Concerts - the Best & Worst

That Jekka Gal

That Jekka Gal

That Jekka Gal

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As the title says - what are the best and worst gigs you've attended?

I've been lucky enough to have attended concerts by all my favourite bands & while, by and large, they were good - none feature in my best & worst.

No, the best show I've ever attended was by a band I didn't even really like; it was the Quo at Monsters of Rock in 1982 & I didn't even want to like them. I mean, a 3 chord boogie band? But, from the opening riff of Caroline I was totally blown away & have been a fan ever since. I was down the front & boy, they were loud.

The worst was Oasis at the City of Manchester Stadium in 2005 & I went partially because my ex was a fan but I also wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

The sound wasn't great - granted I was towards the back but all the songs apart from one or two just seemed to meld into moreorless the same number.

Probably the worst aspect was the crowd. The weird thing was that it was nothing like a crowd you'd normally get at a rock concert; I can only describe it as being like in the middle of a football crowd from the drunken chanting to the football casual type gear a lot of them were wearing.

Certainly won't be paying a grand for the privilege of seeing them on the current tour, that's for sure.
 
I don't go to many gigs now so my reference point is largely 30-40 years ago. I saw a lot of bands in the period between 1986 and 1992.
Nirvana at the QMU Glasgow in 1991 was pretty epic. From memory the tickets were about £8. It's probably the one gig I've been at where my kids and their mates genuinely swoon.
Rory Gallagher in 1987 at the Glasgow Pavillion was special. I think we were 1st or second row and he was a god. Ears were ringing for days.

Worst - probably U2 at the old Wembley c1993. Terrible venue. It felt corporate but maybe because I wasn't a huge fan.
 
Calpol said:
I don't go to many gigs now so my reference point is largely 30-40 years ago. I saw a lot of bands in the period between 1986 and 1992.
Nirvana at the QMU Glasgow in 1991 was pretty epic. From memory the tickets were about £8. It's probably the one gig I've been at where my kids and their mates genuinely swoon.
Rory Gallagher in 1987 at the Glasgow Pavillion was special. I think we were 1st or second row and he was a god. Ears were ringing for days.

Worst - probably U2 at the old Wembley c1993. Terrible venue. It felt corporate but maybe because I wasn't a huge fan.
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My first big gig was the Rolling Stones with the J Geils Band at Wembley in 1982 - I was near the front & it rocked. Definitely not corporate but fast forward to 2003 when I saw them again in the Wembley Arena & it's all gone very corporate. Saw 3 gigs in there & they all sucked because of the acoustics. Except Zappa just because it was Zappa ;-)
 
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My all time favourite was lady gaga art rave tour. Blew my socks off by a country mile.

I can still rewatch the video of it with much nostalgia!

Can't wait to see her for the 3rd time this autumn.
 
Hard to say the best, but worst was U2 at Johannesburg Stadium in 1998. The show was meant to televised with a 2 hour delay, but U2 did not want that so they did not come out until broadcast time, just made audience wait without telling us. I could have understood if they had worries about censorship with old government, but we were 3 years into ANC government - just odd.

Most people got there by train or coach, and were worried that they would not wait. U2 finally came out, did a cut down setlist with no encore as they would have been fined if they went over time. Some people did leave to catch transport - coaches did wait, but some trains could not. Lovely way to treat paying audience.
 
Some of the best events i have been to were circa 2000 - 2007 - when i was trotting around dance festivals (homelands, global gathering, creamfields) and some of the events in london (frantic, convergence, tidy,)
storm up in the midlands at emporium in coalville, raving at the fridge in brixton (event called convergence, event called XLR8, event called escape from samsara)

Events in the brixton acadamy,

Riot at the end in london

twist, another hardhouse event in london


I have been to see Above and beyond a few times (trance)

I have also been to see factor B and guiseppi otiavianni
 
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That Jekka Gal said:
Saw her Copacabana show on tv a few weeks back. They screened it live.
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She's currently starting the. Mayhem tour. I'm a fan of her old stuff. And the new album is very much back to that. So I'm super excited for the next one.

Most I've ever spent for a ticket.
 
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Best was Shania, or possibly Bon Jovi (last concert at the old Wembley).

