'Worst live show I've ever been to': 20+ Concerts that made fans want to hold their ears

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 18, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

Does going to bad concerts build character? It certainly makes memories — I bet you remember both the very best and very worst concerts you've ever gone to. 

Sometimes, it's the circumstances that bring down the vibes of your show, like if you get caught in the rain, or if it's like 105° degrees outside, or if you're with a group of friends who are completely unexcited about seeing the show. 

Other times, it's totally the musician's fault that the show isn't so good. There are some artists who are chronically late for their shows, or they get so bonkered before the show that they can barely stand up and mumble their songs into the mic. One thing I love about New York City is that its noise restrictions are very strict, and a lot of venues can't have their artists performing past 11 PM,  meaning concerts start on time, sometimes down to the exact minute. No more waiting around for hours and hours for the artist to show up while your feet get sore and the conversations run dry! That's all people really want, anyway: they just want to show up, hear an amazing show with a few good openers, and savor the time with their friends. 

These music fans shared what happened during their worst concerts, and there were a few interesting artists in the bunch. It seems like playing at venues that didn't suit the artists were a common problem, while others were late or unprepared. As you're scrolling below, you can even see if your favorite artist is included… as some people noted, they adored a band until they saw them live and realized how lackluster the whole performance really was. 

After that, read about the retail workers who had some totally bizarre customers, like one person who shared, that a customer "

