Most disappointing band/musician seen live

[theDudesmummy]

I am starting this on the back of another thread about best live performances. How about bands/performers you loved and thought were going to be great live, only to be disappointed for one reason or another?

I will start:

Neil Young, Royal Albert Hall 2003. I love his music, absolute soundtrack of my later years at university, but this concert was unbelievable in its shitness. Half of it was some unlistenable concept album. Never felt the same about him after that.

Van Morrison, some concert at a stately home type of place, maybe fifteen years ago? (Have blocked out the details). The booze completely ran out before we got to the bar for the first time (and no, we weren't late, he hadnt even come on stage yet). I guess that wasn't Morrison's fault directly but you would think he would employ/contract people to make sure this doesn't happen. DH and I soberly listened to two songs then shared a look and left to find a pub.

Nina Simone, probably also Royal Albert Hall, some time in the 1990s. Sorry, I know she is dead now, and was a legend, but when you sit right over to one side of the stage, practically in the wings, for the whole show, completely hidden by the piano so only half the audience can see you, then you are going to pass off even your most ardent fans. I never even caught sight of her.

(Bob Dylan pissed me off at the Brixton Acedemy circa 1990 by never taking his hat off, so I never saw his face, but I forgave him because he is Bob Dylan, and at least I saw the rest of him).

Slipknot.

Big rock/metal fan here but I thought they were absolute garbage. Just didn’t have the same atmosphere as so many other gigs I’ve been to, where I usually leave on such a high. My bf at the time loved them but even afterwards he spent about half an hour trying to convince me that they weren’t this bad before (he’d seen them several times and was hugely music orientated). Maybe they just had a really bad gig.

I also saw The Cribs as a support act for another band and honestly, I’d rather eat a bowl of nettles than sit through that set again. Not one member of the crowd liked them, either. Surrounded by people with their back to the stage talking to friends or booing. It was just awful. The best bit about them was when they walked off stage.

This thread is great! So funny to see some of my favourites mentioned too (Fall Out Boy, Bastille, My Chemical Romance) just goes to show how different all our tastes are.

I wasn’t impressed with Manic Street Preachers, I saw them supporting Bon Jovi and could barely hear James Dean Bradfield.

Thought Razorlight were awful and I’d really been looking forward to seeing them.

I’ve seen many a rubbish support band but the most disappointing ones are the well known ones that don’t live up to expectations

I found the 'scabs on my head' song from @kierenthecommunity 's post if anyone else was curious! It's worse than I expected!

@APJ1 it was even worse live.

There was a bit where she said something like ‘it’s so great Duran Duran have invited us to be here!’ Not for the audience it wasn’t 😂 they’d have got people more geared up if they’d played a Now CD from the 80s

And she could have fooled me they were pleased to be there, with the mug on her 😂

Saw The Psychedelic Furs when they were popular after Pretty in Pink. The one song the audience wanted to hear and the one song they refused to play. They were generally awful. I was doing security that night, and we all got slots to watch their tour bus as they were worried about damage or groupies. We saw niether during our slot and tbh it was a relief from the boring gig.

Mum loved David Essex so took her to see him about 20 years ago. He and his support were awful, his voice was clearly past its best and it showed.

Bob Dylan also many many years ago and he was beyond boring. Best live band I saw was Motorhead, No sleep til Hammersmith think it was called, they were mental and was not even a fan of them but fantastic live.

Thankfully no one has mentioned Dionne Warwick…. We’re seeing her in Cardiff next week so 🤞🤞 she’ll put on a good turn.

George Ezra

My ex took our Dc to see Ollie Murs last year - same issues! I said to my DC didnt Dad tell you about our bad experience with Elton John. DC said - were you there? Dad went on his own! I was like No! It was my (awful - no fault of ex) birthday treat. The Hop Farm could be such a good venue but it just doesnt work.

