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.

It's funny, a lot of the mentioned bands/comedians I've seen and they'd rank highly in my list of best nights out ever. The Black Crowes and Elvis Costello in particular.

Though, overall, this thread confirms my firmly held opinion that there are few more disappointing phrases in the English language than 'We're going to play you something from our new album'. Roll. Out. The. Hits. People.

Years ago DH was at the Reading festival where someone in their wisdom had decided to book 50Cent!
He paraded onto the stage with his posse of people all gold chains and attitude. He lasted about 30 seconds because as DH put it “an avalanche of piss filled bottles” rained down on them from the hard rock enthusiasts not impressed with his posturing.

Also Whitney in 1993 at Sheffield Arena. She was crap live. Not sure if it was just that night or if she's always crap. Maybe was on drugs.

NB. I'm not surprised to hear Bob Dylan isn't great live (and I'm a fan too). He's a wonderful lyricist who knocks out amazing tunes but truth be told he couldn't sing if his arse was on fire!

Fall out Boy were awful, people started throwing plastic cups at them.

Human League at Camp Bestival 2008-ish. We left after 2 songs and stumbled across Suggs doing a DJ set in a tiny marquee with around 100 people. It was like being at a family wedding. The music was great and he was great. The vinyl was jumping as he was bouncing up and down. He was funny, very personable and was having a laugh while giving the audience a great time. Unforgettable for all the right reasons and more than made up for the dire HL performance.

@StitchingMoss That’s a shame - Ardal O Hanlan was fantastic when we saw him in Leeds earlier this year.
I second The Pogues, saw their performance at BST in Hyde Park about 6 years ago, alongside The Libertines. Both pissed up (but still enjoyed it )

Amy Winehouse was bad when we saw her, it was when Blake was 'incarcerated' which she reminded the crowd of frequently. By that point though I don't think many people expected her to be on form.
I remember saying to DH it's like watching a car crash and this random woman next to us said "yeah but you feel like you need to see her before she dies"

The worst gig I’ve been to without a doubt, was Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All, in 2011. Camden Crawl, first year they were breaking out and getting fame. For those not familiar, they did a kind of horrorcore punk rap thing. Tyler the Creator, their lead rapper, is at the front of the small stage, where everyone is penned in by fences either side of a pit that’s been dug around the stage area. He suddenly exhorts everyone to “man the fuck up and rush the stage yo... if you motherfuckers are real n**s then I need to see you take over this stage”.

Cue predicted pandemonium as the poor security guards try and fight off hordes of pissed up teenagers rushing towards the stage. Causing a choke point as people (including me and my partner) got pinned against the fences, which tipped towards the construction pit. We were literally throwing people off us back onto the crowd in order to stop the fence totally giving way. I’m all for a mosh pit in concept, but this was just savagery.

Lee Evans at one of the warm up gigs before a stadium tour.He was reading off notes in his hand,fucking awful.

Worst ever was the Stone Roses at Belfast Mayfield leisure centre, awful.
Half Man Half Biscuit were crap too.
Wasn't overly impressed by Nirvana either.
I've seen Blondie about 5 times and 2 of the times Debbies voice wasn't the best.

Best - Prince, saw him 5 times all excellent.
Blondie at the Waterfront Belfast, it was great, Debbie really seemed to be enjoying it.
The Revolution in February, was amazing.
Neil Diamond.
Lionel Ritchie.
The Specials.

Years ago DH was at the Reading festival where someone in their wisdom had decided to book 50Cent!

I was there! He did put up a little bit of a fight and threw a few of the bottles back. I actually felt a bit sorry for him. The same thing happened to Daphne and Celeste.

Ellie Goulding. She really has to be SO produced it's just awful live. Her voice got right on my wick so left early.Oasis were a bit shit tbh. Disappointing. Liam was clearly wasted and angry.

Eddie Izzard I love but saw him at a stadium size gig and it just didn't work.

