I saw him play with a trio in Central Park. Just him a drummer and bassist. He’s a genius, and his drummer- a young guy -was about the best drummer I’ve seen. On a different dimension from others.
Loved these two episodes, very interesting stories. My worst concert experience was the Guns N’ Roses and Metallica show in Montreal Canada - 1992 where James was Burnt from the pyro and Axel walked of the stage creating a huge riot in and out of the stadium.
I started to hate GNR around this time period. I hated the Use Your Illusion albums, and I thought Axl looked fucking stupid with his Public Enemy shirts, that stupid, puffy orange mic and his biker shorts.
Classic episode. Showed what asshole Axl was. He could have saved the evening. Instead he was the drama Queen he always was. No Wonder Guns n roses was never the same after 93. While Metallica ruled the world.
Saw this tour in Columbia SC. After 2 postponed dates the show finally happens. Metallica killed. Guns took 2 hours to finally take the stage. They sucked. Axel complaining about the sound guys etc. One of the only shows I have left early. Thankfully I only played $13 for a scalped ticket.
Worst concert experience in recent years was being up at the very front of the stage for an Iron Maiden show in Albuquerque, NM.. Why does that sound awful? The show was three years ago and I was born in the 60's so needless to say I am not spring chicken. It was open seating so we were packed in like sardines up at the front and during the opening band Ghost (they were actually really good!) some guy decides to crowd surf and it seems as if you was going to fall and hit his head on the payment so I reached down to make sure he didn't get hurt and I really threw my back out in the process. I was fine as long as I didn't move. I stood through the Ghost set and through the 45 minute intermission and as soon as Maiden took the stage the crowd rushed forward and I was up against the barricade....painful but I could handle it...I was pretty much stationary during the first half of the set and then the band played The Trooper and the crowd went ape shit crazy..there were fights and moshing and i was moved this way and that and every jolt was incredibly agonizing. After the show was a chore getting to the car. To get from the seating to the parking lot was at least a half mile walk and I slowly but painfully got there..by the time that I got to my car most of the traffic was gone. That night I was asleep in the hotel room and I had muscle I don't even know the name of start cramping....my abdomen, shins, and all over just cramped up at the same time and of course everytime I moved the back injury screamed out. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad drive back to El Paso the next morning.
Hammersmith odeon 1984, Motörhead. Although Hammersmith is a legendary venue, man it was a shitty rough place back the. When there were rock concerts the men's toilets especially would always get blocked. During the concert I had to go for a piss. Motörhead was SO LOUD I was genuinely deaf during that gig. When I reached the toilets, people were up to their kness in each other's piss, and it was flowing like a river through the basement. As I was deaf it became almost surreal, like some bizarre dream sequence. Everyone just ended up pissing anywhere. It was foul, but memorable. I felt unclean and deaf for days.
Classic experience! Hammersmith is Motorhead's spiritual home. I saw Motorhead there a few years later, perhaps around 1989 or '90. I was disappointed because they weren't loud enough. Maybe I was already going death by then! At least the toilets were working. The loudest band I ever saw at Hammersmith was Jeff Beck. Just Beck, Tony Hymas and Terry Bozzio: clear as a bell but extraordinarily loud - I could feel the sound go straight through my body and shake my innards!
Saw GnR in Birmingham, AL in 1993. Axl pulled that same crap, complaining the whole time, yelling at the sound guys, firing the monitor mixer mid-set, storming offstage and leaving the band hanging out to dry for 20 minutes. I kept waiting for the riot to start, but fortunately it never did. Bizarre night. But at least I got laid...
-Rocklahoma 2008...The weather was hot on the first days of the fest, but then a thunderstorm hit the festival area and the main stage collapsed while Trixter was playing, it was quite an experience 😀 It was chaotic for a few hours but then Lynch Mob came out and played an amazing set with no fancy stage Lights. Then Kix came out and they too played a killer set. When they were playing 'Cold Shower', it was pissing down with rain 😁
If my Blind Guardian show was cut short I would have lost my mind. I have experienced shows at clubs where it was slated to transition to dance party immediately after, but the bands didn't have to play short sets. I saw Electric Wizard at the Royale in Boston and the SECOND they played their last note the lights came up and it was made clear that everyone needed to head out.
As soon as Pete mentioned the GN'R/Metallica/Faith No More concert, I *knew* what was coming. Thoroughly enjoyed him clawing into Axl. Wasn't laughing whilst hearing Ryan's ordeal...until he mentioned his encounter with the lead singer of the band he was talking about during his first choice. Absolutely hilarious! Enjoyed the hell out of these bad concert rants, and the many hilarious stories I read in the comments. Glad that I was one of the few people to suggest this.
Anyone up for a funny story ? I just wasted a a whole pack of mandolin strings trying to put them on my acoustic, all the time wondering why the strings were wrapped at the end and thinking what a strange way to make acoustic strings . It says mandolin phosphor bronze in big letters right on front of the pack .
Funny, I saw Blind Guardian in London recently and they finished their final song at bang on 10.30pm when the curfew came in and they were about to bow, but then they reacted weirdly and all excited and Hansi said "Do you want another song?" Then they ran back to grab their instruments and BLASTED majesty! The venue must of told them they could play another song if they wanted last minuet.
I am more of a blues/rock/prog fan and REALLY not a fan of the death/thrash etc metal scene but I could listen to these guys forever, even though they're talking about bands I've never heard of.
I love these rants, these guys are great. Keep them coming, Pete. Whoops, just realized that i said the exact same thing as the guy a couple comments before me. Haha. Oh well.
I had the same experience with GnR. They were opening for Aerosmith (Permanent Vacation tour), at Phoenix's Compton Terrace. GnR was doing their first tour ever(Appetite for Destruction tour). They totally sucked. Axl was a dueschbag, him, Duff, and Izzy were either drunk or stoned, or both! Axl was slurring the words, sometimes forgetting the lyrics. Most people started to boo loudly. They finished their set, Aerosmith came on after a half hour intermission, and everything was better. They blew GnR off the stage. I have never liked them. I was there just for Aerosmith. They were more than worth the price of the tickets .
One time at a DIO concert, one of the guys who rode with us drank so much he vomited all over himself and passed out in his seat. Since I was the only one in the group who had any sense of morality, I had to keep climbing up from the floor into the balcony to make sure he didn't die by choking on his vomit. I checked to make sure he was breathing and would sit him up straight in the chair and then go back down the floor. It was an inconvenience and meant I had to push to get back up front to the stage to be in the glorious presence of Ronnie James Dio. Anyway, the guy lived and he probably has me to thank for it.
Saw Otis Redding at the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park. He came out and did a quick medley of hits to a mostly Black audience and then danced off the stage to loud booing
My worst concert experience was my 2nd concert. The Who, LA Coliseum, with 100,000 of my friends. "Festival seating", meaning there were no chairs of any kind on the football field. If you wanted to sit, you had to sit on the field, or go up in the stands on the side or way back at the other end of the field. I had seen the Stones the previous year at the same venue, and I'm a pretty short guy, so I never really actually saw them, only the big screen because no one ever sat down. So my vote was for the stands. But my friends who I came with all wanted to be on the field. Opening act was T-Bone Burnett solo with guitar. We managed to meander pretty close to the stage. Warm-up act was The Clash, because The Who apparently liked their raw energy. The moment T-Bone finished his set, the thousands of punk rockers there to see The Clash began rushing toward the stage in a huge wall of humanity from the opposite (back) end of the field. Everyone on the field in their way just got shoved toward the stage. I saw this happening, and I made the decision to get off the field. I was 3rd in line to go up a staircase to the stands, and then I was swept away, ending up maybe 15 feet from the stage, center, being shoved to and fro, unable to control my own movement at all. Once the punkers settled down a little for a momentary pause, I was pinned between people with my face in the middle of a sweaty tall guy's back, unable to breathe, in a panic. I got my arms free enough to put my hands on his shoulders, and then I jumped and hauled myself up, locking my elbows straight-arm to support myself on his shoulders. The tall guy said "What the hell?", and I quickly explained that I needed some fresh air. He understood, was cool and said "No sweat". I was up there for maybe a minute, was feeling much better, and now I could see that everyone who was shoved into the stage were now being passed hand over hand, unconscious, to the side of the stage, one after another. I had narrowly missed being one of those folks (or worse, like Cincinnati). Finally, after catching my breath, I let go, intending to slide back down. Just then another wave of human pressure hit us, whipping us in different directions violently, so I've only slid down a few inches, the bodies pinning my legs still a couple feet off the ground. I began laughing at the absurdity, waving my arms in the air, telling the guy about it as I very slowly slid down his back, eventually. The Clash did their set, meh. I managed to stay in sight of my friends, and then somehow found myself pinned against this little punker chick. I didn't mind THAT all that much! Suddenly, the moment The Clash left the stage, all the punkers left the stadium, probably 25,000 of them. What had been the worst concert experience suddenly became the best. The Who were amazing. With all those punkers gone, there was room to move and breathe. 2 young girls were behind me, liked the way I moved to The Who's music, and I ended up dancing with them for the rest of the show. What a memorable day that was, both good and bad!
Love the video! Great topic! One of the bad shows I went to comes to mind: Allman Bros at the Beacon.jam band shit.I look over and all my buddies who pushed the hardest to go, are sleeping!
