AIBU to ask who is the worst performer/group you've seen live?

[Weston14]

Following on from a (very late-to-the-party) discussion about this year's Glasto with some friends over dinner tonight, where we all decided Lauryn Hill was an absolute let down, who is the worst performer or group you've ever seen live? Especially thinking of people you really liked who let you down here, not just "was dragged to see Take That with DSis and they were shite"

If you're not much of a music fan I suppose this stretches to comedians, actors, poets...anyone who gets up on stage and does a turn.

Paul Young when he was starting out as support to Mari Wilson. (Her of the massive bee-hive hairdo in the 1980s). He was so bad it was embarrassing. My DSis and I looked at each other and said he would never make it big, what did we know.

I saw an open air production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods some years ago that was so dire I left in the interval. The person at the gate asked where I was going as I left. Being a coward I said I was cold so going to get my cardie from the car. I had won tickets however and a bottle of champagne. The latter was delicious!

Dara O'Brean (or however you spell it) - dull and not funny.

Manic street preachers - unmemorable. Forgot I'd even seen them till a pp mentioned!

I was also about to come and say Dara O Briain, I was literally falling asleep he was that dull. If I'd have been sat nearer the back I would've escaped and gone to the pub.

PotterHead1985

Pink is famous for being outspoken against those that lip sync. She always sings live, even when she's swinging on a trapeze or spinning in the air upside down.

I saw meat loaf a good few years ago. His voice has basically gone. The backing singers did pretty much the whole set.

Probably Radiohead for me. I'd been to their other concert which were great but the last time I saw them they were crap, probably because I'd seen the brilliant David Bowie two nights before.

Saw Linkin Park at the Singapore Grand Prix finale and it just sounded like a load of bangy shite, Shaggy on the other hand was brilliant and got the audience going (same night).

Joe Satriani - every 'song' just sounded the same to me, there's only so much guitar music I can put up with no matter how amazing the guitarist. If my husband reads that he will never forgive me 🤣

Sheridan Smith

Her singing was good, it was her "talky" bits in between.

I was just hoping she'd not talk just sing. Was visibly cringing at some of the things she was coming out with. Terrible. Never realised she was so rough.

We left early. Not cheap either. Very disappointing.

As a positive, saw Hugh Jackman earlier this year ..... utterly amazing

Saw Paul Young as few years ago. His voice was not good. We decided to walk out before he got to 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' My friend, a mega fan, could not drive for crying in disappointment.

Paddington68 Wherever I Lay My Hat was a low point of the night I remember!

Bob Geldof at Camp Bestival in 2016 I think.
Had a 4pm slot, lots of young children around, he comes out asking if we're all having a fucking good time, and if we have enough drugs, booze and shagging in our lives. Says to go out and get fucked
Went from having quite a big crowd to about ten people and he kept swearing throughout, not low level swears, c word level.
He barely sang either.
I did excuse it though, it wasn't long after he had lost his daughter. But people were very annoyed given the setting and time of day.

Meatloaf. Utterly horrific. About fifteen years ago in Auckland. Could not hit the notes at all

It’s Blondie for me. Saw them back in the day and Debbie Harry voice was amazing. Saw them a few years ago and it was all a bit sad.

The B52s. Utterly dreadful. Half the audience left about 3/4 songs in.

Such a shame as the support act - The Proclaimers were brilliant and got everyone up dancing and singing.

I agree about RHCP being very riffy. I quite enjoyed it though, it was really energetic and felt like they were showing off which was fun. Although Anthony Kiedis seemed like he just did not want to be there, but it was a few weeks from Christmas and right at the end of a massive tour, I can hardly blame him for being a bit fed up.

The support, BabyMetal were surprisingly amazing. Absolutely fantastic and I'm going to see them next town they're in the UK.

@TheBitterBoy I came to say that one too. Reading '96. It was dire. Sounded like he was singing a different song. But then John Squire and Mani had already left I think.

Joan Armatrading last year. Came on stage with no announcement, audience didn't even notice her. Played her entire new album (10 crappy teenage angst songs from a woman in her late 60s). No other musicians, just her and guitar or piano with a loop pedal, she was basically busking. Second half was more well known songs but even that was interspersed with obscure tracks. Played truncated version of Love and Affection as her encore. Complete waste of time and money. I'd seen her 3 times before and was so disappointed.

@FactoryEmblem - the remaining band played Reading '96. They were not good. It rained a lot. Was a good weekend though.

@ReanimatedSGB - I came on here to say Placebo, who played at MK just before Marilyn Manson.

In my case, Placebo felt bored, arrogant, and like they’d rather be anywhere else. Manson, on the other hand, had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hands (and did a full set).

Maybe I got lucky.

The Police at Wembley for me. The support acts (including Sting's son's band) were crap. Then the 3 came on and riffed. A lot. Also did a lot of "EE-oh"s for five freaking minutes before actually getting into a song.

I cringe every time I hear them on the radio now.
When I think of the time and money I wasted...

Oasis at Knebworth '97. They were completed coked out their trees and couldn't remember the words.

The Prodigy were one of the supporting acts, but they definitely stole the show

Bob Dylan at Bournemouth a couple of years ago. He strolled onto the stage and totally ignored the audience, no greetings or acknowledgement at all. Went on to sing/play cover versions of other artists work, hardly any of his own and then just strolled off, again with no acknowledgement of the audience. Never again.

Jo Brand - it didn’t help that the warm up act was dire and ended by saying it wasn’t his fault the audience had no sense of humour. I’ve never seen an entire theatre sit in complete silence through a comedy set before, it was so awkward, we couldn’t get out fast enough!

Another vote for Reginald D Hunter! I don’t think we laughed at anything he said. His support act was great though

So many - Status Quo years ago stood stock still on stage and droned through the gig with the enthusiasm of 4 old men queuing for a bus.

Ray Davies - he is definitely more of a songwriter than a singer!

Alison Moyet - beautiful voice but so very dull. I fell asleep.

But the worst ever have to be The Darkness at Marlay Park last year. They were truly embarrassing. Justin Hawkins was leaping around the stage shrieking ‘Hello Dublin, we’re the motherfucking Darkness’ over and over again. I think it was a desperate attempt to inject some energy into a supremely dull set. They were followed by the Boomtown Rats playing to a home crowd and then by Queen with Adam Lambert. They were all so good they made the Darkness seem even more ridiculous in comparison.

@Oysterbabe we saw Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Murrayfield around that time (I think, after the By The Way album but can't remember if the next one had come out or not) and they were bloody awful! Like you say, you could just tell they didn't want to be there. The support were mince too (Ash and NERD). Soooo disappointing as I was a huge fan at the time 🙁

Oh and the Chilli Peppers in Hyde Park probably about 2004. The venue was huge, far too many people to get even close to the stage. We could only hear them when the wind blew in a certain direction.

RIP off