April 23, 2011

Worst Shows I've Been To

So I was flipping through channels, hoping to find something on that didn't kill brain cells. I stumbled upon an appearance of Cee-Lo Green on "Last Call wish Carson Daly," and it looked like a clip of him performing "Fuck You" in a club or bar. Now, as a musician and audio engineer and blah blah blah, I have mad props for this guy. He brings a unique sound and has a unique (yet tasty) voice. But this performance was fucking awful. All the words were mumbled, there was no stage presence... I mean, just plain bad. And this got me thinking of all those terrible shows I've been to.


AFI

I saw AFI a few years back (maybe two?) after winning meet-and-greet passes as well. We went up to the band hangout spot at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio with the others who won meet-and-greets. First off, this crazy bitch baked a cake for the band, which I thought was weird. But after being in the room with the band for a mere 30 seconds, I could tell these guys were just awkward.

The lead singer and drummer were very welcome to everyone and chatted everyone up and tried to keep convos going. (In the picture above, they're the two on the left if I remember correctly) The other two, though, acted like anti-social emo kids. Anytime any one of the excited 13-year-olds asked the bassist or guitarist anything, they responded with one-word answers and never made eye contact. I felt like HATED me. AAWWWKKKKWWWAAARRRDDDDD.

The show finally came up. I've never been more disappointed after a show. The set was all their newer "more emo" stuff. (Which I actually enjoy, but it's not the material you want for a bangin' rock concert) There was no crowd energy (partly due to the massive crowd of 12-year-old girls screaming for the lead singer), and few signs of emotion from the band. I think that's the only show or concert I've debated leaving early from.


Puddle Of Mudd

I saw Puddle Of Mudd last summer at Rock On The Range. Have you ever seen a band who thought they were the fucking shit, but really they weren't? Yeaaaahhhhhhh...... In a crowd of thousands of hardcore, gnarly people who had been kicking each others' asses all day (which my scrawny ass in the middle of it, of course), maybe 5 were moshing to this. They tried to soup up all their popular singles (Singing a song about how "she fucking hates me" [la la la laaaaa!] won't get the crowd going) but they failed at that. The singer attempted to sing, but he failed miserably at that as well. By far, they were the worst act I saw at that festival.


Wicked Wisdom

Wicked Wisdom was a relatively short-lived band I saw at Ozzfest around 2005 or so. The lead singer was actually Will Smith's wife. (The More You Know!) Now, I have never been a fan of women as lead vocalists for metal screaming bands, and this was only reinforced that opinion. Awful show. Just..... awful. The crowd was boo-ing halfway through the set, there was no energy, and it all just sounded like noise. No music, simply noise. There was a reason why these guys were short-lived....

Now, as a musician and all that shit I mentioned above, I respect anyone trying to go out there and make a few bucks playing music for a living. However, I'm only playing the role of "critique" in my experience of the many shows I've been to. Have any of you had any bad shows that sound like this?


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27 comments:

  1. i remember when AFI's Miss Murder music video came out on MTV, it was catchy, and then my opinion of them did a dive bomb, now i regard them in the same category and MCR, total crap.

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  2. Gotta say, the worst show I've ever been to...well, can't think of one off the top of my head. Saw a day to remember a couple times, and they were always great.

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  3. wtf man, I happen to really like AFI. Are they really that lame live?

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  4. yeah pretty sad how many many bands dont live up to any standard when they perform live.

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  5. Man I used to be into AFI back in high school

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  6. shame, puddle of mudd is way past their prime now

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  7. Some bands, if not most of them, are terrible at live presentations. The ones who sound better live than on studio are the ones worth listening to!

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  8. Lol wow I didn't know Will Smith's wife was in a metal band O_O, my mind has been blown. Now I'm curious how they sound, probably really really bad lol

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  9. I was at Glastonbury last year, saw Gorillaz on the Friday, absolutely terrible.

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  10. Ok I'm gonna say this, and I hope no one takes offense. I went to Ozzfest a few years ago with my Step Dad who is a huge fan of Ozzy Osbourne. So finally Ozzy takes the stage and...my poor Step Dad was so disappointed. The guy mumbles and waddles around stage. We ended up leaving along with lots of other people.

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  11. Oh god, I had to sit through (sort of) Wicked Wisdom, too...probably the same year of Ozzfest you're talking about. The other terrible show was Black Sabbath. Ozzy forgot the words to f'ing War Pigs! How? Bill Ward was way off on the drums. Poor old Iommi was trying to save the day. We just left to beat the end of show traffic (Ozzfest again).

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  12. Have you ever seen Drowning Pool in concert? I had a ton of fun with them. The lead singer hopped down into the mosh pit with the mic and let the crowd sing Bodies with him. Was phenomenal.

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  13. I like AFI for just Miss Murder, past that, I didn't find them a decent band, Puddle of Mud had one song I liked, other than that, NO. So the last one, just a NO.

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  14. I'd forgotten about the jada pinket smith screamo band.

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  15. I love AFI too, both their emo and punk stuff, but just awful live.

    And yes Xatana, I saw Drowning Pool the same day I saw Puddle Of Mudd. They kicked ass, and honestly don't like the band very much haha

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  16. not surprising ha

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  17. I saw AFI as part of some radio concert thing a few years ago and thought they were rad....but yeah, their last two albums are pretty wack compared to their earlier stuff.

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  19. I didn't realize that Will Smith's wife was in a metal band...pretty cool.

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  20. Two words: Stone Sour *Sideshow Bob groan*

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  21. Jada Pinkett Smith in a metal Band? That blows my mind

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  22. Every time I shell out for a musician that autotunes their music I know I'm fooling myself into thinking they'll be good live... but they never disappoint to disappoint.

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  23. I lol'd when I saw "wicked wisdom". don't know the band, just think the band name is hilarious.

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  24. The first two sound awful without being live. Well, maybe not AFI, they used to be fairly alright. Wicked Wisdom just looks off, is that a chick in the middle?

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