Your worst concert experience - Paying money to be disappointed

[Matt Damon]

I saw Rush at Summerfest in Milwaukee. The show itself was really good, but the mix going out to the crowd was abysmal. It's a partially enclosed amphitheatre and was so brutally loud and shrill that you couldn't actually hear the music over the reflections of the sound bouncing back from the walls.

It was allegedly a concert but might have well have been some kind of heavy industrial machinery for all that my ears could discern.

 

[AIKA]

I needed knee surgery after a Motörhead show. No regrets though, knee's great after all these years.

The one I regret was a Suicidal Tendencies one, where the lead was so out of breath he looked like a St. Floyd parody. What a fucking disaster of a show.

 

[Harbinger of Kali Yuga]

The Melvins were the absolute worst. Not a single word out of the band, not even what song they were playing. No passion at all.

 

[Cats]

Worst actual musical performance by a professional band was Alestorm, who I saw at a festival a few years back. It looked like they were totally bored of their own pirate gimmick and they were barely trying. Apparently they had been too hungover to soundcheck so everything sounded like total shit. There was weird sub-bass feedback that kept peaking the limiters on the PA, causing the entire live mix to pump in and out, which at concert volumes is actually nauseating. Their guitar tech (who had been AWOL since the night before) finally showed up halfway through the set so they put him on backing vocals. I've never seen a band put in so little effort, it looked like their souls had long left their bodies. I saw them again the following year and they were just as bad, and the sub-bass feedback was back as well. Horrible.

I find it hilarious that this band made an entire song about how much they suck

Knee deep in fucking shite
We watch these fools on display
Boils seeping wretched blight
Maggots coil wet and grey
Can't believe my fucking eyes
Distorted reality
The respect within me dies
Cannot fathom what I see

Can't believe all I witness
Shake my head as it rains down piss
Weak words torn away by the wind
Lip service oozing down their chins

Alestorm sucks and so do their fans

Mob mentality in full force
Pathetic spines filled with jelly
We just talked about beating a dead horse
Will not accept what they're selling
Shame and repulsion rains on me
My spirit taken by the sea
Reprehensible fucking waste
Take me away from this ugly place

Can't believe all I witness
Shake my head as it rains down piss
Weak words torn away by the wind
Lip service oozing down their chins

Alestorm sucks and so do their fans

 

[Roland TB-303]

I went to a bush doof where one of my favourite DJ’s was headlining with an 8 hour set from 10pm to 6am. We got there just as he was starting but began to feel cold so went back to our tents to grab our jumpers. As we’re walking back we notice it’s unusually quiet and we can’t hear the familiar thumping of the bass off in the distance. We get back to the stage and the music has been cut off. We wait for a while as we assume they’re having technical difficulties but 30 mins later a bunch of cop cars arrive which kills our buzz. We wander off to a few other stages hoping we can come back later once the ordeal is sorted out. This is a legal festival mind you, with all the proper permits so we have no idea why the cops have shut it down. We begin to hear murmurings and rumours that the sound engineer at the main stage ate way too much acid and took off all his clothes and ran off into the bush. This festival is in the middle of nowhere so the organisers freak out and call the cops to help them find him and they shut the main stage down. I was really looking forward to listening to some good tunes and having a boogie so that put me into a bad mood and I went back to the van to sleep it off. Turns out there were a few other smaller stages that were allowed to continue and I missed what ended up being a good night. Still spewing I missed that DJ though.

 

[Cats]

As we’re walking back we notice it’s unusually quiet and we can’t hear the familiar thumping of the bass off in the distance. We get back to the stage and the music has been cut off.

Reminded me of this video:

 

[Shroom King]

I saw A Perfect Circle about 12 years ago or so, and they decided to play 1-2 songs from Mer de Noms (they allegedly played 3 Libras but it was such a esoteric remix so removed from the original I refuse to accept it) and bunch of bullshit from Emotive. It didn't help that the state/rural shithole they were playing in had a "no smoking in public venues" law so every 2 minutes you had some asshole security guard with a blacklight going up to someone and shining them in face going "HURR, DURR, put out that cigarette, you can't smoke here!" They were playing OUTSIDE, by the way.

For comparison, I saw A Perfect Circle when they opened up for NIN in Madison Square Garden in 1999 and they FUCKING ROCKED. Maynard's brain must have rotted away from too much globohomo over the years.

 

[R.S.o.E]

Literally any gig I performed at, as part of my college course.

 

[Steam Deck Verified]

I saw Arctic Monkeys on their Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino tour and it was godawful. Their AM tour had been a big success and I was expecting a similar performance even though I didn't care for the album. Instead Alex Turner walked out looking like a bag of shit, high as fuck, and couldn't remember any of his lines, slurred the ones he could remember, none of the instruments sounded tuned. Anyone who had seats, sat through the whole show, and even those in GA stood awkwardly on your phones. It felt like seeing a once-famous athlete become a fat drunk doing autographs for $15 at the local sports bar.

I also saw MGMT on their Little Dark Age tour and they were disappointingly low-energy and low-effort. I've never seen so many fans in the audience bored and on their phones. It was like nobody wanted to be there. The only songs people got excited for were the singles from Oracular Spectacular which you could tell annoyed the band because they've implied in the interviews that they low-key hate those.

 

[Incel Death Note]

Went to a Ween show and a guy told me "nice jacket" at the urinal. Couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic. Think about it every day. Was it a nice jacket or a bad jacket?

I went to a concert for a musician who I can’t remember, but the woman next to me was drunk and hugging me and saying “I love you!” over and over again.

Some girl tried to rub all over me at a Cat Empire show. I pretended to capitulate but was more interested in the band and alcohol. She left sobbing and her fat friends shoo'd me away.

