25 Of The Worst Concerts People Have Been To

As a schoolgirl, I was obsessed with a local band, so when they announced a reunion show last year, I couldn’t wait. But cue disappointment, because the event was a total letdown—the performers were visibly drunk, the music was painfully off-key, and the sound system screeched with frequent, piercing feedback. The entire show became an overwhelming, unpleasant cacophony of noise that felt like an assault on my senses. The only saving grace was that a stray dog chose to befriend me and stayed with me throughout the ordeal.

#1

Image source: Zoraji, Eddie

Joe Cocker. He was so drunk he could barely perform and threw up on stage in the middle of a song.

#2

Image source: Bamboozle_330, dephisticate

Rhianna, loved her up until the concert. Wish I never went! She lip synched the whole entire time. We were so upset we went to an entire pre-recorded concert.

#3

Image source: Abrical

Coldplay concert. I just went with a girl from work, and the f*****g camera guy just zoomed into us. I just wanted a chill moment and now my wife left me …

#4

Image source: Constant_Topic_1040, set.sj / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

My Elementary Band School Concert. I was in the band, we sucked.

#5

Image source: LayneLowe, 33stradale

I love to tell this one:

Went to see Lightning Hopkins out in the field on a flatbed trailer outside of Fort Worth in 1971. He was so drunk he played three songs, and two of them were the same song.

#6

Image source: obi-jawn-kenblomi, Rob Kennedy

I once saw a triple feature: Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, and Heart.

By God Cheap Trick were bad and their audio mix was even worse. Combine that with 70 year old guys singing about banging young ladies, it just wasn’t the vibe for the evening.

Joan Jett was quite good and Heart was phenomenal. Heart ended up bringing out John Bonham’s son Jason to play drums for the last half hour of their set so they could do Led Zeppelin covers. I don’t think Robert Plant’s vocal intensity has held up over the years, but Ann Wilson’s voice is so good it was like or better than listening to Plant in his prime.

#7

Image source: Content_Mountain5579, אליבאבא

Aging myself but sometime in the early 90s I was a huge Guns N’ Roses fan and they were touring with Metallica. I ditched a prom to go in full “glam” with my date there instead and GNR was very late to set. When they came out, Axel threw a fit and it ended very quickly. Metallica on the other hand K****D it, probably to make it up to fans. I had been indifferent to Metallica before but became a huge fan afterwards. I still can’t believe the adult temper tantrum that thousands of fans witnessed that night by a musician they paid a lot of money for.

#8

Image source: gogo7891011, Kasra Ganjavi

Bob Dylan in 2014 :( I love him but unfortunately he sounded like Cookie Monster. Can’t imagine it’s improved.

#9

Image source: zack_bauer123, MikaV

James Brown was the headliner one night at a festival in the early 2000s.

He was wasted.

Kept singing the same lines over and over.

He introduced the band at least 5 times.

He just laid down on the stage and didn’t sing for a while.

Terrible concert, funny memories.

#10

Image source: nutria_twiga, Ed Vill

Aerosmith in 2014ish.

Steven Tyler kept forgetting the words and called our city like 5 different (and all wrong) names during the event.

#11

Image source: CariocaInLA, Nesnad

Oasis early 2000s. They clearly hated each other, played 6 songs, left the stage after 40min.

Edited for typos and also, wow, so many of us out there lol.

#12

Image source: FunctionBuilt, Thomson200

Modest mouse. They were wasted. Isaac Brock would flub the lyrics every other song and was basically screaming into the mic.

#13

Image source: louiemay99, Lisa Liang

Lauryn Hill the night of Trump’s first election win. Miseducation was/is one of my top 5 favourite albums of all time, and the way she sang every song was so different from the album. It was awful. And she kept gesturing angrily to someone off stage…audio tech? I don’t know but it was super uncomfortable. Top that with the audience constantly checking their phones for election results, it was a pretty s****y night.

#14

Image source: Highfivebuddha, Austin Neill / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

2009 American idol runner up tour at Wolf trap. I won tickets and thought “what the hell?”

I wonder if any of them remember me, I was the only one there.

#15

Got dragged to a high school basketball gymnasium to watch Dwight Yoakam. Dwight wasn’t bad, it was the sound. Cranked up Dwight Yoakam inside a gym is what I’m pretty sure the CIA used to get Al Quaeda terrorists to talk.

Image source: Icameforthenachos

#16

Image source: james-HIMself, MTV UK

DJ KHALED. If I wanted to watch a guy sweat 5litres in 30 minutes I’d just watch p**nhub.

#17

Image source: Easy_Square_3717, Jenn G

Sir Mix A Lot. The opening act warned us it was going to be terrible, and they were right.

#18

Image source: Supermac34

Went to a festival concert put on by our rock station in the late 90s. Most of the concert was great with many of the acts being awesome (Collective Soul and Lenny Kravitz were awesome). One of the acts that day was Smash Mouth. Holy c**p they were terrible. I think the audience was generally in shock at how awful they sounded live vs their albums.

#19

Whitney Houston near the end.

Still glad to have seen her live, see her as an icon, but holy s**t “Here’s my brother to sing for a while” while she went off stage for a bump was not what I paid for.

How to insult even your rusted on fans who are wanting to see you succeed.

Image source: Chiang2000

#20

Image source: Flandersar, Lorri37

The Brian Jonestown M******e… holy s**t what a f*****g epic disaster that was. It was like the worst train wreck you’ve never been able to look away from. At one point his whole band left the stage and he started playing all their instruments and saying he could play better than any of them. Rolling a joint on stage, going up to the bar and getting liquor to make his own drink on stage too. It was 3 hours of WHAT THE F**K AM I DOING HERE… oh and it was a Monday night!

#21

Image source: maceman10006, Sven Mandel

They weren’t the headliner but 30 Seconds to Mars was awful to the point where they were nearly booed off the stage. They were the act leading up to Linkin Park and all I remember was their singer kept yapping on and on instead of playing a song. At one point he wanted the crowd to cheer louder before they started their next song and he was either ignored or was booed. Not sure what happened if he was drunk or on d***s or something but this was the only bad performance I’ve been seen by a professional band.

#22

Image source: sasksasquatch, Goroth

The worst act I’ve seen live is Buckcherry. Their radio length songs were what I enjoyed, but their live version of songs just ran on to the point of “this song should have ended 5 minutes ago.”.

Every other artist that I’ve seen live has been good to great.

#23

Image source: WitheringW0nder, Andreas Lawen

Marylin Manson. Was so dr*gged out he was staggering all over the stage, butchering his own lyrics, and sometimes just sat on stage and made weird guttural noises into the mic. Edited to add: Since many have asked I had myself a quick google of when they were in town. I was at the show in 2012. It was the twins of evil tour.

#24

Image source: court_n2000, Jakarta

Six Pence None The Richer in nineties in Austin- lead singer had a melt down and ran off stage during ‘kiss me’ … 😒.

#25

(ETA: as I was cleaning my garage I found the ticket to this concert! July 15, 1996. Freeman coliseum.)

Oddly, it was the best and worst. It was 97 or 98, White Zombie opened for Pantera, the freeman coliseum(? Oi, almost 30 years). This was just after Phil had ODed. Anyway, white zombie was terrible, the sound, the vocals all sucked but the stage show was cool. It was like a pirate ship if memory serves. A whole lot of props and lighting.

Then, Pantera came on. A wall of speakers and white lights. Thats it. The sound the vocals they were better live than any cd I had heard. They blew me away.

I was a huge white zombie fan so it was a big let down for me.

(ETA: as I was cleaning my garage I found the ticket to this concert!).

Image source: Spare-Attempt-3752