Townsperson jeangray, in a recent thread, raised a point that’s worth bringing to The Main Stage:
Perhaps we need to do a thread about artists we were really excited to see that turned out to be terrible live.
Perhaps we do. Thanks, jeangray!
The first artist who came to mind for me was James Blood Ulmer, about 10 years ago. Rather than the charging, repetitive stuff I’d come to love of his, his live show at some Saturnismine-approved alternative rec hall was nothing more than the shambling, out-of-tune noise that our tone-savvy friend Hrrundivbakshi probably hears when he hears the music of James Blood Ulmer. To make matters worse he had the last hippie, flute-playing woman on earth blowing along with this racket. As much as I wanted to like the show, it really sucked. Even more than the one and only time I got to see The Clash, on their Combat Rock tour. That show was merely “humbling.”
Off the top of my head:
Pete Shelly’s “Homosapien” tour. This was his first solo tour post the break up of the Buzzcocks. I was a HUGE Buzzcocks fan and thought this was as good of a shot as I’d ever get to see something like them. Anyway, the show was a disappointment per the backing vocals and much of the music was piped in. I had never witnessed this before from a “live” act and sadly it wouldn’t be the last time. But witnessing it from him was tough for me to take. The show had no bite. Seemed like it could have been MTV. Fortunate, many years later (now 10-15 years ago or so..Christ I’m old) I did see the Buzzcocks live. And they surpassed my expectations as a reformed band and were quite terrific.
I saw the original line up of The Pretenders and I was excited to see them at the time. I think we caught them on an off night per they seemed bored and arrogant (other then the drummer). Not much else. I still recall James Honeyman Scott (do I have the name right)…doing about a 1/2 inch jump in the air. It was like he changed his mind post lift-off. I’ve heard others who witnessed them and had a different experience.
Talking Heads. I saw them in 1979 at the Guthrie and it still ranks as one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. Tense, tight and yet erratic. I’m sure it was all a persona but it worked. Byrne seemed out of his head, Tina played like a caged she-beast and so on.
The disappointment came in the follow up show. They came back a few years later during the “Remain in Light” tour. It was pretty good but the punk tension was gone and replaced with a this huge ensemble. It just wasn’t the same, they didn’t want it to be and I guess it couldn’t be. But still, it was disappointing to me.
Warren Zevon. I know this could be walking on thin ice. I had always heard so many great things about him live and well, the show was just “ok”. I probably saw him at about the time of Bad Luck Street in Dancing School. I still love some of his songs, respect the man and may he RIP but the show I saw was nothing special. One fault I recall was name dropping Minneapolis one to many times to get the crowd primed…”Werewolves of Minneapolis…etc.”
First time I saw Elvis Costello was in 1996, his final tour with the Attractions and it showed. A few interesting arrangements, but no chemistry whatsoever. They were tired and going through the motions. So was the crowd. And, to add insult to injury, several electric guitar solos from someone who has no talent whatsoever for them. He even changed guitars halfway through one song. Hilarious.
Also saw The Delgados on their last tour. I really like their last album, but that show also had no juice whatsoever. They were kind of an orch-pop band, and playing at the 1st Unitarian Church. Not a good match. I wasn’t surprised when they broke up a few months later.
There may be a couple of underwhelming concert experiences for me.
The first was the reunited Police. why I enjoyed the show well enough, it was certainly pricey. I wish I could have paid less and seen the same show. I suppose that is more a gripe against concert ticket prices than the concert itself. At the same time, I didn’t have that sense of GREAT that I was hoping for.
Warrant opened for Motley Crue during the Dr. Feelgood tour and was better than The Crue. Think about what I just said: Warrant was better than Motley Crue.
The thrid and final Big Star show that I saw left me with a sense of mediocrity. I don’t know why given Chilton’s history, but it was sort of inspiring to know that my own band isn’t the only one to make mistakes. The first time I saw Big Star was GREAT, but it may have been clouded by the fact that I was actually seeing Big Star. So, by the third time, the flaws were really showing.
TB
“Warrant was better than Motley Crue.”
What’s the difference really?
The Replacements, naturally. They kicked ass for about five or six songs and then set out to intentionally suck. As if to say, we COULD play like this, but we don’t want to, and screw you, we’re getting drunk and you paid to watch it.
I think I went to the same Chilton show as Hrrundi, where Alex spent his entire set playing indifferently, and pissing and moaning at the soundman and his band members.
The Shins really sucked live too. The singer/composer Mercer had no energy and one of the other guys had WAY too much idiot energy.
Also, Marshall Crenshaw. He played great – for 30 minutes. That was the whole set. What a feckin rip-off. He must have thought he was still in Beatlemania.
The Pretenders. Partly because I hate seeing rock shows at places with seats and partly because Chrissie Hynde went on and on with her political views. I couldn’t connect the “Night in my Veins” Chrissie Hynde to the one I saw. I like the “Night in my Veins” Chrissie better.
Same with Fountains of Wayne on the Interstate Managers tour. They played about 50 minutes and the songs sounded exactly like the records.
