I’ll go with the caveat of “I don’t want to erase any of the experiences I’ve had because they’ve made me who I am” route, but if I had to chose, I’d go with the last two Smashing Pumpkins shows I saw. The Adore and Machina tours were awful, they put a bad blemish on the shows I saw before. That and all of the Ryan Adams shows where he’s trying to be the Grateful Dead.

i went to a basement show way back in like 2002 to see an amazing band that most of you probably never heard or -Rambo, and my “boyfriend” showed up drunk and admitted to cheating on mefor a few weeks with a family friend. so i punched him in the face. and continued to dance. but Rambo has never been the same. Nor has Zombie pits. Nor has that basement in south boston I went and saw Vitamin X a few weeks later and i just could not enjoy the show. but my friends and i did dress up in prom dresses to cheer me up.

I got forced to go see Fall Out Boy w/ an ex-gf. God please get that horrible memory of a show out of my head!

New Order in 1989 or 1990 opening their tour for “Technique” in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The show was changed to the next day at another place. There was a small crowd and the band looked pissed off and arrogant (especially Bernard Sumner), and the set was very brief. Disastrous. After that, they even erased the name San Juan from the tour T-shirts, which had this american flag with the stripes in different colors, like the rainbow. Anyway I forgave them and continued to be a Joy Division/New Order fan, but I was a little hurt for that bad experience, especially since that’s the only time that I have seen them live. But I didn’t forgive myself for not buying a t-shirt with “San Juan” on it.

del cielo in frederickburg, virginia.

I saw the Distillers in Boston and they were great, but after the show Brody came over to the bar next to me. She said “Hi” and I freaked out about her and the show so much she that didn’t even wait to get her drink and left. Every time I hear their songs I cringe. Such the dork I am!

I saw My Favorite Band The Rolling Stones in 1978 and they were the shittiest thing I have ever seen in my life. Just awful. I have not spent a single dime on those assholes since. Fortunately, this crazy new band called Van Halen was the opening act so it wasn’t a total waste.

I thumbed from my college to see a show with Joe Walsh and REO Speedwagon (back in the day, during Joe’s Smoker You Drink tour) at a small Baptist college. Nobody was allowed to leave their seats during the show, no smoking, and lots and lots of cops. Both acts, to their credit, gave the crowd it’s moneys worth, but left the stage seeminly unappreciated. Trying to thumb home in the rain/snow after that letdown was even worse. Make it go away!

the red hot chili peppers in roanoke, virginia. foo fighters opened for them and were incredible! then rhcp came out and stood still and sang songs and left. no energy, no crowd rapping, just standing there. terrible. they didn’t even play their songs with any real emotion or drive.

Nine Inch Nails – Milwaukee, WI

The Downward Spiral Tour. Trent was sick, got pissed, and left after 50 minutes. Love the band, but have never wanted to see them again after that experience.

Two concerts for me.

The first was Vans Warped Tour in Camden, NJ (2005 I think?). My sister was a huge fan of Story of the Year, so we went to watch them and the crowd was horrible, everyone all at once tried to rush the stage and knocking people down and all that fun stuff. My one sister and I got shoved to the ground and I honestly thought we were going to be crushed to death, and I also lost my glasses (I’m legally blind without them). Then a friend that we were with went missing for an hour because the crowd had pushed her away and she had gotten disorientated. I will never go Warped Tour after that.

Then a few years ago I went to see Dropkick Murphy’s and Jem opened up for them (WTF?) and she was abosolute crap. She can’t sing and all her songs just kept repeating themselves. Worse opening act I have ever seen.

Two come to mind-
I used to work in college radio, and my university booked Soul Coughing. Great band, awful show. 45 minutes long. Egg on our face (’cuz I was in a position of semi responsibility). Cost my radio station 30 grand to book them, plus $25 for tix for the students.

This was only like 6 or 7 months before they broke up, so I’d imagine it was due to tensions in the band.

The other was a Dave Navarro solo show, from when I used to work at First Avenue in MPLS. The only part I enjoyed was a cover of X’s “Los Angeles,” the rest was pure crap.

And in reference to Scott P, yeah, Ryan Adams is an asshole. When he came to MPLS he spent a good chunk of the time dissing Paul Westerberg because he didn’t want to come up and sing a duet with his derivative-sh ass.

Best shows? Reverend Horton Heat and The Brave Combo. Awesome energy and good crowd interaction.

2 out of 3 bob dylan shows i’ve seen.
i love him as a writer, and he used to have a cool voice for the songs he wrote, but anymore the man really just sounds like shit, live anyway, and most of his
(re)arrangements are repetitious and uncreative.
it’s gotten to the point where the non-voice/flat music negates the fact that it’s ‘really him’ up there.
he should tour less so he doesn’t sound so awful so often.
just an idea.
still heart the guy though.

