'The disappointment was palpable in the entire stadium': 20+ Concertgoers tell all about the worst shows they've ever attended

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Mar 6, 2024 11:00 AM EST

Music unites us all. Almost every person loves music, and many of us will jump at the opportunity to see our favorite bands play in person. It's a special occasion when the band you listen to every day arrives in your city to play a show. You and your friends can spend weeks getting hyped up for the concert by making tee shirts and blasting their music through the speakers at top volume. On the day of the concert, you arrive to the stadium expecting to see an amazing show. 

For many musicians in big bands, playing gigs is their entire job—and everyone has a bad day at work now and then. Sometimes a member of the band will be off beat, making the song sound strange. Other times, the lead singer refuses to interact with the crowd. In many cases, the arena the band is playing at has sound issues that cause their set to sound a little wonky. 

U/EverydayPersons asked the good folks of Reddit to share the times they've "seen a band that left you totally shocked at their terrible performance," citing their own recent concert disappointment. Interestingly, a lot of the commenters who had poor experiences were seeing classic rock bands. You'd think these legacy groups would have the ability to perform flawless shows, but between awkward band dynamics and performers who can't show up ready to sing, there is plenty of room for error. 

Next up, check out the hilarious ways these people quit, like one person who protested their boss never being around by sending a video dancing on his desk. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9890725888
    via Matthew Kalapuch on Unsplash
  • 02
    I just got home from a Black Keys concert, they were atrocious. Reddit, ever seen a band that left you totally shocked at their terrible performance? The mixing was ridiculous, like they had put the guitar through eighty distortion pedals and then an AM radio, vocals were barely there, drummer was hitting snares too late all night, the singer said about two words to the crowd all night, and the bar
    via u/EverydayPersons
  • 03
    was closed twenty minutes in to the first set. They played for about an hour and a half all up. I'm not a huge fan, but I thought the show would have good energy and a fat bluesy sound. Never again. EDIT - I'm not trying to convince anyone to not see them, I was just underwhelmed.
    via u/EverydayPersons
  • 04
    [deleted] The Police got back together for a reunion tour in like 2008 which I went to. We spent €120 per ticket and ended up at the very back of an 80,000 person stadium with an extra 10,000 of standing space on the pitch. Their screens were tiny and only visible to about a quarter of the audience, Sting never
    via u/[deleted]
  • 05
    once played the bass guitar draped around his neck, there was absolutely no audience interaction at all and they played so many back-album throughout the gig there was at least a thirty minute wait for the bathroom. It was like the three guys still hated each other and just went onstage and played with their eyes closed for fear of having a bit of fun. songs that
    via u/[deleted]
  • 06
    That gig shouldn't have happened. I used to like them a lot, but now I find it difficult to listen to more than one of their songs in succession without remembering that.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 07
    MDEWBE I took my kids to see the Wiggles, and man...What a horrible show. The guy in the purple shirt just didn't care, and Captain Feathersword showed up d...
    via u/MDEWBE
  • 08
    [deleted] KISS. Holy the disappointment was palpable in the entire stadium. Keep in mind I'm talking about 2012 KISS, not '70's KISS which was probably much better. I went to a Motley Crue/KISS show earlier this year. After Motley Crue put on literally the best show I've witnessed in my life, it was KISS's turn.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 09
    Everything was fake. That huge famous KISS lightboard? Now projector screens. Fireworks? Now projector screens. Their amps? Cardboard cutouts. Explosions? Projector screens. Then instead of putting on a show, Gene Simmons would just walk to one side of the stage and pose for a few seconds, then walk to the other side and do the same thing.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 10
