WORST CONCERTS EVER!

I've almost never seen a bad show. However, in the 1980s I went to see Adrian Belew. He had released two good art-rock albums that decade (amidst a plum job being in King Crimson) and one astounding experimental instrumental album (Desire Caught by the Tail). Unbeknownst to all us fans of weird guitar sounds, his loss of his contract with Island Records (he says because of the unconventional Desire album) made him start an ultra-commercial band called The Bears. Well, to a prog snob like myself that was the worst bait-and-switch tactic I had even been a part of. They were like any atrocious mainstream 80s pop band, but obviously worse because they went nowhere. One of the few shows I ever walked out of, but near the end lest I miss a possible performance of the Zappa-esque "Adidas in Heat" or the tripped-out "Big Electric Cat." I can't remember one good thing happening at that show. Ugh.

This was a supremely hilarious episode of the Robert show man

The " tricks " comment about the Stones really made me think about the last 2 concerts I saw. I have no idea how Ozzy can barely speak but still sounds exactly like his early records!!???? AND the last time I saw ZZ Top I swear Billy Gibbons left hand was on the exact same place of the neck for Stretches of time!!????😮🤯

I saw Jay-Z on TV doing one of the English summer festivals and his entire set was the guy behind him playing backing tracks and Jay-Z going "Uhh, uhh.... sing that shit!" and then holding the microphone at the crowd. What was funnier is that the audience wasn't that well mixed into the broadcast mix so if you were just listening you'd never know he wasn't in a room alone having a karaoke mental breakdown in his underwear.

Billy Bragg. He spent half the concert lecturing the audience. Started dreaming of The Ramones circa 1976 to get through it.

Jane's Addiction. Van Halen. And U2. All in their prime were great live acts. The problem was that the singers would talk too much between songs.

Neil Young doing his rockabilly thing on his Shocking Pink tour in Peoria. The crowd wanted to hear his folk songs or his rockers and he insisted on doing the drivel of this album and he practically got booed off the stage. Unfortunately it was the only time I saw him and it was a total waste of money and time.

I know EVERY Bob Dylan song. Frequently in concert it is impossible to know what the hell he's singing.

Aerosmith Rock in a Hard Place tour 1983. Joe Perry and Brad Whitford had left the band. Tyler was out of it and just going through the motions until he passed out.

Bob Dylan in the early 90's in Melbourne Australia. He was not interested in being there. Saw him with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers a few yew earlier, and he was brilliant.

The Beach Boys in the early 70’s really cared about their music…and it showed. They were hot!

One of my worst concerts was many different bands. The bands I didn't want to see were actually better than the 1 I wanted to see. Not a big fan of Loverboy or REO but they weren't bad. Seeing Starship with only one recognizable member was ok. Even Micky Thomas wished Grace Slick was onstage with him . Considering Eddie Money is now gone, it was nice to see him, too. Then there was Styx, the one band I was looking forward to seeing. I was waiting for Styx and they came, at least Tommy Shaw and James Young. The guy who sang End Of The Century had switched to bass. But what I didn't know is that Dennis DeYoung was out of the band. Lawrence Gowan is a talented keyboardist but really couldn't sing Dennis' parts. Years later, when the word got out Dennis wasn't coming back, Styx would say "Either you accept us as we are or you're not a true fan." Yes, Fleetwood Mac and Grand Funk would also get rid of key members and issue the same sentiment. I remember Kevin Cronin had come out with "blond" hair (colored, of course) and says "There's been talk that there's a new lead singer in REO" (a jab at Styx and Starship).

Went on Bob Dylan's tour last year, he just didn't put any effort into this tour at all, he just sat behind his piano and mumbled some bullshit into the microphone so you couldn't hear the words, at all.

My worst show was The Red Hot Chili Peppers back in '89 during their support of Mother's Milk. They booked this show at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans which was a bad idea from the planning stage. Less than five minutes into their set fans began to rip the seats from their supports in the floor. Chairs began to fly through the air as this giant mosh pit began to form. A few minutes later the band stopped their set and Anthony Kiedis begged the fans to stop destroying theatre property, sit, chill and enjoy the show and the crowd calmed down. No less than ten minutes later the ruckus started up again and then the stage lights went off and the house lights came on. Kiedis said something along the lines of, "F you, New Orleans. You've ruined for yourselves." Starship '87 in Pensacola, FL wasn't necessarily bad, just rather formulaic is up there too, but at least I got to be in video shot live that night. You can barely see me waving my hands in the air as the camera pans the first few rows. lol

Jethro Tull 2016, you couldn't tell what Ian was singing/saying, another vocalist came in to sing some of the songs. Ian's flute playing was awesome, but you couldn't help but feel sorry for Ian. It was the most heart wrenching concert, not the worst I guess. I just walked away feeling so much more appreciative of what Ian had the courage to do and that was to get out there and do what he loves. All of us in the audience knew what was happening and we just all got on board and cheered Ian and the band on.

1. The Jesus and Mary Chain, the Psychocandy tour. Half an hour of boredom, tone deafness, terribile timing and NO feedback. 2. RHCP in Milan, the BSSM tour. Frusciante sabotaged everything he could 3. U2 "The Unforgettable Fire" tour. A wrong night, probably. They looked and sounded liked a terrible tribute band. Terrible singing, The Edge delays out of time from start to stop, the rhythm section crawling behind him and no light show, just plain white lights. Unbelievable. I never listened to their records after.

Oh, The Firm at The Forum. I had a free ticket and went to see Page. Horrible. I’ll never get that evening of relaxation at home back.

I went to a Meat Puppets show at Local 506 in Chapel Hill NC and Cass McCombs was the opening band and I ended up enjoying them just as much. Do you have any Cass McCombs music Robert?

I’ve never recovered from the Bay City Rollers back in the ‘70s. They played four songs and the crowd got so out of control some one was obviously going to die—so they left…saving humanity!

Worst show I can recall offhand was The Kinks, in about 1984. The performance was as perfunctory as it gets. They played for an hour, barely acknowledged the audience and didn't do any encores. They were competent and I'm still glad I saw 'em but jeez, what a wasted opportunity.