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Dez is going to love both of mine
Never heard of them
Hugh Cornwell at The Sage in Gateshead; truly dreadful.
Judas Priest, 1980.They were poor to say the least. However, their support band was rather good..... Iron Maiden
Tackead disco, absolutely terrible gig, worst I ever went to, left early iirc.
cant say as i wish i hadnt seen a particular gig, cos even crap gigs are still worth going to, just to find out theyre crap, but the only one ive walked out of halfway was a few months ago, the macc lads at lincoln engine shed.
on reflection i shouldnt have gone, times change, bands long past their sell-by date, seemed a good idea at the time to get tickets so me and me mate went along. oh dear....did i really use to like these? :-/
incidentally, guy martin was also there, hed expected something totally different and also walked out 😀
U2 Joshua Tree Tour at Wembley Stadium. Supported by Spear of Destiny who totally knocked U2 into a cocked hat even though I’d never even heard of them.
I was at that - Pretenders and World Party too IIRC, who were also better than U2.
I did a lot of clubbing mid 90's. I have no idea which DJs i have seen and those i have not. I did most of it in Cream but also various Manchester clubs including the Hacienda and Sankeys.
I saw Derrik May in Sankeys - remember that one as Carl Cox had failed to show so May did a 4 hour set.
I would have known the rest at the time although it was always a bit vague on the night as to who had turned up and when they were on. Cream had two rooms so you also never knew which rooms were which DJs, they were never announced. I would love to know some of the names - especially Cream as I was there through possibly the heigh point of that club. The Hacienda was rough as **** by the mid 90's.
U2 Joshua Tree Tour at Wembley Stadium. Supported by Spear of Destiny who totally knocked U2 into a cocked hat even though I’d never even heard of them.
First gig I went to was Spear of Destiny in around 85
I went to the other U2 Joshua Tree gig at Wembley, Lou Reed, Pogues and Lone Justice supported, all, including U2 were fantastic.
The Buzzcocks possibly at Glastonbury sometime in the early nineties. Bunch of old guys in golfing jumpers failing miserably to recapture their glory days.
I thought the same seeing them at Brixton Academy (or Town & Country Club) in early 1990s, very disappointing.
Saw The Ramones the same year and that is still one of the best gigs I've ever seen.
Other disappiontments...
Velvet Underground reunion at Wembley Arena mid-90s. Horrible setting, barely going through motions, warm Carling.
The Flaming Lips at Astoria 2, mid or late 90s - before they got famous with Yoshimi.
Abysmal sound, just an incoherent murky din rather than the sharp, melodic noise rock from albums like In A Priest Driven Ambulance.
coldplay - V2000 (possibly) utter gash, still not a fan
prodigy - i think liam had just left.
paul van dyke - gatecrasher sheffield (tom wainwright was djing a blinder upstairs)
tony di vit - bit of a bellend.
dj Sy - a lot of a bellend
struggling to remember anymore realy bad ones
i saw hotchip around launch 2nd album, and they were awesome, another time - average
U2
I went to a U2 gig on the PopMart tour. I felt a bit flu like on the walk down to the venue, enough to stop at a pharmacist and get something to make me feel a bit better.
At about the time the opening band played their first bars I had to excuse myself as I was starting to feel distinctly unwell. My overriding memory of that gig is being inside a portaloo as my body attempted to turn itself inside out via my arse, while angry people in the queue that formed between acts banged on the door. Added bonus, no bog roll so I had to tear strips off my boxer shorts to attempt to clean myself up with (using them all at once was high risk). Then a walk past the angry mob before finding a quiet corner to lie down in and attempt not to die while I waited for the gig to finish. Spent the next three days operating as a straight through pipe. Water in, brown water out in about 30 seconds.
So yeah. Could have done without that one.
Pretty much anyone once they're past their creative peak - the Creative Peak Rule!
Two really stand out for me:
Bjork earlier this year, tickets bought for Mrs Tyred's birthday. Holy hell that was awful. We both like Bjork (not in a buy-every-album way admittedly) but despite that and the high ticket cost, left before the midway point. I struggle to describe how terrible it was.
Many years earlier, seeing Suicide (pre Alan Vega's death obv) at the opening of an arts venue in Glasgow. I'm a huge fan of their first album so, despite the obvious flouting of the CPR, was quite keen for it. I am not afraid of the avant garde, but it was avant shite. Only the most pretentious audience members were able to give the impression they were enjoying it.
There's been several more, but it's often the venue that's played the decisive note, rather than the band.
