Worst Concert Experience

Nodster · 16-10-2015 04:04AM

Red Kev wrote: »

Then I lit one up, one of these solicitor types asks me for a drag, I gave it to him and the cnut wouldn't give it back but passed it around his gobshyte mates.

Bollix of a night.

....happened me @ Carnsore '80, bustards the lot of them

Menas · 16-10-2015 08:34AM

Hannibal wrote: »

Neil Young in the RDS last year. The sound was absolutely atrocious amongst other things. Aiken blamed the wind.
I seen McCartney in the RDS aswell and again crap sound.
It is a terrible venue, not suited to concerts. The sound can't be over a certain volume due to the residents I heard.

That was my worst gig too. Terrible set up, terrible venue and a very disinterested Mr Young.

Someone dragged me along to see Right Said Fred in that place on the south circular....that was terrible too.

sadie06 · 16-10-2015 09:14AM

I have probably posted this before, but Macy Gray in the point many moons agao…an utter joke. So late coming on she would have had to work hard to swing the crowd onside. Instead, the band came on and did an intro that went on forever, then she was eventually walked on and placed in front of the mic. Dreadful stuff!

The one and only time I saw Oasis they were terrible…not talking to each other, bored looking. Supergrass saved the day as their support act.

Ocean Colour Scene and The Stranglers both at Electric Picnic over the last few years. Both unashamedly going through the motions. Didn't bother me with OCS, but a lack lustre version of Golden Brown after waiting all these years to hear it live was extremely annoying.

murpho999 · 16-10-2015 09:14AM

Went to see U2 in 1997 or 98 in Brisbane, was in Oz on a one year visa.

Was pretty chuffed to get to see U2 outside Ireland.

It was the worst gig I was ever at and it was nothing to do with U2 but the Aussie crowd.

Firstly, it was in a stadium and they had seats on the pitch.

When U2 came out and finished their first song Bono said "Seats on the pitch. this is supposed to be a rock concert?"

Then as U2 played on, the crowd were barely reacting at all and just stayed in their seats.
Myself and friends (2 Irish 2 Aussies) were in the stands trying to have a good time and when the hits ramped up we got out of our seats and sang along and danced, and a woman behind me asked us to be quiet and sit down. I said this wasn't a Pavorotti concert. I couldn't believe it.

The rest of the gig was the same, and U2 played their last song and said good night, and the lights came on and people just left and I was there going 'hang on, they'll be back for at least one encore".

I was wrong, that was it, I left with an empty feeling and I think the U2 lads did too as I don't think they enjoyed it either, very strange experience.

Red Kev · 16-10-2015 10:19AM

MLC_biker wrote: »

Bob Dylan at the O2 ,never spoke to the audience or introduced the band. Talked rather than sang the songs. First concert I was ever tempted to walk out of...

I was at that concert, I'd seen Dylan a few times, I always intended this to be the last time. Yes he gets worse with age, but that one in the Point was terrible. I read the reviews on here, most of the connoisseurs were saying 'You just don't understand Bob'. But a colleague of mine has seen Dylan 30-40 times and he also said that was a stand out sh!te concert.

His age was also blamed, but I saw Willie Nelson in the Point around the same time and he tore the fcuking house down. Total legend.

laserlad2010 · 16-10-2015 10:24AM

Red Kev wrote: »

I was at that concert, I'd seen Dylan a few times, I always intended this to be the last time. Yes he gets worse with age, but that one in the Point was terrible. I read the reviews on here, most of the connoisseurs were saying 'You just don't understand Bob'. But a colleague of mine has seen Dylan 30-40 times and he also said that was a stand out sh!te concert.

His age was also blamed, but I saw Willie Nelson in the Point around the same time and he tore the fcuking house down. Total legend.

I remember seeing him a little earlier than 08 or 09, if I'm not mistaken? Was it around 03? Anyway it was in the Point as well, I'd grown up burning holes through his acoustic CDs and liked his electric stuff a bit but not as much.

I was so disappointed I almost cried. In fairness I was only 15 or so at the time and it was ludicrous to think that 1960's Dylan was going to waltz out and serenade the crowd, but it really hammers home the "never meet your heroes" line.