Tom Waits didn’t disappoint but his guitar player sure did. Wait was riveting but the guitar player just kept playing uninteresting and uninspired blues licks. A shame because between Marc Ribot and Smokey Hormel, he usually has guitar players who suit him much better. So, not terrible live (in fact, quite the opposite) but one nagging disappointment kept it from off the charts.
I wasn’t expecting much from the Stones and they still managed to bite it. If you recall, they are in my Holy Trinity of Rock, but I caught them on the same Green Waistcoat Tour as the good Dr. and every bet was hedged. It was like a slick Vegas show.
The Replacements and Guided By Voices both had their ups and downs but the downs, though disappointing, were worth it because the ups were so good.
Bands that I wasn’t expecting much from at all who were Great:
The Church
George Thoroughgood (I swear. It was before the sax player).
Hey, I saw that Homosapien tour too! Pete played acoustic, and he had a live drummer, but everything else was tapes. Pete’s gaucho outfit was to die for though.
I had a disappointing live Zevon experience too, but mainly because it was without a band. He just wasn’t very interesting sitting at the piano all night. And my friend I talked into going with me STILL gives me grief about it.
My Stones experience was the first gig of the first tour with Ron Wood. They were a mess. I think I’ve already reported here on my disappointing Dylan experience last year. It wasn’t him, just that the sound sucked so bad the show was ruined.
I feel very lucky now to have seen Ulmer in a flute-free environment.
perhaps the biggest disappointments were:
stones on the steel wheels tour at the vet: i had already seen them on the ‘tattoo you’ tour at jfk and had heard that they were “inspired” again and sounding “better than ever.” so my friend paul and i were stoked. yeah, they were tighter this time around, but this was the dawn of the teleprompter era, multiple backup singers, and all that glitz. the *main* problem, however, was the sound: it was so quiet that i could talk to the people around me during the songs without even having to raise my voice. and if too many people around us were talking, we actually had to shush them. the sound was also so compressed that it sounded we were listening to a big car radio instead of a live band. 2k may have bootlegs from that tour that suggest otherwise, but that’s how i remember it.
meat puppets at the chestnut cabaret on the ‘huevos’ tour: great band, apparently breaking free from the relatively staid sound of their previous full length: “mirage.” but all their worst elements came out in this particular show. playing songs way too fast; too much mumbling; too much delay on the guitar during *every* solo; sloppy sloppy sloppy self-indulgence.
neil young on the ‘ragged glory’ tour at the philadelphia civic center: again, the sound wasn’t loud enough. and the bravado felt false. closing with a killer version of ‘like a hurricane’ did help a little bit, however.
i forgot: spoon on the “gimme fiction” tour (spring of 2005). good god were they ever limp. no energy whatsoever.
Hey Big Steve,
Funny that you saw that Homosapien tour too. Sadly, no gaucho outfit in Mpls… 🙂
I can still remember one angry fan yelling over and over “IS IT LIVE OR IS IT MEMOREX PETE, IS IT LIVE OR IS IT MEMOREX”?
I was never a huge Sonic Youth fan but again per hype, I was excited to catch them live as a warm up for Neil Young. However, they had some MAJOR sound problems and it sounded terrible. More time was spent trying to figure out the sound system glitches then them actually playing. Anyway, they were apologetic about it but simply cut the show after about 20 minutes or so.
Now I saw the Mats a fair amount of times. In fact, one night they put on a very good show. Then we went the next day to an all ages show and drunk Paul kept breaking into “Hello Dolly” over and over again. That was probably the worst show I’d seen by them (funny at first and then, well annoying). But, yeah when they were good, they were great. Especially in the Bob Stinson days.
Dinosaur Jr. Unbelievably loud. I would guess possibly illegally loud. Couldn’t hear a thing just an aching din and oppressive sound vibrations.
No one that I could see was having a good time and most people were holding their hands over their ears.
For me it’s Burning Spear. I am a big fan and I finally got to see him after many years and many missed opportunities. I came away distinctly underwhelmed. I obviously came into the show with very high expectations… so I suppose it’s my fault. Still that’s what you get when you see an artist who is past his peak.
On the flip side, I’ll mention a Pixies show that I attended because a friend had an extra ticket–his girlfriend broke up with two days before the show. I was not a fan and had no expectations. But I have to say that they were incredible. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I was an instant fan. [Just saying; a couple of post back Frank Black/Pixies were (incredibly) written off by some as Mendoza-line artists. ahem)
Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Legendary their first lp was, and is. Live? Not a chance. They were wooden, stand-offish and made the audience feel unworthy. That said, I’ve seen the off-spring, Rufus and Martha. Rufus was ‘giddy’ throughout and Martha rocked for about three songs and then wandered all over the shop. Daddy Rufus however did not disappoint – a shameless showman and a great night out.
Underthefloat, your comments about Talking Heads circa ’79 does not in way make me feel better about missing them (see my comments on bands seen and missed).
cdm, I agree. The Church in their pomp were awesome!
Sorry, daddy Loudon, of course.
