Bands that have disappointed you live
 

I'm sure this has been done before. If you object, piss up a rope.

My hesitation to see PE made me curious as to which shows you've been disappointed by. It hasn't happened too often to me, but when it has, it's changed my entire perspective on a band/artist. Hence my reluctance to ruin a good thing with Public Enemy.

While I've seen some mediocre shows, one that is more memorable for me was Pavement. They were TERRIBLE, and that one show has tainted them for me for life.

(Conversely, Medeski Martin & Wood were fucking amazing live, and sparked an albeit brief but intense obsession).

Yeah, I've watched various YouTube videos of Pavement live and they seem hit-and-miss. There's great performances of 'Pueblo' and 'Summer Babe' floating around but there's a terrible Reading Festival performance up there too.

I am yet to be disapointed by any live shows, however. I am pretty picky about who I go to see. Actually, now that I think about it, The Who weren't as good as I expected..

Not to turn this into a Pavement thread, but granted, Pavement began to achieve some suckage around Brighten the Corners.

The Who surprises me - while I'm not really a fan, the shows of their non-geriatric days were quite good.

The Who did put on a good show, but with only two remaining original members the whole thing seemed kinda.. desperate. I'm not really much of a hardcore Who fan though so perhaps I missed something.


I don't think Pavement had any bad albums. Slanted and Terror Twilight just weren't as good as the others.

This is going to sound like heresy here, I guess, but I was seriously disappointed when I saw My Bloody Valentine, and I was a big fan.
Then again, I know other people who were at the same show who thought it was incredible, so there you go.

Flying Saucer Attack were very disappointing live as well.

dinosaur jr
einsturzende neubauten
jandek
the finnish lot

Meat Puppets, hard to say this, weren't a particularily good live band. Judging by a few live recordings I found.

I saw the Meat Puppets a lot of times in the late 80s/early 90s and they were always great.

I speak of the period when they were getting out of their hardcore material, the vocals are very off for a number of songs (Lost, Plateau.etc.)

Sebadoh
Sebadoh
Sebadoh
Sebadoh

Jesu. Laptop musicians seem exciting in comparison.

Good call on Sebadoh.
One of the worst shows I saw in the 90s.

Lou Barlow solo sucked badly when I saw him, but I never expected any different.

So bad we went went off to the pub and stayed there the whole evening.Biggest pile of cack i've ever seen live.

I'll throw Nada Surf in there too. Who I was never a big fan of as it was, but even less so after the show.

ascension, i've seen them twice now and they were dull as fuck

The Pixies were always useless live.The first gig of theirs that i attended made me seriously think what i was doing there because they played the songs exactly as they sounded on the albums.Their stage presence was also invisible to say the least.

I assume you're referring to my comment about Lou Barlow. He was playing an unannounced support slot, and I tried to be open minded and give him a chance, on the basis that I hadn't heard an awful lot of his stuff, but I was disappointed.

Sooner or later you are bound to discover that a band you are a big fan of on record can't deliver the goods live. It happens to everyone eventually.

I've gone to a lot of shows that wouldn't have been top on my list of priorities, because someone has asked me to go along. And I'm just that goddamned nice.

I wouldn't complain about such things, as it was obviously my choice to go. And a band's performance skills don't necessarily correlate to my personal opinion of them - I could very well think that Nada Surf blows dogballs, but also think they put on a fantastic performance. One must view these elements independently of one another. You can like/dislike a band while simultaneously appreciating their talents, or lack thereof.

Yep, Ascension were so boring I didn't even realise it was Ascension I was watching. I thought it was some local jazz/improv clowns that had chanced their way onto the bill. Major dissapointment especially after readin about how their early shows were so great and loud and took the audience by surprise. I didn't expect it to have the same effect but I didn't think it would be as weak as it was.

Are these Ascension experiences recent?

Yep, pretty recent. September of 2006 I think it was supporting Keiji Haino. I only saw them the one time though.

Ascension were 50% of the support act when I saw SY in London on the Washing Machine tour, and that was pretty amazing. That was why I asked about the recent-ness of your experience.

Of the artists you might be aware of:
Zegota
Samara Lubelski
Guapo

the first time i saw matthew bower play it was dreadful and put me off checking out his music for 2 years, then when i finally heard some stuff i really liked it

mathew bower is actually pretty good. i saw him a couple of times in hotugogisu in a church in leeds which was spectacular. the sound.

Tom Waits. Saw him before I'd listened to him thoroughly. Didn't like him. Listened to a bit more. With minor exception, still don't particularly like him.

mogwai were loud and ok but they just kind of fell flat.

yeah mogwai are loud but dull.
i've seen bower play since, in sunroof! (good) and hototogisu (great)

Mogwai were okay the one time I've seen them live.

But the following were absolutely lame:

M O N O

and

N N C K

and

Vladislav Delay

and

Pan Sonic

I've seen Mogwai about 9 times, always enjoyed it. But I can understand people not enjoying it.

On the Ascension tip, I wouldn't say they were great, but they weren't awful. Z'ev, who both T&B and Iain (and, I think porkmarras) saw in the same sitting, was awful, and disappointing. Apparently he's pretty great when he's got others playing with him though.

Wolf Eyes at ATP bored the bejesus out of me, so I was surprised at the near-universal acclaim they received. Same with NWW, although I didn't think they were quite as bad.

I try to avoid gigs though, I'm not the most forgiving of audiences.

Edit: Radiohead were dull as piss when I saw them, and I really like 'em.

WHAT
DO
YOU
MEAN
???

ok, when i saw her all the songs sounded the same, but still... it was pretty magickal!

the what?

Earth
White Magic
The Fall
Caroliner
Most of the "new weird Finland" bands


I've seen plenty of crap gigs though, just from the ones listed above I expected a lot more.

sorry, no offence, i know you're involved in that scene. the stuff i've heard on record is much better than the live experience.

You guys are ridiculous and crazy

pavement live shows haveALWAYS been a shambles and it was this inherent looseness that made them so damn great, Pavement ist Rad.
They have never disapopointed me live and I saw them during the slanted years the crooked years the brighten years. They were always amazingly sloppy AS INTENDED

Sebadoh is a hit or miss live show, becaus so much depends on whether the band feels it that night. at least they do not fake their way a la motley crue or RATM where every show is the "greatest" show but it is exactly like all other 30 shows on that tour.
I have seen Sebadoh (one of my all time faves) live 4 times, each time being a singular experience.

Unless you have seen a band play more than one show on any given tour then you cannot say they sucked live. all you saw was possibly an "off" night and everyone has those. EVERYONE. saying they disappointed you is cool, but to lay claim that they are a suck ass live band because of one show? Ignorant.

Now that that is said, One of the few bands I have seen who I expetced an interesting show from and who bored me to tears was Bardo Pond.

sleep inducing monotony

Sonic Youth

never seen them, just like the cover/title.

Ah, you must have made the mistake of thinking I am a fair person.

To respond to the Pavement observation, their onstage sloppiness was, to me at least, markedly different from the choreographed sloppiness that is so charming on (most of) their albums.

And, moving on, I did see Axl Rose solo, and while he was slightly absurd, it made me realize that his sheer energy was largely the life behind Guns n Roses gigs. A bit off he may be, but he does it with admirable gusto.