I saw Maiden a couple of times in 1984. I was a kid and fast enough to get right up to the stage and got a drumstick and a Steve Harris West Ham sweat band for my troubles. Anyway the crush got so massive that people were really struggling. Our legs were getting mashed into the stage and people couldn't breath. It was at that moment when the dry ice machine kicked into overdrive. We couldn't see a damn thing but people were coughing, spluttering and passing out. The whole thing was like a Gustave Dore picture of Dante's Inferno with us descending into Hell.
Listening to your guises drinking stories makes me remember why I don't go to big concerts anymore beers are way too expensive and a waiting in line to P is a nightmare.
I was at that Ozzfest and I didn't know at the time why Maiden was getting pelted and the power went off three times. Found out later Sharon Osbourne admitted doing it all, hated that piece of shit ever since.
Iron Maiden being pelted with missiles and the sound was cutting out? God, those people and Sharon Osbourne were appalling - they are lucky Bruce didn't jump off the stage to assault them.
From all accounts Dickinson had been slagging of Ozzy, the equipment, the tour, and the Osbournes reality show on stage throughout the tour. All fair comment but not when you're on their stage, not cool. Major over reaction though.
I have so many memories of shows being ruined not by bands by from wasted "fans". People picking fights, pucking, peeing all because they were fucked up! I just don't get the notion of getting "wasted" to the point of making yourself sick...or the "I don't remember anything" comments! WHY GO if you are going to mess up yourself to the point of not even remembering it AND then ruining it for others around you???? WHY???? That is what always pissed me off the most.
I have two bad concert experiences that come to mind. The first one was in 1987, we got free tickets up front, to see Iron Maiden from a radio friend. We piled into my mom's car and drove down to see the Fox theater in Atlanta.A very classy place, not the Omni arena this time. We dropped acid in the parking lot and went into the show, to find out it had been postponed, due to Maiden getting stuck in a snowstorm out of town. We walked around downtown for a while and we're so bummed out, but I couldn't drive for quite a while and I couldn't go the next night. The second bummer was in 1992 Athens, georgia. Widespread Panic was headlining a jam festival. As soon as they cranked up, a bad lightning storm hit. they canceled the show and told everyone to head to their cars in a muddy field. I was super hammered and lost my ride, ran into some friends from college, and piled into their car. We sat in traffic and I started spinning and threw up all in their cooler. it did not smell good. I've seen the Panic 80 times since then!
I forgot to mention this one. Around 2006 or 2007 a friend called me and asked if I wanted to see Roger Waters. I said sure. He had to work that day, and the show was 90 miles away. We had just enough time to make it if we had no traffic issues, which in South Florida on a Friday afternoon is impossible. He drove like a maniac and it looked like we would make it on time. But then 2 miles before the exit we hit a massive traffic back up in the exit lane. It took us an hour from that point to get into the venue. We ended up missing all but two songs from the first set. It rained during the second set. Funny thing is, if we had bypassed the exit before the venue and proceeded to the exit just past the venue, we would have made it on time.
I went to the Cape Cod Coliseum to see the Foreigner IV Tour. The backup band was The Atlantics. Despite being a local band I had not heard of them. They were awful. About three songs in the booing started. During the next song the lead singer started giving the middle finger to the crowd. And then the beer bottles started flying. They literally ran off the stage. To make matters worse there was about an hour and a half before Foreigner took the stage. Once they came on everybody settled down but it was out of control for quite a while.
Saw Guns 'n' Roses/Metallica at Mile High stadium in Denver. Without going into all the details of the horrible Guns 'n' Roses show,I will just reaffirm what Pete said about Axl Rose.Yelling at monitor guy,bitching at the crowd,walking off stage for a song and then coming back,etc...
I haven't watched the first part of this yet, but here is one story of my own. I drove to two shows through snowstorms and bad weather, but they were well worth it - U2 at Uncle Sam's in Buffalo for their October tour, and Bruce Sprinsteen at Seneca College in Toronto for the second last date of his Born To Run tour in December 1975. That is still the best rock concert I have ever been to, and I have been to a LOT! But here is my bad experience, at one of the best concerts I ever saw. I went to see David Bowie for his Serious Moonlight tour at CNE Stadium in Toronto. The tickets were expensive for the time - $25. The show was well worth it. Bowie was awesome. I had never seen him before and he was an amazing performer, and the sound was excellent. But my girlfriend and I were stuck way up in the upper parts of the stadium, and it was a real chore getting in and out of the show. There were something like 10,000 people there at least. We get to our seats, there was no opening act, and I'm trying to enjoy the show. Right at the end of our aisle, this group of 4 or 5 jock guys decide to stand there and drink beer and talk, and they seemed to know almost everybody who went past them. Yak Yak Yak all through the show. Every once in a while they would watch Bowie when a song was played that they knew, which weren't many. But for most of the show I had to listen to these assholes talk talk talk through a great rock show, and I was pissed.
Hi Guys. Chris, I agree with you 100% on the Zakk Sabbath Concert. i do not need to go into it. ( I posted that on the first Bad Concert Rant video). I have a couple more. 1. 2/29/16 Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful with Sonata Arctica and Delain- First Avenue Mpls - Went with my sister ( She did not know the music or the bands, She just wanted to go with me) Absolutely packed ( Fire Hazard) Sister got drunk and we separated. I believe One of the opening bands Setlist( Sonata Arctica was cut short due to time constraints. 2. 9/26/15 Overkill and Symphony X - Mill City Nights Mpls Mn - Went by myself. Saw Blitz from Overkill roaming downtown Mpls next to his tour bus. Me and another fan chatted with him for a while. Nice Guy. I was a little disappointed Symphony X did not play The Odyssey or any song from that album.( My favorite Symphony X Song and album) They had plenty of time before curfew. Both bands were very good however.
To go along with Pete's last story of tiny/ small venues. Both these shows were in Seattle in the 80's, I think it was 86' and Omen were playing a Fellowship hall in a suburb. It was a just a 1200 sf bing0/reception hall with no amenities, No Stage, just monitors and minimal band brought P.A. The problem was that there was 12 or so people there and I was 6+ft and the band was mostly slightly height challenged. I loved the band, but it was so uncomfortable trying to stand in front of a monitor wedge and be enthusiastic while looking down on the band who were singing to the middle of my chest. Oh and they wore full leather armor stage gear! Next was 87 or 88, seeing ManoWar, Playing the Arcade, which was just a store basement with a bar. Once on the stage the ceiling was sooo low that Dimaio and Adams heads were lost in the Hvac system. The band sounded great and immensely loud in that small room, but Dimaio's humor soon left and the band just got pissed and nasty. Adams almost punched me when I saw him after the show.........
When I was in high school, I went to a local all ages bottle club (The Night Owl, in Pensacola, FL) to see Biohazard. The two openers played. First was The Unsane, which their noisecore thing didn't really do anything for me. But next was a band from Boston called Stompbox, and they were totally badass. After that, we waited in high anticipation for Biohazard to come out and kick ass....and we waited......and waited.... Finally, some dude came to the stage and told us that Biohazard had to cancel the show due to the band members eating bad sushi. We got our full money refunded, but I figured it was a bullshit excuse. I found out it was a bullshit excuse when my brother told me he was out in the parking lot, and he saw two of the band members in a fist fight against each other.
7/5/01: Ozzfest in Dallas. Black Sabbath/Marilyn Manson/Slipknot/Papa Roach/Linkin Park/Disturbed/Crazy Town/BLS. I had gone out the night before and got hammered. Not knowing that my buddy was going to call me at the break of day cuz he wants to see Black Label Society. I had had no intention of being there that early, but now I was up. So I grabbed some coffee and we were there probably two hrs. before the mainstage even started. Mudvayne was on the 2nd stage so everyone was over there, so that's where we went. It was already at 100* and me hungover, dehydrated, now drinking coffee, no food...I dropped like a rock. Only for a second and I was back up but that ruined me for the day. I had a crushing headache and sat in a tent for nearly 2hrs. until BLS came on. They played 30min. Then we had to sit through what should've been called the Shitfest of 2001 w/ CT, Disturbed, LP and PR. The only thing that made that horrible din of hacks bearable was a guy in a BLS vest in front of each band flipping them off, pointing to his vest and telling them they suck. SK sucked too, and now we'd also lost our floor show as well. MM was actual a welcome respite from the dirge we'd suffered through. Then the mighty Sabbath. You couldn't hear Iommi. Maybe that's why they only played a ten song, 1 hr. set (one of those songs being "Scary Dreams"). I still had a friggin' headache when the show ended.
i understand the “alcohol ruined my experience” story...i saw Charlie Daniels a year before he died but got so drunk I barely remember anything from it
The worst ones are the ones where you pay to see someone, and you get someone else instead. I remember one year, I bought tickets for a Kansas/Bad Company gig. Well, the promoter pulled a "switcheroo" on me last minute and said it was just going to Paul Rodgers solo. Well, I didn't PAY for Paul Rodgers solo, I paid for BAD COMPANY! Fortunately, for me, Kansas went on first (and I'm a HUGE KANSAS FAN), and I didn't even stay for Paul Rodgers! Needless to say, the show was so great with just Kansas, it was well worth my ticket, anyhoo!