    My friends and I stayed for a half hour or so until we couldn't take it anymore. As we were leaving we were in a sizable crowd of people doing the same thing, even people with their faces painted, but no paint is thick enough to mask their disappointed frowns. Now before everyone starts getting all judgmental, I don't like or hate KISS any more
    via u/[deleted]
  • 11
    than anyone else, but historically one of the reasons they are so famous was because of their ability to put on insane live shows, so while I'm not a "die- hard" KISS fan, I was at least excited to see what was once called the greatest live show on earth. Motley Crue however...holy Amaaaazing live show.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 12
    My dad always goes on about how he went to see Elton John and Prince, Elton John who my dad doesn't like was good. Prince however of whom my dad was a massive fan of at the time was 'a bag of dog dorritos'.
    via r/AskReddit
  • 13
    jesselikesfood I saw NOFX last october, they were drunk the whole time, and they brought some kid up and shaved his head onstage. They were offbeat and up every song. It was awesome
    via u/jesselikesfood
  • 14
    absurdistfromdigg. Led Zepplin, Kezar Stadium, 1975. Afternoon concert. They not only sucked atrociously (Page could put together maybe three notes at a time, rest of the band was running at about that level). Then they
    via u/absurdistfromdigg
  • 15
    started making excuses about how they weren't used to being awake at 5 in the afternoon, let alone playing. you, Robert Plant, give me my $7 back and we'll call it even. The Tubes blew you off the stage.
    via u/absurdistfromdigg
  • 16
    thegreatvortigaunt · I saw Guns N' Roses (or at least, what's left of them) at the London O2 last year, atrocious. Axl being the big- headed he is, turned up two hours late, and got booed throughout Chinese Democracy. The amps were tweaked as well, some seriously dodgy feedback ruined the songs I stayed to hear
    via u/thegreatvortigaunt
  • 17
    them play. The drunk guys at the back got bored and rowdy when they ran out of beer, and you could just tell the 02 assistants were off more than we were. Half the people in the stands got up and left, myself amongst them. It sucked to see sad 15 year olds in GnR shirts on the tube afterwards.
    via u/thegreatvortigaunt
  • 18
    We got half-refunds, though (out of Axl's pocket hopefully, but probably not). Luckily, Thin Lizzy were on before them and they were awesome, so not a complete loss.
    via u/thegreatvortigaunt
  • 19
    raijba I saw JET at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan shortly after their rise in popularity for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." I really liked that song so I was pretty stoked to see them. The singer seemed visibly annoyed when the audience couldn't understand what he was saying (in English).
    via u/raijba
  • 20
    They also kept drawing out their songs to increase suspense or something, but it completely ruined their momentum every time they tried. It was a pretty terrible live set. Got to see Pixies though, who were great. Also, Courtney Love was surprisingly good :P She complained about not being able to find any in Japan and
    via u/raijba
  • 21
    sang a song about it. EDIT: judging from the comments, seems like Jet thrives on getting a good response from an intimate audience. But if they don't get the good vibes, maybe they overcompensate and start sucking. I'm glad others have enjoyed them.
    via u/raijba
  • 22
    ✪ [deleted] I saw Counting Crows play in Houston and was hugely disappointed. I'd seen them in concert before, and I was a fan of their music for a long time. But last time I saw them they only played their new material, and it wasn't very good.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    + [deleted] Black Eyed Peas superbowl performance.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 24
    Onset I saw Modest Mouse in Nashville and it was pretty terrible. I love Modest Mouse but the mix was terrible, you couldn't really make out the vocals at all. I think the lead singer even bitched about it, but i couldn't exactly make out what he was saying. You could tell that they weren't too happy about the show
    via u/Onset
  • 25
    though. Quite a few people walked out, and another thing was that it was a dry show, no alcohol, and when we tried to leave to go get a few drinks and come back they informed us that if you left you couldn't get back inside.
