Gigs you left early.

[Paul S]

1 hour ago, toneknob said:

Not that keen on the Brooklyn Bowl are you?

😁 Loved it.  perfect size, I reckon.  Sound was always amazing.   From here it was an hour door to door on the train.  Ticket price was cheap enough to take a punt at all sorts of things.  Which is probably why the venue features in my leaving early list.  'Still it was a night out' we'd say on the way home.  But also saw some fab stuff there.  Great food at the restaurant, too - we got to know the staff a bit as we went a lot.

[casapete]

1 hour ago, inthedoghouse said:

Supertramp in Manchester.  A couple of friends said they'd buy me a ticket if I gave them a lift.  I knew it wasn't really going to be my cuppa, but after about 30 mins I was so bored and went for a wander around and arranged to meet my friends back at the car later.  I seem to remember that Joan Armatrading was supporting and I enjoyed her set.  She had a heckler that she dealt with very well, if my memory serves me correctly.

Isotope at The Winter Gardens, Penzance.  Absolutely brilliant musicians, and I thought very Mahavishnu influenced, who I had recently seen and loved.  But there was only so much jazz fusion I could take that night.

I saw Supertramp on that tour in Hull. Same reaction as you too! Joan Armatrading okay but didn’t last long when Supertramp came on.

[4000]

37 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I had to think long and hard about this. The only one I can recall was The Style Council in Finsbury Park on a beautiful summers day.

I sat through OCS, Ruby Turner, etc but by the time Weller & Co came on I had a raging Migraine verging on Heat stroke (no shade in Finsbury Park) so we left half way through his set.

If I’d had the misfortune to find myself at a Style Council gig you wouldn’t have seen me for dust. One of the few bands I can think of that I absolutely can’t stand in any way, shape or form. 

[AndyTravis]

Got some free tickets for the “Chelsea Daggers” band The Fratelli’s?

yeah, 2 songs in...drum solo. We got the bar and then walked out.

”you can’t return once you’ve been out” said the doorman at Manchester Academy...

”it’s alright, we don’t want to return...” came the reply.

 

[meterman]

A couple come to mind.

The Fall, mid 80s, somewhere in Newcastle. Absolute shambles, just a mess. And I loved the records, but they were not on form that night. Didn’t make it to the end of the gig and never saw them again.

Psychic TV, somewhere in London, can’t remember the year but I was young enough not to know better. Very, very ‘off’ vibes in the audience, the atmosphere was really tense. And musically PTV were utter shee ight. I’d gotten dragged along by a super-fan girlfriend but even she gave up early and we left after about 20 minutes. Never saw them again.

The Cranberries, early 90s at one of the Fleadh festivals at Finsbury Park, London. They were big enough at the time to have played the main stage but Dolores O’Riordan had broken her leg, so they did a sit-down acoustic set in one of the smaller tents. I wouldn’t have gone in to see them by choice but it was pishing it down, so... Anyway after maybe 3 or 4 songs it became clear that all their songs were gonna be a 4-chord plod with a bit of yodelling during each 4th chord, and it got really wearing, really quickly. I bailed after maybe 12-15 minutes and went back out into the rain to get away from it. Never saw them again.

There’s probably a load more but those stand out just now.

[Drax]

So many gigs.. More gigs left early than stayed to the end I reckon. 

Notable - and these are all bands I love 

Motorhead, Hammersmith, 2000 ish. Just boring, didn't even make it to Bomber.  

Primus, Brixton. 2 sets, greatest hits (half full) , then the entire chocolate factory album. Walking out at start of 2nd half past crowds coming in thinking they've only missed the support band. 

Gong, many times. You never knew what Gong you were going to get.. 

 

Also in the age of stadium / arena gigs, and Setlist.FM, depressingly you can see exactly what the set is going to be before you go, so there's no surprises to hang around for.. not like leaving a football match early.. 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2021 by Drax

[dmccombe7]

In late 70's i left a Whitesnake concert because the sound quality was so bad. All i could hear was low end boom from bass drum and a Peter Gabriel concert cause i was so bored. Wasn't really a Gabriel fan at the time.