 

[The Token Ethnic]

Going to watch Thee Oh Sees play a midnight show on a bridge in Austin. My girlfriend at the time had her glasses broken and started to bleed a bit from some asshole who decided to crowd surf and land on her head. I felt bad and it ruined the night. Another one had to be the Murder City Devils reunion. The lead singer was so drunk he mostly wailed the lyrics and only remembered the chorus to the songs. It was a total waste of money.

Went to a Ween show and a guy told me "nice jacket" at the urinal. Couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic. Think about it every day. Was it a nice jacket or a bad jacket?

I had a similar thing happen to me. Some fat guy wanted to start a fight after he kept saying "NICE JACKET!" over and over after attending this show at a Frat house in Austin.

It was just a normal jean jacket. I had no idea what his problem was.

 

[Osama Bin Laden]

Sugar Ray

 

[Incel Death Note]

I had a similar thing happen to me. Some fat guy wanted to start a fight after he kept saying "NICE JACKET!" over and over after attending this show at a Frat house in Austin. https://youtube.com/watch?v=blp9e1y__eQIt was just a normal jean jacket. I had no idea what his problem was.

Yeah people at music shows express the worst parts. Dumb idiots.
That show looks so comfy I wish more shows were small hangouts. It reminds me of Lightning Bolt shows. We gotta do stuff like this more. Bands have to be cool again.

 

[The Token Ethnic]

Yeah people at music shows express the worst parts. Dumb idiots.
That show looks so comfy I wish more shows were small hangouts. It reminds me of Lightning Bolt shows. We gotta do stuff like this more. Bands have to be cool again.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=aRywsfEIVKA

I saw them at Emo's during their tour with The Locust and Arab on Radar! The lead singer's antics really scared my friends since he was acting super gross lol It was called Oops! The Tour
I like how LB would set up in the middle of the floor and people would gather around them instead of watching them on stage. As for comfy, that show was not comfy at all, it had a huge couch taking up space that people were playing NBA Jam on and we were packed in and pushing people since everyone was going nuts. The band was fun, but it was an uncomfortable show.

 

[Incel Death Note]

I saw them at Emo's during their tour with The Locust and Arab on Radar! The lead singer's antics really scared my friends since he was acting super gross lol It was called Oops! The Tour
I like how LB would set up in the middle of the floor and people would gather around them instead of watching them on stage. As for comfy, that show was not comfy at all, it had a huge couch taking up space that people were playing NBA Jam on and we were packed in and pushing people since everyone was going nuts. The band was fun, but it was an uncomfortable show.

We should probably kill hippies.

 

[Retard#7822]

I went to a DragonForce concert a long time ago with some buddies. Five Finger Death Punch opened and they did pretty good, so far all was going well. Lamb of God was set to go next, but they never showed up. In the meantime, we stood there for over an hour with nobody on stage, no word as to what was going on, in a crowd that was getting progressively more drunk and impatient in a hot, indoor venue that reeked of metalheads and beer. Finally the decision was made to push and go to the next act, Horse the Band. Holy fuck they were awful, and the crowd let them know. I want to say they made it through a song and a half when the lead singer finally said some thing to the akin of, "fuck you faggots" and walked off stage. DragonForce played terribly but they put on such a good show and we're so high energy that they made up for it though.

 

[Calandrino]

https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Dillinger_Escape_Plan's_First_Reading_Festival_Performance_(partially_found_concert_footage;_2002)

Out of their multiple performances and tours, one show stands out as among the most shocking in rock history. Their first performance at England’s Reading Festival in 2002 made national headlines when in the middle of the show, vocalist/frontman Greg Puciato defecated in full view on-stage, put it in a paper bag (some accounts say he did it in a towel) and threw it into the audience before smearing the rest on himself. He was quoted as saying, “This is a bag of shit. I just thought I’d show this to you, so you’ll recognize it later on in the day,” referring to the quality of the music at the festival and the bands that were on before them.

 

[Roland TB-303]

That reminded me of Hanatarash a Japanese noise band fronted by eYe who later went on to form the Boredoms, famous for their gigs with 100 drummers.

Hanatarash was notorious for their dangerous live shows. Some of the band's most infamous shows included Eye cutting a dead cat in half with a machete, strapping a circular saw to his back and almost cutting his leg off, and destroying part of a venue with an excavator (and not a bulldozer against common beliefs) by driving it through the back wall and onto the stage.[2]

At a 1985 show in Tokyo's Superloft, the audience were required to fill out forms due to the possibility of harm caused by the show. The show was stopped due to Eye preparing to throw a lit molotov cocktail onto the stage. The performance cost ¥600,000 (approximately $9,000 US) in repairs.[3]

After several years of the intense live shows, Hanatarash was forbidden from performing at most venues, and were only allowed to return to live performances in the 1990s after Eye would agree to cease his destructive on-stage behavior.

 

[Lorne Armstrong]

Roadie for Metallica. Speed of Sound tour. Bunch of assholes.

 

[Mayhem]

Usually concerts, in my experience, don’t get very loud anymore due to local noise ordinances and curfews, but I’ve seen one exception.

I saw Swans a while ago. It was my birthday and I was very excited to see them. I’d heard they were incredibly loud as a gimmick, but I figured they were all old now and really wouldn’t be doing that anymore.

I guess I missed some kind of memo because they were fucking horrifyingly loud. It sounds like it would be fun, but it was not. It was actually painful to listen to. There was a pregnant woman at the show and I’m pretty sure her baby was born deaf. The band was so loud that I actually had to go outside to try to listen to the music, but every song they played was slow and sounded like shit because it was so loud. No sound mixing to speak of, just noise.

But yes, I did find out it is indeed possible for a live band to be too loud.