Just looked, it was '93

I went to that one, also thought Jon Bon jovis voice was going. Still an amazing Bon jovi show but I’ve seen them loads of times over last 35 years and they aren’t what they were

Same names coming up on this thread,
Yes to Red hot chilli peppers, I saw them at V festival in 2003, they were one of my favourite bands and I was so looking forward to seeing them. Terrible, I was so disappointed 😥
Also badly drawn boy either that festival or the year after, can't remember, obnoxious, rude, absolutely up his own arse. Should be named badly behaved boy!
Went to see Rodrigo y Gabriela, who musically are amazing! But live, small venue, everyone was stood around watching, no atmosphere, boring and just went on and on and on and was very samey, no audience interaction, we left before it finished, so did lots of others. Shame really as they are very talented.

Steps! Their first reunion tour when they obviously still all hated each other- could count on both hands the minutes they all stood on stage together, they all had pushed for mini solo performances e.g. after 5,6,7,8 they would all disappear offstage and then minutes later H walked on a done a shit rendition of Defying Gravity.

Atmosphere was duller than dish water and we left 3/4 of the way through to go and get pissed

The Darkness when they supported Ed Sheeran. To be fair, they were terrible themselves just very, very dated and I doubt there’s much cross over between Ed Sheeran and The Darkness fans. Actually the lead singer was shit as he stated getting all sarcastic and arsey with the crowd for not singing along. They did a whole set but let’s be honest, the only song anyone knows to sing along so is I Believe In A Thing Called Love, so what were we supposed to do? Then he got all arsey again when people did song along to that as he obviously didn’t want to be known for just that one song.

This one isn't mine but DH's
Many years ago he went to a big Red Hot Chilli Peppers concert.
The support act were a group called 'Chick on Speed'. They were really really awful and after a couple of songs the audience started to boo and throw stuff on stage.
When the Chillis came out they were really pissed off with the crowd and there was an atmosphere for the rest of the gig.
DH says they were really disappointing live but the support act stuff may have clouded his judgement!

I love Dry Cleaning! Saw them supporting the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a couple of weeks ago and they were great!

I know this is a bad band thread, but I saw the Eagles at Murrayfield, Edinburgh last night and they were absolutely brilliant. Joe Walsh”s guitar playing was superb. I liked them before but wasn’t a colossal fan, but was very impressed last night. A lot of their easy listening classics sound so much meatier played live. Some good films on the projectors to go with the music too.

Aha (same tour others have mentioned), part of it was the venue was wrong...big outdoor space... needed a much smaller venue.
Elvis Costello and Dinah Krall in Dubai... awful atmosphere between them as if they'd just had a row. Eric Clspton...no real participation with the audience.

Paolo Nutini. It was just after his first album came out and he was absolutely massive. He was awful, slurred his words so much it was just noise, chewing his gums, could hardly stand. He was off his head on something. This was a homecoming gig for him as well, The Carling Academy (as it was then) in Glasgow.

Diana Ross, she never finished one single song because every single parent within a fifty mile radius of the NEC decided their adorable offspring should take flowers upto Diana Ross
She stopped singing to accept the flowers and have a photo taken with said adorable offspring
Bitter much nah almost forgotten about it after more than 25 years ☹

30 years ago I was told by someone that they went to a Diana Ross gig, and she didn’t finish any songs because she would stop so often to lap up the crowd adulation
e.g. reach out and touch ….
crowd screams …
Diana pause song . reaches dramatically out to the audience …
crowd screams….
reaches out …
crowd screams ….
repeat !!!!!!!

Morrissey. I think it was at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. DH got tickets for free through work. The first hour of his set was YouTube videos projected on a screen, without any apparent connection between them. We were bored rigid, sitting in uncomfortable seats watching what seemed to be a contextless video essay. He came out just as we were deciding to leave, so we stayed, but there was no energy and I think most of the crowd was too bored and fed up to generate any enthusiasm by that point. We would have been gutted if we’d paid for it!

Neil Diamond at the O2 I think - my parents absolute fans and so excited about going to see him. Apparently Neil Diamond concerts are massive sing-alongs so all they got to hear was other people caterwauling along rather than Neil. Parents not impressed

This is amazing! So many great artists not bothering even to try to engage their audiences of fans. Mine is the Kinks in Edinburgh in the early 1970s. Ray Davies (or maybe it was his brother Dave) was so drunk he was barely capable of standing up and singing!

And mine