1) First day of the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington, D.C. Before the lightening struck, all I got to see was KRS One and Herbie Hancock. All the heavyweights played the next day, and me without a ticket.

2) A Lemonheads show at Marquette University in 1990. Evan and crew came out and started 3 aborted songs, then left the stage. I waited an hour before giving up and returning to my dorm. I heard the next day they returned to the stage, but I can’t imagine it was worth the wait.

3) I was at Stevie Ray Vaughn’s last show. He made me a fan with that performance (I was actually there to see Clapton and Robert Cray). Hearing the news the next day was eerie.

Warped Tour 2 summers ago? Cal State Long Beach campus. Should have done more research before drinking prior to the show. Nothing worse than asking people where the hell the beer garden is, only to find out it’s a dry venue. A dry warped tour?! That’s like a hooker that doesn’t put out. It just didn’t make sense.

The Beta Band, sometime in ‘98. I fell in love with a girl, didn’t realise that I had, the mornig after we met we listened to the 3 ep’s, cuddled, drank coffee. After I had destroyed everything through drunken sillyness, I went to see the BB in vancouver. I’m not sure if she hooked up with the guy, but she was cuddling with him to torment me. I drank myself stupid, and didn’t get out of bed until 9:30 pm because I was so distraught, and had to pee pretty badly. Whenever I hear them, I usually feel quite sad.

I liked Radiohead when “pablo Honey” came out, and I went to see them at a small club in Portland for five bucks. I hated them with a passion. They were awful, drunk, stupid, and lame. But I still liked them as the years went on, and liked them more with their subsequent albums. Then I saw them at Coachella, ten years later… and they STILL sucked! I now know that I like their albums and HATE them live. Ces’t le vie, I guess.

Wow. I think I realize I like all the shows I’ve ever seen. Either that or the bad ones have already been erased. So why am I answering this question? I guess just to have the chance to say that the best show I ever saw was Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and Robert Earl Keene — just the three of them with guitars…damn good.

The Flaming Lips at the Virgin Festival in Toronto in 2006. They were the headliners that day but played only five songs before being booted off by the festival organizers who had stated that the show had to end because of time and transportation. Never go the corporate music whorefest that is the Virgin Festival.

I went to Warped Tour a few years ago and witnessed a several bad things. AFI was scheduled to perform in the afternoon, but Davey Havok got a spiderbite and had to go get treated, so it pushed their set back. This was before they had gotten as big as they are now, so most of their fans there were the black-clad, AFI-looking guys, who seemed to just crawl out of the darkness to see them. Unfortunately, when the band came out, it was not AFI, but the infuriatingly goofy Simple Plan. I can only imagine the looks on the AFIers faces. Anyway, AFI played later. Terrible. That guys vocals are completely laughable live. And I got dragged to see the All American Rejects instead of Rancid. what a waste

Lilith Fair 1998. Shows didn’t follow a schedule. The people that came were there to be part of a scene and not to listen to the music. Natalie Merchant’s set was so self-indulgent that I stopped listening to 10,000 Maniacs.

Sarah McLachlan was excellent though.

I’m a huge Springsteen fan and put off/didn’t want to go see him forever..the whole can he live up to my expectations deal..well I finally did when he got back with the Estreeter’s. That show was fine but then I went again to a second show, same tour, and saw how “scripted” his show was. It was kinda a let down for someone who’s considered legendary for live shows.

I went to see Sum 41 a couple years ago, i dont like them but they came to my town and i went just for the sake of going to a concert, probably the biggest mistake of my life

rhcp at manchester city stadium in 04

i went crowdsurfing for the 1st time there. when i went over the barrier i put on that i was reali dehydrated but looking back they probs thought i was a pill head or summat and kicked me out!

managed to convice a nice lady to let me back in thou and i only missed overside!!!!!

heres what my mate told me

the others (who got number 40 on Q’s worst albums of all time!) the 4th time i saw them i was reali pissed kept dragging the singer into the crowd cos there was no barrier and stole his mic. apperatly i took it sung the wrong verse to a song and wudnt give it back. it took TEN ppl to get it off me i woke up in the morning with all cuts over my knuckels like i had been fighting.

this all took place in the space of ten mins after which i was kicked out cos i kept going crowdsurfing and wud jzt be dumped on the stage and id stay there in the foetal position this is acadmemy 3 thou where u pratically have to pull a gun to get kicked out!

then i fell asleep in the gangway of the bus on the way home!

Meatloaf a few years ago at PNC Bank Arts Center.

Got cheap tickets, went for the hell of it. Meatloaf looked like he was going to keel over from a massive heart attack the whole time, strutted around with such an ATTITUDE, then proceeded to stop singing, and stop the band from playing in order to curse out a 13 year old boy that was in the front row because the boy dared to laugh at him. If you have to brag about the amount of pu**y you’ve had and the size of your d*ck to a 13 year old in front of thousands of people, then you have some serious issues.