Top 6 bad concert experiences 1 . 1978 Aerosmith Philadelphia Spectrum. 4 songs into the set the band walks off because someone threw a bottle. 2. Iron Maiden 1980 Tower Theatre Upper Darby Pa. We got pulled over by the police on the way to the show and missed half of Iron Maidens set. 3. Black Sabbath 1985 Philadelphia Spectrum The drunk guy behind me vomited on my seat 4. Ozzy/ Korn/Life of Agony Philadelphia Spectrum. The fans directly in front of me were impaired AF and kept hitting my while they were "dancing" to LOA. After the third time I warned them that I would be forced to take action if it happened again. I assume they though i meant getting security involved. They did it again and I knocked one out . His friends looked at me and I said "I warned you and you're next' They calmed down from that point on. 5. Guns N Roses 2002 Philadelphia Spectrum. Axl decides to no show a full Spectrum and a riot ensures. SWORE OFF GNR FOREVER 6. GHOST 2018 Tower Theatre Upper Darby Pa. An obviously impared d list celebrity Bam Margera sits directly in front of me with his crew and proceeded to live stream the show with the crew he brought loudly talking and disrupting my experience. Honorable mention: I'm 5ft 9 and every show I go to there is some one blocking my view but the worst however is when you pick a spot and have a good view and a group of doucebags muscle their way in and obstruct your view as the band comes on.
Ok, I will call my list Concert Traumas. 1. My first concert that I ever went to I was 13. My oldest brother took me with two of his friends to see The Stones in 1974 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I got separated from them amongst 75 thousand people for about 30 minutes. I know that it probably doesn't seem like a big deal, it was scary. I was in a city that I have never been before and I was tiny, not quite 5 ft. I had never been in a crowd this big before. 2. Pink Floyd animals tour 1978 (I think) Pittsburgh stadium (Three Rivers I think). We were waiting for the gates to open, parked in the massive parking lot and it was raining. The rain slowed to a drizzle, so we decided to get out and started to walk towards the entrance. While we were walking among the thousands, the gates started to open people started running. I almost got crushed. People started to get pushed together, I was lifted up and my feet didn't touch the ground for about 10 feet while the crowd moved forward. I was shaking until the concert started.
I can imagine how traumatic it was for you as a 13 yr old to be separated. I lost my friend at Cochella and we were both adults! The crowd was so huge and she was wasn't feeling well. I thought she passed out from the heat somewhere! I wandered around until I spotted her in the crowd. Festivals and stadiums can be hectic and distressing.
I've always been a disciple o' The 13th Floor Elevators 'n saw a FANTASTIC live show in 1968. Fast forward 7 years when I saw Roky Erickson & Bleib Alien at The Ritz Theater in Austin, Texas. Roky was so scatter brained I decided to leave at the intermission, the only concert I've left early. A sad experience..I was devastated.
I was in San Berdoo in 2005 for Ozzfest. I was excited to see Iron Maiden, and was so pissed off at Sharon Osbourne's antics after Maiden's set, I walked out after 3 songs during the Black Sabbath set. I lost what little respect I had for Sharon Osbourne that day.
Really feel sorry for Pete missing out on Gary Moore. I managed to see him three times plus once with BBM. Just incredible, except the one time at the leas cliff halls in Folkestone Kent, when he threw a hissy fit at his guitar tech and stormed off stage for 20mins.
1983,Kings Hall, Belfast. Thin Lizzy farewell tour.Sound was absolutely terrible. The "band" especially Lynnot and Gorham where off their faces, whatever substances they imbibed.Lasted 2 songs,left the venue totally disgusted.
MSG Albuquerque 1984. About 5 songs in Michael throws his vee down and walks offstage. Technical problems were cited.. disappointing as f Was great while it lasted!
My worst concert experience was watching The Cavalera brothers in 2018, about one hour before the show this huge thunderstorm began and knocked down powerlines all over the City, meaning the venue would be powered by generators, the air conditioning wasn't turned on. A completely packed venue for a trash metal show with no ventilation whatsoever soon proved to be a very bad combination, I think I saw like 5-6 guys passing out because of the heat and eventualy firefighters had to open a side door to let some air in . 1/10 wouldn't recommend.
One of my worst experiences was when I went to see Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I found my seat and was somewhat surprised to find it was *behind* the stage. My exciting view was of a black curtain. The gig started and I lasted a couple of numbers before going home. I’m not even sure I complained. I just thought, oh fuck it.
I have an idea for a show, bands that became pop acts. Of course it could have been just an era or even an album but went from kick ass rock band or metal act to pop music of any kind.
1982 Neil Young was coming to Stockholm and that was a big thing. I'm not a fan but my sister sent me to cue for the tickets. After two hours I gave up with a terrible migraine. My sister was furious that I didn't get any tickets, she didn't care at all for my headache.
In 1983, my brother and I went to the metal day at the US festival. We drank too much the night before. We actually slept in the car at the parking lot of the festival. We got up and marched like cows into the festival. There were like 300,000 people at the show. It was hot as hell and we didn’t have much money. I think we shared a hot dog and coke. That’s all we ate. I keep the coke cup so we could drink water. After the concert ended, we had no idea where we parked because the venue was was in the dessert. No signage for parking lots. So we walked out and looked and looked and looked and we couldn’t find the car. At one point we just laid down in the dirt and went to sleep. I almost got ran over by a bus. At about 1 pm we finally found the car. We drove home and my mom looked at us and said we stunk and told us to go take shower. The concert itself was great.
Horrible experiences can make great shows. I saw Anthrax, Megadeth, Alice in Chains, and (I think) Slayer. A friend had to take his younger brother, around 14 at the time, along. It was his first concert and their mom was freaked out. We assured her that between the three others we had been to hundreds of live shows, and we would take care of him. Some utterly wasted chick puked on the kid. Then during Anthrax he charged the pit. He returned with one eye swollen shut and blood pouring from his nose. At some point he lost his shoes. When it was over we staggered out with a definite "I'm too old for this shit" feeling. After the show I asked him what he thought about it. His good eye opened wide and he said "That was fucking awesome!"
There was a guy I knew that went to see Janet Jackson in concert at the Gorge Ampitheater in Washington State, she made everyone wait 3 hours in line on a brutal hot summer day so she could program her songs so she wouldn't have to perform, he totally lost respect for Janet Jackson after that incident.
Guns and Roses live was so hit or miss back in the day. Either it was one best shows you saw or one of the worst depending how wasted they were on heroine.
Late 70s went to see Richie Blackmore's Rainbow at Music Hall in Cleveland. Very first song Blackmore is having equipment issues and throwing a tantrum . He disappears off stage never to return , show is over after a half a song. Looking back it was pretty cool .
Woah... Pete, I was at the Chance that night for Gary Moore. I drove from Western New Jersey to meet up with a guy that I had only traded bootleg cassettes with through the mail! I was up in the balcony, near center and I just remember it was amazing. The guy I went to the show with had a camera and filmed the whole thing... but he never shared or traded it, as far as I know (that really sucked.) I still have 2 tee shirts from that show... however... they certainly don't fit me anymore! :-D Worst shows ever (just because the music did not connect with me) has to go to either Allan Holdsworth (at the Chance) or King Crimson (at the Keswick Theater.) The music just didn't do anything for me in either case... and made for the longest hours of my life. Looking back I'm glad I can say I saw Holdsworth... I just didn't enjoy it.
1..Rory Gallagher towards the end of his life, High on booze and pills playing one song while the band played another, so bad his brother had to lead him off stage. 2..Dio going berserk on stage on the first tour when a kid in the crowd stole his microphone and sang half of the first song before the band realised that something was wrong.3... Rob Halford falling off the Harley.
Doctor said to Rory that he should've stayed at home his health was very bad but he said fans wants to see me I should be there for them. One of the saddest story ever, a true hero.
Late to this one..worst concert I've attended I got dragged by my ex to Ireland to see Chris Brown because he was banned in the UK . I had my headphones on the wholetime while also having a massive migraine didn't hear a word of his terrible music
Monsters of Rock 1988 (Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, Scorpions & Van Halen) Los Angeles Coliseum. Had front row seats on the floor. Enjoyed the Kingdom Come set and then was almost killed when Metallica came on and the fans came storming down from the seats and rushed the stage. Smashed against the barrier for most of Creeping Death but my friends and I were able to wiggle out to the seats off the floor and watched the rest of the show from there. We were at such a tight angle we couldn't see the drummers.
In February 2006 I saw the couple tour Alice Cooper with Deep Purple in Dortmund, Germany at Westfalen Hall. When Alice entered the stage next to me two ladies,middle age, said:" Ha, ha, ha, boooaaahhh, is Alice old, oh Jesus ".I replied to the two :"Alice can't stop the time".Then Alice throwed a sharp sword into the hall floor. It bounced for a while. The audience was only half a meter away, crazy. If Alice had a bad day ---- goodby cruel world ,Hasta la Vista, baby. By the way,both bands were awesome. Best wishes. 🤘
Went to a festival in Germany when I was 19. Stupidly didn’t realize they’d take our booze away on the way in. So we sat outside and drank a bottle of Jim Beam (2 of us). We went in, and I immediately fell asleep in the sun. With my shirt off. Woke in time to see Blue Oyster Cult and Kansas, but Got so badly sunburned I had to go to the emergency room the next day with sunstroke! Youthful stupidity.
I've only ever had one bad concert experience. When the black crowes opened for Robert Plant in 90, they were so drunk they could barely stand or play...Jack bottles.on the amps...I was embarrassed for them. Plant was amazing.