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  • 01
    Concert venue full of people with three band members playing on stage
    via Joseph Pearson on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    ke... Not so much a band, but Old Dirty B rd got up on stage, starting saying YEAYEAYEAYEAYEA into the mic, then just said "I'm too f ed up to do this." and sat there for awhile.
    via u/kevik72
  • 03
    Jux_ I saw Alien Ant Farm opening for Sevendust and System of a Down in 2002, right when Smooth Criminal was popular. They played that song three times, and the last time they played it the front man saw a guy in the front row and asked him "what, you're not having
    via u/Jux_
  • 04
    fun?" and then for some stupid reason held the mic down to him so we could all hear the guy reply " no, play a different song or bring out Sevendust."
    via u/Jux_
  • 05
    JohnnyVNCR Pitbull was hired to headline the college I attended's annual music festival. He got there late, got on stage to do Black Eyed Peas karaoke, and just scream random Spanish words and "yeah" a lot. It was dreadful. The crowd started piling out about 25 mins into it, and the third Black Eyed Peas cover.
    via u/JohnnyVNCR
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    [deleted] Best, The Pogues. Worst, The Pogues. Depends on how drank he is.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 07
    st... I once saw Ke$ha play at a fair. She meowed all of the lyrics of Tik Tok edit I really just wanted the world to know about this, it was truly great and terrible all at once
    via u/Ke$ha
  • 08
    Cyanide2601 I saw Guns N' Roses in 2006. I was 16 and full of excitement for my first festival. Axl Rose ruined my whole weekend with his dickery. No one gives a f about listening to a 25 minute piano solo by your friend Axl just so you can go and change one hideous outfit for another.
    via u/Cyanide2601
  • 09
    There were riots after their set, the main stage was burnt down and I spent the night in fear of loud, angry shouting men and police. My tent offered me minimal protection. F Axl Rose.
    via u/Cyanide2601
  • 10
    tito13kfm This is both the worst and best performance I've ever seen. Vanilla Ice at the gathering of the juggalos in Toledo Ohio. He knew exactly what he was getting in to by signing on to do it and only played stuff from his new metal album. About 60-70% of the
    via u/tito13kfm
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    Concert venue with hundreds of fans surrounding large rectangular stage lit in blue light
    via Muneeb Syed on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    crowd either left, sat down, or turned their backs to him. You could hear individual people yelling to him to play. ice ice baby and ninja rap. After about 20 minutes of this he took the mic, and between the boos said "let's kick it" and the intro to ice ice baby started up.
    via u/tito13kfm
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    I've never seen a crowd of people turn from pure hate to pure joy in a fraction of a second like that before. He went on to sing ice ice baby, ninja rap, and another one of his "classics". Worst and best opening act ever.
    via u/tito13kfm
  • 14
    de... Elton John. At first it started out great. Then he had a few minor technical issues, and threw a hissy fit on stage. Billy Joel was also performing, and he saved the show. Started joking about the problem, jumped from one piano to another (at age 60- something) and started fixing the technical
    via u/deftlydexterous
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    problems, all while performing the rest of Elton John's song, and all while Elton John sat off to the side swearing at his tech crew, refusing to play. Favorite moment of the night, Billy Joel screaming "Hey, at least you know we arent lipsyncing!"
    via u/deftlydexterous
  • 16
    Po... I saw Lil Wayne at VooDoo Fest (in New orleans, his hometown) a few years ago. He showed up on stage 45 minutes late. He was hammered. He "played guitar", meaning that he incoherently tried to play and they either synched a pre-recorded guitar solo or had someone backstage actually playing (he was all
    via u/P**psieDoodles
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    Musician holds up 4 fingers on one hand and holds microphone in the other, white and red smoke in background
    via Austin Neill on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    over the place and not strumming properly, but the guitar still sounded perfect). He lazily rapped about 3 songs and went off stage. Keep in mind this was a HUGE, awesome music festival in his HOMETOWN were he was a headliner. He didn't even talk to the audience. People boo'd. It was bad.
    via u/P**psieDoodles
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    EDIT: I have about seven replies from people who were also there, reiterating that yes, his performance was AWFUL. However, I also have a lot of people saying that they've seen him recently, and he was quite good. Perhaps this 2008 performance was in the dark days of Wayne, when the sizzurp ran freely, and consequently, the raps were jumbled.
    via u/P**psieDoodles
  • 20
    ASmileOnTop BI d on the Dance Floor. Saw them at Warped Tour, wanted to see what the deal was. It was just a totally uncomfortable experience all-round. It wasn't just bad, it was just an all-round awkward and creepy performance. Normally, I preach "just because you don't like it doesn't make it bad," but I can't understand how you can enjoy that.
