Music has the power to move us. It can speak to our minds and hearts and give us the boost we need to finally clean up our homes or confess our feelings to that special someone. It can also join us in our sorrow and help us process all the overwhelming emotions that catch us off guard on a random rainy Wednesday.
The effects tend to be even stronger during live shows, when the artists fuel the crowd with their energy. Or negligible if they botch it.
A few days ago, Reddit user Pinheadbrigade asked everyone to share the worst concert they’ve been to and what made them so terrible, and people did not hold back. Their stories of drunk bands and failing sound systems highlight how memorable these disappointments truly are.
#1
Coldplay concert. I just went with a girl from work, and the f*****g camera guy just zoomed into us. I just wanted a chill moment and now my wife left me ...
Image credits: Abrical
#2
I once saw a triple feature: Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, and Heart.
By God Cheap Trick were bad and their audio mix was even worse. Combine that with 70 year old guys singing about banging young ladies, it just wasn't the vibe for the evening.
Joan Jett was quite good and Heart was phenomenal. Heart ended up bringing out John Bonham's son Jason to play drums for the last half hour of their set so they could do Led Zeppelin covers. I don't think Robert Plant's vocal intensity has held up over the years, but Ann Wilson's voice is so good it was like or better than listening to Plant in his prime.
Image credits: obi-jawn-kenblomi
It's easy to imagine these people's disappointment. Many of us are willing to go a long way to listen to live performances, literally and figuratively.
Through Google Trends and a survey of 850 individuals, Innerbody Research analyzed music fans' preferences and found that some artists do find a way to appeal to broad audiences, but Eminem (Gen Z and Millennials) and Elvis (Gen X and Baby Boomers) were the only artists that spanned the top five picks for two generations.
The data also revealed that, on average, concertgoers are willing to spend a maximum of $843 for floor seats to see their favorite artist, and men are more likely to pay higher prices ($168 more) than women.
#3
My Elementary Band School Concert. I was in the band, we sucked.
Image credits: Constant_Topic_1040
#4
Bob Dylan in 2014 :( I love him but unfortunately he sounded like Cookie Monster. Can’t imagine it’s improved.
Image credits: gogo7891011
#5
Aerosmith in 2014ish.
Steven Tyler kept forgetting the words and called our city like 5 different (and all wrong) names during the event.
Image credits: nutria_twiga
Three in four, or 75% of survey respondents, said that they've previously exceeded their budget or spent more than initially planned to attend a concert or event featuring their favorite artist. For the majority, this looks like spending an extra $101-$200 over budget.
More than half (59% of respondents) even said they would be willing to take on more debt to attend their favorite artist's concert.
Interestingly, Gen X was the most likely to splurge on tickets but the least willing to go into debt to see their favorite artist perform.
#6
James Brown was the headliner one night at a festival in the early 2000s.
He was wasted.
Kept singing the same lines over and over.
He introduced the band at least 5 times.
He just laid down on the stage and didn’t sing for a while.
Terrible concert, funny memories.
Image credits: zack_bauer123
#7
I love to tell this one:
Went to see Lightning Hopkins out in the field on a flatbed trailer outside of Fort Worth in 1971. He was so drunk he played three songs, and two of them were the same song.
Image credits: LayneLowe
#8
Aging myself but sometime in the early 90s I was a huge Guns N' Roses fan and they were touring with Metallica. I ditched a prom to go in full "glam" with my date there instead and GNR was very late to set. When they came out, Axel threw a fit and it ended very quickly. Metallica on the other hand K****D it, probably to make it up to fans. I had been indifferent to Metallica before but became a huge fan afterwards. I still can't believe the adult temper tantrum that thousands of fans witnessed that night by a musician they paid a lot of money for.
Image credits: Content_Mountain5579
Out of the 850 survey participants, 65% said that if their favorite artist announced a one-time special performance in a different country, they were likely to travel just for them.
Gen Z was the most willing to travel for a concert, although none of the generations were likely to travel by car for more than 500 miles. Gen X was more reluctant to travel to see their favorite artist perform than the younger generations. Still, all generations are likely to fly at least 3-6 hours for a concert.
Given all of this, you'd think artists would take their shows more seriously.
#9
Oasis early 2000s. They clearly hated each other, played 6 songs, left the stage after 40min.
Edited for typos and also, wow, so many of us out there lol.
Image credits: CariocaInLA
#10
The Brian Jonestown M******e… holy s**t what a f*****g epic disaster that was. It was like the worst train wreck you’ve never been able to look away from. At one point his whole band left the stage and he started playing all their instruments and saying he could play better than any of them. Rolling a joint on stage, going up to the bar and getting liquor to make his own drink on stage too. It was 3 hours of WHAT THE F**K AM I DOING HERE… oh and it was a Monday night!