Absolute load of rubbish was Cliff Richard. Hardly sang any of his recognisable songs and stuck to gospel music.
 
Not sure why you expected Oasis to be a rock concert. Your description sums up most of their fan base
 
Best: Jethro Tull at Newcastle City Hall, saw them in South Shields again not long after, think it was the same year. Amazing energy and a lot of fun, Ian Anderson has a huge personality too, really entertaining guy.

Worst: Cradle of Filth around 15 years ago in what was at the time the Carling Academy in Newcastle. A mate had a spare ticket, they were absolutely horrendous, I don't even mind some of their music but live they were unmitigated cack.

Mixed bag: Motorhead again in the Carling Academy, I think it was around 2010-2012? They were brilliant but Lemmy seemed to struggle a bit, Saxon opened for them and were fantastic.
 
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Best , God so many....
Maybe Primus London Astoria seeing Les in the flesh slapping away, or smashing pumpkins for the first time....
Jeff Mills doing a set at tribal gathering....all many years ago...
Probably a 100 more....

Worst...

Quite recently..2019?

Hanson (lol) at the Royal Festival Hall.
Apart from mmmmbop. Obviously i had no idea what they sing and it was so sterile, sat right in the gods too, was all naff. Technically very good but meh. Forced to see them in Gothenburg too, small venue and that was pretty decent lol. Don't tell my Mrs I liked it.
 
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Calpol said:
Nirvana at the QMU Glasgow in 1991 was pretty epic.
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Saw them at Rock City in Nottingham. Awesome. Absolutely awesome.

Think that was probably the same tour? I'd have to dig out the ticket stump to remind me of the date tbh :cry:

Leftfield also at RC some good time later also sticks in my mind. RC was a cracking place to see bands (no idea what it's like now), as too was the Leadmill in Sheffield (I hear that's getting 'rebranded' though).

Can't remember any 'awful' gigs. I did help out a mate who was doing security in Sheffield when M People were playing once. That was dull.

Don't really do gigs anymore, although saying that we went to Depeche Mode in Amsterdam last year. Enjoyed that too. Yeah, I tend to just enjoy my time out really :)
 
Best: Pearl Jam, Wembley Arena '96. Tough call as I had many to choose from including Sabbath in 97.

Worst: Gorky's Zyotic Minci. To be fair it wouldn't have been my choice to see them, but they were supporting the Manics.
 
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Not really been to that many...
Moody Blues (please don't chuckle) at the Albert Hall in 1981 or thereabouts. The live performance was okay but sat right on the edge of the circle so hardly able to see the stage.
ELO at Wembley Arena a couple of years later, wasn't too bad but of course by then they were suppressing their earlier material in favour of the more poppy stuff.
Marillion a couple of times at St David's Hall in Cardiff. Second time the acoustics were set up wrong not helped by Hogarth struggling to hit the notes.
Genesis at Cardiff International Arena. Not bad, was during the period they got rid of Phil Collins (still think he should have gone to the electric chair for turning them into a jazz/blues/funk band) and Ray Wilson was the front man. They even put on a couple of numbers from the Peter Gabriel era which would never have happened with Collins around.
 
Vern1961 said:
during the period they got rid of Phil Collins (still think he should have gone to the electric chair for turning them into a jazz/blues/funk band) and Ray Wilson was the front man. They even put on a couple of numbers from the Peter Gabriel era which would never have happened with Collins around.
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What period was that?

I'm not a massive fan but I do like the Collins era Genesis from Follow You Follow Me up to and including the Paperlate EP. For me, the only memorable track after that was The Brazilian.
 
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That Jekka Gal said:
What period was that?

I'm not a massive fan but I do like the Collins era Genesis from Follow You Follow Me up to and including the Paperlate EP. For me, the only memorable track after that was The Brazilian.
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After and to some extent including the Duke LP which is where the more blues influence started to come through. I mean it wasn't all bad, but I remember the first time I span the Abacab LP and thought, WTF where's the prog rock gone! It goes a long way to explaining why groups like Marillion and Pendragon kind of became the alt- Genesis, though even Marillion changed in later years and Pendragon get a bit too bogged down with political messages and the lead singer/guitarist bitterness about his personal life. Sorry to thread drift away from the OT!
 
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