I remember taking a girlfriend to see Yes back in high school and we stopped by her older sister's house located in the town they were playing in (about 40 minutes away) to party and got so wasted we lost track of time and by the time we got there Yes was nearly finished. I was just glad I was able to drive to the venue, to tell the truth.
One other one I forgot about but Pete's GnR story reminded me saw them on the Use Your Illusion tour. They came on 2.5 hrs after Skid Row who were great,, and I was in Gold Circle seating row 2 and Axle spit on me that fucker !
@Eric Byrd A friend dragged to me to a britpop Band called Suede (doubt you know them in US). I had listened 2-3 songs and didnt like them at all (singers voice got on my nerves). After the gig I went and bought 3-4 albums...That good they were...Still remember leaving and saying what the hell was that.... Especially when they played the song "We are the pigs" and people were pointing police men. Manic!!!
@@kostasmad1431 Suede is absolutely awesome! I'm in Houston now, but I was living in Birmingham, Alabama when their debut dropped. Saw Metal Mickey debut on Mtv and I was an instant fan. I couldn't see them on that first US tour, but had tix to see them in Houston on the Dog Man Star tour. Unfortunately that was part of the US tour that was cancelled due to all the issues with Bernard Butler. They never came back to the US. Still bought all their albums.
@@morebeer7673 Great story! Nice to see people noticed them in US. Saw them after the Butler era but still I was shocked how good they were live...Went there to please my friend who paid my ticket and left as a fan...
Back in 72-73 I walked out on not one but two concerts. The first was Chicago. The music was not tight and the vocals were off key. I took about as much as could before I said enough is enough. The second was Isaac Hayes. Unbeknownst to me Mr. Hayes had a penchant for going into what were called "Ike's Raps" before songs. He would talk & talk & talk to the point I felt like getting down on my knees and say "Please play the bloody song!"
Van Halen: Monsters of Rock Festival , Karlsruhe Germany. 1984 (AC/DC Headliner) Guitar solo, EVH Drum solo, AVH Bass solo, MA Speech between every song by DLR I saw them years later in Belgium 1993 with Haggar which was awesome.
my worst show is Ozzy 82 Cobo, a violent night , fight all over, drunk fools acting foolishly, and the guitars were tuned down a half step lower than the LP..so it sounded like shit Ozzy couldnt even hit pitch...i figured Randy would be out of Ozzy soon but not killed
Two stories I had... 1) Saw Maiden's Ed Hunter tour at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. It was Bruce's triumphant return. We had 2nd row seats (actually because it was a theater the rows curved so the first row ended before our seats. Essentially, we had a little dancefloor before Dave Murray's stage position. You would think that would be cool, but as it turns out all we could hear was Dave Murray's monitor the entire show. We could barely hear Bruce or Nicko or anything. Couple that with the fact that it was a hot summer night and according to the roadie who was setting up in front of us, Dickinson refuses to sing with AC, so by mid show I was so covered in sweat that it looked like I jumped into a pool. My jeans were soaked through. When we walked outside the bank across the street displayed the temp (it felt like we were walking into a cool October night, but the temp read 88 degrees.) Lastly, Adrian was not there that night as his dad had passed away. 2) BOC - Showcase Live, Foxboro. It wasn't a horrible show, but it lacked energy. I left really disappointed. They had a new bass player that was a young kid who was very enthusiastic and happy to be a part of the band, but his constant grinning and happy feet didn't seem to fit with the rest of the band. Buck came off really conceited. The whole show seemed tired and a bit too mellow.
On 4/7/2005. Irving plaza./ NYC. Me and my buddy went to see Black LABEL society. This was like 4 months after Dimebag DARRELL was tragically killed. ZAKK was highly intoxicated/ or seemed that way to me and my buddy. He would play for a bit. / then ramble on and on about Dimebag. Over and over. Hate to say this / had to leave. Usually I go to concerts to get pumped up. He depressed me. Actually EDDIE Trunk was 2 ft away from us. But came 50% into the show. And seemed uninterested as well ! Saw BLS here in Jersey since. But the NYC was not fun
That was actually at Best Buy Theater (or whatever it was called at the time) -I was there, terrible show, they came on over an hour late, Zakk was sweating like a pig, drunk, eyes all bugging out, and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. I left an hour into it after I took my photos in the photo pit and and hung around for a few torturous songs. This was the show I was explaining on Part 1 of this series and the zoom video cut me off.
Sea of Tranquility /. You know what. Your right. Sorry PETE. I sometimes screw up my NAMES. Per ex. All the name changes / I still call THE MEADOWLANDS here in N.J. but / I was there. So / I think that makes another concert I was at with you. Nov 1984 DIO at MEADOWLANDS. Was definitely 💯 one of them !!
Top 3 most disappointing live experiences that come to mind are: Porcupine Tree (Deadwing Tour) - they looked bored, so we left Paradise Lost (One Second Tour) - see above Rush (Roll the Bones Tour) - horrible sound, but it was Rush so of course we stayed!
My worst concert experience was in 1999. It was Cozy Powell’s tribute concert at the Buxton Opera House. My wife was pregnant with our daughter at the time and she didn’t weather the car trip very well so she was feeling sick most of the night. It was an all seating gig, (the first one I’d been to and sadly not the last), Most of the line up were people that I’d never heard of. During the interval, some old ladies from the Woman’s institute came round the aisles selling ice cream, more used to classical audience than rockers and metalheads and the poor dears looked scared shitless. 😂 The second half was a little better. Tony Ashton from Paice, Ashton and Lord, performed whom I later met outside when I was having a cigarette. (Nice guy RIP). I was shocked and dismayed that a lot of people who Cozy had played with were not there. No Blackmore, no Coverdale, no Marsden or Moody, no Lord, no Dio, no Iommi. Two highlights of the evening was a version of ‘black sabbath’ with Tony Martin, Neil Murray and Geoff Nichols (also RIP) and for the finale, BRIAN F’KIN MAY. Feeling a tad underwhelmed we started the long journey back to Coventry....and my wife was sick in the car all over me. Not the greatest of nights.
I saw Primus a couple of years ago , horrible they played boring meandering songs instead of the groove stuff and the worse part was little stage lighting they basically played in the dark. I pay to see the band. .
I went with my brother to KoRn. KoRn was great, but the support act was Hell Yeah... And no one in the crowd wanted Hell Yeah. So the vocalist was very angry because we did not want to scream along with his songs. It was nice to see Vinnie Paul in real life, tho.
I never drink or get wasted when I go to see a show. I want to actually see the band. So I guess that doesn’t make me cool or rock n roll, but fuck it😄
At ozzfest of 03 down with Phil Anselmo was lead act at the 2nd stage. I was real excited to see them and I talked one of my friends in the group I went with to walk over to the 2nd stage to watch. Phil was absolutely plastered drunk. They didn't get even into one song and he stopped the band three times and started yelling at the crowd because they weren't doing what ever it was he wanted them to do and at that point I walked back to the main stage
I'm a huge metal head, but the best concert I ever saw in my life was the sax player Sonny Rollins. Saw him in the early 90's, blew my mind.
I saw him play with a trio in Central Park. Just him a drummer and bassist. He’s a genius, and his drummer- a young guy -was about the best drummer I’ve seen. On a different dimension from others.
Chris is great, entertaining and informative. Pete have him on more. Nick and Ryan also do a great job.
Agreed. Chris is always a pleasure.
I wish Chris had his own show, I'd watch that religiously
@@robcarrier1969Great shout dude 👍
Loved these two episodes, very interesting stories. My worst concert experience was the Guns N’ Roses and Metallica show in Montreal Canada - 1992 where James was Burnt from the pyro and Axel walked of the stage creating a huge riot in and out of the stadium.
I started to hate GNR around this time period. I hated the Use Your Illusion albums, and I thought Axl looked fucking stupid with his Public Enemy shirts, that stupid, puffy orange mic and his biker shorts.
Classic episode. Showed what asshole Axl was. He could have saved the evening. Instead he was the drama Queen he always was. No Wonder Guns n roses was never the same after 93. While Metallica ruled the world.
Saw this tour in Columbia SC. After 2 postponed dates the show finally happens. Metallica killed. Guns took 2 hours to finally take the stage. They sucked. Axel complaining about the sound guys etc. One of the only shows I have left early. Thankfully I only played $13 for a scalped ticket.
Worst concert experience in recent years was being up at the very front of the stage for an Iron Maiden show in Albuquerque, NM.. Why does that sound awful? The show was three years ago and I was born in the 60's so needless to say I am not spring chicken. It was open seating so we were packed in like sardines up at the front and during the opening band Ghost (they were actually really good!) some guy decides to crowd surf and it seems as if you was going to fall and hit his head on the payment so I reached down to make sure he didn't get hurt and I really threw my back out in the process. I was fine as long as I didn't move. I stood through the Ghost set and through the 45 minute intermission and as soon as Maiden took the stage the crowd rushed forward and I was up against the barricade....painful but I could handle it...I was pretty much stationary during the first half of the set and then the band played The Trooper and the crowd went ape shit crazy..there were fights and moshing and i was moved this way and that and every jolt was incredibly agonizing. After the show was a chore getting to the car. To get from the seating to the parking lot was at least a half mile walk and I slowly but painfully got there..by the time that I got to my car most of the traffic was gone. That night I was asleep in the hotel room and I had muscle I don't even know the name of start cramping....my abdomen, shins, and all over just cramped up at the same time and of course everytime I moved the back injury screamed out. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad drive back to El Paso the next morning.