    via u/Onset
  • 26
    KickinInShangers. Dragonforce. Just.. just awful. Lamb of God salvaged that show.
    via u/KickinInShangers
  • 27
    dutchtreats mgmt. hands down worst show iv seen 1.3k Share runnin_drummin · Easily the worst show I've ever seen. I've never seen a band more unenthused to be on stage or a band use so many pre
    via u/dutchtreats
  • 28
    recorded tracks. You'd hear an entire key board solo or something yet see the keyboardist back there scratching his nose. Super lame. So lame! MGMT YOU
    via u/dutchtreats
  • 29
    [deleted] Surprised the Black Keys put on a bad performance, I heard mostly good things about them. I saw the Smashing Pumpkins to close a festival in 2000 or 2001 (one of their last shows at the time). They started out by calling us another city and went on to play a show or noise, every other act on the bill sounded fantastic and I
    via u/[deleted]
  • 30
    couldn't tell you anything the Pumpkins were doing the entire set. Terrible ending to a good show. The same bill had Eve 6, Our Lady Peace, A Perfect Circle and the Foo Fighters all put on fantastic shows which made it worse.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 31
    Howls_Castle I saw Skrillex back before he was really big and every freaking time he started a song, he blew the speakers, so then it would take like 5 minutes to fix them and THEN HE DID IT AGAIN. EVERY TIME. After about 30 minutes my friend and I said eff it, went back to our tent and chilled with the dudes around us.
    via u/Howls_Castle
  • 32
    axehomeless Oasis 2009 in Konstanz. They seperated 12 hours before the gig and we got deep purple. Great.
    via u/axehomeless
  • 33
    Marcob10 I'll always be a big Rancid fan but I've decided to stop going to see them live as they keep getting worse. To be fair it's mostly just Tim Armstrong who looks too up to keep singing or play guitar.
    via u/Marcob10
  • 34
    CowtheHankDog I know I'm about to commit a music faux pas, but Mars Volta was hands down the absolute worst concert I've ever been to. It was a long while back, maybe 2003, and they were opening for A Perfect Circle. MV struts out and just craps out this unorganized, uninspired, self-
    via u/CowtheHankDog
  • 35
    indulgent jam fest that lingered on and on like an elevator As I understand, MV has cleaned up their act since and now puts on solid shows, but 1. That one I went to was awful.
    via u/CowtheHankDog
  • 36
    Labcoates Unfortunately, the Offspring concert I went was awful. They played none of their best songs, and took an hour break out of the blue (They had only played like 5 songs) and they left a dancing taco on the screen with an extremely annoying jingle to accompany it.
    via u/Labcoates
  • 37
    madethisnameforthis. Lit of "my own worst enemy" fame. Worst show I have ever seen.
    via u/madethisnameforthis
  • 38
    shaneshane1 Mötley Crüe. They were just absolute garbage. At one point they started spinning the drums around (like on a bigass loop), and rather than doing a drum solo they played Rollercoaser of love and random dubstep through the speakers.
    via u/shaneshane1
  • 39
    We left before they finished their set. Fortunately that concert was free, and Poison opened for them and was amazing.
    via u/shaneshane1
  • 40
    stonegrizzly Saw Squarepusher a few months ago. Dude's a virtuoso on a ton of instruments, but he didn't touch an instrument the whole night. Nothing was done live. Very disappointed.
    via u/stonegrizzly
  • 41
    Also LCD Soundsystem a couple of years ago, first half of the show was mixed terribly, but they fixed it for the second half and it was killer.
    via u/stonegrizzly
  • 42
    UberSansUmlaut · Cake. They sounded amazing and played every song we hoped to hear, but they spent more time getting the audience to chant stupid repetitive things than they did performing. They had the audience "roar like a power animal" over and over, louder and louder for at least 5
    via u/UberSansUmlaut
  • 43
    minutes straight. It was awkward after a while and ruined Cake's music for me and the group of friends I went with - every song is a painful reminder of the worst concert I've ever been to. Edit: Seems like they are hit or miss in here. We had a terrible time and won't see them again, but I'm glad some of you enjoyed seeing them. They are
    via u/UberSansUmlaut