Another crap gig was Counting Crows in Kilmainham during the summer. The lead singer was a complete a**ehole.

He sang the old stuff off-tempo so the crowd couldn't sing along (like deliberately skipping a few beats, changing the words) and then banged out their sh*te new stuff right on time.

I accept that it's his music and he can do what he likes but still, play to the crowd in fairness. He also took breaks to sit down and overall really pissed the crowd off.

R.D. aka MR.D · 16-10-2015 10:33AM

Saw Paul McCartney in Tokyo in April this year. It was awful. McCartney was great but the crowd just sat there like they were at the cinema and some asshole started trouble cause my OH and I were singing along and having a good time.

I can't imagine what that experience must be like for a musician, absolutely no life in the crowd.

Worst Irish experience was at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in the O2. There were these young lads about 18 or so I would say and one of them grabbed my bum and turned around and shoved him. Then about 5 minutes later he tried to grab my boob. I decked him and then his friends started calling me names because they knew if they tried to touch me they would have gotten some of what he did. I moved away from them and they followed me. That continued until they finally stopped. It was the first time something like that had every happened me at a concert and I've been to plenty. :mad:

Stranger Danger · 16-10-2015 10:39AM

The Electric Picnic.

Probably in 2004-ish.

Left our house in Dublin that morning all excited to get to the festival. We were getting the bus down so headed to the Custom House where the buses were leaving from.

First off, the 'organisation' from Bus Eireann was absolutely pathetic. There appeared to be one guy with a reflective jacket and hoards of people. The busses would arrive one by one at the quays and there was complete anarchy to get on the first few ones. Eventually people managed to sort themselves into some sort of quasi-queue. The busses would arrive up, one by one with long gaps between them and the queue moved at an absolutes snail's pace.

It was over 2 hours before we even got on a bus and then the nightmare continued. Traffic was a joke. This was before the motorway network was built so the traffic along the N7 was absolutely crawling along. The bus was full of young wans getting pissed on cans and alcopops. Every 10 minutes the bus would need to stop for someone to get off and take a piss. There was also a traffic accident coming into the festival and the bus was stuck for about an hour. Some people actually got off and started walking even though we were still some miles away from the venue - I was temped to join them.

We arrived at the festival 7 hours after leaving our house in Dublin, totally frazzled. It was a fcuking lovely day as well and we met up with friends who had driven down who were so chilled out and saying how lovely the day had been. I really just wanted a drink, but of course this being Ireland, that involved a another 40minute queue for the dubious honour of paying €6 for a pint of piss.

At this stage I just wanted to get on a bus and go back home.

I hung around for the rest of the day but my heart wasn't in it. Then I had to repeat the nightmare in reverse when getting the bus back to Dublin.

Badly Drunk Boy · 16-10-2015 10:42AM

Deleted User wrote: »

This year's Electric Picnic. The week leading up to the festival was an extremely shít week for me on a personal level, and I knew deep down that I wasn't in the right frame of mind, but I told myself I had to at least try. "Sure you'll be grand when you get there, it would be a waste to not go" I told myself. I had my loyalty ticket bought months in advance, and yet couldn't find a single friend to go with in that space of time. I told myself being alone wouldn't be that big of a deal (I go to gigs on my own quite often) but in a festival environment, surrounded by so many groups of people laughing and joking and drinking, and already being in a pretty bad place it just proved too much. I arrived on the Friday evening, packed up and left again on the Saturday morning. Huge waste of time and money, and a crushing feeling of disappointment and failure. In previous years Electric Picnic was one of my favourite places in the whole world; now I'm not sure if I could ever face going back again.

The only redeeming part of the whole mess was that I got to see Grace Jones, and enjoyed her set despite my foul mood. Would have been an even more terrible experience if I left without having seen a single act!

This year's Electric Picnic was the worst EP for me (I've been to all of them), but I still enjoyed it. I went on my own too, but not for the first time. Friends have been doing silly stuff like getting married and having kids, and letting it interfere with having fun. What's that all about?!?

