Dish with the Musicheads: What's the worst show or concert you've ever been to and what made it so bad?

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at First Avenue in Minneapolis. It was too loud and they just played it "rock and roll".

Boring.

The Swans at First Avenue in Minneapolis. It was too loud and they just played it "rock and roll".

Boring.

Skinny Puppy - it was too loud and sounded like a record was playing, and they looked stupid.

The Jesus and the Mary Chain. They played with their backs to us and were boring, anyway. Buy the record.

Sonic Youth - I was too drunk

Bob Dylan at the Reno Hilton about three years ago! He was cranking but the set-up SUCKED!

Steve Hackett walked off the stage at Rossi's a few years ago..the music he did was fine..the performance fine..but the morons who wouldn't shut their cellphones off and wouldn't shut the up may have caused him to never want to play here again. Also possibly the bartenders noise contributed to that as well.

He did come back on stage and finished his set, but I couldn't have been more embarassed to be from this town more than at any other concert I've seen here.

I've never been to a concert that's been absolutely awful, I've just seen some shows that I was very disapointed in, mostly because of volume issues.

1. REM w/Camper Van Beethoven - Roy Wilkins Auditorium - 1987(ish)
They were too freaking loud for the venue. And we all know that Wilkins stinks as a concert venue anyway. I loved REM, and had seen them previously and loved their show. I couldn't enjoy it that time around.

2. Elvis Costello & The Attractions w/ Crash Test Dummies - Northrup Auditorium - late 80's.
Again.. TOO LOUD! I had remembered my ear plugs, but my poor friend who was with me didn't. She started to glaze over and almost become catatonic because of the white noise and volume.

3. Jonathan Richman - First Ave (05) and Turf Club (06)
The First Ave. show was marred by technical problems, and then the Danceteria crowd coming in before he was done, making all sorts of noise, which sort of started drowning him out .

For The Turf Club show, he was sick as a dog with a cold and was chugging cough syrup and/or some kind of medicine to get through it. He finally had to give up singing and just played. It was a very short set, maybe an hour or slightly less. Still, he gave it his all. His closing rendition of "Walter Johnson" was pretty amazing. You could hear a pin drop.

4. Everything But The Girl - Fitzgerald Theater - early 90's
This was their pre-electronica days when they were still more jazzy/folky. Tight band, great sound, but Tracy Thorn mostly sang w/ her back to the audience in the corner, and, they were pretty boring to watch. I started to wish it was over sooner than it was.

5. Henry Rollins - Spoken Word - Pantages - 04 or 05
The Mrs. and I refer to this show as "The Butt-Numbing Hostage Situation". Nearly 3 1/2 hours of Henry's stories, rants, poems, whatever. I love HR, and I love his spoken word, and I understand wanting to give people their money's worth, but when you get to the point where you're saying to yourself "My brain is full. I absolutly cannot comprehend any more information."and out comes another notebook, that's when I think people started wishing bodily harm on him . Maybe he didn't need to be anywhere the next day, or maybe he was lonely, but sometimes, less is more.

Night Ranger at the Kansas State Fair. Need I say more?

Interpol at the First Ave... boring, and way too many hipsters posing... and the music didn't move me at all... I think we stayed for a song and a half before we bailed ..... The Faint show had the some problem, but I think I stayed for a whole 3 songs that time..

Stevie Ray Vaughn - he was just having a really bad night. It was the only time I've ever been to a concert where the artist was booed off the stage. He was opening for The Moody Blues. They were great BTW.

The last time Cat Power played The Varsity. I don't think she made it through one song. She complained about the sound the whole time and would just stop the song and start complaining, and then not even finish the song she stopped. Shut up and play! I hear she's much better these days. I think it helps when she has a band with her.

My parents had 2 extra tickets to the Alan Jackson concert at the state fair. My wife and I went (we had never heard his music) and almost threw up at the suckiness of the songs, the crowd in their Nascar glory, and the musicians that just stood there in cowboy hats strumming their instruments. Boring, cheesy and downright bad music.
Worst. Concert. Ever.

I don't have any real stinkers under my belt, but I didn't enjoy the Vince Gill/Bryan White show at the State Fair in 1997. My parents were in their big 'country' phase at this point (thankfully, they had the common sense to bail out of K102 long before the rock n roll jingoism took over). Vince Gill is a tremendous musician and I've really come to respect him over the years, but good lord that got to be an excruciating show. It seriously felt like he had 4 curtain calls, and during each one, he launched into at least one lengthy guitar solo. I was furious by the end of it, not wanting to applaud for fear that he'd play even longer. Obstructed view seats, my mother was cranky at me for most of it, just not a good night. I was only 13, so what else could I do?

