You go and see a favourite artist live and come away seriously disappointed.

[Paul S]

Several spring to mind but the biggest differential between expectation and reality was Michael McDonald when he came over a couple of years ago.  I'd always considered his effortless falsetto to be one of the highlights of the music that formed the background to my life - a little magic fairly dust that he could sprinkle onto any tune and raise it to another level.  He had totally lost that ability and had to strain for the high notes, completely changing his voice to a kind of tight screech.  Mrs S and I left before he massacred any of our favourite tunes.  I really wish we hadn't gone.  

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Melvins - seriously unpredictable live. Once was one of the best gigs I'd ever seen, another time they'd decided to treat the audience to an hour of deafening drop-A droning.

[AndyTravis]

8 minutes ago, SH73 said:

I didn't go and see my least favourite artist Oasis because I knew I'd be disappointed

Saw them 3 times. Only paid once. That time was awesome - about 1998/9.

The other two times. Nah.

[Nibody]

In the 1980's a work colleague took his then girlfriend to see Rory Gallagher.  He was not disapointed - however his girlfriend (who hated heavy music) was though. she misheard him when he asked her and thought she was going to see Rory Bremmner live....

[SH73]

I have never been disappointed to see Maiden.

About two years ago I went to see Testament at Koko in Camden. Annihilator and some other band were opening for them. 

I was a bit disappointed with Testament, the bass player had some technical issues and was making it obvious. Well at least I noticed. 

But Annihilator was just amazing , so underrated and Jeff Waters is one of the most committed musicians. I used to listen to them in my early teens then somehow I have forgotten about them. The bass player is awesome, his playing and stage presentation combined is something other players lack. Think he is from Cambridge.

I was slightly disappointed (not really) with Steve Vai when he blew his amp during a gig🤟 to this day I'm not sure if it was part of the show as I never bothered googling it.

 

[Cliff Edge]

1 hour ago, taunton-hobbit said:

Has anyone seen a good live set from James Brown ?

😎

Yes,  it it was a very long time ago though. Quite possibly late 60’s. And it was theatrically and sound wise, outstanding. 

[Crusoe]

I was quite disappointed by Sisters of Mercy. Some songs I didn't recognise until about halfway through. On the flip side, I was blown away by Lou Reed. We all know what his reputation is like, so I wasn't expecting much when I saw him perform "Berlin" live. He was amazing and even signed autographs at the front of stage afterwards.

[Graham]

38 minutes ago, SH73 said:

I have never been disappointed to see Maiden.

About two years ago I went to see Testament at Koko in Camden. Annihilator and some other band were opening for them. 

I was a bit disappointed with Testament, the bass player had some technical issues and was making it obvious. Well at least I noticed. 

But Annihilator was just amazing , so underrated and Jeff Waters is one of the most committed musicians. I used to listen to them in my early teens then somehow I have forgotten about them. The bass player is awesome, his playing and stage presentation combined is something other players lack. Think he is from Cambridge.

I was slightly disappointed (not really) with Steve Vai when he blew his amp during a gig🤟 to this day I'm not sure if it was part of the show as I never bothered googling it.

 

You might enjoy this podcast, as the guest Luke booked that Testament show and his story about how his financed it is worth a listen alone 😁

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JE35lJopFyIzFkkdObQ47?si=z5Htk9fYS32zc8n6FniO2Q&utm_source=copy-link

[Nail Soup]

I went to see X-ray Spex (2010 I think) at the Roundhouse when Poly reformed the band for the shows.

The support group (Goldblade) were OK, but had a great sound.

X-Ray-Spex came on. They kicked off with "Oh Bondage Up Yours", but the soundman had not opened the vocal mike. So we missed most of the the iconic spoken intro ("Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard"). Then the band kicked in. Well, I say the band.... Drums and Sax. The Guitar and Bass were buried so low in the mix it ruined the night.

So disappointing!

[PaulWarning]

was it this one? shame the vocals are slightly out of sync

almost all the live shows I've been disappointed in have been caused by a crap sound,  I just stand there fuming, the evening ruined by a sound guy that hasn't got a clue about the type of sound the band needs, or is deafer than I am

[Dad3353]

8 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

...

...

Good grief..! Improved greatly, I'd suggest, by cutting the vocal mic completely..! I wouldn't stand that sax sound for long, either..! Not a fan (that's an example of understatement...). 

[Nail Soup]

45 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

was it this one? shame the vocals are slightly out of sync

almost all the live shows I've been disappointed in have been caused by a crap sound,  I just stand there fuming, the evening ruined by a sound guy that hasn't got a clue about the type of sound the band needs, or is deafer than I am

Yes I think so👍couple of years earlier than i thought. At least they improved the sound for the release.

[lonestar]

Dr John at Cambridge Corn Exchange. Probably mid or late ‘90s.

He was probably great but the sound was so shite that we gave up and sat in the bar. It sounded marginally better but was so disappointing.