Yeah, Warrant and The Crue are practically the same, but one could argue that The Crue has a bit more staying power and made better music. Warrant is more one-trick-pony. The real point I was making is this: The opening band here should not have bettered the headliner.
TB
Other bands I wasn’t excited to see but turned out to be GREAT live:
Sonic Youth
The Beastie Boys.
I’m not really a fan of either, and I especially don’t care about the Beastie Boys because I don’t like hip-hop in general so white guy wisenheimer hip-hop is particularly unappealing. But I was bar tending at a theater where they were playing in ’92 and both bands really kicked ass live. They both seemed to be going for broke and Sonic Youth’s songs made a lot more sense to me in a live setting.
I saw Holger Czukay on what was, I believe, his first US show ever. Knitting Factory, what year was that? Surely some of you saw him. He toured with a DJ who trounced everything with a four-to-the-floor kick drum. The audience was jeering the DJ guy, and he thought they were approving. I’ve never seen so much of an audience clear out.
Also terrible live, though in this case I had no expectations, were the Cocteau Twins. Might as well stay home, crank the album and wave some flashlights around. Talk about a group with zero stage presence.
Oh, sorry about that Milkydread. Not much help there was I.
I feel lucky to have caught Talking Heads in their prime. I know the pain of missing other great bands though..
Bad Live act that used to be a great one: The Black Crowes post 1993 – they decided to become the Allman Bros. and just could not pull it off. 20 minute jams, few hits, letting Rich sing, letting the other guitar player sing. I keep going, thinking they will do what I want them to do..they don’t. Funny Chris Robinson’s solo band put on a great show in 2000 and 2004.
Good Live act I didn’t expect: Sugar Ray – a buddy of mine worked for their short-lived Spike TV reality show. We saw a show that was being taped for this so that we could hang out with him and go “behind the scenes” of a TV show. These guys played their 8 top ten hits and 5 covers (Blondie, Tommy Tutone, Ramones, Joe Jackson) had great energy, hammed it up in a good way and I felt bad for not liking them in the past.
I’ve written about these disappointments before, but, briefly:
Holger Czukay — basically played a digital recording of his music and *pretended to play* a bank of keyboards. I suppose as pantomime it was interesting, but…
The Shins — see mockcarr’s commentary.
Apples In Stereo — I was so disturbed by the total lack of rock charisma/horrible Look on display that it put me off the band forever.
Kiss — during the makeup-free years. In the “whatever doesn’t kill me gives me a story to tell” category: Gene Simmons played a one-note “bass solo” (imagine him squat-thrusting on the beat, plunking the low E string repeatedly — bongggg! Bonggggg!). Then, on “bongggg” number 16 or so, he pointed up at a hanging speaker cabinet, and with a mighty “BONNNNGGGG!”, a bottle rocket of some sort shot out of the end of his bass, flew up and — with a pathetic “pop” sound and a modest shower of sparks — “blew up” the speaker cab.
Paul McCartney, the first time I saw him — the sound was SO BAD in the Verizon Center that I almost walked out. And the idiotic pre-show Cirque du Paulie show was also a stomach-churner.
There are more, but I have work to do.
Great Gene Simmons bass solo story, Hrrundi! I don’t believe I’ve heard that one before.
I’m heading down your way late tonight (Gaithersburg). If any time magically opens in my schedule tomorrow night I’ll let you know. Are the Nationals home, Mockcarr?
Another one was the post-Stamey dB’s who were advertised as playing in one of the clubs on the New Orleans World’s Fair site, when that boondoggle was in full swing (1984). For some reason the band treated it as an off night, playing covers, not playing songs all the way through, just generally not earning the honest dollars we paid to see them. Once again the people I talked into coming along were really pissed. Hell, I was really pissed.
I also remember reading the hype on Jason & the Scorchers and being underwhelmed by a similarly shambolic gig.
The Nats are home against the Pirates tonight. Free t-shirts if you get there before the game starts, probably. Hell, I might even have an extra ticket at this point.
Well, I didn’t read that properly. The Nats are also playing the Pirates tomorrow, but I don’t have tickets to that one.
I saw Jason & The Scorchers at a college music convention in DC (’85?) on a “on” night, aznd I thought at the time it was one of the greatest things I’d ever seen.
I remember being underwhelmed by the Del-Fuegos, although perhaps their bar band hype was not meant to be fulfilled as the opening act for Tom Petty and The Georgia Satellites at Philly’s Spectrum. They did illustrate a major crime, in my book: Playing your hit song (“Don’t Run Wild”) a half step slower than the recording. Nothing makes a band look lazier. The Satellites were amazing though.
Interesting you mention the Clash on the COMBAT ROCK tour, because I saw them then and they were absolutely dreadful.
I saw Sonic Youth only once, and they, too, were awful. I’ve been told that my experience was atypical, though.
Satellies & Scorchers NEVER disappoint (even now in their “old age”)
I saw Jason & The Scorchers at Legion Field at UGA when I was 16 (1986) … that show convinced me that I needed to move to Athens GA…a good move
Del Fuegos were dull on the Tom Petty Tour..wow that was a long time ago. Not Petty’s best tour either….