Worst Concert you ever went to?

[Topkat]

I have 2 worst concerts I ever went to.

First: Ozzy Osborne at Jones Beach in 1996. I remember getting these tickets for a guy I was seeing who loved Ozzy. I just remember that I took several trips to the ladies room, just to escape the noise! I really hated this show!

Second: 2006, Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Taj in Atlantic City. To make it brief, I was bashed on the head, practically knocked unconcious in the front row at this concert; right in front of a security guard, who did nothing to help me! I was so shaken up & traumatized by this experience that I didn't attend a concert for 2 years after this. Make no mistake, security is not there to protect you, they are there to protect the band only! This resulted in a criminal assault charge & a lawsuit that shook me to the core! Thankfully, I'm over it now, but beware of all the drunk people around you.

[Freypower]

This is easy. REM on the Monster tour in 1995.

Monster was their 'grunge' album which meant they ditched the melodic songs of Out Of Time & Automatic For The People & played a lot of harder stuff with even more incomprehensible lyrics than usual (even in their best songs many of their lyrics appear to be free form which don't mean very much). Michael Stipe actually read his lyrics from a stand, then tossed the lyric sheets into the audience. I still have a newspaper review which basically accused them of treating their audience with contempt. I never felt the same about them afterwards.

[Windeagle]

Kansas, sometime back in the 80's, at Cumberland County Civic Center in Maine. I'm not generally a concert wimp, but the music was painfully loud to the point where you couldn't really hear actual notes anymore. My ears were still ringing two days later. And it wasn't the venue. I'd been to dozens of concerts there with no problems before.

And FP, agreed about the Monster tour. I had been to the Automatic For the People tour and other than the fact that Michael Stipe is the most arrogant front man in rock (IMO), the concert was great, even though we went in rain worthy of Christchurch! After AFTP, Monster was a huge disappointment. Not my worst show, but definitely below par.

[Freypower]

I do have another one; reluctant as I am to mention it, but in all honesty I feel I should. I went to see Bob Dylan for the fourth time last year, despite all the stuff I had read about him playing mainly keyboards & his voice being inaudible as well as even hoarser than it is on recent albums. When I saw him previously in 2009 he did play a lot of keyboards, but the material he was doing was still up there with his best.

Last year, not only did he mainly play keyboards but he did not play acoustic guitar AT ALL. When he had a song which involved harmonica he stood there without a guitar, with his harmonica attached to a hand held mic. It was bizarre. To put it mildly, Dylan may be a genius but he does not have the stage presence to pull this sort of behaviour off. Also despite my best efforts to be positive some of the songs were mangled beyond recognition and he only did half of Tangled Up In Blue, which was unforgiveable.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Let's see, I guess it depends on your perspective.

I had front row seats at the Capital Centre for Rod Stewart. He spent a good bit of his time 'sniffing the white stuff' between songs and even during songs. Not sure how he survived it. Myself, I was sick as a dog which didn't help.

Had front row seats for Neil Diamond at the same place and while the concert was fantastic, the last song of the last encore involved indoor fireworks and a lot of flashing lights. I wore semi-hard contact lenses back then and ended up at the eye doctor the next day with scratches on the surfaces of both eyes. I couldn't open my eyes for three days, which meant missing work. I was not happy.

Actual performance and sound and quality, I'd have to say Duran Duran. It was a last minute decision and I can't imagine what I was thinking.

[TimothyBFan]

Kansas, sometime back in the 80's, at Cumberland County Civic Center in Maine. I'm not generally a concert wimp, but the music was painfully loud to the point where you couldn't really hear actual notes anymore. My ears were still ringing two days later. And it wasn't the venue. I'd been to dozens of concerts there with no problems before.
.

I finally saw them a few years ago open for Styx. I have to tell you I had never been a fan..... till I saw them live and WOW!!! The freakin' blew my mind. The whole venue vibrated and I couldn't believe how awesome they were. Yes they were very loud but so spot on with it that I didn't mind at all.

As for worst concert.... easy. My very first one and I hate to say, it was AC/DC and Aerosmith in 1975 or 1976 perhaps (can't remember exact date). No one had really heard of AC/DC yet and the sound was so screwed up, it was hard to know where one song ended and another began. And Aerosmith was about the same but what really topped it off was when Steven forgot the words to Dream On and had to restart it 3 times and then fell off the stage. Really? Seen them since and can say I'm very glad that didn't stop me from going ever again. Love them!

[Topkat]

I had front row seats at the Capital Centre for Rod Stewart. He spent a good bit of his time 'sniffing the white stuff' between songs and even during songs. Not sure how he survived it. Myself, I was sick as a dog which didn't help.

VA when was that Rod Stewart concert? I saw him in the late 80's & he was totally amazing! He wasn't sniffing between songs, but he changed outfits several times, wearing some pretty flashy suits. But he sounded fantastic! His voice was on the money!

[Ive always been a dreamer]

My worst concert ever was also AC/DC. I don't know when it was, but it was probably around the mid 80's. I don't know why I let my cousin persuade me into going with her because I was never a fan anyway. But my experience was similar to WE's Kansas concert. It was so loud, you couldn't make out anything. I didn't even recognize a single song. And the crowd in general was disgustingly drunk/high or whatever. As I've said before, I generally am fairly tolerable with bad behavior at concerts because I guess I expect it to some degree. But this one was over the top - the whole thing was pretty ridiculous. I wasn't even very old at the time, but I remember thinking to myself "Can somebody explain to me how this is supposed to be fun?"

[sodascouts]

I know this may seem strange considering how I am now, but growing up, I almost never went to concerts. I believe I saw a grand total of five concerts in my first 22 years. It wasn't until I became a Fleetwood Mac fan that everything changed! As a result of my limited experience pre-Mac and pre-Eagles, I've never yet been disappointed with a headliner.

I can't say that about the opening acts. With all due respect to the Eagles, the worst opening band I ever saw was JD and the Straight Shot. It wasn't that they were horrific, they were just mediocre. I guess I'm lucky.

[Brooke]

I never got to go to very many concerts over my whole life until the last few years. And even now I don't get to go to many. Living in the boondocks, it's just too far and costs too much.

I will say that all of them I have been to have pretty much been great!