I'm not the most outgoing of people but still managed to talk to loads of people there, even though...it was my first festival without having any alcohol!! :eek: That, with the fact I was alone, should have made it terrible but it was still alright.

jaykay74 · 16-10-2015 10:44AM

laserlad2010 wrote: »

Another crap gig was Counting Crows in Kilmainham during the summer. The lead singer was a complete a**ehole.

He sang the old stuff off-tempo so the crowd couldn't sing along (like deliberately skipping a few beats, changing the words) and then banged out their sh*te new stuff right on time.

I accept that it's his music and he can do what he likes but still, play to the crowd in fairness. He also took breaks to sit down and overall really pissed the crowd off.

I was going to say the same thing about the Counting Crows. My experience was a Counting Crows gig 2008 in the Ambassador in Dublin. Exact same thing, old stuff played in weird style. Used to like them but don't listen to them anymore, turned me right off.

stanley1 · 16-10-2015 10:44AM

Peter Green in Abbey st, rotten venue and Peter was well gone.

Badly Drunk Boy · 16-10-2015 10:45AM

Stranger Danger wrote: »

The Electric Picnic.

Probably in 2004-ish.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the first Electric Picnic. I tend not to put it with the rest because it was a one-day affair and the worst organised thing I ever went to. Queues a mile long and thousands of free editions of Hot Press strewn about the place...

ectoraige · 16-10-2015 10:50AM

Neil Young & Crazy Horse at the RDS in 2013, for a group that cares so much about the sound that venue is such a let down. What made it worse though was a large chunk of the crowd didn't seem to realise that a Neil Young & Crazy Horse gig is NOT a Neil Young gig. They are self-indulgent at the best of times which produces some amazing music, but the people who came thinking they'd hear Rockin' in the Free World and a few tracks off of Harvest lost interest. I was really hoping they'd play Walk like a Giant, which they did, but between the low sound, and the morons standing beside me explaining his entire gym workout routine to his date, I really couldn't enjoy it.

Cortez the Killer at the end was amazing though.

ohnonotgmail · 16-10-2015 12:03PM

REM in The Point for the green world tour (91 or 92?) totally going through the motions.

Mike Litoris · 16-10-2015 12:44PM

Manic Street Preachers - Smithfield 2001. Soft sounding gutless cabaret compared to the energy they displayed in the Point 2 years earlier. I left early.

Wichita Lineman · 16-10-2015 01:12PM

Tanita Tikarim at the National Stadium. Sang her album and left. Rubbish gig, lucky I had free tickets.

BMJD · 16-10-2015 01:33PM

Cannibal Corpse in The Mean Fiddler sometime around 97 or so, great gig, most violent moshpit ever, when the alcohol wore off I had a broken nose, jaw and thumb. I'm certain I inflicted plenty more so it's all good.

16-10-2015 02:54PM

The Stone Roses in the Phoenix Park a few years ago. The ground was churned up and boggy with lads openly pissing all over the place. Then some people decided it would be a good idea to wrestle in the pissy mud and throw it around the place.

Bob Dylan in Galway in 2004, I think. It lashed rain and was freezing, sound was woeful. Dylan never said a word to the crowd. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

bnt · 16-10-2015 02:55PM

Muse at Dublin Castle, May 2002. The band was very good, but it was a daytime gig, and so not as atmospheric as e.g. The Point in 2009. That wasn't the problem, however: I was at the front of the second section back, and some guys tried to turn it in to a moshpit. (Never mind that Muse is not a Metal band, and their music sounds better if you actively listen to it.) I got walloped several times, and had girls using me a human shield, unable to get out of the section due to the crowding.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 16-10-2015 02:58PM

Valentina wrote: »

The Stone Roses in the Phoenix Park a few years ago. The ground was churned up and boggy with lads openly pissing all over the place. Then some people decided it would be a good idea to wrestle in the pissy mud and throw it around the place.

Bob Dylan in Galway in 2004, I think. It lashed rain and was freezing, sound was woeful. Dylan never said a word to the crowd. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Were the band themselves any good, how about Brown's voice?

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 16-10-2015 03:34PM

Valentina wrote: »

The Stone Roses in the Phoenix Park a few years ago. The ground was churned up and boggy with lads openly pissing all over the place. Then some people decided it would be a good idea to wrestle in the pissy mud and throw it around the place.

i thought it was alright, wasn't expecting much. if you told 18 year old me i'd see the Stone Roses in my lifetime, i wouldn't have believed ya.

