Most disappointing concerts attended!

[Rural]

I don't know about "disappointing" but went to Blood Sweat and Tears at Masonic Temple in Davenport.

There were about thirty people in attendance and David Clayton Thomas was pizzed.

The guys who promoted it had abscounded to Mexico with the cash.

Thomas said, "Somebody go get some beer and everybody come down and sit in the front row".

They played for about a hour and a half- for thirty people.

 

[Buster28]

Wrong. I was there. That was Jeff Scott Soto, and even at the end of the show he wore an ISU football jersey, maybe Bret Meyer.
He was their lead singer (at the time).

I was also there. Soto was the 'backup' lead vocalist, not their regular one. Steve Augeri was supposed to be doing lead vocals on that tour, but was sick at the time they were at Hilton. Soto was capable and energetic enough, but I couldn't help feeling like I was watching a cover band doing Journey songs. At least Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain were there.

Here's a review of that show which describes the Journey situation that night: http://defleppard.snaggledworks.com/archive/reviews/desmoinesregister.2006-09-08.txt

I wouldn't qualify that as the worst show I've seen, but it wasn't great by any stretch. I guess I've been fortunate that I haven't had any truly bad concert experiences.

 

[Angie]

I saw Tenacious D in the Quad Cities sometime around 2003. It wasn't a bad show, but it was disappointing in that it wasn't as awesome as I wanted it to be.

I haven't been to a ton of bad concerts. Bon Jovi on the Slippery When Wet tour at the Iowa Jam - even at 8 or so, I knew it was bad. I love Dylan, but he is terrible in concert.

 

[NorthCyd]

Tom Petty in the late 90's at Hilton. It wasn't a bad concert, but just really wasn't much of a show. A little too chill for my tastes. The show wasn't herbally enhanced for me, although I do think I got a bit of a contact high. Those who were having the enhanced experience seemed to be enjoying the concert more. I tend to like rock and metal acts better because they usually to try and put on more of a show.

 

[burn587]

Neil Young and Crazy Horse at Red Rocks in 2012. Not a bad show per say, but I was under the impression that it was more of a Neil Young show and not a Crazy Horse show. They played like two songs I recognized and the rest was Crazy Horses stuff without Neil. There also was like a 20 minute song that the last 5 minutes was just reverb. The Alabama Shakes opened and were very good though.

 

[ISpyCy]

Nicki Minaj. Never been, but I don't need to go to know that would be disappointing.

 

[ClonesTwentyOne]

Vince Niel in like 2007 at water works park. His voice is just shot.

 

[jburke]

Everclear a the RAGBRAI 2 years ago on the Court Ave bridge..... Metallica in Minneapolis 2001....

 

[greatshu]

New Kids on the Block couple months ago in KC. Talk about old dudes trying to be hip and young. When they displayed "change cam" in the jumbotron, I pretty much died from laughing out loud.

Their opener Nelly was really good though

 

[Al_4_State]

I wouldn't necessarily call it "disappointing", but I'm a big Jason Isbell fan since his days in Drive-By Truckers. When I saw him last year in Minneapolis, he basically played note-for-note replications of his studio tracks, and never really improvised or shredded much on his guitar (and the guy can really play). It was powerful, and competent but it kind of lacked that ragged glory/energy of a great rock and roll show, and I know the guy is more than capable of that sort of performance. His playing in the Twin Cities or DSM is no longer in the "must see" category it once was for me.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

New Kids on the Block couple months ago in KC. Talk about old dudes trying to be hip and young. When they displayed "change cam" in the jumbotron, I pretty much died from laughing out loud.

Their opener Nelly was really good though

Just so you know, you just admitted to going to a New Kids on the Block concert.

 

[madguy30]

Everclear a the RAGBRAI 2 years ago on the Court Ave bridge..... Metallica in Minneapolis 2001....

Everclear was one of my first shows...they were bad.

I'm not sure if it was disappointing, but I got a free ticket to one of those Top 40 Country acts...Little Big Country, I think, and even though it's obvious how little effort those acts put out in general, it was more so in how bored they were with their routines. It felt like a Simpsons episode or something.

Built to Spill was disappointing...sounded great but they just sort of stood there.

Justin Townes Earle was also disappointing 3 years ago. Adding a full band took away a lot of what made him great.

 

[madguy30]

I wouldn't necessarily call it "disappointing", but I'm a big Jason Isbell fan since his days in Drive-By Truckers. When I saw him last year in Minneapolis, he basically played note-for-note replications of his studio tracks, and never really improvised or shredded much on his guitar (and the guy can really play). It was powerful, and competent but it kind of lacked that ragged glory/energy of a great rock and roll show, and I know the guy is more than capable of that sort of performance. His playing in the Twin Cities or DSM is no longer in the "must see" category it once was for me.

You summed this up perfectly for me on Isbell. Used to see him in '07 just after leaving the Truckers and saw him a few times after. January of 2014 I think is when I saw him and he'd lost his edge...good for him for staying sober but he definitely kept things compact. I also think he used to do more with less band mates 5-6 years ago.

