Best: Blues Traveler - they played for 2.5 hours… non-stop. The last note of one song went right into the first note of the next. John Popper (the lead singer/harmonica) would step to the back of the stage from time to time to smoke a cigarette, but the band kept playing. Just as good live as recorded.
Worst: Eli Young Band - off key the whole time, and they knew it. They kept apologizing, saying it was their first concert back from a break. It was awful!
Maiden front row in 99 for 35 bucks was pretty sweet Walked out mid Lamb of God set, sound off and place was too hot/ smokey. Id done 2 trips through the pit when Machine Head was playing ( they did well ).
Best is hard to say. Maybe Five Finger Death Punch, with Three Days Grace opening. Maybe the Allman Brothers. Maybe Jimmy Buffett.
Worst - tie between The Black Crowes (lead singer was so drunk they propped him in a chair the entire performance), and John Mellencamp (recovering from a heart attack, literally came on stage in a wheelchair and could barely speak).
I can't name the best, I've seen many great concerts. But the worst is a toss up between Hank Jr around 1980 and Bob Dylan in the late 90's/early 2000.
AKCHOPPER: I was at that concert - as paid armed security - and it was okay as I recall. I was to busy handling drunk teenagers and overdosed hippies to give the concert my full attention though. That concert didn't hold a candle to the Rolling Stones concert that was also held at the Kingdome. My favorite concert was held at the Seattle Center Coliseum when the opener, B.B. King, "stole the show" from James Brown! Even all the rowdy, drugged up ghetto type concert attendees couldn't spoil Mr. King's amazing performance. Hold into the wind VarmintGuy P.S.: I miss the Kingdome - it held a lot of great memories for me.
Eagles a few years back here in Houston. They were really good. The Mavericks are worth seeing too.
Worst by far was Sheryl Crow in Las Vegas about 15 years back. She was stumping for Harry Reid, it was election time. She let everybody know who the needed to vote for. She is a Lib from hell. She just about got boo’d off the stage cause of the politics she brought with her. The bad she had could not play any of her music. All the could play was semi funk. You could tell she picked the band up local for the show. About half of us left.
Hard to pick the best because I've seen some great shows, but I'll go with this because of the hot chick I went with and the memories: Def Leppard and Tesla at the Salt Palace in 1987.
Worst: Night Ranger (only concert I ever left early) at Parkwest in 1985.
Best - Garth Brooks. Have seen him 3 times now first one in SLC back in the 90's when he was really rolling, last time in Las Vegas last summer. Guy is one hell of an entertainer. 70,000 people singing "Friends in Low Places" is pretty awesome.
Worst - White Snake back in the 80's. Lip Sync, low energy - liked their music, just not live.
Ashley McBride a couple of months ago at the Ryman was the best. Worst was Willie Nelson, late 80's in Dallas. He was terrible! Have seen him other times where he was OK but definitely not for this one.
Worst - the Grateful Dead. Their jams are pointless and boring, like too long of train trips to nowhere.
One of the best was David Sanborn, who had an incredible drummer with him. I've seen some very good concerts, but I mention Sanborn because he totally blew away my expectations.
Best - Slipknot in 2009, last tour before Paul died. 3+ hours, sound quality was great, band was just dialed in on the nose every single song.
Worst - Charlie Daniels around 2001/2002...played a set of about 5 songs, maybe 25 minutes tops, and you couldnt understand a single word because he was mumbling/slurring.
Joe Cocker , drunk as a skunk and just sat on a stool attempting to sing , Styx opened and was way better , nobody knew who Styx was back then . Kenneth
One of the best was David Sanborn, who had an incredible drummer with him. I've seen some very good concerts, but I mention Sanborn because he totally blew away my expectations.
DS would be a great show. I got to see Lee Ritenour back in the day but there was not much in the way of fusion to see in Toronto in the late 70s early 80s.
Best show .... Saw Santana 3x in Toronto. He was VERY good to see, but Jeff Beck was right up there as well.
I’ve never been to a terrible concert, but Ellie Goulding was an opening act and sucked.
I saw Montgomery Gentry in 2009 and they came onstage in the woo-hoo mode. Eddie Montgomery was dancing all over the stage with his microphone stand. He swung it around and hit Troy Gentry in the nuts. Dude goes down and all the music stops. That was great.
Best: Volbeat at Stage 9 in Chatanooga, TN. They sound exactly like they do on a CD. No autotune needed. Great energy and, IMHO, the best rock drummer in the business. When KISS had their first retirement tour in the 1990's, they came through Little Rock and were really good too.
Worst: Matchbox 20. Went there because my wife loved them.. Holy crap that was a bad show.
I knew the director of marketing and promotions for Gaylord/Opryland/Starwood.
So that “wah i have the game warden on my cilly phone contact list” well I have that also so blow that out your ass too. I also do B+C scoring with my warden (Not you Chopper)
worst: night ranger and chicago. Gawd almighty, don’t let females pick the show. Hank Jr show sucked ass, and I like the guy. Maybe just a bad night for him. Van Halen sucked.
best: chit so many good ones, even Len Staley drunk, strung out/AIC was still good. Metallica always good, RATM, Public Enemy, Pink Floyd division bell was at Vandy Stadium.
Ashley McBride a couple of months ago at the Ryman was the best. Worst was Willie Nelson, late 80's in Dallas. He was terrible! Have seen him other times where he was OK but definitely not for this one.
Saw Ashley MCBride when she opened in Vegas for George Strait
Best without a doubt Sammy Hagar in Indy early 80's, Standing Hampton tour,never seen that much energy on stage,he played 3-4 encore's and Rocked his ass off.