    via u/ASmileOnTop
  • 21
    [d... Worst live show I've ever been to was a KISS concert. Grew up on KISS, seen them multiple times before, but this time (about four years ago) was just abysmal. They had just released a WalMart-exclusive album, and would not stop plugging WalMart through the set. At one point, Paul Stanley had the audience chanting Wal-
    via u/[deleted]
  • 22
    Mart-Wal-Mart-Wal-Mart! Then they stopped in the middle of a set to have some contest winner come up and roll giant dice to win prizes from Guitar Center. Then more WalMart plugs. Gene and Paul disappeared for a good 15 minutes while the other two guys played a guitar/drum solo. It was the least Rock and Roll thing I've ever seen. Still love the music, and I'll
    via u/[deleted]
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    always listen to it, but I'll never see another KISS show.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 24
    dakerson1234 Buckcherry...believe me, had low expectations to begin with.
    via u/dakerson1234
  • 25
    Terence McKenna The last Counting Crows concert I went to, Adam though the audience was there to listen to him b about his disaster of a relationship... not the best concert for my first date with the young woman who it took me almost 2 weeks to ask out.
    via u/Terence_McKenna
  • 26
    RiperSnifle Fergie. It was just awful.
    via u/RiperSnifle
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    [deleted] I saw Smash Mouth live. I haven't seen a lot of live. performances, but these guys just weren't very good. It probably didn't help the acoustics that we were in the hangar bay of an aircraft carrier off the coast of Guam, but it sounded terrible.
    via u/[deleted]
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    Tkmtlmike Dragonforce, they all sounded like they were playing different songs...
    via u/Tkmtlmike
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    [deleted] OP Black Veil Brides was HORRIBLE. I was an idiot.
    via u/
  • 30
    W... Not a band, but Tiesto. I saw him at TomorrowWorld and he wasn't very good. He would build up to a "drop", but instead of playing the "drop", he would start a new song. It was kind of funny though because everyone had their hands in the air ready to go wild, but then the new song would come on. The look on everyone's faces was hysterical.
    via u/Wonderingwanderr
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    [d... I used to tend bar in a punk club. It had no cover and the bands were paid in beer. The absolute worst was some band from Maryland. It was like they hadn't even practiced. They weren't even playing the same song. After restarting the song 4 times they gave up and left.
    via u/[deleted]
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    Also, believe it or not, the White Stripes. The venue was terrible and the acoustics were sh. As a result, they played all their songs double time just to get it over with. It was so disappointing. Oh, another. The Kills. showed up with boombox instead of a band and literally hit play before. every song for the backing music.
    via u/[deleted]
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    MajesticalOtter Spinal tap in Springfield. A band member got blinded and they just left the stage a mess. A riot broke out as well.
    via u/MajesticalOtter
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    se... NOFX at Leeds Festival 2010. I've seen NOFX many times and enjoyed their shows. They may not be the most technically proficient band, but their shows were energetic and fun; their songs largely recognisable. This time, however...
    via u/seamus_quigley
  • 35
    Reading and Leeds are sister festivals. Same weekend, same lineup, different days. NOFX were billed to play Reading on Friday and Leeds on Sunday. They stumbled on stage, wasted, and had clearly partied for the two intervening days/nights without sleeping. They fumbled their way through the set playing barely coherent songs... It was
    via u/seamus_quigley
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    genuinely embarrassing to say this was a band I liked. Edit: I'm noticing a definite trend in my replies from people having a similar experience at other festivals. While those that saw them at a gig report. having a largely positive experience. This mirrors my own history of seeing them.
    via u/seamus_quigley
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    As for those of you saying they played well at Reading... I'm glad someone got to enjoy them that weekend. They are capable of putting on a good show and it'd be a shame if all anybody got a chance to see that weekend was the "wasted kids wandered on stage with their older siblings' instruments" set.
    via u/seamus_quigley
  • 38
    [deleted] The Mars Volta. Now, I'm a huge fan, love all their albums, so on and so forth. But that day, they sounded like an indistinguishable mess. Like everyone was playing a different song, all at top speed. It might have been the venue, the sound mixing, even my specific location in the venue, but I couldn't
    via u/[deleted]
  • 39
    recognize a single song, and this was when they only had De-Loused. For what it's worth, it was during a small festival with Kaiser Chiefs and R.E.M., and they sounded perfect. In fact, I went for The Mars Volta only, and came out a fan of the other bands instead.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 40
