 am. I saw him at the Indigo and in Ronnie Scotts. On both occasions for 5 or 6 hours they just played ONE song. People would come and go off the stage, sometimes he's sit down for a drink, he'd swap instruments - but the music didn't stop. Was surreal to watch.

 

[louise_a]

As mentioned in the other thread The Velvet underground. Their music was a big influence on my musical tastes and a few of my friends as a teenager.
Cool looking punks from the 1960 was always appealing. Alas they were all old men/women in 1990. Ever since that day iv vowed to never old men playing.

One of my musical heroes was Arthur Lee, he toured the UK in the early 2000s and I didn't go to see him because I didn't want to be disappointed, the following year he toured again and this time I did go and he was fantastic,

 

[jim8flog]

Biggest disappointment for me was Tyrannosaurus Rex, I loved Marc Bolan and acoustic early albums and so when they came to my home town, I bought tickets, they came out as a full band and played electric, so disappointing, went off them and never liked T Rex

My one and only time of seeing T-Rex in their pre pop days was at the 1968 Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival when it was held at Kempton race course they were so out of place compared to rest of the line up

Alan Haven
Deep Purple
Don Rendell Ian Carr Quintet
Ginger Baker
Jeff Beck Group
Joe Cocker
Mike Westbrook
Ronnie Scott
T. Rex
Ten Years After
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
The Nice

all my mates considered them a waste of time at the festival

 

[nickjdavis]

Chuck Berry
(not the first time I saw them but every time afterwards!)

yeah, CB was notorious for having "off-nights" when seemingly he couldnt really give a damn.

I saw him alongside Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis.....he was very under par then.

 

[patricks148]

One of my musical heroes was Arthur Lee, he toured the UK in the early 2000s and I didn't go to see him because I didn't want to be disappointed, the following year he toured again and this time I did go and he was fantastic,

That's the difference though, I was bitterly disappointed.
One of my mates had tickets to go and see the Stone Roses a couple of years ago, seen them twice before at their peak, glad I didn't go.

 

[chrisd]

Anyway. Absolutely no question the worst gig (and vying for most awful person in music award) was Jools Holland.

Funny, but I've seen Jools Holland probably a dozen times and never disliked a single show, just goes to confirm " one man's meat ......... " having said that his persona is a bit strange at times

 

[Lord Tyrion]

A few year ago when Prince did his series of shows at the O2 he was also playing in nightclubs after the show. So the show would finish at 10:30 or whatever then he would play another show in a nightclub from around 12:00 to 5 or 6 am. I saw him at the Indigo and in Ronnie Scotts. On both occasions for 5 or 6 hours they just played ONE song. People would come and go off the stage, sometimes he's sit down for a drink, he'd swap instruments - but the music didn't stop. Was surreal to watch.

There are numerous 'Prince is odd' stories. One US chat show tells a story where he invited him one night after a show to play table tennis in a nightclub, I think it was a nightclub. Anyway, Prince was very good at table tennis, barely spoke and then just left. The guy didn't realise for a while and then asked someone there if he was going to come back. The answer was no, he just left, no goodbye, no thank you, nothing. Strange guy.

 

[jim8flog]

One group I wish I had not seen but glad to have heard was

Colosseum II

• Jon Hiseman – drums, percussion
• Gary Moore – guitars, vocals
• Don Airey – keyboards, synthesizers
• Neil Murray – bass
• Mike Starrs – vocals
• John Mole – bass
• Keith Airey – guitars

at Guildford (guild hall or town hall)

They were so loud that my wife and I retired to the bar and listened to the whole performance from there!!

 

[GB72]

I used to do some casual work around Wolverhampton when my roadie/event/ents pals were short staffed. Just silly things like running errands and getting band riders sorted.

To set the scene. I got to see quite a lot of really good gigs and that period around the mid 90’s was a pretty good time in the west midlands; metal to rave, the Stourbridge indie sound and the birth of D&B, felt like a lot was going on with a lot of really great diverse music from unknowns to stadium bands appearing at Wolves civic each week.

Anyway. Absolutely no question the worst gig (and vying for most awful person in music award) was Jools Holland.

So jealous of being around the Stourbridge scene in the 1990s. My music collection was pretty much The Wonderstuff, Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Still listen to them today and have seeen all of them live over the last few years, all still superb.

 

[Jimaroid]

So jealous of being around the Stourbridge scene in the 1990s. My music collection was pretty much The Wonderstuff, Pop Will Eat Itself and Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Still listen to them today and have seeen all of them live over the last few years, all still superb.

