I’ve seen some unknown inept bands but of the bigger names...
Rod Stewart when he pointed the microphone at the audience for half of the set Eric Clapton when he played nothing anyone knew at a castle in Yorkshire Focus just after Jan Akkerman left and Philip Catherine deputised so that they played all his stuff Dexys Midnight Runners - great in their time but well past their sell by date Griff Rhys Jones - not funny, more creepy
@Bangkokaddick posting has reminded me that I thought Oasis were pretty poor when they played in Bangkok. Mind you, the organisation for this outdoor event was badly thought out. To stand in the front section, tickets were UK prices, to stand at the back was dirt cheap and the middle section was priced between the two. All very logical but the front section was just ex-pats (with or without Thai partners). The back section was local Thais. And, the middle section was almost empty.
Miranda Hart’s attempt at stand up comedy. I won tickets at work for their box at the 02 and took the Wife.
She had this game where if you had to get up to go to the toilet you had to gallop like a horse (because apparently the word gallop is funny). This big Ross Kemp lookalike gets up and she screams ‘GALLOP!’. He turns round, gives her the finger and doesn’t come back.
We left after 30 minutes. Not even the free booze numbed the pain.
Have been a regular at Ronnie Scott’s for many years. Seen some great acts like Madeleine Bell and Van Morrison. Unfortunately have also seen Taj Mahal and Manhattan Transfer. Have to make Taj Mahal slightly better as I prefer his music. Manhattan Transfer looked like they had been dragged in from a corner begging pitch in Frith Street. Bloody awful.
Elton John at Wembly. Boring. Made up for by the set from the Beach boys.
100% agree. Elton John spent so long playing his new songs which were uninspiring that it was only when he played "Saturday night's alright" that he got a response from the crowd.
The Beach boys were mesmeric and instead of being on the pitch at Wembley I/we were suddenly at Malibu, Venice beach, Long beach with California girls with their long golden hair and the vibrations were so good. Barbara Anne I miss you. Help me Rhonda as 2020 is a different world.
Iggy Pop at Superbock Super Rock in Lisbon. He'd just got back with the Stooges. Now I know there are those that would have absolutley loved it - and fair play to you - but all he did were Stooges songs, the only one most of the crowd knew was "I wanna be your dog". Iggy - it's a festival mate, they want to hear the songs they know, because they have not just come to see you...
Oh - and Dr Robert from the Blow Monkeys, could not carry a tune in a bucket.
Groove Armada , saw them in the smaller room at fabric & it was like a band jam , many many instruments on the stage with various random people picking one up & joining in at different stages I couldn’t work out what was going on but Carl cox in the main room doing 3 hours with 3 decks so all’s well that ends well!
Back in the day, the rugby club advertised an evening of entertainment. ‘Grand Slam’ were booked and the social secretary had seen them and they were really good. £3 entry and a late bar
For those of you who know your history of rock music, Grand Slam was one of the bands that was fronted by Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott. The fact that he’d been dead for 10 years didn’t come into it.
I always asked my mates if they wanted to come to the socials as they were always good value. Excitement reigned that they could see ‘Grand Slam’ (minus Phil Lynott) for £3 and a late bar. Other people were invited and before the club knew it ticket sales exceeded the number the clubhouse could safely hold. Arrangements were made to erect a stage outside so that everyone could be accommodated .
The big day arrived, the bar was full, BBQ on the go. Between 200-300 turned up. The committee were patting themselves on the back.
The time came for the act to come on stage, the anticipation grew. Lights camera action ......
What we had was two blokes singing Karaoke who’d called themselves GRAND SLAM. And they weren’t that good.
You have to laugh. My name was mud and the social secretary went and hid in the beer store.
Seen Weller many times and he's always superb and will always be an absolute legend to me, but I didnt think much of his first O2 gig. Reckon seeing him at smaller venues over the years made seeing him there a bit less personal, so maybe it was the venue, but ended up leaving early regardless.
Someone I worked with saw Kajagoogoo back in the day, and in their 10 song gig they opened with Too Shy, closed with Too Shy then did an encore of Too Shy
Seen Weller many times and he's always superb and will always be an absolute legend to me, but I didnt think much of his first O2 gig. Reckon seeing him at smaller venues over the years made seeing him there a bit less personal, so maybe it was the venue, but ended up leaving early regardless.
The O2 is usually pretty terrible for atmosphere - not too bad if you're near the stage but if you are miles away it just feels like an aircraft hangar. The trouble is a lot of big acts only play there
I saw Isaac Hayes at a festival about 2007. It was very muddy but the sun had finally come out and I was thinking I'd get to see and hear a soul legend. He was off his face and could barely finish any songs.
Whitney Houston, Wembley Arena, early 90's I think, truly awful, she was high as a kite, voice was gone and spent most of the time wittering on incoherently about religion.... what a waste of an incredible talent.
Bob Monkhouse in Watford on a works do, never liked the guy anyway, but live was just so bad, the least funny 'comedian' I have ever seen, and I've seen Gina Yashere.......
Many years ago I was in a team that entered the Sunday People Sports Quiz. As a result we were invited to the final of the competition at The Lyceum. Dickie Davies was the host and the cabaret was provided by Ted Rodgers of 3-2-1 fame. He was that bad that he didn't even finish his set, storming off with the words "You obviously don't need me, I certainly don't need you. Goodnight". And that got the best laugh and applause of the evening.
Not because of the music, but Destination Docklands the open air concert put on by Jean-Michel Jarre in Beckton in October 1988 will chiefly be remembered for the freezing rain that fell that evening!
Comments
Eric Clapton when he played nothing anyone knew at a castle in Yorkshire
Focus just after Jan Akkerman left and Philip Catherine deputised so that they played all his stuff
Dexys Midnight Runners - great in their time but well past their sell by date
Griff Rhys Jones - not funny, more creepy
Made up for by the set from the Beach boys.
She had this game where if you had to get up to go to the toilet you had to gallop like a horse (because apparently the word gallop is funny). This big Ross Kemp lookalike gets up and she screams ‘GALLOP!’. He turns round, gives her the finger and doesn’t come back.
We left after 30 minutes. Not even the free booze numbed the pain.
100% agree.
Elton John spent so long playing his new songs which were uninspiring that it was only when he played "Saturday night's alright" that he got a response from the crowd.
The Beach boys were mesmeric and instead of being on the pitch at Wembley I/we were suddenly at Malibu, Venice beach, Long beach with California girls with their long golden hair and the vibrations were so good. Barbara Anne I miss you.
Help me Rhonda as 2020 is a different world.
Was looking forward to seeing them the most all weekend. The lead singers voice hardly reached the back of the stage let alone the back of the crowd!
Oh - and Dr Robert from the Blow Monkeys, could not carry a tune in a bucket.
What we had was two blokes singing Karaoke who’d called themselves GRAND SLAM. And they weren’t that good.
You have to laugh. My name was mud and the social secretary went and hid in the beer store.
The back up band called Bandylegs were fantastic but never heard from them again. In fact they did a couple of encores. which back up bands rarely do.
Just found out by a colleague they changed their name to Quartz, and I have a couple of their albums, didn't know they changed their name.
Bob Monkhouse in Watford on a works do, never liked the guy anyway, but live was just so bad, the least funny 'comedian' I have ever seen, and I've seen Gina Yashere.......