Valentina wrote: »

Bob Dylan in Galway in 2004, I think. It lashed rain and was freezing, sound was woeful. Dylan never said a word to the crowd. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

lol easily the worst gig i ever been at. we all left a few songs in along with a load of people. crowd was geriatrics. as a previous poster said about a Dylan concert, all the wánkers were online in the days after saying we just didn't understand Dylan live.

NachoBusiness · 16-10-2015 03:35PM

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

If you could hear them chatting, the sound quality must have been ****e.

Ah here, that's not true... been at many rock concerts where the sound was exceptional and people can still ruin the bloody thing by chattering beside you and so during an acoustic set it can only be even more of a disturbance. I felt like ending the life of a couple of morons who were jabbering away in the RDS during Springsteen's Racing In The Street. For years it was the song I wanted to hear him perform only for it never to make the setlist. Thankfully some biker in front of us turned around and told them to shut their traps and I could at least enjoy the last half of the song.

Housemartins in the SFX back in '88 or so was the most violent gig I was ever at. I was quite young and was quite shocking to see so much blood. Would still be quite shocking I suppose. People say society is more violent today but I think gigs were much more violent back then. Or maybe it was just venues like the SFX and the Olympic Ballroom which attracted those crowds.

The Quireboys didn't turn up for one gig back in 1990. Back in those days there was no way of letting people know either and so if a gig was cancelled on the day, and they weren't a huge act, you generally found out when you got there. Had a massive impact on my life as a life changing event happened me later that night on the way home. The butterfly effect at work right there.

Yeah, the Bob Dylan a couple of years back was deplorable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqCAFnfqSlE

Was at Billy Joel a few years back and a few arsetits thought it would be a good idea to start videocalling someone in the balcony during Piano Man, and then start jumping up and down when the person in the balcony couldn't pick them out. A few selfies later and they were approached by O2 staff and told to stfu or they would be asked to leave.

Guns n Roses Ax Rose was pretty bad at the O2. After being convinced to come back out, he pretty much just sat beside the drumkit and went through the motions. Total moron but sure we all knew that going in.

lertsnim · 16-10-2015 03:42PM

Another shout for Bob Dylan. It is an awful concert experience but the worst ever for me was the Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Oxegen in 2006. It was so dull. A real paint by numbers type thing. I left after 25 minutes.

crybaby · 16-10-2015 03:58PM

Why in sweet jesus do people STILL keep paying money to see Bob Dylen? There is something just wrong with him making money off people and giving such awful performances in return every single fuppin time.

jamesbere · 16-10-2015 04:07PM

crybaby wrote: »

Why in sweet jesus do people STILL keep paying money to see Bob Dylen? There is something just wrong with him making money off people and giving such awful performances in return every single fuppin time.

Agreed, don't think I've ever heard of anyone who has enjoyed any of his concerts

Mint Sauce · 16-10-2015 04:18PM

sadie06 wrote: »

The one and only time I saw Oasis they were terrible…not talking to each other, bored looking. Supergrass saved the day as their support act.

Old Lansdowne Road? Yes that was pretty dire.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 16-10-2015 04:21PM

I suppose with Dylan people hold him in such reverence that they're prepared to sit there and politely applaud his diabolical performances just for the opportunity of seeing a real life legend. Whereas most other acts would be booed off the stage if they turned in such a display.

16-10-2015 04:31PM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Were the band themselves any good, how about Brown's voice?

I say this as a Roses fan, his voice has gone to sh*t.

Icaras · 16-10-2015 04:39PM

The thrills back in the day in the olimpia I think. They were not thrilling....

pappyodaniel · 16-10-2015 08:39PM

crybaby wrote: »

Why in sweet jesus do people STILL keep paying money to see Bob Dylen? There is something just wrong with him making money off people and giving such awful performances in return every single fuppin time.

Birthday present in my case.

When I opened the envelope I faked a smile and said

"Oh you REALLY SHOULDN'T have"

Worst Concert Experience

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