The concert I regret most was Motorhead. Not because they were bad but because I gained some serious hearing damage. It was the only concert that I ever actually experienced pain in my ears during the performance. It was my own fault, though, because I "was too cool" to wear hearing protection during concerts.

Krokus opened for them and were really good so it was a mixed bag.

Another bad one was going to see Siouxsie and the Banshees. We sat through some terrible band called Wonderwall only to have the MC come out and say that Siouxsie was sick and the concert was cancelled. Again, nothing against Siouxsie; it was just a sucky experience.

The most boring concert I ever went to was Robin Trower. I wasn't a fan but my friend was and I went just to keep him company. It was a tiny club in Portland and you sat at tables instead of standing in front of the stage. Trower just basically sat in a chair and noodled on his guitar the whole time. I was bored out of my mind and even my friend had had enough after about an hour. (cue DeepPurple posting a bunch of videos to prove how awesome Trower really is :-) )
[Reply]

All you guys talking about 80's hair band singers and how bad they are now forced me to post this..:-)

I took my daughter to see Stryper a couple of years ago. Some of their recent stuff is pretty heavy and not as much of the soupy hair metal ballad crap and I was told they always put on a good live show.

Well, it just goes to show you how much vocal lessons are worth, plus as much abstinence from cigarettes and booze as one could muster.

Because even though Michael Sweet doesn't have the voice he used to (he's 60 years old) he still hit some amazing high notes and his voice was spot on all night, almost 2 full hours.

We saw them a month before Oz found out he had brain tumors and the rest of their tour got cancelled.
[Reply]

Richie Faulkner is awesome. Before he took the Priest gig, he spent some time gigging with Lauren Harris, the daughter of Maiden's Steve Harris.
[Reply]

Wow, 0-2.
[Reply]

Funny... I would have actually preferred that. I don't go to many live concerts because I usually prefer the studio recording to anything done live. I want to hear the music... not the crowd's reaction to the music.

/Clapton unplugged is one of the few exceptions
[Reply]

Has anyone metioned a band from Japan called Loudness? The music was pretty good but you could not understand a word they said except in between songs. The singer kept saying, "Helwoo Kawnssass Swity, we wuv you!"

Ratt was aweful every time I saw them. First was becasue Robin Crosby was zonked out and out of tune and Stephen Pearcy was drunk. Other times it was mostly because Pearcy was drunk and just stood there with the mike out so the crowd could sing for him.

An obscure band that opened for another band, I think it was AC DC- was called Avalanch. The singer was like 600 pounds and the band had the bass and drums up so high on the mix you could not hear much of anything else.

Motley Crue was a disapointment later in their career. They barely did an hour and half back when concerts would run close to 3 hours. Vince sounded like a toimcat with his balls stuck in a picket fence. Tommy was always a beast and Mick Mars sounded great. Nikki was so fucked up oe of the times, he barely played his bass leaving the sound flat. I skipped their last two "retirement shows".
[Reply]

I know this goes against the theme of this thread but I think it is worth noting. All this talk of how age has ravaged the voice of so many great rock vocalists got me to thinking about Van Morrison. I saw him a couple years ago and he is still an impressive performer with a powerful voice.

I have always been a huge fan of Van the Man but it still amazes me they way he has been able to adapt over the years while still being able to deliver the goosebumps with his singing style and that incredible voice.
[Reply]

I agree, without James Dewar (pronounced like the whiskey) he just isn't the same. Dewar left in the late 80's due to illness and died in 2002 after a series of strokes. Trower did have Davy Pattison of Gamma fame singing with him about 10 years ago or more and he was a good fit. Trower is now mid 70's at least, he started with Procol Harum, he was on Whiter Shade of Pale.

Trower with the late James Dewar on bass and vocals 1980



Trower with Davy Pattison from 2005


[Reply]

My worse live concert show was John Kay of Steppenwolf, but he was solo with no band. It was '72 at Savannah Civic Center and the headliner was Deep Purple. I remember the radio commercials all week, "and with special guest John Kay of Steppenwolf" and they would play 'Born to be Wild' in the background.

Unfortunately by '72 Steppenwolf had broken up and John was doing a solo gig. He came out with no backup band, so video is only half accurate. He had just a steel top acoustic guitar and did mostly Hank Williams songs while sitting on a stool, wanting to see Deep Purple do "Child in Time" next, made this even worse. I believe soon after, he regrouped and called his band Steppenwolf, he knew where his bread was buttered, and I did get to see them in '97 and they were Great!!


[Reply]

It's been a while since I've heard of such an awful 1-2 lineup.
[Reply]

I saw that show @ sandstone as well and thought it was fine. Only thing to me was it sounded exactly like the LP versions. Which at the time was fine because Secret Samadhi freakin' rocks still.
Regarding Staind, I just remember the lead singer sitting on a stool with his head in his hand staring down at the stage the whole time. Was not rad.
[Reply]

I kind of made it a personal rule not to go see the bands I liked 20+ years ago. Too much disappointment and they often want top dollar if they were big at one time.
[Reply]

It was just boring. They didn't even try, no energy.
[Reply]

I’ve learned about the band Dokken from this thread. I’d thought I’d listen to classic rock stations enough to at least get a knowledge of most of the Big bands of the 70s and 80s, but I hadn’t recognized them. I listened to a couple of their biggest songs on YouTube and realize why they’re not played much anymore.

Sorry to hear bad reviews of Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, and Springsteen (though in the case of Springsteen it seemed all about location).
[Reply]

Ha ha! I'm sure all bands have drama, but I used to live around the corner from the Guitar Center on Sunset and on three separate occasions I saw Poison have gigantic band fights right there on the sidewalk and once in the Denny's on the same block. The band and some management and a few crew guys or friends or something just having it out. No one ever hit anyone, but they did alot of stupid posturing. It was certainly more entertaining than I ever found their music to be.

I regret only Guns and Roses. Twice. Both times they cancelled. Once the were supposed to open for Iron Maiden at Kemper, cancelled, and Anthrax played. Anthrax was fun, but I was disappointed. Then they had their own Kemper show shortly after that was supposed to make up for the miss, and they flat out cancelled with no notice. Some bull shit or another happened and I never got a refund from the ticket people. I was pissed this time. Fair? Probably not, but too bad. Never tried to see them again.
[Reply]