The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => The Bar => Topic started by: The Corsair on May 01, 2012, 12:43:16 PM
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So I was reflecting on some of the live shows I've been to and found myself trying to figure out which was the worst and, more importantly, why.
I decided on the Kids In Glass Houses set I saw at Soundwave earlier this year. They played everything wonderfully and it sounded great. They put on a decent show too, despite the tiny crowd at their set, so what was it?
I realised it was the songs they played. Now of course they can't know exactly what I want to hear and even hen they're not obliged to form their set around my opinion but generally fans have a series of favourites off an album they'd like to hear. They played maybe one or two of the songs I personally enjoy and the rest were the tracks that I'd put down as being 'filler' on their respective albums. Frankly I was baffled and disappointed, especially when every other band I've seen (even ones with smaller shows like them) have had a good finger on the pulse of the fans and know exactly what they want to hear.
So I throw the question to you, what was the worst live show you saw and why?
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Swerve Driver at the Top Rank in Brighton. It was like a kid had just discovered a wah wah pedal... and the songs were so weak and badly performed. They were supporting The Fall and when the lead singer went off stage Mark 'E' tripped him up and went to the mike and said, 'Well, weren't they shit!', to a big applause. This was ages ago in the early 90's i think, but they stuck in my mind as being one of the few bands that was painful to listen to.
The Fall were brilliant though :D
Also PJ Harvey at the Metronome in Folkestone on her 'Dry' Album. Half an Hour of brilliance and then they stopped and that was it. Apparently the drummer hurt his wrist, pissed me off though, she could of still continued without him. Also saw The Manic Street Preachers at the Metronome when they first started, they were brilliant, loads of energy. The Metronome didn't last long, they had these great bands playing and they didn't advertise.
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Also PJ Harvey at the Metronome in Folkestone on her 'Dry' Album. Half an Hour of brilliance and then they stopped and that was it. Apparently the drummer hurt his wrist
actually, that reminds me of when I saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They played almost a full set then suddenly Anthony Kiedis just walked off, leaving his band to jam aimlessly for about 10 minutes. All in all we missed out on maybe 15 minutes of show and, like I said, 10 of those minutes were filled with a very interesting freestyle jam (interesting because their whole creative process is based around such jams) but it was still a bit of a let down to not have a proper finish. Apparently Anthony wasn't 'feeling it' that night, but still I think it's pretty poor to leave the fans hanging like that, especially given that it was literally the last show of the tour.
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LCD Soundsystem at Alexander Palace.
To be fair I went to see Hot Chip, the double headliners. I didn't know anything from LCD SS. I turned up to the gig at 8pm and Hot Chip were finishing! No one said it was an early start! The tickets were free so didn't complain.
LCD SS came on, and my god does their lead singer need work. Every note flat. It was painful. Even over the stupidly loud volume. I left after 3 songs. Each of them seemed about 8 minutes long.
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Dare i say it.....Rolling Stones at wembley about 1980ish .
They were crap !!! playing was awful and singing was awful , maybe i expected too much from the then biggest rock group in the world ;D
i even rode my yamaha FS1E all the way up there from southampton , those were the days.
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Oh man - this is a tough one. But there are three contenders for the crown...
I can't even remember the name of the festival, but it was summer 1997 in Brighton. A mate of mine was working there and smuggled me and a friend in the back of his van :D
Anyway, I tried to catch a little of everything to see what took my fancy. Offenders number one were Kinickie - remember them? (Lauren Laverne was the singer, and now she's a TV presenter) They were utter shite, and that's being generous. So I wandered off to see what else was happening. Stumbled upon Korn.
Now, you all probably know I don't like metal, but when I was 14-15 I LOVED it - so I know when it's good and when it ain't. Thus I am able to say with confidence that BAGPIPE SOLOS DO NOT BELONG ON METAL SONGS!!! 'nuff said there. Plus, they were sooooooo boooooorrrriiiinnngg...
But maybe the wearers of the crown were a little known all-female punk outfit (same year, saw them in Brighton) called Tampasm. Talk about giving women musicians a bad name, they couldn't play or sing a note, and to top it all, they tripped the venue volume meter and got turned off half way through their set :D Priceless. Needless to say I didn't stay to find out what happened next.
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For me, it will have to be Black Eyed Peas at Werchter (fest) in 2009. They were horrible! Sound was bad, singing was awfull, staging was shite. Everything was wrong really.
Though I have to add that Kate Nash last year at Cactus Fest was a close contender.
And Peter Doherty last month. He was totally drunk and high, just mumbling on stage, forgetting his own lyrics and barely able to hold - let alone play - his guitar...
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The worst i saw was faithless at the pavillions in plymouth, or m people at the same place!! long time ago... sound system and/or acoustics were rubbish, really poor venue for gigs. shame cos you could see faithless wouldve been bonkers with better sound.
The best was chase and status about 3 years ago at the hippo in plymouth.. small sweaty little backstreet venue, absolutely rammed, herbal aromas out the back and plan b joining them before that soul album went massive.great stuff.
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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds at Glastonbury 2009. I should have taken a pillow. Bland, dreery rubbish. Nobody cared, nobody was bothered, and they didn't attempt to change that situation. Dire.
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Most bands i`ve ever seen have been good as i remember....but i walked out half way through a YES concert, cos they just bored me....Lou reed last yr at the hopfarm festival wasn`t very good, although good to see the great man.....they`ve got Bob dylan there again this yr and he wasn`t too good in 2010,,and i was hoping to be there for him,,,so don`t know.
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Bob Dylan is one of those acts that he's going to be great or very bad. When i saw him he was appalling... he was playing keyboard and he just wasn't into it. He was throwing stuff out and you could tell even the band were lost as to what he was doing.
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Yes Bob Dylan - 1977 ish Earls Court I walked out after four songs.
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I played an open mic night a couple weeks back
Was trundelling through Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, but I'd had a wee bit to much of the dutch courage, 'cos by the third verse I'd completely forgot the chord pattern, even though I'd played it twice through already :-\
After a bit of fumbling I picked my pint up, downed it, and said "Fuck it, that's all I got"
Everyone laughed and clapped anyway which was cool :) But felt like such a prick hahaha
Moral of that story, only play in pubs with terrible beer on draught
Peter