Ooh, also a Prince show from at least 10 years ago, because I had 5th row seats, and security confiscated my disposable camera. I really want those pics! LOL

I went to a Backstreet Boys concert when I was eleven…I think its pretty obvious why I want that erased from my memory.

Smashing Pumpkins-Adore tour in Buenos Aires Argentina. Man that was boring!

David Bowie/NIN tour in Camden, N.J. 1995. Reznor destroyed the crowd, and some stupid hippie idiot behind me was bitching and complaining it was too much for him. I knew Reznor would be awesome and assumed Bowie would be too. Major letdown. Bowie tried to push his new album at the time over all the stuff we wanted to hear. The only cool stuff he did was Chenges/Man who sold the world/Rebel Rebel. NIN had to save his butt w/ an encore spot. 3 wks later he played in Harrisburg and gave everyone a solid classic hits show, I heard.

Oh yeah… Cincinnati late 1979 the Who. I already put it out of my mind…

I went to see Nine Yum Nine at a coffeeshop once. I meant to go see a local high school band that was good but we got there too late. So, not only do I miss a band I wanted to see but I get stuck listening to a god awful Radiohead-Slipknot hybrid band that destroyed my ears. We left early, telling the keyboardist we ran into outside we had an early curfew. Worst music ever, god if I could only forget the whole thing.

I thought the Bob Dylan show in San Diego 06 was rather bland.

I was pumped to see Modest Mouse at the Showbox in Seattle in 2004. I was pumped to see such a big band at the time at a small club in their hometown.

They sucked big time. Isaac Brock didn’t ever talk to the audience and they just went through all the songs like we weren’t there. They also realized they didn’t have enough really good songs to play so we got to listen to two versions of Float On and World At Large.

I seen Vanilla Ice before I developed a taste in music…BUT…my biggest disappointment was the Pixes in T. Very cold, straightforward show…no high points…at ALL.

Bob Dylan in Uniondale 2006. It’s a damn shame that the Raconteurs were 100x more exciting than he was. It was a chore to keep up with Dylan’s delivery that night, and there were only a few good “renditions” of his own material that he did. It would have been nice to see him play some guitar as well.

Oh yeah, and Siren music fest 2006 in Brooklyn, simply because it caused my girlfriend and I to break up. And she was all psyched to see the band Stars. They were fantasticly lame.

Hands down Billy Corgan Solo show last summer. That was the most boring 2 hours of my life. I love the pumpkins and can’t wait till they come back. But if they sound anything like the solo stuff did Im going to kill myself before going to see them live.

Ouroboros, I have to agree with you in regards to New Order; that was the X-Fest tour here in San Diego. The Sugarcubes opened (horrible), Public Image Limited then came out (awesome, worth the price), and then New Order came on. Of course I looked forward to this a bunch, having listened to “Substance” only a thousand times. They did not acknowledge the crowd or each other ONCE. Muddled sound topped it all off and I was seriously disappointed.

Honorable mention: Sebastian Bach solo, 1999? Just pathetic. He kept complaining that the mic was not good enough to handle his “wonderful voice” and he actually said to the audience “Hey! Do you guys like to smoke pot??” On top of that, the only stage move he had ripped off Roger Daltrey’s microphone twirl.

Yeah, The Pumpkins Mellon Collie tour was just great….I wish I could forget the Machina and Adore crap…just awful….and BORING
I really wish that I could forget NIN and David Bowie…with all respect to the thin white duke…twenty minutes into his set Bowie walked off saying only, “I’m sorry, I can’t do this tonight” He was sick….no refunds!

Ghostface Killah at Princeton University. I mean, it was free, and he is sick, but there is nothing more awkward than seeing a rap star go through the motions of a normal rap show in front of a sea of pastel popped collars. When he called audience members up to freestyle battle each other and the only white guy won, through audience approval, I wanted to stab myself in the head.

It was pretty funny, though, when he invited “fly ass honeys” to come dance with him on stage, and he spent the next couple of songs trying to distance himself as much as possible from the stank bitches my school has to offer. Kudos for booking him, though.

Later last year, Raekwon showed up to play a show; we booked him in the shitty little student cafe where aspiring Princeton singer-songwriters play to audiences of 10-20. His mic didn’t work, and he said “fuck this bullshit” and left. I wasn’t there, but that has to be the worst waste of a Wu-Tang member ever.

I am amazed that no one mentioned the infamous Led Zeppelin concert at Tampa Stadium, there were still lawsuits goin’ round about that one 10 years later!
The tickets said “rain or shine”; they didn’t know that a sudden storm could turn the place into a giant toilet bowl. We were nearly washed off our seats; when they stopped playing a vicious riot started.
‘Nuf said.