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I saw Gorilaz in Glasgow at the Hydro, 3 yrs ago. I went with an open mind as to what to expect and they were really good.
I had to take my then 13 yr old daughter to see One Direction just before they split (Birmingham). I was surrounded by kids and their mums all waiting for Harry Styles and Co.
It was a gruesome experience I try to forget about. But farcebook reminds me every now and then, and the look on my daughters face seeing her then pop idols was well worth it.
Or so I keep telling myself.
For me it was the Foo Fighters at Wembley in 2008.
I've loved the Foos for years, and they were my second proper date with my wife, so something like 20 years ago. 2 weeks earlier, on our first date, we'd seen the Manics in the same venue and they were excellent. The Foos though - pretty poor. The sound was dreadful and it was difficult to differentiate between songs, even knowing their stuff. I was disappointed. I saw them again at the MK Bowl, after Grohl broke his leg. It sounds bad to complain about this, but the set was just too long. I got to a point where I really wanted to go home because I was getting cold, and their live jamming isn't all that compelling.
Madness were also really good 🙂
Seen them a few times and they've been excellent each time. Proper entertainers in every sense.
“Shockingly good live performances” probably needs a separate thread.
Oh, easy: David Bowie Glastonbury 2000. There were rumours floating around all weekend that he was going to do weird or new songs, a new setlist, unheard stuff, almost everyone you spoke with wasn't looking forward to it, some I met were making plans to leave before he started. Well...
What we got was just glorious, every hit, every song you'd ever want to hear played like it was fresh, the bantz between songs - a story about a girl that jumped up on stage on his first performance, and making sure she wasn't there tonight, asking the crowd to join in if they knew the words as his throat wasn't feeling good. Remarking that he'd like to take off his coat but he was too vain...and the songs...Oh My Days; the songs...
Off topic but Sonia is an act I saw live accidentally, I’d arranged to go to a club with a group of geographically diverse chums and we’d no idea that she was playing. She was… not as terrible as we’d prejudged.
In near-identical circumstances (yes yes, a likely story I know but it’s true) I also accidentally saw Chesney Hawkes. He was bloody brilliant. Charismatic, didn’t take himself too seriously, and of course that song in front of a crowd well into a lake’s worth of Red Stripe tore the goddamn roof off.
In a similar vein, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, again at Lakefest. Brilliant, really, really, brilliant.
And, I sh1t you not, the Vengaboys.
Oh, easy: David Bowie Glastonbury 2000.
Hmmm, Bowie in Cardiff 1995. he was promoting Outside, I seem to remember. I don't remember him playing any hits, and the venue was half empty, not helped by the Morrisey fans leaving after he'd finished his support act, morose and mediocre as that was. A completely forgettable gig if it hadn't been Bowie.
The Flaming Lips put on a poor show when I saw them at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on their The Terror tour. I've seen them a few times and they're usually a lot of fun but the murky, depressed atmosphere of The Terror (the album) definitely infected that show, despite the band not playing many songs from it that night. It was especially disappointing as I had seen them at the Usher Hall several years earlier and it had been a really good gig.
I saw James Brown on his final tour. I’m not sure what was propping him up but he was on form, bouncing round the stage for 3 hours. I was expecting something rather more sedate from other peoples experiences of him over the more recent years, but no, he gave it all. He was dead 2 months after.
I saw Martha Reeves and the vandellas in the arches in glasgow not long before she died.
The crowd was aged 16 to probably 80, It was dark and and she was amazing, engaged the audience clearly she recognised fans, calling them by name in the crowd and obviously the songs were amazing (love motown) and she excecuted them perfectly. I gues the Motown lot were pretty strictly drilled in showmanship in the early days. After that gig i understood what a consumate performer was.
I also accidentally saw Chesney Hawkes. He was bloody brilliant
I accidentally saw Jason Donovan once in a small pub venue in Stratford Upon Avon.
He was really funny and very self-deprecating.
Came across well.
Still didn't buy his album though.
