Spinoff: Bands you regret seeing live

[Mephistopheles Janx]

In 2015 I had the distinct displeasure of seeing Blues Traveler at Red Rocks for 4th of July. I'd loved Blues Traveler since I was a teenager and the song Hook came out. I loved the album Four. I loved their sister band the Spin Doctors.

Hanson was the opening act. They were garbage just as one might anticipate.

Guster was the middle act and they were FANTASTIC.

Then Blues Traveler hit the stage and I was ready to be 14 again. Instead, the dude forgot a shit ton of lyrics, was constantly out of breath, and to make matters worse... he brought out Rome from "Sublime with Rome" (an abomination before God and man) and STARTED DOING SUBLIME COVERS.

**** John Popper and **** Rome.

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I saw Winger about four or five years ago. Wasn't terrible, wasn't great. But he at least put forth a good amount of effort.

I have to walk back my take on The Verve as I just watched the full video and it was outstanding. Not sure why I left with such a negative viewpoint. Heck, they even did Rolling People. Maybe it was the venue and the sound didn't carry well over the polo fields.

Nick McCabe is one who shaped my guitar style.

[scho63]

Rod Stewart - he was sick and sucked balls with only 1/2 a concert

ZZ Top - they basically stood all night in one spot playing their songs and little act or banter. Almost sounded recorded. Sucked and was shocked how bad.

Bruce Springsteen - Yeah I know this is sacrilege coming from a Jersey guy but the concert I went to with my ex-GF she got seats so far away I was only 15 feet from the Porta-Potties and 1,000 yards away from the stage. Only saw a screen of the concert and he even looked like a flea on that screen too. Also standing for 4 hours in 90 degree heat with humidity in Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands sucks about as bad as getting shot and dumped in the swamp by Clemenza.

[PunkinDrublic]

Originally Posted by Frazod

He's been pretty bad for a long time. When he sings, he seems to quickly speak, not sing, each line of a song, then pause while the music catches up with a lost look on his face. He never exactly had a melodic singing voice anyway, but at least when he could carry a tune it was passable.

I know some people who saw Willie play an acoustic set at one of those smaller more intimate theaters and paid a hefty price. They said it was a great show.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

I know some people who saw Willie play an acoustic set at one of those smaller more intimate theaters and paid a hefty price. They said it was a great show.

I've never seen him live; I'm just judging him by performances I've seen on YouTube. And I haven't seen anything recent that was very good.

I'm sure he has good days and bad days; who doesn't? But it's also likely that true fans are willing to cut him some slack due to his age.

[lawrenceRaider]

The band Live was very disappointing when I saw them at Sandstone. Just very blah with little energy. Ruined their music, which I had enjoyed up to that point. Even worse for me as I had heard they were actually good live, which would make sense for a band called Live.

Oh, and Godsmack was horrendous live. Didn't care much for them anyway, but wow, just terrible.

[backinblack]

I saw Dokken once at some backwater bar in like 2005 or something, they were pretty bad. Didn't help that I wasn't really a fan of theirs to begin with, but yeah I've seen high school bands in backyards play better.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by backinblack

I saw Dokken once at some backwater bar in like 2005 or something, they were pretty bad. Didn't help that I wasn't really a fan of theirs to begin with, but yeah I've seen high school bands in backyards play better.

Being a fan made it worse.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by Frazod

It's always a crap shoot when you go see the old 70s/80s bands. Some, like Pat Benatar, haven't lost a beat. Some, like Eddie Money a couple of years ago, clearly had been beat to shit by all the years of hard living, but he poured everything he had into that performance, which made it okay. I'm very happy I was able to see him before he passed.

And then sometimes you get a piece of shit like Don Dokken.

From now on I'll be checking YouTube to see what these performers sound like now, and base my concert choices on that, not what they sounded like decades ago.

I've seen Billy Idol twice in the past 2-3 years, and both shows were really good. You can tell he picks/chooses when he goes after it with the screams, but overall, he can still rock (and he's in his 60s).

And of course, Steve Stevens on guitar is amazing.

[Al Bundy]

The Cars late 80's. They didn't try to sound any different than their original recordings, VERY boring.

[Hydrae]

1980 Oregon Jam, Molly Hatchet and Blue Oyster Cult. I had seen both of them before and they rocked. BOC's main problem was that their light show was really not designed for an outdoor concert. It would have come across much better indoors I am sure.

Molly Hatchet though was the worst. Danny Joe Brown was already sick so they had a replacement lead singer. That fat **** was sweating all over the place in the heat of the day and sounded horrible on top of that. Just ruined what should have been a fun concert!