Image credits: Flandersar
#11
Joe Cocker. He was so drunk he could barely perform and threw up on stage in the middle of a song.
Image credits: Zoraji
#12
Sir Mix A Lot. The opening act warned us it was going to be terrible, and they were right.
Image credits: Easy_Square_3717
#13
Went to a festival concert put on by our rock station in the late 90s. Most of the concert was great with many of the acts being awesome (Collective Soul and Lenny Kravitz were awesome). One of the acts that day was Smash Mouth. Holy c**p they were terrible. I think the audience was generally in shock at how awful they sounded live vs their albums.
Image credits: Supermac34
#14
Modest mouse. They were wasted. Isaac Brock would flub the lyrics every other song and was basically screaming into the mic.
Image credits: FunctionBuilt
#15
They weren’t the headliner but 30 Seconds to Mars was awful to the point where they were nearly booed off the stage. They were the act leading up to Linkin Park and all I remember was their singer kept yapping on and on instead of playing a song. At one point he wanted the crowd to cheer louder before they started their next song and he was either ignored or was booed. Not sure what happened if he was drunk or on d***s or something but this was the only bad performance I’ve been seen by a professional band.
Image credits: maceman10006
#16
2009 American idol runner up tour at Wolf trap. I won tickets and thought "what the hell?"
I wonder if any of them remember me, I was the only one there.
Image credits: Highfivebuddha
#17
Six Pence None The Richer in nineties in Austin- lead singer had a melt down and ran off stage during ‘kiss me’ … 😒.
Image credits: court_n2000
#18
Marylin Manson. Was so dr*gged out he was staggering all over the stage, butchering his own lyrics, and sometimes just sat on stage and made weird guttural noises into the mic. Edited to add: Since many have asked I had myself a quick google of when they were in town. I was at the show in 2012. It was the twins of evil tour.
Image credits: WitheringW0nder
#19
Rhianna, loved her up until the concert. Wish I never went! She lip synched the whole entire time. We were so upset we went to an entire pre-recorded concert.
Image credits: Bamboozle_330
#20
Lauryn Hill the night of Trump’s first election win. Miseducation was/is one of my top 5 favourite albums of all time, and the way she sang every song was so different from the album. It was awful. And she kept gesturing angrily to someone off stage…audio tech? I don’t know but it was super uncomfortable. Top that with the audience constantly checking their phones for election results, it was a pretty s****y night.
Image credits: louiemay99
#21
DJ KHALED. If I wanted to watch a guy sweat 5litres in 30 minutes I’d just watch p**nhub.
Image credits: james-HIMself
#22
(ETA: as I was cleaning my garage I found the ticket to this concert! July 15, 1996. Freeman coliseum.)
Oddly, it was the best and worst. It was 97 or 98, White Zombie opened for Pantera, the freeman coliseum(? Oi, almost 30 years). This was just after Phil had ODed. Anyway, white zombie was terrible, the sound, the vocals all sucked but the stage show was cool. It was like a pirate ship if memory serves. A whole lot of props and lighting.
Then, Pantera came on. A wall of speakers and white lights. Thats it. The sound the vocals they were better live than any cd I had heard. They blew me away.
I was a huge white zombie fan so it was a big let down for me.
(ETA: as I was cleaning my garage I found the ticket to this concert!).
#23
Metallica/Guns N' Roses (plus Faith No More) in Montreal's Olympic Stadium in August 1992, the concert where James Hetfield got burned by pyrotechnics and then Axl Rose had laryngitis and quit after just six songs, leading to a small riot.
I was only 17 and had a long commute home so I left before things got too rowdy.
#24
The worst act I've seen live is Buckcherry. Their radio length songs were what I enjoyed, but their live version of songs just ran on to the point of "this song should have ended 5 minutes ago.".
Every other artist that I've seen live has been good to great.
Image credits: sasksasquatch
#25
Jerry Lee Lewis. 3 hours late, so drunk he could barely stay on the piano bench. Played 3 songs, slurred his way through ‘em, then got up and walked off stage.
#26
Bob Dylan. he played all his hits in big band style. awful.
#27
Got dragged to a high school basketball gymnasium to watch Dwight Yoakam. Dwight wasn’t bad, it was the sound. Cranked up Dwight Yoakam inside a gym is what I’m pretty sure the CIA used to get Al Quaeda terrorists to talk.
#28
Okay it was only half bad. Saw Counting Crows and MatchBox Twenty. Counting Crows were first up and my god not good at all. Also they refused to do Mr. Jones. Matchbox Twenty made up for it though. Rob Thomas is the real deal live.
#29
Meatloaf in Vegas in 2014. I s**t you not that the interlude portion of “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” was about 15 minutes of nonsense—complete aural jibberish. My mom, who had been a pretty big Meatloaf fan to that point, at one point leaned over to ask if I thought we were being pranked. .