I have been to see Lee 'Scratch' Perry dozens of times. Each gig was either excellent or terrible - never mediocre or middling. I think it might depend on what he's been smoking.
Once he came on hours late, stood stock still and muttered into the mic. On another occasion he wouldn't have the strobe turn off, which made everyone sick after about 10 minutes.
However, I've also seen him when he's been absolutely magnetic, when nobody could take their eyes off him, where he's played for hours and people still wanted more. And once he gave me his hat!
I wish there was a way of telling which version you're going to get - but I guess I'll take the bad with the good.
Zodiac Mindwarp - somewhere in Brum late ‘80’s I think - I remember literally nothing about the gig but my god the amount of tequila and some other substances that were consumed that night have entered into legend in my, admittedly dodgy, memory!
The Streets at the Academy, Manchester. Bunch of pissed blokes that had forgotten why they were on stage...
Dreadful.
Many years earlier, seeing Suicide (pre Alan Vega’s death obv) at the opening of an arts venue in Glasgow. I’m a huge fan of their first album so, despite the obvious flouting of the CPR, was quite keen for it. I am not afraid of the avant garde, but it was avant shite. Only the most pretentious audience members were able to give the impression they were enjoying it.
I saw them playing Hammersmith, definitely not enjoyable but it was quite remarkable as the most immense wall of noise I've ever heard. And I've heard a few.
Probably helped that they were supporting Iggy & The Stooges so I could treat it as a curiosity before the (excellent) main event.
There's an act that broke your rule.
Zodiac Mindwarp
Saw him supporting somebody, he was rubbish but tbh he was a joke, manufactured image from the start so lived up to expectations
Imelda May, 2 years ago.
I'd seen her and the band probably 10 times over the previous 5 years. They were a great tight band.
Then she divorced her husband, the bands guitarist. Unknown to us, the rest of the band was sacked too, and she had a bunch of young lads playing with her.
She put effort in, but it was very false and wasnt any good, it was more of a 'look at me' show rather then her fronting a great band.
We had heard previously that she was a bit of a diva who wanted everything her own way, and it looks like she got it, but lost a great band in the process.
Mark Knopfler at the secc or whatever it's called, it was a wee bit boring with folk constantly either to the bog or buying expensive beer out a tin,maybe one Dire Straits track but can't remember, no encore. Chucked out at 9.30 still daylight
I saw MGMT at the Barrowlands when they were touring their second album. That was pretty poor. I hung on until the encore hoping that they'd pull something out for that but no, so me (also Northwind and another mate) didn't hang around to the bitter end.
The same year I saw Midlake at the ABC at Glasgow. I have since spoken to at least one other person who went and enjoyed it but I found it a bit flat and dull. Not as bad as MGMT but underwhelming.
I saw the Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Murrayfield. I had a headache and I was up in the stands so miles from the stage. It led me to conclude that stadium gigs are not for me.
Radiohead at Tredegar House on their Kid A tour. Was really into them right up until that gig, utter crap.
Another Kings of Leon victim here, this time at Benicassim in 2007. It didn't help that they were following The Hives on the line up, who had just done one of their "we're the greatest live band in the world" performances so the contrast couldn't have been much starker. They may have said the name of a few of the songs in between mechanically playing their songs while not looking at the crowd, I can't remember as I may have dozed off mid-set. Good lord was it boring.
Closely followed by The Strokes at Leeds Fest in 2011. Another phone it in job, managed to beat Kings of Leon in "we'd like you all to know we'd rather be somewhere else" stakes but only saved by playing some half decent songs.
Guns and roses at Milton Keynes bowl in the early 90s, they played an "acoustic" set, I wish I hadn't heard it
Went to see Biffy Clyro last summer, they had two support acts on. The first lot, Fatherson, were excellent. Stuck in the corner of the stage but had so much presence and played so well it felt like they took up the whole stage.
The second act, Ghost Poet, was absolutely appalling. Lead singer/rapper/whatever gave the impression he just didn't want to be there and they were just going through the motions. Most of the crowd lost interest after a couple of minutes and went to the bar.
Thankfully Biffy made up for it with a really good, enjoyable set (and I'm not really a fan, just tagged along with a couple of mates).
Massive Attack - O2 Arena London last year - so dull
neds atomic dustbin at the QMU in glasgow. Just awful, what made it worse is that someone offered me £20 for my ticket when I was standing in the queue . I should have taken the money.
Onslaught at the barras, it was after sy keeler had left so they had a new singer, some guy with a bon jovi haircut. I had seen them before at the venue and they where brilliant, this time not so much.
Leftover crack at rockers. Not really the band, sound was just bad.