Best/worst gigs?

[Ilovepugs2017]

I’m off to see Paramore tomorrow - super excited!
what’s the best and worst gigs you’ve been to and why?

Oh yes, Lenny Kravitz was great (I'm going back over 20 years, I reckon).

Best: Springsteen, any of the times
worst: one direction, second to last gig. They all looked dead behind the eyes. No queue for the bar though

Haha Birdland had completely forgotten about them! They had a few cracking singles.

Best for me was either Stone Roses, Glasgow Green 1990 or Prodigy at Glastonbury. Quite a lot of 'worsts' but Van Morrison and Billy Bragg stand out.

Hard to say, I'm fortunate to have seen amazing gigs. Probably the most memorable has to be Peter Gabriel at Glastonbury in 1994 - the sound of Biko with 50,000 people watching (not joining in just listening) was so powerful.

Taylor swift was very good if I think about current artists and the killers are amazing live

I saw Tricky in Hackney yrs ago and he played the entire gig with his back to the audience. No-one was impressed.

Best
Beverley Knight always puts on an amazing show. So much energy and love for performing live.
Depeche Mode
Metallica
Prince
Scissor Sisters
Mary J Blige
Ghost
Goldfrapp
Blondie
Rammstein

Worst
Tears For Fears (I caught them during the period they were 'not getting along')
Saint Etienne
Maxwell
Rufus Wainwright
Bryan Ferry (more to do with the appalling crowd than the artist, to be fair)

I was there! That was absolutely electric.

Best. Prince. Leonard Cohen. Rolling Stones. Newcastle 1982.
Worst. Van Morrison. Playhouse Edinburgh.

Best was definitely Foo Fighters supported by Biffy Clyro at Milton Keynes Bowl, absolutely amazing night! Have seen both bands several times but this was really special.

Worst was Guns N Roses at Leeds festival, I had high expectations but was sadly disappointed.

Best: Linkin Park at Download - they played the entirety of Hybrid Theory.

Worst: Eminem at Reading festival. He lip-synced most of his set and when he was rapping, it sounded awful.

Go! I prefer him with the Sleeping Souls but he's great solo too. He has such a loyal legion of fans that the atmosphere is just fantastic. We've seen him twice this year already. I think he's in the US, Europe & Australia for quite a bit of the rest of the year but we are seeing him at a festival in August.

Should say Jake Shears is still excellent. His new stuff is brilliant and his Scissor Sister's stuff too.

My best Queen (with Freddie and Adam Lambert)
Up there as well Genesis (in their heyday with Phil),
Worst - not really their fault but Yes went to see them as given a ticket, didn't really know their music and was bored senseless by tracks that seemed endless. Donovan was supporting and I enjoyed him far more.

Ones that I wish I had seen, Fleetwood Mac and George Michael.

On the bucketlist Coldplay and Pink

Best B-52s

Worst Spear of Destiny

Best gigs recently have been Cast in Liverpool last December, they were amazing; truly on fire. Also John Power on his solo tour, I've seen him six times in the past six months and he's always superb, always gives it 100%.

Can't really say a worst, I wouldn't go to a gig if I didn't like the band/artist.

Best - Pixies, Rancid, Gogol Bordello, Popes (though Shane was a totally obnoxious drunk 😅), Interrupters. Worst Marilyn Manson and tragically Toots and the Maytals(the acoustics were so bad - I was gutted!

Too many best gigs over the last 45 years I wouldn't know where to start.
I've only been to a few bad gigs. The stand out awful ones are:
The Fun loving criminals were dreadful.
Elastica was awful. I was really looking forward to seeing them at The Hacinenda but I may as well just stayed at home and listed to my CD ( when CDs were a thing!)
My biggest disappointment was HIM. Just dull!

DH reminded me last night of a gig we went to way way back - about 1979. We saw The Specials (they were Specials AKA back then) in an open air gig at cannon Hill Park in Moseley.

Only about 300 people there. The atmosphere was great - sharing food with people you'd never met before, a gin bottle & spliffs being passed around. Then The Specials - a whirlwind on stage with Terry Hall stood still, in the eye of the hurricane, in the middle of it all. Later, when it was dark, Aswad played. There's nothing like loud reggae live. When I hear the introduction of the Misty In Roots live album which starts "Good evening, or should I say good morning" it always makes me think of that gig.

RIP Terry Hall, wherever you are.

Worst was Toyah. No contest. I wasn’t actually there for her, a mate’s band we’re supporting so we were there to watch him but fuck me she was dreadful.

Best was Magazine, after I’d waited 30 years to see them. Damned at the Royal Albert Hall was also great and PIL last year, for the first time since Covid was special. The Stranglers are consistently great. I have high hopes for their RAH gig next year. Baz Warne is my imaginary husband 😁

My great music regret is that I never saw Prince live.

Best - Chemical Brothers on NYE in London, a night I will never forget 😃
Also Foo Fighters

Worst... hmm Peter Andre, Steps and PJ and Duncan 😂

Feeder on their Comfort in Sound tour at Rock City, just after their drummer died. Amazing atmosphere, incredibly moving.

I saw System of a Down at Brixton and also at a couple of festivals, they were also amazing.

Placebo were good at Rock City but not so good at festivals so maybe they're better at smaller venues!

Bjork

She is absolutely tiny but thought it was best to sit cross legged on the stage for the entire set.

Best was Chemical Brothers at Brixton Academy

Special mention to Isle of Wight festival years ago where the line up was Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Keane, Snow Patrol and Groove Armada of all people. Hot sunny day and a really really good vibe from everyone.

After over 45 years of going to gigs and seeing so many fantastic bands that have been amazing for different reasons it is hard to pin point one best one.
However the worst ones include Fun Loving Criminals, Just awful. Also Elastica who I loved when they were having their moment but live they were terrible. The worst one ever was probably Echo and the Bunnymen. Ian McCulloch was just an arse on stage for this particular show. He refused to play The Cutter we thought he would have done it as an encore but just walked off stage.

The only concert I've not enjoyed was Bon Jovi in Hyde Park. I'm not sure what happened with the acoustics or if the wind was blowing the wrong way but we were literally straining to hear what song they were playing! 🤣

have NC because this is completely outing. I have seen a LOT of gigs, I'm ancient, i love music as does my DH and we go to all the flippin' gigs. Off to one this evening, as it happens.

Anyway. Worst.

June 2017 Marillion (the Steve Hogarth version who i have seen before, have albums and generally like). Absolutely boring. Dire. They did none of their good songs off previous albums. Not even Beautiful (and as a bonus: when i said to DH that they weren't doing any old songs i got mansplained that "no dear, you have to see Fish for that" i had to put him right and to be fair his friends all called him a wanker because it was clear what i meant)

Best. Oh my. Best. It could be between Tom Petty (any time I've seen him). Or John Mellencamp in the philipshalle in Düsseldorf in the early 90s. Juggler as a support act. Mellencamp was stunning.

But. Last year i followed them round Europe and saw most of their gigs because this was it for them. And i have to say that last year, 12th July 2022, Camden Roundhouse. Midnight Oil. Fuck me. (the entire tour, stunning but that one really stands out partly for the venue, partly for the setlist - different every night - partly for the people i was with)

Everyone: listen to Resist (album) by Midnight Oil. Do it.