#30
Whitney Houston near the end.
Still glad to have seen her live, see her as an icon, but holy s**t "Here's my brother to sing for a while" while she went off stage for a bump was not what I paid for.
How to insult even your rusted on fans who are wanting to see you succeed.
#31
I’ve worked in a concert venue for the past 20 ish years and have seen almost everyone at least once. Black eyed peas were atrocious, like the truck with their auto tune got lost on the way. Tone deaf.
Image credits: SousVideAndSmoke
#32
Oasis. Very early 2000s.
Stood there and joylessly banged out their songs, barely spoke except to heckle the audience for being too excited (jumping, iirc...but maybe someone also tried to crowd surf?)..."It's a f*****g rock show, not a circus!"
Travis opened for them and came with 10x more energy. It was all downhill from there. Lots left during the encore, us included. We all left as Travis fans.
Image credits: HomeboyGR
#33
My old band Set on Edge. I'm not kidding. We replaced Sixpence None the Richer at the very last minute because their whole band caught pneumonia, and the show was outside (well, in an enormous barn - basically outside) in late October near Chicago so it was COLDCOLDCOLD and there were 3000+ kids there and we COULD NOT KEEP OUR INSTRUMENTS IN TUNE (or feel our fingers) for the whole set. I have video proof. We stepped off stage - four adults - and cried. Wow, that was bad!
Image credits: SaintLewisMusic73
#34
Kid Rock opening for Metallica. Snoresville.
#35
I went to see Soulja Boy a couple years back because it was 2 tickets for $15 each (so $30 total) and I expected it to be funny.
Soulja himself was fine as were the second and third openers (some local no name rappers). The first opener however... I'm just gonna copy-paste what I wrote at the time, actually
> I've seen over 1200 artists live, and few stuck out as much as this for high levels of SUCK.
> I saw a BOGO deal for a Soulja Boy concert which made it 2 tickets for ~$30 and hopped on it. The Soulja Boy part was what you'd expect, the openers were not publicly listed before the show, so imagine my shock when the first performers I see on stage aren't even human, but instead two holograms of NFT apes. When they came on, they moved in the same looping GIF for the next 45ish minutes and bass-heavy club mixes of top 40 songs from this millennium blared. It was soulless, poorly mixed, poorly sequenced and just plain BAD. Once the t*****e was over and the GIFs were no longer looping, I actually started screaming "THANK GOD! That was horrible!" and variations repeatedly.
> Even a bad band on stage whom I think is truly awful has a certain charm to it almost always, like just seeing your fellow man get up on stage and blare out their soul through their songs is an admirable feat to me. There's a clear human element I can usually feel to a sincere performance even if the music isn't for me. So I've seen bands play that were probably less technically proficient than those stupid NFT monkeys but none filled me with such a sense of disdain and woe.
Image credits: rayword45
#36
Someone got me lil xan tickets for my birthday and it was the worst thing ever.
Image credits: 0ldrazzledazzle
#37
I saw Deep Purple once and the singer didnt realize his mic was off for half the set.
Image credits: koreamax
#38
Alien Ant Farm. They played Smooth Criminal about 4 times and the entire show was just awful.
Image credits: dtrain85
#39
Looong time ago, in 1984, went to see Elton John. The man was obviously not happy to be there or to perform. Absolutely no interaction with the crowd, came on stage, performed his songs and went off. No greetings, no eying the crowd, no smiles even. Miserable as hell. No charisma or even acknowledgement at all. May as well have listened to him at home.
#40
Mudvayve (opened for Rob Zombie & Ozzy). I swear all four members were playing four different songs. Nothing sounded together. Brutally bad.
#41
At a festival. Die antword. Sounded like babies on fire.
#42
I am currently at an Alex G concert with my daughter and this dude cannot sing for S**T. He sounds like f*****g Kermit the frog singing at the end of the Muppet Christmas Carol. .
#43
Milli Vanilli….i was like 8 but was wondering they could barely speak English but their singing was perfect English.
#44
Meatloaf followed by counting crows.
#45
I saw the Goo Goo Dolls a few years back. They were kinda old and didn't have great energy but the show was fine.
Then, I guess one of the other band members wanted HIS turn to sing. I called him Pink Hair Guy. Pink Hair Guy sang like he smoked two packs a day. The crowd hated him. Nothing ever sucked the buzz of concert excitement out of me faster than Pink Hair Guy. They let HIM sing their most popular song, Iris. I left mid song.
#46
I went to a Roger Waters concert with my dad a few years ago. Music was alright, but god he's insufferable .
#47
I’m gonna get downvoted but Miley Cyrus sucked. You could just tell she didn’t want to be there.