We want a part 3
Hammersmith odeon 1984, Motörhead. Although Hammersmith is a legendary venue, man it was a shitty rough place back the. When there were rock concerts the men's toilets especially would always get blocked. During the concert I had to go for a piss. Motörhead was SO LOUD I was genuinely deaf during that gig. When I reached the toilets, people were up to their kness in each other's piss, and it was flowing like a river through the basement. As I was deaf it became almost surreal, like some bizarre dream sequence. Everyone just ended up pissing anywhere. It was foul, but memorable. I felt unclean and deaf for days.
Was there
Classic experience! Hammersmith is Motorhead's spiritual home. I saw Motorhead there a few years later, perhaps around 1989 or '90. I was disappointed because they weren't loud enough. Maybe I was already going death by then! At least the toilets were working.
The loudest band I ever saw at Hammersmith was Jeff Beck. Just Beck, Tony Hymas and Terry Bozzio: clear as a bell but extraordinarily loud - I could feel the sound go straight through my body and shake my innards!
Wha???
Saw GnR in Birmingham, AL in 1993. Axl pulled that same crap, complaining the whole time, yelling at the sound guys, firing the monitor mixer mid-set, storming offstage and leaving the band hanging out to dry for 20 minutes. I kept waiting for the riot to start, but fortunately it never did. Bizarre night. But at least I got laid...
Damn straight!
-Rocklahoma 2008...The weather was hot on the first days of the fest, but then a thunderstorm hit the festival area and the main stage collapsed while Trixter was playing, it was quite an experience 😀 It was chaotic for a few hours but then Lynch Mob came out and played an amazing set with no fancy stage Lights. Then Kix came out and they too played a killer set. When they were playing 'Cold Shower', it was pissing down with rain 😁
Who would pay money to see these guys react to WAP
Haha that would be the best. The #PetePardoArmy would erupt!
#BigMeatPete #PetePardoArmy #PetePardoNation #SplashYourSeaOfTranquilityAllOverMyFace #BigPP #PeteyThePlatypus #OfficerPP
the video i didn't know i needed until now
What is WAP?
qdaveq Women’s Affirmation Party
If my Blind Guardian show was cut short I would have lost my mind. I have experienced shows at clubs where it was slated to transition to dance party immediately after, but the bands didn't have to play short sets. I saw Electric Wizard at the Royale in Boston and the SECOND they played their last note the lights came up and it was made clear that everyone needed to head out.
As soon as Pete mentioned the GN'R/Metallica/Faith No More concert, I *knew* what was coming. Thoroughly enjoyed him clawing into Axl.
Wasn't laughing whilst hearing Ryan's ordeal...until he mentioned his encounter with the lead singer of the band he was talking about during his first choice. Absolutely hilarious!
Enjoyed the hell out of these bad concert rants, and the many hilarious stories I read in the comments. Glad that I was one of the few people to suggest this.
Idea for a New rant show: Your favourite Rock n Roll movies
The #PetePardoArmy approves this idea. #BigMeatPete #PetePardoArmy #PetePardoNation #SplashYourSeaOfTranquilityAllOverMyFace #BigPP #PeteyThePlatypus #OfficerPP
Also favourite soundtracks.
Anyone up for a funny story ? I just wasted a a whole pack of mandolin strings trying to put them on my acoustic, all the time wondering why the strings were wrapped at the end and thinking what a strange way to make acoustic strings . It says mandolin phosphor bronze in big letters right on front of the pack .
Funny, I saw Blind Guardian in London recently and they finished their final song at bang on 10.30pm when the curfew came in and they were about to bow, but then they reacted weirdly and all excited and Hansi said "Do you want another song?" Then they ran back to grab their instruments and BLASTED majesty! The venue must of told them they could play another song if they wanted last minuet.
I am more of a blues/rock/prog fan and REALLY not a fan of the death/thrash etc metal scene but I could listen to these guys forever, even though they're talking about bands I've never heard of.
I love these rants, these guys are great. Keep them coming, Pete. Whoops, just realized that i said the exact same thing as the guy a couple comments before me. Haha. Oh well.
I had the same experience with GnR. They were opening for Aerosmith (Permanent Vacation tour), at Phoenix's Compton Terrace. GnR was doing their first tour ever(Appetite for Destruction tour). They totally sucked. Axl was a dueschbag, him, Duff, and Izzy were either drunk or stoned, or both! Axl was slurring the words, sometimes forgetting the lyrics. Most people started to boo loudly. They finished their set, Aerosmith came on after a half hour intermission, and everything was better. They blew GnR off the stage. I have never liked them. I was there just for Aerosmith. They were more than worth the price of the tickets .
One time at a DIO concert, one of the guys who rode with us drank so much he vomited all over himself and passed out in his seat. Since I was the only one in the group who had any sense of morality, I had to keep climbing up from the floor into the balcony to make sure he didn't die by choking on his vomit. I checked to make sure he was breathing and would sit him up straight in the chair and then go back down the floor. It was an inconvenience and meant I had to push to get back up front to the stage to be in the glorious presence of Ronnie James Dio. Anyway, the guy lived and he probably has me to thank for it.
Saw Otis Redding at the Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park. He came out and did a quick medley of hits to a mostly Black audience and then danced off the stage to loud booing
@Eric Byrd Otis Redding was not with Motown, he was with Stax out of Memphis.
My worst concert experience was my 2nd concert. The Who, LA Coliseum, with 100,000 of my friends. "Festival seating", meaning there were no chairs of any kind on the football field. If you wanted to sit, you had to sit on the field, or go up in the stands on the side or way back at the other end of the field. I had seen the Stones the previous year at the same venue, and I'm a pretty short guy, so I never really actually saw them, only the big screen because no one ever sat down. So my vote was for the stands. But my friends who I came with all wanted to be on the field. Opening act was T-Bone Burnett solo with guitar. We managed to meander pretty close to the stage. Warm-up act was The Clash, because The Who apparently liked their raw energy. The moment T-Bone finished his set, the thousands of punk rockers there to see The Clash began rushing toward the stage in a huge wall of humanity from the opposite (back) end of the field. Everyone on the field in their way just got shoved toward the stage. I saw this happening, and I made the decision to get off the field. I was 3rd in line to go up a staircase to the stands, and then I was swept away, ending up maybe 15 feet from the stage, center, being shoved to and fro, unable to control my own movement at all. Once the punkers settled down a little for a momentary pause, I was pinned between people with my face in the middle of a sweaty tall guy's back, unable to breathe, in a panic. I got my arms free enough to put my hands on his shoulders, and then I jumped and hauled myself up, locking my elbows straight-arm to support myself on his shoulders. The tall guy said "What the hell?", and I quickly explained that I needed some fresh air. He understood, was cool and said "No sweat". I was up there for maybe a minute, was feeling much better, and now I could see that everyone who was shoved into the stage were now being passed hand over hand, unconscious, to the side of the stage, one after another. I had narrowly missed being one of those folks (or worse, like Cincinnati). Finally, after catching my breath, I let go, intending to slide back down. Just then another wave of human pressure hit us, whipping us in different directions violently, so I've only slid down a few inches, the bodies pinning my legs still a couple feet off the ground. I began laughing at the absurdity, waving my arms in the air, telling the guy about it as I very slowly slid down his back, eventually. The Clash did their set, meh. I managed to stay in sight of my friends, and then somehow found myself pinned against this little punker chick. I didn't mind THAT all that much! Suddenly, the moment The Clash left the stage, all the punkers left the stadium, probably 25,000 of them. What had been the worst concert experience suddenly became the best. The Who were amazing. With all those punkers gone, there was room to move and breathe. 2 young girls were behind me, liked the way I moved to The Who's music, and I ended up dancing with them for the rest of the show. What a memorable day that was, both good and bad!
Love the video! Great topic! One of the bad shows I went to comes to mind: Allman Bros at the Beacon.jam band shit.I look over and all my buddies who pushed the hardest to go, are sleeping!
LOVE Ryan's Riot shirt! I'm envious of Chris getting to see Maiden and Sabbath so many times. I'll be lucky if I get to see Maiden once!
I saw Maiden a couple of times in 1984. I was a kid and fast enough to get right up to the stage and got a drumstick and a Steve Harris West Ham sweat band for my troubles. Anyway the crush got so massive that people were really struggling. Our legs were getting mashed into the stage and people couldn't breath. It was at that moment when the dry ice machine kicked into overdrive. We couldn't see a damn thing but people were coughing, spluttering and passing out. The whole thing was like a Gustave Dore picture of Dante's Inferno with us descending into Hell.
Gotta love The Amazing Tales of Alo! Bringin' the heat!
Great show. I grew up in the Hudson Valley so definitely love hearing about these places I used to haunt. Keep the rant shows coming.
Listening to your guises drinking stories makes me remember why I don't go to big concerts anymore beers are way too expensive and a waiting in line to P is a nightmare.
The hollywood squares episodes are my favorite videos on this channel. Keep doing many more with these guys, especially Chris. He is hilarious!!
I was at that Ozzfest and I didn't know at the time why Maiden was getting pelted and the power went off three times. Found out later Sharon Osbourne admitted doing it all, hated that piece of shit ever since.
Iron Maiden being pelted with missiles and the sound was cutting out? God, those people and Sharon Osbourne were appalling - they are lucky Bruce didn't jump off the stage to assault them.