But really Bruce Springsteen – born in the usa, did a turgid 90 mins and after a 5 min break came on and did the same set again. soul crushing it was
Really? I’ve seen him twice – once at Hyde Park when they turned him off (mercifully, as he’d just brought Macca on stage) and once at the Ricoh in Coventry, and he was phenomenal both times.
I deeply love some of his music (Born To Run is a nigh on perfect album) but at Glastonbury he misread the crowd probably more than any other main stage headliner I've seen there - played it like a gig for fans rather than a festival.
Gorillaz at Glasto circa 2010ish. They were embarrassingly bad.
I'm not sure they were bad, and I've seen good reviews of that gig (and others). I'm a big fan of Damon Albarn (pretty much everything he's been involved in from Blur's Think Tank on) and one of my top all time gigs was Good, the Bad the Queen (in Elephant and Castle) but the every time I've seen Gorrilaz (Glastonbury (more than once?), Brixton) they've left me cold. Maybe it's the constant guest vocalists but somehow lacking in atmosphere.
David Bowie Glastonbury 2000. . Remarking that he’d like to take off his coat but he was too vain…and the songs…Oh My Days; the songs…
Absolutely. Utterly brilliant - right up there with the best gigs I've been to.
Oh, easy: David Bowie Glastonbury 2000.
Was that really shocking? There may have been rumours about that tour (and I'm really not a Bowie fan) but it'd be difficult to come away from a Bowie gig thinking "wow, that wasn't crap after all!"
This thread is 'great' bands that turned out to be rubbish. I was turning that about face. I'm going to start a thread for it.
I also accidentally saw Chesney Hawkes. He was bloody brilliant. Charismatic, didn’t take himself too seriously, and of course that song in front of a crowd well into a lake’s worth of Red Stripe tore the goddamn roof off.
#AccidentalPartridge
Megadeath - manchester apollo early 90's utter utter cack, just going through the motions and no interaction with the crowd.
It didn't help that Pantera were supporting and they had just released cowboys from hell and sent themselves and the crowd into a moshing frenzy, then it just fell flatter than a kippers cock
Most disappointing band I’ve ever seen, after really looking forward to them, was Van Halen at The Monsters of Rock, Castle Donnington back in ’84.
Huh. I was at that one as well. Some striking memories from the day including the sky shimmering with bottles flying towards the stage when Gary Moore was on and the (hilarious at the time) fires breaking out at opposite sides of the stage when the fire crew turned up to put them out. 🙂
Agree, Van Halen weren't especially inspiring but AC/DC were excellent. Enjoyed Gary Moore too although he was a bit grumpy. Mind you, I suppose I would be too if the stage was being rained on with bottles - half of them filled, or semi filled with piss
Suzanne Vega, Wembley Arena, circa 1988. I'm sure she was pissed.
I know it has already been done but this
Saw Chaka Khan at MCR Apollo half a lifetime ago, she was pissed.
I feel for you.
Deserves a thread of its own
Is that a reference to Hugh Dennis a la The Mary Whitehouse Experience on Radio 1 many moons ago?
Haha no, but good idea. It's just the sort of thing my mum (or anyone of her generation) might have said. I am now THAT generation.
I also saw James Brown in Hyde Park in 2004, awesome band and backing singers, who spent more time saying his name that he actually performed, poor guy was definitely not in his prime!
Some of the most disappointing were:
MGMT - bad at Glastonbury, even worse at Bestival
Air - they were just dreadful, says something when people start walking out
Travis (not my choice, they filled in for Morrissey when he chose not to play at the Isle of Wight!) - he was out of tune and couldn't even remember the words to his god awful songs, neither could the crowd
Saw Van Halen, in the Hagar years, mid-nineties at Wembley - they sounded epic TBH
Happy Mondays at Tramlines in 2019, man they were dreadful.
I would have hesitated to see the Mondays or Primal Scream even back in the day.
Great records but the quality depended so much on the remix / production work by Weatherall, Oakenfold etc. so "indie-dance" didn't always translate well to the live stage.
Toots and the Maytels. No brass section. Toots and the band obviously didnt want to be there. Walked out with others. Worst gig ever. Best gig ever Lindisfarne------ Wow
Always makes me laugh...