Yeah! I miss those days, great bands in dingy venues. Met Miles a few times (great guy obv.) and had loads of memorabilia from the early days of Wonderstuff, Poppies and Neds that I still regret throwing away in one of many house moves. There’s isn’t a single day where some lyric of theirs doesn’t go through my head. Usually, considering my name, it’s “Not Now James, We’re Busy”

 

[GB72]

Yeah! I miss those days, great bands in dingy venues. Met Miles a few times (great guy obv.) and had loads of memorabilia from the early days of Wonderstuff, Poppies and Neds that I still regret throwing away in one of many house moves. There’s isn’t a single day where some lyric of theirs doesn’t go through my head. Usually, considering my name, it’s “Not Now James, We’re Busy”

Saw the Poppies most recently Xmas 2021, still great live. Miles was my source of weekend entertainment during lockdown and even now The Wonderstuff are one of the best bands live. Hoping they will tour later this year but Miles is touring his solo stuff at the moment so not looking great for that. Waiting to see if they play the Shiine On weekender in November. If so, I may get tickets for the weekend.

Rat from Neds has just released a new album with the band Obey Robots. Very much worth a listen.

 

[GG26]

Blondie, Hammersmith Odeon in 1980. Debbie Harry had no charisma whatsoever and the whole thing was flat.
Elvis Costello, Margate Winter Gardens in the early 80s was just dull.

 

[louise_a]

My one and only time of seeing T-Rex in their pre pop days was at the 1968 Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival when it was held at Kempton race course they were so out of place compared to rest of the line up

Alan Haven
Deep Purple
Don Rendell Ian Carr Quintet
Ginger Baker
Jeff Beck Group
Joe Cocker
Mike Westbrook
Ronnie Scott
T. Rex
Ten Years After
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
The Nice

all my mates considered them a waste of time at the festival

The Nice, fabulous

 

[Grizzly]

Now this is an interesting question - I reckon (ok, I have a spreadsheet that tells me. Sad, I most definitely am!) I have been to just over 1100 gigs and there are very few where I would really go as far as to say that I wish I had not been. With apologies to @Aztecs27 Dream Theatre are definitely one, though I didn't exactly go to that one with any great expectations, and there are a couple where I technically saw quite awful bands because it was a chance to see great support acts, hence Nickelback (or rather, Rival Schools) and Lostprophets (or rather, Avenged Sevenfold).

Most of the worst shows I've seen are actually by acts I've seen multiple times - for example, Metallica were absolutely awful on the Some Kind of Monster tour, but have been great the other dozen or so times I've seen them, and I've seen Bob Dylan play so badly I was genuinely embarrassed for him.

 

[Dando]

Guns n roses at the spuds stadium last year.

2 hours late opening the gates so we missed the support

Walked out after 45 minutes as the sound was awful

 

[Dando]

Now this is an interesting question - I reckon (ok, I have a spreadsheet that tells me. Sad, I most definitely am!) I have been to just over 1100 gigs and there are very few where I would really go as far as to say that I wish I had not been. With apologies to @Aztecs27 Dream Theatre are definitely one, though I didn't exactly go to that one with any great expectations, and there are a couple where I technically saw quite awful bands because it was a chance to see great support acts, hence Nickelback (or rather, Rival Schools) and Lostprophets (or rather, Avenged Sevenfold).

Most of the worst shows I've seen are actually by acts I've seen multiple times - for example, Metallica were absolutely awful on the Some Kind of Monster tour, but have been great the other dozen or so times I've seen them, and I've seen Bob Dylan play so badly I was genuinely embarrassed for him.

You can talk spreadsheets with @Steve Wilkes at north foreland next week

 

[Aztecs27]

Now this is an interesting question - I reckon (ok, I have a spreadsheet that tells me. Sad, I most definitely am!) I have been to just over 1100 gigs and there are very few where I would really go as far as to say that I wish I had not been. With apologies to @Aztecs27 Dream Theatre are definitely one, though I didn't exactly go to that one with any great expectations, and there are a couple where I technically saw quite awful bands because it was a chance to see great support acts, hence Nickelback (or rather, Rival Schools) and Lostprophets (or rather, Avenged Sevenfold).

Most of the worst shows I've seen are actually by acts I've seen multiple times - for example, Metallica were absolutely awful on the Some Kind of Monster tour, but have been great the other dozen or so times I've seen them, and I've seen Bob Dylan play so badly I was genuinely embarrassed for him.

Haha, no apologies required.

In recent history, Trivium were absolutely abysmal in Bristol a year or so before covid

 

[srixon 1]

Back in my naval days, in June 1985 our ship was visiting Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. We went into a pub as it was advertising live music and there was no entrance fee. The band were awful and it wasn’t until they started singing their hit The Safety Dance that we realised the band were Men Without Hats.