Nazareth concert because they were that loud it was painful. Was at Perth for a Harley Davidson biker weekend circa 2003. The hall went from full and packed to empty within a few songs apart from a small group in centre front.

For me the sound engineer should have been sacked/ They carried on and sounded great from the bar area. Suzi Quatro in same venue the following night and everything was perfect and her bass solo was pretty good too

Dave

Edited February 21, 2021 by dmccombe7

[Steve Browning]

Two for me. Supertramp at Brighton Centre. Reminds me. 3. Meat Loaf at the same venue. 

Don't tell him but National Health at Lancaster Uni supporting Steve Hillage. Went to Victoria Park for the Rock Against Racism gig with the Clash and TRB the next day. 

[Drax]

1 hour ago, inthedoghouse said:

  I seem to remember that Joan Armatrading was supporting and I enjoyed her set.  She had a heckler that she dealt with very well, if my memory serves me correctly.

Joan Armour-plating as she's known in the industry. Doesn't take any sh*t from her band either.. 

[Nail Soup]

22 minutes ago, meterman said:

The Fall, mid 80s, somewhere in Newcastle. Absolute shambles, just a mess

How dare you......

 

23 minutes ago, meterman said:

And I loved the records, but they were not on form that night

OK, let you off then.

[Nail Soup]

Aswad (if you can call it a gig) .

Aswad were, to my surprise, booked to play at a kind of free bank holiday in the park shindig organized by the local council.

A few other bands were on, then it came to the headline act  - Aswad.

The announcer announced them, and then the 3 members of Aswad danced on stage with a mic each in hand. 

I gave the benefit of the doubt - maybe a curtain would lift to reveal the drum kit and bass rig etc. But no - it was backing tapes.

Walked way - I hate backing  tapes. Probably within 30 seconds or so.

I get that the council could not afford the full version of Aswad.... but I'd have preferred a local band in a similar genre.

[Reggaebass]

Just now, Nail Soup said:

The announcer announced them, and then the 3 members of Aswad danced on stage with a mic each in hand. 

I went to see them about 3 years ago and I was really looking forward to it, and they did exactly the same thing, I left after 3 songs 

[Paul S]

Just thought of another couple. 

Michael McDonald at Hammersmith about 3 years ago.  Wish I'd never gone as it kind of spoilt the magic.  Instead of that effortless flute of high range he strained to hit those notes and all that shimmering quality of his voice was lost.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd.  Somewhere.  Might have been Brixton.  Managed to sit through the first 40 mins of soulless fretw@nkery before I called it a day.

[TheGreek]

I've been lucky enough to see Aswad on many occasions, mostly the 80s, pre "Don't turn around". Amazing band live...sorry that you were disappointed.

[Mykesbass]

Very early 80's Santana at the Royal Albert Hall. Endless back to audience, down on one knee noodling. At one point, the whole band except drums and three percussionists left the stage. These 4 raised th eroof for five minutes. When Carlos came back out my mate looked at me and said it isn't going to get any better now is it? I agreed, and off we went.

Live Aid - really wasn't bothered with the finale mob singalong, decided getting on the tube before the rest of Wembley made a lot more sense.

[AndyTravis]

Joe Satriani at the Manchester Apollo. My mate won tickets on a local rock radio station.

He was a fan. We managed 45 minutes.

Also, the first time I ever saw someone set up an iPad to record the entire gig (leant on the balcony) and preceded to scroll through his phone for the time we were there.

It’s what I’d call a chocolate gig - nice, but you feel sick if you just carry on.

[Aidan63]

Massive Attack, Manchester Apollo 2003, just ridiculously loud, I reckon they had something like 20-30kW of PA turned up full, it would have been about right at 1/3 to half volume, I thought it was my ears but I checked out the amp racks and everything was clipping, realised it was the sound engineer who was deaf and went outside, even outside it was too loud, the sort of thing that brought in curfews and dB meters; in the 80's we'd have done that gig with 3-5kW and everyone would have had a great time and would have been able to hear afterwards.