    DadsGonnaK Me Not really Bad, just Lifeless... Jethro Tull, it very much seemed like they were punching a Time Clock. Don't get me wrong, they played all the Hits, did them well had a little fun with the audience etc.. Just seems like they punched the clock on the way off stage...
    via u/DadsGonnaK***Me
  • 41
    ideonode Amy Winehouse. At Bestival a few years back. It was raining. She was the headline on the Saturday night. She turned up 45 minutes late, and mumbled her way through the set, clearly confused or troubled or... something. What a wasted talent.
    via u/ideonode
  • 42
    ubergenericusern... I don't know who it was, but some guy with a laptop opened for Fantomas. He literally set up a table with his computer, plugged it in and sat down. Some electronic-y music started playing and he just sat there.
    via u/ubergenericusername
  • 43
    He could've just literally hit "play" in Winamp then continued his game of minesweeper and no one would have known.
    via u/ubergenericusername
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    [deleted] Pharrell Williams. I'm not much into pop or hip hop but I've always respected Pharrell as he seems like a pretty down to earth guy and quite intelligent. Paid $79 for a ticket. 18 minutes in he says to the crowd "Now Perth, i know I'm running overtime". I thought he was just being funny. Nope. He performed
    via u/[deleted]
  • 45
    for 23 minutes. Yes he was the main act. It was a Pharrell concert. To make it worse he didn't even finish one song, rather just did a medley of songs he's somehow related to. He performed Happy twice (still didn't finish it either time) and boasted to the crowd that he only writes Grammy nominated songs.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 46
    Edit: oh and forgot that he brought girls from the crowd on stage and started grind dancing with them. Pretty certain he was almost sent to prison because these girls were obviously at a questionable age. Severely disappointed. The sad thing was that girls were running out screaming it was the best thing they'd ever seen. Kids, you just got ripped the off.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 47
    du... Easily Sublime. I saw Sublime in 1995 at Cal State San Bernardino. I had seen them previously at Skafest 1994 in Colton and now the puppy that roamed around stage was full grown. They came out and got 1/4 of the way through an unidentifiable song before it became so bad they had to stop. They stopped and
    via u/dummystupid
  • 48
    restarted many times that night. CSSB is not an awesome place for a show and the crowd began booing and leaving. They crashed their way though what might be considered a song before turning on the house lights and trying to play with the lights on. It didn't help. It was like what 12 year olds that don't know how to play an instrument pretend to be rock stars for 20 minutes. It
    via u/dummystupid
  • 49
    was actually so bad I felt depr sed from being there. I had heard such great things about this band I had seen on the 3rd stage at a show a year before. That wasn't even a show. I'd prefer to have G.G. Allen throw his sh at me than watch them fail at everything they tried.
    via u/dummystupid
  • 50
    mus_maximus Many moons ago, I and every human being in Toronto went to SARStock, this massive rock-show benefit that was put on while the city was languishing under a slight epidemic. Major headliners were the Guess Who, Rush, AC/DC and the Rolling Stones. I was wandering around the edge of the mega-pit, stoned and holding a hot dog, when
    via u/mus_maximus
  • 51
    Rush came on, and I just... stood where I was and got entranced. They were unbelievable. And then AC/DC popped up and they just had the entire city in the palms of their hands. Massive, tribal, transcendental experience. And then the Rolling Stones. Not... not so great. Keith was f ed up beyond all hope, savagely f ed up, f ed up beyond the
    via u/mus_maximus
  • 52
    baseline Keith Richards level of f ed up, and it absolutely told in his playing. This, in turn, p ed OFF, Mick RIGHT THE F and it was a stage full of hostility, insults, and discordant semi-musical noises. And in that time, in that place, after AC/DC had ruined concerts for half a million people with one of the best performances displayed in this city, it was
    via u/mus_maximus
  • 53
    just not good. Not working. Not anything. If you go to a music festival and can honestly say that Justin Timberlake put on a better show than the Rolling Stones, something is wrong. with the world.
    via u/mus_maximus
  • 54
    iamunstrung Maybe a little late to the thread so I don't know if it's worth getting into, but... In 2008 we were visiting my sister in So Cal and there was a music festival, featuring Alice in Chains, Tool, and Linkin Park. If you're a fan of Linkin Park stop here.
    via u/iamunstrung
  • 55
    So when you arrive you are assaulted with stickers and flyers for some band you've never heard of. Whatever. Show gets started and everything is groovy... Alice in Chains were amazing. Linkin Park are playing and Tool are next. I am dyyyying to see Tool and can't wait for LP to leave. But wait, there's more. Turns out after LP's set the band we'd never heard of - the one
    via u/iamunstrung
  • 56
    with the stickers and flyers - is Chester Bennington (Linkin Park singer's) indie rock side project! And even though no one paid to see them, the entire festival gets to see THEM play a set, when we thought we were going to see Tool.
    via u/iamunstrung
  • 57
    They were booed. The band was bad and they should feel bad. Tool ripped.
    via u/iamunstrung

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