  • 44
    one of those few bands that, assuming you like am individual song of theirs, you will probably like any random one of their songs. I can still listen to them, I'm not a total baby, but for me and the friends I went with, their music is also associated with a very negative memory now.
    via u/UberSansUmlaut
  • 45
    urban-fox RHCP - Anthony Kiedis walked off stage, the rest of the band kept playing and the crowd were going wild in expectation of an encore. He never came back on stage... :/
    via u/urban-fox
  • 46
    [deleted] I saw The Black Keys a few months ago, and I was also very let down by their live show. The only other bad concert I've been to was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, about 5 years ago. Karen O didn't look at the audience once. They seemed so disconnected.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 47
    DarrenEdwards Red Hot Chili Peppers played every song at double time, didn't acknowledge that there was a crowd around them at all, and left the stage after 20 minutes.
    via u/DarrenEdwards
  • 48
    finterde I've had the misfortune of seeing Monster Magnet twice. Once they opened for Rob Zombie in Milwaukee, and then once in Minneapolis. Both times they were terrible. To the point that the crowd started throwing things at them.
    via u/finterde
  • 49
    eac_nyc Mos Def, which I hate to say because I'm a big fan. He was barely putting forth any effort, felt like he could care less about being there. Thankfully Talib Kweli was there and had a lot of energy.
    via u/eac_nyc
  • 50
    bubbafloyd Foreigner in 1985. Yes, I am old. They were just bored and going through the motions. Zero energy, sloppy timing, insisted on playing all the new from Agent Provocateur. Big finish was "Juke Box Hero" and the big finish of the big finish was an inflatable juke box popped up in the
    via u/bubbafloyd
  • 51
    middle of the stage. Couldn't have been more than 4 feet high. It was like that scene in "Spinal Tap" where they got the scale wrong for the stonehenge prop. We were laughing our off. Only redeeming point of the night (besides the fact that it was free because my buddy got dumped the week before and I got the ticket) was that
    via u/bubbafloyd
  • 52
    Joe Walsh opened for them. He was on fire that night. Absolutely destroyed for an hour and a half.
    via u/bubbafloyd
  • 53
    [deleted] Silverchair. I mean, I had heard they were terrible but I just wasn't expecting them to be that terrible. It was basically and hour and half of Daniel Johns playing solos to the amp, stopping only to insult the town he was playing in and the people he was playing for. I'm so glad they finally broke up.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 54
    obsidianop Cake. They weren't bad, exactly - in fact they were dead on in terms of the music. The problem was the lead singer was the biggest imaginable. He to the fans, was and when the disco
    via u/obsidianop
  • 55
    ball stopped rotating, he stopped the whole show and made some go up poor there and fail at fixing it while all of us watched.
    via u/obsidianop
  • 56
    Shady_Love My Chemical Romance. I went to a Blink 182 concert last year at the Honda Civic tour, it went Matt and Kim (pretty awesome), MCR (awful), and then Blink ( yes) so it was basically an awesome sandwich with in the middle. The lead singer was terrible live.
    via u/Shady_Love
  • 57
    I guess they made M&K and Blink look that much better. M&K were full of energy, all over the stage, Kim even went crowdsurfing while Matt did a solo. Tom and Mark from blink made the immature childish jokes that make their show all the better. MCR was just...awful...they
    via u/Shady_Love
  • 58
    basically stood still the entire time except for hopping in place a little. edit: also, they took like 30 minutes just to get on the stage. Really me off.
    via u/Shady_Love
  • 59
    mikemcg When I went to see Los Campesinos live I was pretty disappointed by how bad they sounded compared to their albums. The enthusiasm and sound found in their records was just totally lost as Gareth went through the motions. It was almost like he was bored or that he had to be there to play a show.
    via u/mikemcg

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

Music concert Music FAILS musicians opinion ask reddit singer concerts funny stories rock singers askreddit funny band opinions
Scroll Down For The Next Article