[Paul S]

Just remembered another one.  Vintage Trouble at one of the O2 outposts.  Kentish Town I think.  It was like watching a James Brown wannabee entering some sort of Olympic Floor athletics event, all completely out of time with the music. Had he but settled down and concentrated on singing it might have been ok.  It went beyond showmanship and just plain silly showing off.  Still, other people seemed to enjoy it.

[SteveXFR]

1 hour ago, casapete said:

Truly dreadful noise, vocals just so bad as well as being way too loud and badly mixed. 

Dude, you can't say that about the band who invented heavy metal and were the gods of doom metal!

I know Geezer Butler took pride in people describing them as a horrible racket. 

[casapete]

7 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Dude, you can't say that about the band who invented heavy metal and were the gods of doom metal!

I know Geezer Butler took pride in people describing them as a horrible racket. 

First to admit heavy and doom metal aren’t my go to genres of music. It was just one of those gigs where the audience would have gone crazy for the band just being there whatever it was like, and in this instance Geezer’s pride was certainly left intact. 

[casapete]

15 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Just remembered another one.  Vintage Trouble at one of the O2 outposts.  Kentish Town I think.  It was like watching a James Brown wannabee entering some sort of Olympic Floor athletics event, all completely out of time with the music. Had he but settled down and concentrated on singing it might have been ok.  It went beyond showmanship and just plain silly showing off.  Still, other people seemed to enjoy it.

I’ve seen VT twice Paul, and thought they were pretty darned good. Can understand why you thought it a bit over the top, but for me it was just good to see a band playing that sort of stuff really well and being entertaining too. We met them after the gig and all top blokes. Mrs CP was not the only female audience member who wanted to chat with the singer too...😉

[Roger2611]

The Smiths at Dergate Northampton, arrived late, missed James as the support band doh! stayed for about 5 songs whilst everyone around me stood on one leg whirling Gladioli about, I though they are never going to take off doing that, left and went down the pub instead!

Sisters of Mercy Rock City early 2000's ish, having seen them there on their first tour they were brilliant, this time they were dull and boring so we left!

[SteveXFR]

45 minutes ago, casapete said:

First to admit heavy and doom metal aren’t my go to genres of music. 

That's what's great about music. What's awful to one person is amazing to another. 

I like that most people dislike my favourite styles of music. 

[toneknob]

2 hours ago, Paul S said:

😁 Loved it.  perfect size, I reckon.  Sound was always amazing.   From here it was an hour door to door on the train.  Ticket price was cheap enough to take a punt at all sorts of things.  Which is probably why the venue features in my leaving early list.  'Still it was a night out' we'd say on the way home.  But also saw some fab stuff there.  Great food at the restaurant, too - we got to know the staff a bit as we went a lot.

Agreed on all of the above! I saw Umphreys McGee there three times (a different set on three consecutive nights) and Phil Lesh, I'm not a Dead fan and probably would have that early too had I not been there with a friend who was a massive Deadhead.

Also, lovely beer.

[toneknob]

Vulfpeck at Brixton Academy.

It was awesome of course but mid-set I sensed a commotion to my right as the dead sea parted and someone came bundling out of the crowd, desperate to be elsewhere, didn't make it and puked up on me.

Despite valiant attempts to de-sick myself in the gents at the front of the downstairs standing area (not the most pleasant of places at the best of times), pep talks from the other occupiers of the gents at the time (one guy said "just get out there and enjoy it, what else can go wrong"), purchasing a hugely expensive Vulf t-shirt to change into - apologies to all who saw me topless in the gents by the bar) - it still turned out that I could smell someone else's sick on me so I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and got on the next bus home.

No idea who the puker was. You can't dust for vomit, remember