 

[MeanDean]

Another bad one was Blondie at the Five Seasons in Cedar Rapids. Ca 1982. They were about to break up and they were pretty ragged.

Opening act was Duran Duran - they were just starting to break on to the scene, but I am not a fan of their music AT ALL, then or after.

 

[jburke]

Everclear was one of my first shows...they were bad.

I'm not sure if it was disappointing, but I got a free ticket to one of those Top 40 Country acts...Little Big Country, I think, and even though it's obvious how little effort those acts put out in general, it was more so in how bored they were with their routines. It felt like a Simpsons episode or something.

Built to Spill was disappointing...sounded great but they just sort of stood there.

Justin Townes Earle was also disappointing 3 years ago. Adding a full band took away a lot of what made him great.

This is disappointing, was looking forward to seeing him at the end of the month at Hinterland....

 

[Walden4Prez]

Don't remember the year now, but likely 2006ish?

Anyhow...my buddy was getting married and we put together an impromptu bachelor party for him. Jani Lane (of Warrant fame) was playing at Keysters...a live music venue in Urbandale on 100th street. My buddy was a big Warrant fan in the day so we thought it would be fun.

Well....we get there and the band is ready to go on, but no Jani Lane. They can't find him anywhere. Long story short, he was passed out at the hotel they were staying at. The one next to The Machine Shed restaurant.

They finally get him there and the show starts. He literally sings like 2 words to the first song and then does the "hang the mic down to the crowd so they can sing" thing. A bunch of frumpy old chicks end up singing the next 3 songs. Then he just jumps off the stage and goes to the green room.

His band is standing there not knowing what to do, so they just start playing covers of other bands and killing it.

Found out later Jani was in the back room the rest of the night drinking, doing who knows what other drugs with various members of the crowd.

Like 5 years later he was dead. I think he sobered up there in the middle for a while when he was on a MTV show or something.

 

[thrillcat]

You beat me to this by like 20 minutes. And you left out the part where they sent me to go pick him up at the hotel. I took the band back to Keysters, then went back to get Jani. He got in the truck, wasted, and introduced himself. "I know who the **** you are, Jani." We laughed. I told him it was my bachelor party, he told me it was his divorce party. He shared some stories, we got to the bar, and I was drunk enough that I went and got him a martini before he went onstage.

But hey, that night was a helluva lot better than that marriage! HEYOH!

Don't remember the year now, but likely 2006ish?

Anyhow...my buddy was getting married and we put together an impromptu bachelor party for him. Jani Lane (of Warrant fame) was playing at Keysters...a live music venue in Urbandale on 100th street. My buddy was a big Warrant fan in the day so we thought it would be fun.

Well....we get there and the band is ready to go on, but no Jani Lane. They can't find him anywhere. Long story short, he was passed out at the hotel they were staying at. The one next to The Machine Shed restaurant.

They finally get him there and the show starts. He literally sings like 2 words to the first song and then does the "hang the mic down to the crowd so they can sing" thing. A bunch of frumpy old chicks end up singing the next 3 songs. Then he just jumps off the stage and goes to the green room.

His band is standing there not knowing what to do, so they just start playing covers of other bands and killing it.

Found out later Jani was in the back room the rest of the night drinking, doing who knows what other drugs with various members of the crowd.

Like 5 years later he was dead. I think he sobered up there in the middle for a while when he was on a MTV show or something.

 

[madguy30]

This is disappointing, was looking forward to seeing him at the end of the month at Hinterland....

Look up his performances from 2009-2011, and then now, and see which you like. He'll probably play some stuff solo, which is always good, but I thought a backing band with a drummer/lead guitar muddled things.

 

[InAWord]

As I mentioned in another thread, Tool during the Lateralus tour in Cedar Rapids was the worst show I've seen. Nothing like Maynard starting the show by berating the fans for not liking the crappy opening band. It only went downhill from there.

 

[sdillon500]

It's a tie for most disappointing for me, for completely different reasons.

1a) Sun Kil Moon at... anytime I've seen them, really. Love the albums, and Mark Kozalek definitely has talent, but he is a straight up *******. Just nothing but contempt for the audience and other bands. Just a **** onstage, like he's doing us a favor by gracing us with his presence. And the show just draaaaaags. Way too many of his sad-bastard songs

1b) Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti at Bimbo's in SF in 2010. Right after he released "Before Today," which I loved. Label got him this badass touring band of great LA studio musicians to support the album, and he's playing this excellent retro venue in North Beach. This show is gonna be amazing! Or so I thought...

Band comes out, starts playing the opener. And the intro goes on for a minute. Then two minutes. Then three minutes. Ariel is nowhere to be seen. The band is shooting each other glances, like, "Do we just keep playing the intro, or...? This is going on for a LONG time."

Finally Ariel stumbles out from behind a speaker, eating a bag of Doritos. Takes him awhile to find the mic. Clearly wasted on some combination of booze/pills/possibly something intravenous. Starts singing. Forgets the words. Eats more Doritos. Starts screaming. Decides show would be better if he laid down. Just a mess from start to finish. It was the only show I've seen where I felt it was completely justified to whip a bottle at the singer's head.