I won tickets to see Bob Mould at the old Guthrie from REV105 in roughly 1997. I was super excited to see the concert but man was it bad. Just Bob Mould playing his big sound distortion rock. Hardly any audience interaction, just loud for 2 hours. I was all the way in the back and ended up falling asleep leaning against the wall.

Hillbilly Hearse at Lees Liquor Lounge, in April, 08. I was too drunk. I was seeing double. The Band was OK. I just had a few too many.

The Cars, McNichols Arena, Denver, CO, Fall 1981. The guys just stood there and played their songs, note for friggin' note. Even the solos matched the record. Very boring and disappointing.

Wow, there's so much listed here. Like Frick, I can't think of a real stinker, but seeing Luscious Jackson one afternoon at the height of summer in a sweltering, smoky First Ave. sent me to the shower feeling completely wrung out. Not good "OMG! We rocked out for 4 hours and it only felt like 20 minutes man I'm exhausted!" wrung out, but more like "Why'd we pay to stand in a smoker fueled by tobacco?!" bad wrung out.

It was Nasty. The band was just limp from the heat.

Boz Scagg's at the Orpheum a few years ago. Was kind of exited about seeing the blue-eyed soul legend. The show had little soul & very little blues either. It was sort of uninspired designer jazz. Very disappointing! Even left early...which I never do!

Frick, Do you keep a scorecard of all the shows you see? You remember so many details!

2 come to mind: Modest Mouse at First Ave; Sold out=crowded, computer problems=ticked off musicians and techies, 4-5 minutes between songs to "set up" and switch out instruments= collosal waste of time, threats towards the audience from lead singer = rude and unappreciative.

Nelly Furtado at Excel: First of all- these were FREE last minute tickets from a friend...a what the hell, why not? kind of deal. Ummmm....boring songs (a cover of I'm bringin' sexy back-*gag*, a million costume changes, dancers were choreographed to look like drunken baby giraffes....it was a flash back to the 80's pop culture....and that's never good. WE started laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Every time we thought it couldn't get any worse...it did.

Oh yeah, the Cat POwer reminds me of a Feist show at The Varsity. She was alone and plunking her guitar much like a little music box...I wanted to fall alseep. She had to run off stage to find her play list.....huh? She was alone?!!! they are her songs! ....and she needs to spend 10 minutes searching for a playlist? snooze.

Frick, Do you keep a scorecard of all the shows you see? You remember so many details!

No, I don't. There are plenty of shows that I barely remember (due to ingestion of various substances) or that were fairly uneventful. Those are some of the ones that made a negative impression that stuck with me.

I'm definitely going to try to make a list again of all the shows I've seen. I'd probably be surprised at how many I've actually been to.

The worst show I ever saw was Alanis Morrissette during her first big tour back in the early 90s. It wasn't so much that her performance was a problem, it was trying to hear her over the screaming girls in the Target Center. My guess is the crowd that watches her shows now are a little more subdued.
The next show I saw at the Target Center: Smashing Pumpkins, one of the best shows I've ever seen...so it evened out!

Were any Minneapolitans here at the infamous Ryan Adams First Avenue show? I think it was in 2003.

ryan adams at first avenue---left after 2 songs.

Every time I listen to Ryan Adams' "Halloweenhead" from his latest, Easy Tiger,, I feel like I'm listening to one of his stage meltdowns.

Liz Phair ACOUSTIC (and solo, I think) at First Ave. It was the Exile in Guyville / Whip-Smart days. One angry singer, one guitar and nothing else in a hot steamy bar. As the beer gets warmer and the night drags on, people try to remember why they care.

The Cult in Saratoga Springs ~1987. They played one song, then promptly stated if you won't entertain me, we won't entertain you. And walked off stage.

well kinda ot, but I am ongoing, compiling w/ notes a list of the artists and how many shows I've seen on my rateyourmusic.com account

anyone curious the link is here

however, 95% or more of those recollections are positive thankfully.

Pete Yorn at First Ave in about 2002-03. It felt like he came onstage, pressed play on the cd player and left. He even had the same filler in between songs... "this is a song called closet. closet." Horrible.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at the outdoor theater in the northwest suburbs of Chicago (not Alpine Valley). It was back in the early 90's when they were at the peak of their popularity and he didn't sing any of his songs. He put the mike out to the crowd and let everyone sing every one of his songs, it was by far the worst show I ever saw.

Jet opened up for Oasis. i walked as far away as i could from that set but short of putting cement in my ears i could not get away from the awful sound and the "rock stars in a can" stage presence. guess what guys, CBGB's era came and went. absolutely awful

Anything at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. The acoustics are horrible, and they could ruin almost anything.

That said, I saw Elvis Costello with Alan Toussaint there last year, and they were great, despite the horrible acoustics.