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Gigs You Regret Attending.

Seeker_UK said:
Megadeth, Birmingham '92. Went because a girl I fancied was going. Pantera were supporting and were OK but Megadeth were f**king awful. That cost me a fortune in tickets and I didn't even get a snog. o_O
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I'm no thrash metal fan, but have been to see both Slayer and Anthrax and they both put on a good show and were great fun. Megadeth, by comparison, were a lifeless and rather grumpy spectacle.
 
Floyd at Newcastle city hall when they were using some surround system; might have sounded great somewhere but the pub beckoned after a couple of tracks.

Michael Jackson at the old Wembley was truly dire, we were in the middle but it could have been anyone on stage, sound was hopeless and the fan i was accompanying was short she so wanted to spend the day sitting on my shoulders.

Loudest was Faust at Chelmsford City Hall, still a bit deaf from that.

They'd obviously been playing the Ondes too loud again before i heard Turangalila at the Barbican: speakers were knackered and distorting badly. Rest of it was great.

Hawkwind at Edmonton was good for me but i was smoking Capstan at the time and my mate used a couple for a herbal smoke; he spent the night throwing up in the bogs.

We'd already been stopped by the police on the way there, no idea how i got the car and us home.
 
molee said:
Cor, you're a bit of a bolshevik. I'll bet you made a powerful enemy there (BIG mistake).
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Hey a gig is a gig ... and depending which band you are going to see the ratio of coffin dodgers vs young people might even be lower these days at the classical concert ... :D
 
AC/DC Wembley July 2015 - crap sound, rip off.

Really regret not selling ticket for a couple of hundred and walking off to find a pub with a decent jukebox.
 
guydarryl said:
AC/DC Wembley July 2015 - crap sound, rip off.

Really regret not selling ticket for a couple of hundred and walking off to find a pub with a decent jukebox.
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Had i known you were going i'd have given you my box set; mostly crap but only £10.99.

Would have given me some space and saved you a couple of hours.
 
Worst sound at a gig was The Divine Comedy at the RAH - would have been maybe ten years ago? Appalling, and despite protestations from many people there
nothing was done about it.

Most frustrating gig was seeing the late, great Terry Callier in Brighton. He was sparkling - just sublime - but it was ruined by the 'too cool for school' Brightonians who talked, loudly, all the way through. Until my mightily pissed off girlfriend intervened...
 
Angelic Upstarts, Cambridge 83 ish..punks and skins fighting inside and out before the support came on. Probably pretty standard for the time. Didn't stick around.
 
I'm thinking of three.

1. Floyd at Doncaster Top Rank around 1970. I had no money for drinks etc., but there were none to be had as I recall... So I and the lovely Sue sat there almost dead from dehydration.. exacerbated by just the merest hint of 'certain substances' inhaled before entry. Audience bored shitless because Floyd were very late onstage. Aggressive venue staff. All were seated on the floor waiting but anyone who even appeared to be 'nodding off' was immediately and violently ejected. A disaster of a 'concert'. The after concert entertainment back at Sue's was much better.. :)

2. 1996. Ray Charles and Van Morrison at the Manchester whatever.. I think it was called the Nynex back then. Concert just didn't 'gel'. No interaction whatever between Ray and Van.. totally separate acts. Ray was no more than OK.. I saw him better around 1963 in Nottm. Main issue though was we were seated immediately in front of a 'Hospitality Booth' for which, read : 'A load of pricks who haven't paid to be there and aren't interested in the music'. A number of people approached them and politely asked them to be quiet if not interested in the music as they were disturbing people who had actually paid to be there. I too asked politely. I then told some twat that if he didn't shut up or leave I'd be over the glass partition between us and shut him up. That really isn't like me. I'm a peaceable sort normally. Still the idiot would not shut up and I approached management demanding that they shut him up. He demanded my 'ejection' from the premises. etc., Things eventally calmed down with the continuing presence of 'Stewards', but they were clearly unwilling to 'discipline' the 'corporate' lot causing all the trouble.
Next day.. I had a major Heart Attack..
It doesn't pay to get excited.. even if you are right.

3. Jon Anderson at Bridgewater Hall Manchester around 2006.
A friend had a spare ticket and wouldn't take pay for it. I went along with him and his wife.
Biggest load of pretentious pseudo 'New Age' bollox I've ever heard. Not just conceptually awful.. but musically weak. I was of course travelling with neighbour and also aware that he was 'doing me a favour'.. so all I could do was grin and bear it.
Torture..
 
Head Furthest Up Own Arse Award:

Incredible String Band, Music Hall, Aberdeen, 1972.

Fronted by Malcolm LeMaistre, prancing about in a pair of black tights while expressing his general ****ery via dance, mime and rudimentary multi-media. Riding a wooden hobbyhorse at one point if memory serves.

Excruciating.


Worst Sound Quality:

Counting Crows, Clyde Auditorium (The Armadillo), Glasgow. c1997. (Long renowned as a musical abbatoir).

We knew it was going to be horrendous going down the hallway toward the death chamber. Support act sounded like they were playing underwater.

Hoped for the best, thought they might not had time for a decent soundcheck.

Counting Crows probably weren't technically any worse, just twice as loud, which didn't help.

I swear you could practically see the waves of excess bass rolling down the aisles.
 
Shurley, shmurley. This lot ain't gentlemen, they just lack the requisite minerals to ask. Believe you me, the collective imagination is running riot. Early Floyd gig? Hot date? C'mon.
 
dweezil said:
i was smoking Capstan at the time and my mate used a couple for a herbal smoke; he spent the night throwing up in the bogs.

We'd already been stopped by the police on the way there, no idea how i got the car and us home.
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You're a class act Dweezil, and as for your mate.....
 
Drove from Cardiff to Brighton to see Deerhunter in a church. Might have been amazing but it sounded nuts and we left after four songs and went to the pub.
 
Desmond Dekker at (I think) st George Robey in Finsbury.
He was so wasted he had to be carried on stage. Never seen so much gurning. Still carried a tune though.
How he managed to get through it I’ll never know.
 
molee said:
2) Swans at Town and Country Club, London 1986 or 7. Having gone on a pre-gig bender at several of north London's seemier palaces dedicated to the worship and consumption of alcoholic beverages we rolled up at the T&C to experience the most nauseating, disturbing and unpleasant set of sounds imaginable by anyone who has never been an inmate at Broadmoor. Each note, chord and passage was eloquently crafted to induce vomit and any number of equally horrendous bodily discharges.
As if this visitation of hell was not enough, on the way home after two nightbuses that took us only vaguely in the general direction of our ultimate destination, me and mate were stopped by the police to be searched for (non-existent) drugs. I co-operated quietly just wanting to get off home, (we were, after all, merely spitting distance by this stage) my mate? No, he demanded (loudly) his 'rights', officers' warrant cards and serial numbers etc and, thus, the fun really started.
.
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I think I was at this one if it was the same SWANS T&C gig which ended with the Police pulling the plug!

It really was demented loud...my face felt numb afterwards:eek:
 
I have no idea, I was completely and utterly banjaxed before the gig started. It wasn't just a quantity thing though. Even without the sheer decibelage, the sound produced was seriously disturbing.
 
St. Etienne, Mountford Hall, University of Liverpool, 1992. I was really looking forward to hearing them play.

The first song started and it took all of three seconds to realise that the singer was miming. Lame, lazy and deceitful.

****ing gutted, but the night was thankfully saved by Strawberries, for those in the know.
 
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