From all accounts Dickinson had been slagging of Ozzy, the equipment, the tour, and the Osbournes reality show on stage throughout the tour. All fair comment but not when you're on their stage, not cool. Major over reaction though.
I have so many memories of shows being ruined not by bands by from wasted "fans". People picking fights, pucking, peeing all because they were fucked up! I just don't get the notion of getting "wasted" to the point of making yourself sick...or the "I don't remember anything" comments! WHY GO if you are going to mess up yourself to the point of not even remembering it AND then ruining it for others around you???? WHY???? That is what always pissed me off the most.
I have two bad concert experiences that come to mind. The first one was in 1987, we got free tickets up front, to see Iron Maiden from a radio friend. We piled into my mom's car and drove down to see the Fox theater in Atlanta.A very classy place, not the Omni arena this time. We dropped acid in the parking lot and went into the show, to find out it had been postponed, due to Maiden getting stuck in a snowstorm out of town. We walked around downtown for a while and we're so bummed out, but I couldn't drive for quite a while and I couldn't go the next night.
The second bummer was in 1992 Athens, georgia. Widespread Panic was headlining a jam festival. As soon as they cranked up, a bad lightning storm hit. they canceled the show and told everyone to head to their cars in a muddy field. I was super hammered and lost my ride, ran into some friends from college, and piled into their car. We sat in traffic and I started spinning and threw up all in their cooler. it did not smell good. I've seen the Panic 80 times since then!
'92? That was probably the HORDE Tour. I worked that show in Birmingham, AL. Did Blues Traveler and Big Head Todd also play on that show?
Thank you for your Rant: Bad Concert Experiences (Part 2).🎤🎸🎵🥁
Pete, I would love to see you and the guys do a top 5 time machine shows list
Led Zeppelin 1975 Earl's Court
Led Zeppelin 2007 O2
Enjoy your programs and appreciate the effort that goes into your shows.
I forgot to mention this one. Around 2006 or 2007 a friend called me and asked if I wanted to see Roger Waters. I said sure. He had to work that day, and the show was 90 miles away. We had just enough time to make it if we had no traffic issues, which in South Florida on a Friday afternoon is impossible. He drove like a maniac and it looked like we would make it on time. But then 2 miles before the exit we hit a massive traffic back up in the exit lane. It took us an hour from that point to get into the venue. We ended up missing all but two songs from the first set. It rained during the second set. Funny thing is, if we had bypassed the exit before the venue and proceeded to the exit just past the venue, we would have made it on time.
I went to the Cape Cod Coliseum to see the Foreigner IV Tour. The backup band was The Atlantics. Despite being a local band I had not heard of them. They were awful. About three songs in the booing started. During the next song the lead singer started giving the middle finger to the crowd. And then the beer bottles started flying. They literally ran off the stage. To make matters worse there was about an hour and a half before Foreigner took the stage. Once they came on everybody settled down but it was out of control for quite a while.
So the lead singer thought his middle finger would end the booing? No wonder they were forced to abandon the stage after four songs.
These four are my favorite combo. The serious metal dudes. We all LOVE SLAYER!!!!
Saw Guns 'n' Roses/Metallica at Mile High stadium in Denver. Without going into all the details of the horrible Guns 'n' Roses show,I will just reaffirm what Pete said about Axl Rose.Yelling at monitor guy,bitching at the crowd,walking off stage for a song and then coming back,etc...
A lot of us have had negative Axl experiences live. Explains his years long hiatus.
My dad was at the same tour in Buffalo, he barely remembers the show other than GNR were 2 hours late
I haven't watched the first part of this yet, but here is one story of my own. I drove to two shows through snowstorms and bad weather, but they were well worth it - U2 at Uncle Sam's in Buffalo for their October tour, and Bruce Sprinsteen at Seneca College in Toronto for the second last date of his Born To Run tour in December 1975. That is still the best rock concert I have ever been to, and I have been to a LOT! But here is my bad experience, at one of the best concerts I ever saw. I went to see David Bowie for his Serious Moonlight tour at CNE Stadium in Toronto. The tickets were expensive for the time - $25. The show was well worth it. Bowie was awesome. I had never seen him before and he was an amazing performer, and the sound was excellent. But my girlfriend and I were stuck way up in the upper parts of the stadium, and it was a real chore getting in and out of the show. There were something like 10,000 people there at least. We get to our seats, there was no opening act, and I'm trying to enjoy the show. Right at the end of our aisle, this group of 4 or 5 jock guys decide to stand there and drink beer and talk, and they seemed to know almost everybody who went past them. Yak Yak Yak all through the show. Every once in a while they would watch Bowie when a song was played that they knew, which weren't many. But for most of the show I had to listen to these assholes talk talk talk through a great rock show, and I was pissed.
Amazing story to kick this off. Love these guys. Salt of the Earth music fans.
Hi Guys. Chris, I agree with you 100% on the Zakk Sabbath Concert. i do not need to go into it. ( I posted that on the first Bad Concert Rant video). I have a couple more.
1. 2/29/16 Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful with Sonata Arctica and Delain- First Avenue Mpls - Went with my sister ( She did not know the music or the bands, She just wanted to go with me) Absolutely packed ( Fire Hazard) Sister got drunk and we separated. I believe One of the opening bands Setlist( Sonata Arctica was cut short due to time constraints.
2. 9/26/15 Overkill and Symphony X - Mill City Nights Mpls Mn - Went by myself. Saw Blitz from Overkill roaming downtown Mpls next to his tour bus. Me and another fan chatted with him for a while. Nice Guy. I was a little disappointed Symphony X did not play The Odyssey or any song from that album.( My favorite Symphony X Song and album) They had plenty of time before curfew. Both bands were very good however.
To go along with Pete's last story of tiny/ small venues. Both these shows were in Seattle in the 80's, I think it was 86' and Omen were playing a Fellowship hall in a suburb. It was a just a 1200 sf bing0/reception hall with no amenities, No Stage, just monitors and minimal band brought P.A. The problem was that there was 12 or so people there and I was 6+ft and the band was mostly slightly height challenged. I loved the band, but it was so uncomfortable trying to stand in front of a monitor wedge and be enthusiastic while looking down on the band who were singing to the middle of my chest. Oh and they wore full leather armor stage gear!
Next was 87 or 88, seeing ManoWar, Playing the Arcade, which was just a store basement with a bar. Once on the stage the ceiling was sooo low that Dimaio and Adams heads were lost in the Hvac system. The band sounded great and immensely loud in that small room, but Dimaio's humor soon left and the band just got pissed and nasty. Adams almost punched me when I saw him after the show.........
When I was in high school, I went to a local all ages bottle club (The Night Owl, in Pensacola, FL) to see Biohazard. The two openers played. First was The Unsane, which their noisecore thing didn't really do anything for me. But next was a band from Boston called Stompbox, and they were totally badass. After that, we waited in high anticipation for Biohazard to come out and kick ass....and we waited......and waited.... Finally, some dude came to the stage and told us that Biohazard had to cancel the show due to the band members eating bad sushi. We got our full money refunded, but I figured it was a bullshit excuse. I found out it was a bullshit excuse when my brother told me he was out in the parking lot, and he saw two of the band members in a fist fight against each other.
7/5/01: Ozzfest in Dallas. Black Sabbath/Marilyn Manson/Slipknot/Papa Roach/Linkin Park/Disturbed/Crazy Town/BLS.
I had gone out the night before and got hammered. Not knowing that my buddy was going to call me at the break of day cuz he wants to see Black Label Society. I had had no intention of being there that early, but now I was up. So I grabbed some coffee and we were there probably two hrs. before the mainstage even started. Mudvayne was on the 2nd stage so everyone was over there, so that's where we went. It was already at 100* and me hungover, dehydrated, now drinking coffee, no food...I dropped like a rock. Only for a second and I was back up but that ruined me for the day. I had a crushing headache and sat in a tent for nearly 2hrs. until BLS came on. They played 30min. Then we had to sit through what should've been called the Shitfest of 2001 w/ CT, Disturbed, LP and PR. The only thing that made that horrible din of hacks bearable was a guy in a BLS vest in front of each band flipping them off, pointing to his vest and telling them they suck. SK sucked too, and now we'd also lost our floor show as well. MM was actual a welcome respite from the dirge we'd suffered through. Then the mighty Sabbath. You couldn't hear Iommi. Maybe that's why they only played a ten song, 1 hr. set (one of those songs being "Scary Dreams"). I still had a friggin' headache when the show ended.
Best show on RUclips! End of discussion!
i understand the “alcohol ruined my experience” story...i saw Charlie Daniels a year before he died but got so drunk I barely remember anything from it
The worst ones are the ones where you pay to see someone, and you get someone else instead. I remember one year, I bought tickets for a Kansas/Bad Company gig. Well, the promoter pulled a "switcheroo" on me last minute and said it was just going to Paul Rodgers solo. Well, I didn't PAY for Paul Rodgers solo, I paid for BAD COMPANY! Fortunately, for me, Kansas went on first (and I'm a HUGE KANSAS FAN), and I didn't even stay for Paul Rodgers! Needless to say, the show was so great with just Kansas, it was well worth my ticket, anyhoo!
Top 6 bad concert experiences
1 . 1978 Aerosmith Philadelphia Spectrum. 4 songs into the set the band walks off because someone threw a bottle.
