What Was The Worst Live Concert You Ever Saw?

For me the worst concert I ever saw was put on by the Alarm.

Was it the VH-1 Bands Reunited show?

The worst show I've been to is a toss up.

Freshman year of college I took care of a drunk friend and he was so appreciative he gave me his ticket to Incubus for the next day. I don't even like Incubus. In fact, I actively dislike them, and this feeling was stronger then. But he insisted he wouldn't go if I didn't take it, so I ended up going and being bored out of my mind. I almost fell asleep during the opening band and the highlight of Incubus' set was seeing some guy standing a bit away from me with a hose coming out of his bookbag and several people around him taking hits. It was pretty funny.

Second contestant is O.A.R. Aside from the fact that I generally hate jam bands (I didn't know that at the time, but upon hearing O.A.R. the feeling finally crystallized) that was also the first experience I had (I was 17) with crowds of drunk people swaying around at a show spilling beer all over the place (and on me.) Details of the ensuing consequences are described elsewhere.

Super Furry Animals at Pinkpop 2001 was very disappointing. I like their music, but the show was uninspired. All they said was "hello, we're the Super Furry Animals and we're playing with @!$%#ed-up equipment."

The most disappointing show was the Pixies at the Musical Moon in Tallahassee. There were four or five bands, all good. Finally, the Pixies come out and the place was nuts. The audience was gyrating like a bucket of snakes. there was so much energy in that place. The Pixies got pissed at some stage divers and packed it in after 20 minutes of playing. They didn't suck, but it was disappointing.

I don't know if I can necessarily say this was the worst concert I ever saw, but it was by far the most disappointing - Coachella 2004.

I flew out of Atlanta fairly early on the Friday before Coachella, arriving at the airport in Ontario, CA around noon, I would guess. I flew into Ontario to avoid the crowds of LAX, and because it would be easier for my ride, which was driving down from Stanford, to pick me up in Ontario.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't be there until around midnight (or so I thought).

I spent the next several hours in the Applebees in the terminal drinking overpriced beers and screwing around on my laptop. I had a handful of DVDs to watch and music to listen to, when another guy at the bar started talking to me. We talked, we drank, he drank a lot more, and was eventually cut off at the bar. Shortly after this, the police came by and he was almost held off of his flight for being drunk and unruly. The Applebees closed around 6:00, and I wandered around the small terminal for the next several hours, until everything was closed, at which point I went to baggage claim, and eventually sat outside the terminal where I played backgammon on my phone for hours. My ride eventually showed up in the wee hours of the morning (somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00, I'd guess), and we made our way out to Indio, CA for the festival.

By the time we had arrived, parked, and set up our tent, the first signs of dawn were appearing. I laid down, but didn't sleep, for about an hour or so before the morning sun in the desert made the tent unbearably hot. After getting up and changing my clothes, I was tired, hot, and ready to hear some music. We walked to the festival grounds around noon, only to turn back after the half-mile walk because they weren't letting any water bottles into the venue. Let me reiterate this - they were not letting water bottles into the venue, despite the predicted highs being in the 105-108 F range. After entering, though, we did find a single water spigot (and I was told there was a second one) with a line that took about an hour to get through, in case you didn't want to spend $2-3 for a 500 ml bottle of water.

While the lineup was excellent, there were a couple critical faults. First, sound from one stage often bled over to other stages, occasionally making listening to the bands you were there to see a source of frustration. The second fault is best expressed by the following mathematical equation:

(Polo field) + (108 degree temperatures) + (tent) = (overpowering stench of baked horse manure)

The last straw came the final night when The Flaming Lips, one of the primary acts I had flown thousands of miles to see (see your other article for why) and one of the headliners, went on-stage late, and were only allowed to play about 5 songs.

I have probably seen hundreds of concerts, and while some of them have been bad, none sticks out more negatively in my memory than Coachella 2004. The combination of heat, exhaustion, and poor management made me regret spending all that I did to be there, and the amazing lineup did little to assuage that.

Here's an article on the topic:
http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0730,lewis,77328,22.html

Could I have seeded just to this thread? I didn't know how, as it is not a Group.

The Meat Puppets on reservation land near Phx. The band was so drunk, they kept switching instruments to ones they apparently couldn't play.

In high school I saw a classic crap line up. It was Slaughter, then Winger and then KISS during their no make up period. The music was so-so at best, and KISS are four of the ugliest men I have ever had the misfortune to see, and I was at Chicago Pride this year with transvestites on unicycles. If I could go back and decline the invitation I would, but there was a chance to make out with a girl so I jumped at it.

P.S.- the girl ditched me 30 minutes after the show started.

Jimi Hendrix at the Denver Pop Fest 1968. Jimi was very high. Mitch Mitchell and N. Redding stomped playing and just looked at him with the WTF expression.

Zephyr (Tommy Bolin's band) and the whole crowd were treated to a nice thick cloud of pepper gas.

Those were the days.