[paulbuzz]

53 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

almost all the live shows I've been disappointed in have been caused by a crap sound,  I just stand there fuming, the evening ruined by a sound guy that hasn't got a clue about the type of sound the band needs, or is deafer than I am

Everyone knows that if it's a great gig, it's because the band were great, and if it's a terrible gig it's because the soundman was rubbish! 😉

[Bassybert]

2 hours ago, Bassman Sam said:

Neil Young in Glasgow in the early '70's. The support band, The Eagles were brilliant.

 

I refuse to believe Neil in the early 70s would have been anything but amazing!

 What tour was this?

[PaulWarning]

3 minutes ago, paulbuzz said:

Everyone knows that if it's a great gig, it's because the band were great, and if it's a terrible gig it's because the soundman was rubbish! 😉

alternatively, have you ever been to a great gig with rubbish sound?

but yes a rubbish band can make the sound bad

Edited April 11, 2021 by PaulWarning

[Lozz196]

I’ve been to loads of gigs where the over-bearing kick drum that was louder than everything else including the vocals simply made the whole gig worthwhile....

NOT!!!!

[SteveXFR]

I was disappointed by Doyle from Misfits a couple years ago. Saw his solo band a couple years earlier and they were awesome. I was wondering whether it was a come down for him playing for a hundred at The Fleece in Bristol a few days after playing to 10,000 people with Misfits 

Machine Head were also disappointing. They played a very average 3 hour set and it was very obvious that the band hated the singer. They split a few weeks later.

Sham69 were also disappointing. Mostly because there wasn't a single member of the original band. It was like an average covers band. 

[paulbuzz]

12 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Sham69 were also disappointing. Mostly because there wasn't a single member of the original band. It was like an average covers band. 

Must have had Dave Parsons on guitar, surely...? But certainly Sham without Pursey isn't worthy of the name.
According to Wikipedia they currently have 3/4 of the classic lineup (including Pursey), though whether that means they're any good or not I've no idea.

Edit: ah, I see they're one of those bands where different band lineups exist simultaneously - in this case fairly plainly a 'proper' version and a 'fake' version... sounds like you were unlucky enough to catch the fake version...? ☹️

Edited April 11, 2021 by paulbuzz

[Treeb]

Saw Jethro Tull in 2005/6 performing the whole of Aqualung.  As well as Ian Anderson's voice being a bit past it, they were accompanied on stage by a young violinist and a chunk of the set was just boring.  The natives were well restless.

5 hours ago, Cliff Edge said:

A kind of sub thread for “surprisingly outstanding ”. 
The Indigo Girls. 
I went to see them at Radio City in New York. Naturally the place was full of young girls, but Christ that band was good. Well worth the air fare and the tickets. 

Totally agree.  Seen them twice ... once as just a duo (supporting 10,000 Maniacs) in the late '80s and once as a band in the early noughties.

 

[chris_b]

4 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said:

Has anyone seen a good live set from James Brown ?

Several times.

My memory is a little hazy, but I saw several cracking shows I think in the 90's and I saw JB at the East Ham Odeon sometime in 1970, with Bootsy! All great shows.

[meterman]

4 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said:

Has anyone seen a good live set from James Brown ?

😎

Yeah, a couple of times in the 90s he was good when I saw him. At V98 festival he took ages coming onstage to join the band who had been warming up the crowd, but once he was onstage, doing the cape routine and the good foot dance, etc, I was really glad to have seen him do his thing. The rhythm section were great, really tight.

Others? I thought the Blockheads were going to be decent last time I saw them, but they seemed to be on autopilot, and Derek The Draw was just swearing his head off. I lasted about 20 minutes and bailed. Fortunately it was at a festival I was playing at and there was enough other stuff going on that it wasn’t a big deal but if I’d paid to see them I would have been really disappointed.

Saw a John Martyn gig in the mid 90s where he was absolutely wasted and letting his noodly fusion band do all the heavy lifting. It was the only time I saw him play a shocker though, every other time he was brilliant. 

Brand New Heavies phoning it in at a festival is another one I didn’t see to the end. 

Smashing Pumpkins at the Astoria was just a white noise thrash, from memory. They looked super coked, mind, so maybe that was it?

 

[Buzzy]

Van Morrison, seen him twice and both times have been massive disappointments. Absolutely no interaction with the audience and the vocals we just a slurred noise.  Would never bother again even if the tickets were free.

[AndyTravis]

Waited to see the Deftones for a long time, saw them at the Manchester Apollo before Chi Cheng’s accident - they were...erm.

Shite. Pure shite. 
 

Stoned off their knackers and they’d Obviously had some sort of tiff before hitting the stage.

Around a year later I saw Korn at the Apollo...the drummer had had to stay in America with carpel tunnel syndrome, one guitarist had found god and left and the other had broken an arm or Something, so we watched Jonathan Davies and Fieldy with 2 guitar techs and a session drummer...and it was a Valiant effort but very disjointed. Still better than the Deftones gig.

[AndyTravis]

Just now, Buzzy said:

Van Morrison, seen him twice and both times have been massive disappointments. Absolutely no interaction with the audience and the vocals we just a slurred noise.  Would never bother again even if the tickets were free.

Dad said the same - he saw him and said he was a steaming turd.