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Thread: Concert Disappointment

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Concert Disappointment

    I did a search on the site for info on the Apollo interface and came across, for some reason, a post refin made 9 years ago about seeing BB King, who told long stories during the show. BB was 85 then and lived another 3 years. That's really old to be on stage. Bless him that he tried. I'm amazed the show wasn't worse. I"m not being agist; I know old folks pretty well, and it was fantastic that he could still get on stage, but he was past it.

    https://www.thefenderforum.com/forum...ghlight=apollo

    So that got me to thinking: What's the biggest disappointment you've had at a performance? Conversely, what performer or group surprisingly won you over?

    I liked Journey, not a huge fan, but liked their Infinity album when I was a teen and went to see them twice willingly / 3rd time against my wishes (hot gf). The first time I saw them, their vocals were so off key that I couldn't enjoy the show. A year later, I went to see them again, thinking maybe they'd had an off night. Nope, same thing. 4 years later, my gf wanted to see them, so I went. Vocals were even worse.

    Their opening acts always blew them off the stage. The biggest surprise and what made me into a fan was Bryan Adams. "Cuts Like a Knife" was a rising hit. People were just starting to know him. His band was so tight, and the vocals were spot on.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Forum Member Laker's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    I think my most disappointing concert was the Eric Clapton “From the Cradle” tour. The opening act was Jimmy Vaughn and whoever ran sound for him made his group and him sound very poorly mixed. When Clapton took the stage it was like listening to the CD playing...perfect. One of the funniest was when my group opened for George Thorogood and I was told he didn’t want to go on when we were finished; we were too good.

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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    In 1975 I was trying to connect with a girl who I found out was crazy about Gordon Lightfoot and his newest hit "Sundown."
    I immediately got tickets to see him at "Melodyland" in Anaheim.
    The show was a disaster. Gordon stumbled onto stage so drunk he could hardly function. Tried to get through a few songs but couldn't finish them. Managed to get through "Sundown." A few more failed attempts and he went back and did "Sundown" again. And then stumbled off.
    I never saw her again......Thanks Gordon

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    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    My biggest concert disappointments were-

    Nazareth in the early '80s. They were horrible! Biggest line for the bathroom I've ever seen while a band was playing. Billy Squier was great that night.

    The Robert Cray Band in a big auditorium. I had recently seen him in a small club and he was fantastic! His music just didn't work in the big auditorium.

    Eric Clapton some time in the '90s. It was toward the end of a tour and he sounded tired.

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    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    my biggest disappointment had to be The Cars. It was just about the most dispirited attempt by a group I've ever seen. I wonder if they lost a drinking game before the show, because that was when I saw Cheap Trick. The Cars probably knew what was going to happen. It was CT's first show ever in Boston, just before they came out with their first hit. I had never even heard of them. So in a way, it was one of the worst shows and one of the best shows I ever saw, on the same stage on the same day.

    That said, there was a band at one of my high school's dances that was pretty bad. The guitarist thought he was some sort of reincarnation of Hendrix or doppleganger of Frank Marino, or something. Let's just say bravado doesn't work if you don't back it up. I was ranting so much about how bad he was that my mom, who picked me up afterwards, had to tell me to shut up.
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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    I was lucky to see Clapton in top form on the Reptile tour. Köln / Cologne. He didn't dial it in, and he was having a blast.

    I saw him in 78, and he was drunk and red-faced. I was so happy to see him, and I think he played well. But he was so much better when I saw him in Germany.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    Not this past summer, obviously, but every other summer, the Ohio State Fair has at least one night of a double- or triple-bill with some big names from the Classic Rock era. I've seen some great shows from aging rockers, for very little money. It's been great overall.

    I also happened to see two bad ones there. Cheap Trick, about four years ago, wasn't stellar. Robin Zander can still sing like crazy, and the bass & drums were fine, but Rick Nielsen was flat-out terrible. I felt bad, because it seemed like he was dealing with some major arthritis or other hand/arm pain, but he couldn't hit a note to save his life, yet still delayed each song by several minutes to do his "signature" guitar change for every single song. It was self-indulgent and lame.

    Far worse was Yes, maybe three summers ago. I was huge Yes fan, and, of course, there is plenty to argue about since there are two different versions of the band, one with Jon Anderson on lead vocals, featuring members from mostly the later era (Trevor Rabin, etc.), and the other band, who is actually allowed to use the name "Yes," with Steve Howe, one or two other former band members, and a completely new singer covering all of Jon Anderson's parts. This was that Howe-Yes, and, when I saw them, their usual drummer had just fallen ill, so they hired a guy whose first show with them was the night I saw them. He had sheet music for all the songs on an iPad next to his drum kit, and he was sight-reading the entire gig... and... NOT doing it well. To be fair, with their constantly shifting time signatures, tempo-changes, and various "movements" within each of their very long songs, it had to have sucked for that poor drummer. But, man, they were so, so bad. And the singer is definitely no Jon Anderson.

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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    I've been lucky to get to a lot of great shows over the years, and a few dissappointments. I saw BB King in about 1999. He did tell stories, but he played quite a lot. My parents saw him a few years later and said he'd progressed to near the OP's experience.
    One of my dissappointments was Aerosmith. I've seen them over a dozen times going back to the early 90's, and in general they get better and better every time I see them (helped by going to the bathroom or taking a breather during Don't Want to Miss a Thing.)
    However there was one show maybe 8 or 9 years ago that was a severe downer - they were phoning it in that night - it was in Boston, at the Garden, where I've een them before and they usually bring it harder than usual, but this was an off night - maybe they were up too late at home the night before, or too much going on during the day, I don't know. But I saw them a year or two later and they made up for it in spades.
    I;ve also seen a lot of bands blow the headliner off the stage - too many to list on that one.
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    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    Hmm, disappointing concerts, not just bad concerts, is that it? I've seen plenty of bad acts, but I had no frame of reference on which to have any expectations. So, if disappointing is the operative term, I can say I went to one concert that had the most disappointing as well as the most surprising acts. On January 26, 1969, I went to the Alexandria Roller Rink (a venue that substituted as a concert auditorium when it wasn't a roller skating rink) and saw Spirit and Blood, Sweat and Tears in concert. BS&T was the headliner; I had never heard of Spirit until then.