Every Stereophonics, Elbow and Snow Patrol gig has been great.
And I saw Ross Noble years ago and my sides hurt from laughing. He was SO funny and I'd never heard of him so had no expectations. Comedy club though. Smaller venues often best for comedy.

Lady Gaga few years back awful awful and the most expensive concert I'd paid to go too 😬

Nirvana. I was a huge fan in my teens and was dying to see them, I think it was in 1992. They were not good.

Britney Spears last year. My friend got tickets and we thought it might be fun. It was actually really sad. It was almost as if she didn't know she was there and the whole thing made me really uncomfortable.

@Saucery noooo cant believe Greg Davies acted like a twat,I love him 😩

@shockedballoon Was one of those performances from RHCP at Reading? I was gutted I couldn’t stay to watch them (2006/2007?) but the next day I heard so many people saying they were dire. Spent ages riffing about and hardly played any of the tracks they were famous for.

@DuckWillow my favourite bit of the 50Cent set was when someone threw a paddling pool. To be fair, he came on to a recording of gunshots, having kept everyone waiting, so the crowd were already against him.

The Klaxons, they were about 1.5 hours late on stage, as there was a curfew on the venue they only did about a 20 min set. They were totally off their faces, along with the group next to us who were snorting bags of stuff.
It's no wonder they banned glow sticks at their gigs to prevent them being thrown at them.

I'm surprised quite a few pp have said Ross Noble, I used to see him every year, and once even booked to see him two nights on the trot as each show is completely different because of all his tangents. Found him incredibly funny & met him after, he was a lovely guy.

Toyah. I only went because a mate was supporting. I’ve posted this before but she thought she was Kate Bush but was more like George.

Another for Reginald D Hunter. Clearly pissed, necking neat spirits on stage and rambling hateful stuff about women which was clearly coming from his heart not his routine

I saw Julie Andrews at the O2 & it was awful. We left halfway through the second half as did lots of people. Even the stewards were apologising. There were people who’d flown from Australia who were in tears.
The first act was her introducing 4 Broadway “stars” who no one had ever heard of & they sang songs from shows she’d been in while she watched. The second act was her reading from a book she’d written with her daughter & showcasing songs from the musical version of it that they hoped to get funding for.
We all knew she’d had her voice operation & thought that she had made a miraculous recovery & would be able to sing something or at least chat about her stage & screen experiences. Nope. The tickets were outrageously expensive, luckily mine was a freebie from a friend in the industry. I’d have been gutted to have spent £130 on it.

My most disappointing was Nirvana in 1991 in Edinburgh, very lack luster short set and they were all a bit out of it, especially Kurt. Shame as seeing Nirvana live is one of the few things on my list of cool stuff I've done that impresses young people.

I saw Eddie Izzard do stand-up in French a few years ago and it was frankly embarrassing - what made it worse was that he had Alistair McGowan with him, who was so much better at both French and being funny that it really showed Izzard up as something of a disappointment.

Britney Spears last year. My friend got tickets and we thought it might be fun. It was actually really sad. It was almost as if she didn't know she was there and the whole thing made me really uncomfortable.

I had a similar experience @daisyhead08 -- it just felt like they reanimated her and pushed her on-stage. Just a lot of dead-eyed stomping around and pointing. I felt very strongly that she shouldn't have been there, and neither should we.

Mine -- years ago I saw Tears For Fears. It was a kind of reunion show but they clearly weren't speaking to each other, and so I don't think they'd sound-checked properly. Roland Orzabal kept doing piss-weak Little Britain catchphrases in between songs. "Look into my eyes..."

Manic street Preachers - they weren’t even awful, just boring. Jessie Glynn, just depressing songs one after the other.
Stereophonics and Ed Sheeran are always amazing.
I hate to say it but despite only going to see One Direction at the behest of my DC, they were bloody brilliant. Same with Liam Payne