This oughtta be a good discussion. Local shows or otherwise.

Mine was The Cult around 1994. Ian Astbury could not sing for shit, and the sound at Tingley was horrendous. That guy has an incredible voice, and he is one of the singers I look up to. I was so let down. Exhaustion? Altitude? I don't know what the problem was, but, there he was, his long, black hair and oversized black sunglasses covered in spit from the audience, sucking it up on stage, out of breath and off key, struggling. You know how you feel embarassed for people who are saying or doing something that you know is not up to their regular standard? That's how I felt then, times ten.

In 1995 I was living in San Fransico and my roommate and I were trying to win tickets to Sonic Youth. So we listened to the radio all fucking day, every day, calling in. One day we got home and turned it on just in time to hear, "seventh caller wins." He called and won. I taped it off the radio:
"You are the winner! Two tickets to tonight's show!"
"Yay! Sonic Youth!"
"Uh...no actually...it's No Doubt!"

...

"...Who the fuck is that?"

(that big album had just come out like two days earlier and we actually had heard it at the listening booth in the Virgin store, but I guess had blocked it from our minds)

We went anyway though, because you know, free tickets. And it was only two blocks away and all the cool art school kids** were going someplace already.

The damn bar had a two drink minimum, which in San Fran meant 20$ each. So we had to dodge waitresses all night, sometimes even running. The opening band was actually the worst part. A terrible mix of ska, rap and boy band. Their set list, which we could see from the balcony, actuallly had songs titled, "ska song," "rap song." Like an uglier, younger Sugar Ray. (shudder) Worst, most ill-conceived band ever. I lost respect for all of music. We tried to spit on them, but it didn't reach. The only redeeming part of the show was some dude jumping off the balcony in the set and the crowd moving aside to let him shatter his leg on the floor, and the security guys still beat him up. Oh, and also, I totally wanted to fuck Gwen Stefani. No luck though. I hope I didn't offend all you No Doubt fans. ..Nah, I don't really care. They sucked real bad then.

In retrospect, I don't know why we didn't fucking leave. I guess we had nothing else to do.
We got to see Sonic youth two weeks later with The Amps and Bikini Kill and they kicked ass.

**cool art school kids means junkies and girls who make their own clothes and are easy.

Dave Matthews Band in Miami FL around 2002. This was the first show on the tour, so maybe they just didnt have the momentum built up. Dave Matthews just had no mojo that night, he was either way depressed, on the wrong drugs, or just pissed that he had to perform- all this kind of projected a big void in the music. I had heard a lot of their live stuff and this particular show was below par.

The Strokes in Albq. was the worst show ever saw. The singer was so plastered he almost fell on his face. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for me his roadies caught him right before his faceplant. Longwave opened up and they were awesome. i spent the night throwing ice at julian and booing his ass off at the same time wondering why all the braindead jerkoffs in the audience loved it so much.

The Replacements, 1990 (I think), on tour with Tom Petty for the 'Full Moon Fever' album. Nashville.

Paul Westenburg (uh, SP?) comes out in a skirt holding an almost empty bottle of Jack. First clue...mutters something indistinguishable and the first song begins. One measure later and you see the drummers sticks fly off into the audience. The song stops. Confusion sets in and the rednecks of Nashville are gettin' pissed. Paul now has a full bottle of Jack after chugging down the last one. Same song starts again, sticks fly off into the audience and Paul sits down on stage. Booing and Hollering ensues. Paul tell the audience to get fucked and that's all folks.

Tom Petty comes on, makes a joke about the Replacements and a brief commentary on the environment (he doesn't use styrofoam cups, or Exxon gas....circa Valdeze spill)

I got another one.
I saw Babes In Toyland in '95 at a "free" outdoor show. "Free" meant we had to endure 1 hour of Dockers commercials projected against a building. People started to get restless and trash the place. Also, it turns out I didn't really like the band. At one point the drummer caught her stick in her shirt strap and her boobs came popping out and they wrapped it up pretty quick. I watched maybe twice as much Docker commercials as band. I mean, Dockers? come on!

at least Dokken didnt play

Yeah, but I did get to see 38 Special at the North Dakota State Fair in '86!

Even at 10 years old I knew it was bullshit.

Sitting in a booth at the Atomic about 2 years ago with Jim and Dandee (possibly one or both of their wives) and my girlfriend:

Art noise band from California, or some such shit. Every one in the booth had their hands pressed tightly against their ears at some point. That was the LOUDEST, most OBNOXIOUS noise I've ever heard. Pretty sure that everyone in the bar suffered permanent reproductive damage.

quote:

Originally posted by hot t:
at least Dokken didnt play

Ahhhh. You would have to bring that up. I totally forgot that I saw Dokken a few years ago with Cinderella and Poison. Don Dokken couldn't sing to save his life, and George Lynch was not in attendance. Fucking awful. Also, Poison sucked dead donkey ass. For anyone that wnats to know, C.C. DeVille cannot play to save his life.

Cinderella kicked ass, though.

Johnny Winter, 1994, Knoxville, TN. It was my first concert (I was 14 and my dad took me, OK). He couldn't play for shit, but his auidence was too drunk to know. He can't really see, and I think he was on a bunch of opiate based drugs, and he would meander across the stage until he hit a peice of wood taped to the edge of the stage, and would then back off. It was like watching the slowest train wreck. Some biker chick in front of me was pulling up her skirt the whole time, and a guy infront of me dropped a beer, it rolled back towards me, and when I tried to hand it to him, he told me to keep it. I haven't liked white boy blues since that day.