[DeepPurple]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Aren't you in the St. Pete's area? My parents lived there from 1993-1998 and when visiting in 1994, Robby Steinhardt, the original violinist, had a Kansas Tribute band that played one of the local bars quite frequently.

I was never a big Kansas fan but they freakin' rocked.

I grew up in St. Pete but now live in The Villages a big retirement community two hours north of St. Pete. The actual Kansas played here in March at our 1200 seat theater, I didn't go because it was $250 for two tickets, if they still had Steve Walsh I would of probably gone. I had seen Kansas in '95 and I was going to keep that memory.

The west coast of Florida gets a lot of entertainers, Robin Zander singer of Cheap Trick lives in Safety Harbor, just north of St. Pete. Brian Johnson of AC/DC lives in Sarasota, here's him in action.

[lcarus]

The last concert I went to was a couple years ago when my brother had 2 tickets to Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, and Breaking Benjamin. I like a few Avenged songs and don't care for the other bands really. It was at the BOK Center in Tulsa, and the whole thing was just way way way too ****ing loud. I mean, it didn't sound like music at that level. Just sounded like noise. If I ever do go to a concert at that venue again, I'll be sure to get those specialized ear plugs.

[DeepPurple]

Originally Posted by Hydrae

...Molly Hatchet though was the worst. Danny Joe Brown was already sick so they had a replacement lead singer. That fat **** was sweating all over the place in the heat of the day and sounded horrible on top of that. Just ruined what should have been a fun concert!

I saw Molly Hatchet in Savannah in '82, it was right after Danny returned from trying his solo career. I heard the record label gave him $300K to record an album in the Bahamas. He spent all the money on drugs and then hired his old high school band to record the album, that's how his solo career went.

In '82 however, he rocked. It was a former Winn Dixie that was converted into a club and they rocked that place. I actually stood at the back wall about 150' from the stage and they sounded perfect, their equipment was too much for a small venue. I saw the original 3 Day Night (all 3 singers) at the same club two weeks earlier and stood 5' in front of Chuck Negron when he sang, they sounded fantastic.

Molly Hatchet only has one original member still alive, even the replacements have died, the singer Phil McCormack, who replaced Danny in 1995 died last year. However they played here where I live in a 850 seat venue in January and I was in the front row and they really rocked. The only oldest members are the guitarist from '87 and the keyboardist from '84. Here they are live about two weeks before i saw them, this is in Germany last December and the new singer is good.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by DeepPurple

I saw Molly Hatchet in Savannah in '82, it was right after Danny returned from trying his solo career. I heard the record label gave him $300K to record an album in the Bahamas. He spent all the money on drugs and then hired his old high school band to record the album, that's how his solo career went.

In '82 however, he rocked. It was a former Winn Dixie that was converted into a club and they rocked that place. I actually stood at the back wall about 150' from the stage and they sounded perfect, their equipment was too much for a small venue. I saw the original 3 Day Night (all 3 singers) at the same club two weeks earlier and stood 5' in front of Chuck Negron when he sang, they sounded fantastic.

Molly Hatchet only has one original member still alive, even the replacements have died, the singer Phil McCormack, who replaced Danny in 1995 died last year. However they played here where I live in a 850 seat venue in January and I was in the front row and they really rocked. The only oldest members are the guitarist from '87 and the keyboardist from '84. Here they are live about two weeks before i saw them, this is in Germany last December and the new singer is good.

That's a good song, and I'm all for these older bands continuing as long as people will come out. But god damn. Sometimes I watch these live videos of bands from the 70s and 80s and it's just.....kinda sad. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I just mean that these bands and their fans are trying to relive something that's long gone, even if just for one night. The 70s, 80s, and 90s are gone and that just SUCKS. Maybe one day I'll get over it. Doubt it.

[DeepPurple]

Originally Posted by lcarus

...But god damn. Sometimes I watch these live videos of bands from the 70s and 80s and it's just.....kinda sad. And I don't mean that in a bad way. I just mean that these bands and their fans are trying to relive something that's long gone, even if just for one night. The 70s, 80s, and 90s are gone and that just SUCKS. Maybe one day I'll get over it. Doubt it.

My favorite band from the early 70's wasn't Deep Purple, but Uriah Heep. When I saw Spinal Tap their name popped into my head. I did get to see Heep with David Byron in 1975, he's been dead since 1985. Bernie Shaw their current singer has been in the band over 30 years. The only original member left is the guitarist Mick Box and they're still touring. Here they are last year, they perform mostly in Europe and Japan where they're still in demand. A song like Gypsy is still great to this day!!