Worst Concerts You Have Attended ??


I just left a remark about a favorite band of mine back in the day - April Wine - that I saw in concert and was disappointed. Could have been that it was an off night for them, or maybe they were never good in concert. Maybe the lead guitarist had too much to drink? April Wine was not the worst, however. I remember Neil Young in the 1990's who was on his one-man acoustic show type of tour that many artists were taking advantage of (perhaps for financial reasons) during that time. While a friend of I had near front row seats at Desert Sky Pavilion (now Ak-Chin) in Pheonix, the crowd was just roused up into a frenzy by the warm-up band (James) and here comes Neil and his guitar/harmonica. Wow, what a sonic letdown. I remember getting up and leaving and feeling Neil's glaring eyes on us as we ushered out. I think, to this day, he probably still remembers me. We all can remember the great live concerts we attended, but what were the worst and why?
goodlistening64
Worst performance I remember was Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young on the Ragged Glory tour. Just total noise. Worst sounding concert was Black Keys (Brothers tour) at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. The soundboard operator turned the bass up to 11 - it was basically unlistenable. I stuck it out, but was so disappointed.
Elton John...Atlanta....mid or late 70's. He was established as a main music star by then. Venue was a large auditorium with thousands present. He played and sang like he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. His band played like they were just showing up for a paycheck. I thought he owed more to the audience since the tickets weren't cheap.

Lou Reed.

It was probably my fault to some extent. It was not reasonable to expect Rock'n'Roll Animal and he did not deliver it. Even the beginning was to be the same songs, but Rock'n'Roll Animal it was not.

Although it was decades later, I think I got a zombie from this article...

LOU REED: FREEING THE ROCK & ROLL ANIMAL (pleasekillme.com)
Rolling Stones at soldier field 98’. 
Got stuck working for them for 5 days setting up the show, we all got free tix, then when the show started, it was so bad we all left. 
BB King a few years back at Wolf Trap in VA. He just sat in a chair in a diabetic coma and complained about the band. Oh and he played guitar a sum total of 30 secs. Same lick twice just 30 mins apart.