2. Iron Maiden 1980 Tower Theatre Upper Darby Pa. We got pulled over by the police on the way to the show and missed half of Iron Maidens set.
3. Black Sabbath 1985 Philadelphia Spectrum The drunk guy behind me vomited on my seat
4. Ozzy/ Korn/Life of Agony Philadelphia Spectrum. The fans directly in front of me were impaired AF and kept hitting my while they were "dancing" to LOA. After the third time I warned them that I would be forced to take action if it happened again. I assume they though i meant getting security involved. They did it again and I knocked one out . His friends looked at me and I said "I warned you and you're next' They calmed down from that point on.
5. Guns N Roses 2002 Philadelphia Spectrum. Axl decides to no show a full Spectrum and a riot ensures. SWORE OFF GNR FOREVER
6. GHOST 2018 Tower Theatre Upper Darby Pa. An obviously impared d list celebrity Bam Margera sits directly in front of me with his crew and proceeded to live stream the show with the crew he brought loudly talking and disrupting my experience.
Honorable mention: I'm 5ft 9 and every show I go to there is some one blocking my view but the worst however is when you pick a spot and have a good view and a group of doucebags muscle their way in and obstruct your view as the band comes on.
Ok, I will call my list Concert Traumas.
1. My first concert that I ever went to I was 13. My oldest brother took me with two of his friends to see The Stones in 1974 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I got separated from them amongst 75 thousand people for about 30 minutes. I know that it probably doesn't seem like a big deal, it was scary. I was in a city that I have never been before and I was tiny, not quite 5 ft. I had never been in a crowd this big before.
2. Pink Floyd animals tour 1978 (I think) Pittsburgh stadium (Three Rivers I think). We were waiting for the gates to open, parked in the massive parking lot and it was raining. The rain slowed to a drizzle, so we decided to get out and started to walk towards the entrance. While we were walking among the thousands, the gates started to open people started running. I almost got crushed. People started to get pushed together, I was lifted up and my feet didn't touch the ground for about 10 feet while the crowd moved forward. I was shaking until the concert started.
I can imagine how traumatic it was for you as a 13 yr old to be separated. I lost my friend at Cochella and we were both adults! The crowd was so huge and she was wasn't feeling well. I thought she passed out from the heat somewhere! I wandered around until I spotted her in the crowd. Festivals and stadiums can be hectic and distressing.
I've always been a disciple o' The 13th Floor Elevators 'n saw a FANTASTIC live show in 1968. Fast forward 7 years when I saw Roky Erickson & Bleib Alien at The Ritz Theater in Austin, Texas. Roky was so scatter brained I decided to leave at the intermission, the only concert I've left early. A sad experience..I was devastated.
Would love to see Best Concert Experiences
I was in San Berdoo in 2005 for Ozzfest. I was excited to see Iron Maiden, and was so pissed off at Sharon Osbourne's antics after Maiden's set, I walked out after 3 songs during the Black Sabbath set. I lost what little respect I had for Sharon Osbourne that day.
Why was Sharon against Maiden? Seems like personal beef with Bruce.
Really feel sorry for Pete missing out on Gary Moore. I managed to see him three times plus once with BBM. Just incredible, except the one time at the leas cliff halls in Folkestone Kent, when he threw a hissy fit at his guitar tech and stormed off stage for 20mins.
Ryan thank you for repping one of my favorite bands the original RIOT. Long live Guy Speranza & Mark Reale!!
Alcohol has ruined many a concert experience 😃Great vid🤘
i agree...i had too much tequila & was in & out of consciousness during a Charlie Daniels concert
1983,Kings Hall, Belfast. Thin Lizzy farewell tour.Sound was absolutely terrible. The "band" especially Lynnot and Gorham where off their faces, whatever substances they imbibed.Lasted 2 songs,left the venue totally disgusted.
The best part is watching Pete laugh when Chris is getting fired up!
Part 1 and Part 2 are two of the best shows ever...
Love these videos. Please continue to do these more often. A lot of music fans like this love these stories.
MSG Albuquerque 1984. About 5 songs in Michael throws his vee down and walks offstage. Technical problems were cited.. disappointing as f
Was great while it lasted!
I've said it before Chris tells the best damn stories.
My worst concert experience was watching The Cavalera brothers in 2018, about one hour before the show this huge thunderstorm began and knocked down powerlines all over the City, meaning the venue would be powered by generators, the air conditioning wasn't turned on.
A completely packed venue for a trash metal show with no ventilation whatsoever soon proved to be a very bad combination, I think I saw like 5-6 guys passing out because of the heat and eventualy firefighters had to open a side door to let some air in .
1/10 wouldn't recommend.
One of my worst experiences was when I went to see Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall in London. I found my seat and was somewhat surprised to find it was *behind* the stage. My exciting view was of a black curtain. The gig started and I lasted a couple of numbers before going home. I’m not even sure I complained. I just thought, oh fuck it.
I have an idea for a show, bands that became pop acts. Of course it could have been just an era or even an album but went from kick ass rock band or metal act to pop music of any kind.
Idea for a new Rant: Albums everybody hates but I kinda love!
ffsf739 I have thought about that topic also. Would be a fun show.
My pick: Motley Crue- Self Titled
@@eddiebranden1 mine would be Van Halen III.
@@ffsf739 Loved it. Saw them on that tour. Great to hear Dave era songs live again.
@@ffsf739 That album is So Bad!
Blood, booze, bladders and bands. Sounds like an album by the Chilli Peppers. Great show.
1982 Neil Young was coming to Stockholm and that was a big thing. I'm not a fan but my sister sent me to cue for the tickets. After two hours I gave up with a terrible migraine. My sister was furious that I didn't get any tickets, she didn't care at all for my headache.
In 1983, my brother and I went to the metal day at the US festival. We drank too much the night before. We actually slept in the car at the parking lot of the festival. We got up and marched like cows into the festival. There were like 300,000 people at the show. It was hot as hell and we didn’t have much money. I think we shared a hot dog and coke. That’s all we ate. I keep the coke cup so we could drink water. After the concert ended, we had no idea where we parked because the venue was was in the dessert. No signage for parking lots. So we walked out and looked and looked and looked and we couldn’t find the car. At one point we just laid down in the dirt and went to sleep. I almost got ran over by a bus. At about 1 pm we finally found the car. We drove home and my mom looked at us and said we stunk and told us to go take shower. The concert itself was great.
Horrible experiences can make great shows. I saw Anthrax, Megadeth, Alice in Chains, and (I think) Slayer. A friend had to take his younger brother, around 14 at the time, along. It was his first concert and their mom was freaked out. We assured her that between the three others we had been to hundreds of live shows, and we would take care of him.
Some utterly wasted chick puked on the kid. Then during Anthrax he charged the pit. He returned with one eye swollen shut and blood pouring from his nose. At some point he lost his shoes. When it was over we staggered out with a definite "I'm too old for this shit" feeling.
After the show I asked him what he thought about it. His good eye opened wide and he said "That was fucking awesome!"
There was a guy I knew that went to see Janet Jackson in concert at the Gorge Ampitheater in Washington State, she made everyone wait 3 hours in line on a brutal hot summer day so she could program her songs so she wouldn't have to perform, he totally lost respect for Janet Jackson after that incident.
Guns and Roses live was so hit or miss back in the day. Either it was one best shows you saw or one of the worst depending how wasted they were on heroine.
Late 70s went to see Richie Blackmore's Rainbow at Music Hall in Cleveland. Very first song Blackmore is having equipment issues and throwing a tantrum . He disappears off stage never to return , show is over after a half a song. Looking back it was pretty cool .
Woah... Pete, I was at the Chance that night for Gary Moore. I drove from Western New Jersey to meet up with a guy that I had only traded bootleg cassettes with through the mail! I was up in the balcony, near center and I just remember it was amazing. The guy I went to the show with had a camera and filmed the whole thing... but he never shared or traded it, as far as I know (that really sucked.) I still have 2 tee shirts from that show... however... they certainly don't fit me anymore! :-D
Worst shows ever (just because the music did not connect with me) has to go to either Allan Holdsworth (at the Chance) or King Crimson (at the Keswick Theater.) The music just didn't do anything for me in either case... and made for the longest hours of my life. Looking back I'm glad I can say I saw Holdsworth... I just didn't enjoy it.
1..Rory Gallagher towards the end of his life, High on booze and pills playing one song while the band played another, so bad his brother had to lead him off stage. 2..Dio going berserk on stage on the first tour when a kid in the crowd stole his microphone and sang half of the first song before the band realised that something was wrong.3... Rob Halford falling off the Harley.
Doctor said to Rory that he should've stayed at home his health was very bad but he said fans wants to see me I should be there for them. One of the saddest story ever, a true hero.
This was well presented and quite entertaining. Totally crazy stories!! Thanks for sharing guys!! Rock on!!
Late to this one..worst concert I've attended I got dragged by my ex to Ireland to see Chris Brown because he was banned in the UK . I had my headphones on the wholetime while also having a massive migraine didn't hear a word of his terrible music
Long live the Rant shows! Great panel! Riot, fuck yeah. What an underrated band.
Monsters of Rock 1988 (Kingdom Come, Metallica, Dokken, Scorpions & Van Halen) Los Angeles Coliseum. Had front row seats on the floor. Enjoyed the Kingdom Come set and then was almost killed when Metallica came on and the fans came storming down from the seats and rushed the stage. Smashed against the barrier for most of Creeping Death but my friends and I were able to wiggle out to the seats off the floor and watched the rest of the show from there. We were at such a tight angle we couldn't see the drummers.