    Spirit put on such an awesome show that everybody in the audience was blown away. David Clayton-Thomas of BS&T was off-key and struck me as a dribbling, gushing goon. The band had just released their second album with a new lineup from the one Al Kooper had created, and was on their way to huge commercial success. "You've Made Me So Very Happy" is probably still the song the group is best remembered for.

    However, on that night they stunk.

    Spirit, on the other hand, stepped up as the opening act, and even their stage presence was a show. As the audience settled into their places on the floor, all that was seen on the stage were amps, guitars, and a double-bass drum kit. Out of the shadows strode an older, bald guy dressed in black and wearing shades. He didn't look at the audience, but merely sat down at the drums, tightening and adjusting. You could hear a murmur going through the crowd (this was the day of long-hairs, and an old, bald guy didn't bode well). Then, the rest of the band took the stage -- long hair, bell bottoms and "freak" attire, and the audience breathed a sigh of relief. Again, no eye contact with the audience; the band members took their instruments and seemed to just stand there, as if stoned.

    We (the audience) became aware of a high-pitched tone, seemingly emanating from the ether. Eyes looked around for the source, but none was seen. All of a sudden, Randy California, the lead guitar player, looked right into the audience, slid his hand down the neck of his guitar from bridge-to-nut, and the sound we'd heard turned into the opening notes of "It's All the Same," from their recently-released second album.

    Both bands had two albums from which to draw material, but Spirit pulled it all together and made it a rock-n-roll delight. BS&T seemed to be just mailing it in. Except for Clayton-Thomas, who should have been sued for overacting.
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    Forum Member dirtdog's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    Steve Vai on the Experience Hendrix tour about 10 years ago. I’m not a Vai fan at all, but I had high expectations. His playing that night was just over-effected, high gain mush. He can’t jam the blues to save his life. Didn’t help that he shared the stage that night with Vernon Reid, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Brad Whitford...all of whom can jam! Drummer was Whipper Layton. I don’t think Vai knew what to do with a shuffle.

    I’ve heard that more than once about The Cars but I’ve never seen them first hand. My most dispirited concert was the Steve Miller Band in 1992. Good playing but very little showmanship for a large outdoor stage setting. Snooze! Incidentally, SMB opened that night for Bryan Adams. THAT was a killer show.

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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post

    So that got me to thinking: What's the biggest disappointment you've had at a performance? Conversely, what performer or group surprisingly won you over?

    I liked Journey, not a huge fan, but liked their Infinity album when I was a teen and went to see them twice willingly / 3rd time against my wishes (hot gf). The first time I saw them, their vocals were so off key that I couldn't enjoy the show. A year later, I went to see them again, thinking maybe they'd had an off night. Nope, same thing. 4 years later, my gf wanted to see them, so I went. Vocals were even worse.

    Their opening acts always blew them off the stage.
    Sounds to me like you couldn't stop believin'

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    Quote Originally Posted by Toast View Post
    Sounds to me like you couldn't stop believin'
    Shoot, I stopped believing in them from the first song I heard them sing.

    I wasn't a small town boy, never saw a wheel in the sky, don't have open arms, don't care how you want it, never love, touch or squeeze.

    Don't get me started on Bon Jovi.

    :)
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

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    Forum Member OldStrummer's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post
    Shoot, I stopped believing in them from the first song I heard them sing.

    I wasn't a small town boy, never saw a wheel in the sky, don't have open arms, don't care how you want it, never love, touch or squeeze.

    Don't get me started on Bon Jovi.

    :)
    Journey was my late ex-wife's favorite band. We started dating after she learned I was in San Francisco attending an Oracle show and Journey was one of the evening's entertainment (the other bands were Cheap Trick and REO Speedwagon -- Oracle knows how to put on a show!). To say I was underwhelmed is an understatement.

    We saw the band a few times after, and the Steve Perry-wannabes just weren't up to the task. In fact, at one show, the replacement got sick and they had to call in a replacement for him. Credit to him that at least he knew the lyrics...
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    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: Concert Disappointment

    My two biggest disappointments both revolved around Marc Cohn. He’s one of my favorite performers and songwriters and I’ve seen, and enjoyed, his shows numerous times. In two cases, the results were not so great. Neither was his fault and his performances were both spectacular, but…

    The first one was when he toured with Mary Chapin Carpenter – another of my favorite performers (I’ve seen her in a few shows too). In this case, I figured together they would knock it out of the park. Unfortunately, it was the last show of their tour, and while Marc was great, MCC phoned it in. She just wasn’t engaged in the show and left me really disappointed.

    The second show was when my friend Jeff Pevar was playing guitar for Marc in a show at Infinity Music Hall in Northwestern Connecticut. It was a Thursday night and I had to work that night (in New Hartford, Connecticut – about 5 miles down the road from the concert venue). When the superintendent called and asked if I could start the workshop early, I immediately checked to see if I could get a ticket. I ended up getting a front row seat so I figured I was golden. Again, unfortunately, the seat I got was way on the end. Since the hall was so small, they didn’t mic Jeff’s guitar and where I was sitting I couldn’t hear him play – at all! What a bummer!
    "We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain

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