I believe there footage of the riot
In February 2006 I saw the couple tour Alice Cooper with Deep Purple in Dortmund, Germany at Westfalen Hall. When Alice entered the stage next to me two ladies,middle age, said:" Ha, ha, ha, boooaaahhh, is Alice old, oh Jesus ".I replied to the two :"Alice can't stop the time".Then Alice throwed a sharp sword into the hall floor. It bounced for a while. The audience was only half a meter away, crazy. If Alice had a bad day ---- goodby cruel world ,Hasta la Vista, baby. By the way,both bands were awesome. Best wishes. 🤘
Went to a festival in Germany when I was 19. Stupidly didn’t realize they’d take our booze away on the way in. So we sat outside and drank a bottle of Jim Beam (2 of us). We went in, and I immediately fell asleep in the sun. With my shirt off. Woke in time to see Blue Oyster Cult and Kansas, but Got so badly sunburned I had to go to the emergency room the next day with sunstroke! Youthful stupidity.
I've only ever had one bad concert experience. When the black crowes opened for Robert Plant in 90, they were so drunk they could barely stand or play...Jack bottles.on the amps...I was embarrassed for them. Plant was amazing.
I remember taking a girlfriend to see Yes back in high school and we stopped by her older sister's house located in the town they were playing in (about 40 minutes away) to party and got so wasted we lost track of time and by the time we got there Yes was nearly finished. I was just glad I was able to drive to the venue, to tell the truth.
One other one I forgot about but Pete's GnR story reminded me saw them on the Use Your Illusion tour. They came on 2.5 hrs after Skid Row who were great,, and I was in Gold Circle seating row 2 and Axle spit on me that fucker !
Pete, I have a SERIOUSLY good concert story. I wish I had an audience to share it with.
What’s the story?! Very interested to hear
What about concerts that turned out to be awesome but you thought they were gonna suck? That could be an interesting show also!
I had a few in that category.
@Eric Byrd Stryper and Queensryche? That's an interesting combination.
@Eric Byrd A friend dragged to me to a britpop Band called Suede (doubt you know them in US). I had listened 2-3 songs and didnt like them at all (singers voice got on my nerves). After the gig I went and bought 3-4 albums...That good they were...Still remember leaving and saying what the hell was that.... Especially when they played the song "We are the pigs" and people were pointing police men. Manic!!!
@@kostasmad1431 Suede is absolutely awesome! I'm in Houston now, but I was living in Birmingham, Alabama when their debut dropped. Saw Metal Mickey debut on Mtv and I was an instant fan. I couldn't see them on that first US tour, but had tix to see them in Houston on the Dog Man Star tour. Unfortunately that was part of the US tour that was cancelled due to all the issues with Bernard Butler. They never came back to the US. Still bought all their albums.
@@morebeer7673 Great story! Nice to see people noticed them in US. Saw them after the Butler era but still I was shocked how good they were live...Went there to please my friend who paid my ticket and left as a fan...
Back in 72-73 I walked out on not one but two concerts. The first was Chicago. The music was not tight and the vocals were off key. I took about as much as could before I said enough is enough. The second was Isaac Hayes. Unbeknownst to me Mr. Hayes had a penchant for going into what were called "Ike's Raps" before songs. He would talk & talk & talk to the point I felt like getting down on my knees and say "Please play the bloody song!"
Van Halen: Monsters of Rock Festival , Karlsruhe Germany. 1984 (AC/DC Headliner)
Guitar solo, EVH
Drum solo, AVH
Bass solo, MA
Speech between every song by DLR
I saw them years later in Belgium 1993 with Haggar which was awesome.
my worst show is Ozzy 82 Cobo, a violent night , fight all over, drunk fools acting foolishly, and the guitars were tuned down a half step lower than the LP..so it sounded like shit Ozzy couldnt even hit pitch...i figured Randy would be out of Ozzy soon but not killed
Samantha fox was known in the us? The model with the...shirtfull?
Yea. She had a BIG selling poster . Big smile , small tight shirt .
Her first three albums went gold here and "Touch Me" got a lot of MTV play.
I’m shocked too.
Huge..Canada also .my buddy had a poster with her tits out when we were in junior high
Naughty Girls Need Love Too!
Seen Kix open for DLR on Eat'em and Smile tour. They cut the power on Kix. Baltimore MD..
I loathe Zakk Wylde!
Two stories I had...
1) Saw Maiden's Ed Hunter tour at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. It was Bruce's triumphant return. We had 2nd row seats (actually because it was a theater the rows curved so the first row ended before our seats. Essentially, we had a little dancefloor before Dave Murray's stage position. You would think that would be cool, but as it turns out all we could hear was Dave Murray's monitor the entire show. We could barely hear Bruce or Nicko or anything. Couple that with the fact that it was a hot summer night and according to the roadie who was setting up in front of us, Dickinson refuses to sing with AC, so by mid show I was so covered in sweat that it looked like I jumped into a pool. My jeans were soaked through. When we walked outside the bank across the street displayed the temp (it felt like we were walking into a cool October night, but the temp read 88 degrees.)
Lastly, Adrian was not there that night as his dad had passed away.
2) BOC - Showcase Live, Foxboro. It wasn't a horrible show, but it lacked energy. I left really disappointed. They had a new bass player that was a young kid who was very enthusiastic and happy to be a part of the band, but his constant grinning and happy feet didn't seem to fit with the rest of the band. Buck came off really conceited. The whole show seemed tired and a bit too mellow.
Interesting. I thought Madonna was the only one against AC in venues.
@@Rockerlady My pants proved otherwise. : )
On 4/7/2005. Irving plaza./ NYC. Me and my buddy went to see Black LABEL society. This was like 4 months after Dimebag DARRELL was tragically killed. ZAKK was highly intoxicated/ or seemed that way to me and my buddy. He would play for a bit. / then ramble on and on about Dimebag. Over and over. Hate to say this / had to leave. Usually I go to concerts to get pumped up. He depressed me. Actually EDDIE Trunk was 2 ft away from us. But came 50% into the show. And seemed uninterested as well ! Saw BLS here in Jersey since. But the NYC was not fun
That was actually at Best Buy Theater (or whatever it was called at the time) -I was there, terrible show, they came on over an hour late, Zakk was sweating like a pig, drunk, eyes all bugging out, and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there. I left an hour into it after I took my photos in the photo pit and and hung around for a few torturous songs. This was the show I was explaining on Part 1 of this series and the zoom video cut me off.
Sea of Tranquility /. You know what. Your right. Sorry PETE. I sometimes screw up my NAMES. Per ex. All the name changes / I still call THE MEADOWLANDS here in N.J. but / I was there. So / I think that makes another concert I was at with you. Nov 1984 DIO at MEADOWLANDS. Was definitely 💯 one of them !!
@@garyjoyce2160 No need to be sorry, I mix up the venues all the time! LOL
I'm shocked no one brought up Woodstock '99
Top 3 most disappointing live experiences that come to mind are:
Porcupine Tree (Deadwing Tour) - they looked bored, so we left
Paradise Lost (One Second Tour) - see above
Rush (Roll the Bones Tour) - horrible sound, but it was Rush so of course we stayed!
My worst concert experience was in 1999. It was Cozy Powell’s tribute concert at the Buxton Opera House.
My wife was pregnant with our daughter at the time and she didn’t weather the car trip very well so she was feeling sick most of the night.
It was an all seating gig, (the first one I’d been to and sadly not the last), Most of the line up were people that I’d never heard of.
During the interval, some old ladies from the Woman’s institute came round the aisles selling ice cream, more used to classical audience than rockers and metalheads and the poor dears looked scared shitless. 😂
The second half was a little better. Tony Ashton from Paice, Ashton and Lord, performed whom I later met outside when I was having a cigarette. (Nice guy RIP).
I was shocked and dismayed that a lot of people who Cozy had played with were not there. No Blackmore, no Coverdale, no Marsden or Moody, no Lord, no Dio, no Iommi.
Two highlights of the evening was a version of ‘black sabbath’ with Tony Martin, Neil Murray and Geoff Nichols (also RIP) and for the finale, BRIAN F’KIN MAY.
Feeling a tad underwhelmed we started the long journey back to Coventry....and my wife was sick in the car all over me.
Not the greatest of nights.
I saw Primus a couple of years ago , horrible they played boring meandering songs instead of the groove stuff and the worse part was little stage lighting they basically played in the dark. I pay to see the band.
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Brilliant, guys. Really enjoyed this having been to a few stinkers myself.
I went with my brother to KoRn. KoRn was great, but the support act was Hell Yeah... And no one in the crowd wanted Hell Yeah.
So the vocalist was very angry because we did not want to scream along with his songs.
It was nice to see Vinnie Paul in real life, tho.
I never drink or get wasted when I go to see a show. I want to actually see the band. So I guess that doesn’t make me cool or rock n roll, but fuck it😄
At ozzfest of 03 down with Phil Anselmo was lead act at the 2nd stage. I was real excited to see them and I talked one of my friends in the group I went with to walk over to the 2nd stage to watch. Phil was absolutely plastered drunk. They didn't get even into one song and he stopped the band three times and started yelling at the crowd because they weren't doing what ever it was he wanted them to do and at that point I walked back to the main stage