Worst: probably a four way tie between John Mellencamp,Hank Jr.,Joe Cocker and Van Halen,all were equally terrible in their own way.
Best-Metallica titties and smoke everywhere Worst-George Thorogood real schit show, band had issues, people schitting everywhere cause not enuff porta johns
probably the most disappointing was Hank Williams Jr back in '82.
instead of singing his hits, he sang a medley where you got about 30 seconds of each one - which included Family Tradition, Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound, and A Country Boy Can Survive.
IIRC , he had an extended version of Kawliga and sang some of his Dad's stuff.
I think maybe the best was Lynyrd Skynyrd - first time I ever danced in the aisles of a concert (beer induced)
The best is hard to tell... Been to a lot of good one.... but the worst by far was Eric Clapton
Why was Clapton a bad show?
I've heard multiple people say Clapton's concerts suck, mostly because he acts like he doesnt't want to be there.
Funny that so many people mention Hank Jr.
I had a woman barber back when I still lived at home telling me about seeing him at a local club called the Cabana - a dive bar really, said she saw him in the 70's, he was so drunk he fell off a bar stool talking to her, laid in the floor trying to get up , then got mad, cursed the people helping him up and left - never did play his show. This was before he really hit it big and I guess was basically singing his old man's songs.
Best: Cheap Trick, worst: Di Vinyls,opened for the Ramones @ concerts on the Pier. Had to be summer of 84. People just started throwing stuff at the Di vinyls till they just left the stage,they were bad,really bad.
The Electromagnets at the Armadillo World Headquarters was kinda bad. The whole place got tear-gassed, cause a panic\stampede. I thought I could handle it....no dice. Thought my date was gonna croak. Lost my front row seat. 1974ish.
best everly brothers 1983? so good we went to the ticket office during intermission and got last row tickets for the show the next day. it was great too.
anyone who passes on lyle lovett is nuts. same for alison krauss and union station. don't know if they tour together now.
worst, and major disapointment was jackson browne early 80s. terrible sound system.
best everly brothers 1983? so good we went to the ticket office during intermission and got last row tickets for the show the next day. it was great too.
anyone who passes on lyle lovett is nuts. same for alison krauss and union station. don't know if they tour together now.
worst, and major disapointment was jackson browne early 80s. terrible sound system.
I'm not much of a concert person but the worst was definitely Roger Waters in Oakland sometime in the mid 80s. I never cared for Pink Floyd and he just did Pink Floyd songs. Maybe a fan would have enjoyed it.
I had just finished my military service and had a few weeks to go back to the US to visit family, and on the return trip I was taken aside at the airport in Tel Aviv and told to get in a van. I had no idea what was going on and assumed it was something related to the military, but they drove me and a few others from the coast into the desert without saying a dang thing. I didn't think anything bad was happening, just didn't know why they were taking me to the desert rather than my base (which was way up near the Lebanon border).
Turns out that some philanthropists wanted to treat a group of "lone soldiers" (foreign born soldiers who were doing their military service without any family in the country) to what they thought was a fancy event. I can't say I was all that interest in the glitz and fancy clothing, but the concert, with a light show lighting up this massive old mountain fortress (Masada) was something else. If I were to watch the concert today I'd probably not be impressed, but at the time it was amazing.
Best: Bob Seger, Hartford Civic Center, 1996. Was on the floor 10 feet from the stage and nobody in front of me. Charlie Daniels Band, 1999 Tailgate Party Tour they played for our school and then gave the money back to the student fund as a "donation;" so he and the band played their full 2+ hour concert for free. The thing is, they gave the money back privately and didn't gloat about it.
Worst: Kiss, 2000, full make-up, all four original members. Springfield Civic Center; Springfield, Mass. The acoustics were terrible for the show. Steve Miller Band, mid-1990's in the Hartford Meadows. Left the show early.
Shenandoah and Sawyer Brown played their asses off and did fantastic shows also. Saw both multiple times, would again.
Kelly Hanson was great for Foreigner too. Say what you will about the members of that band. They are worth seeing. The first concert my youngest (8) ever saw, he cam running down the aisle and performed on an empty seat beside us. Em got to touch him. She was bawling. Years later, she stops for a Foreigner song.
Worst. Lee Roy Parnell at The Great Bedford Fair. We got new and old acts, he appeared to be up and coming, I liked him. When I saw his show, it was down and we was a leaving. It sucked.
Clark Family Experience opened for Reba. Felt bad for them, they sounded so bad that people laughed as they started. We thought they were screwing around for laughs. They weren't.
Best: Jackson Browne about 1980, he sang all his great songs and didn't get political (much).
Worst: The Cars at about the same time. They sang the songs well enough but didn't do much of a show. Their opening act was Martha Davis and the Motels who were fantastic.
Honorable Mentions: 1. Crosby, Stills and Young in the mid/late 80's; political or not they were great, even joked about Crosby getting busted. 2. Jimmy Buffet in the same period; everyone was having a good time, shark and parrot hats everywhere.
The only group I can really say I regret not seeing in their prime is AC/DC. They came through Salt Lake City several times and seems like I always had something else going on. Kick myself for it.
Side note: In 1991 there were three people who died at an AC/DC concert in SLC.
In 2003 Alan Jackson came to our dock and had a jam session, he played and sang 47-48 songs, even sang Dinosaur for us. No concert before or after ever came close. It was also the first time he played 5 O'clock Somewhere before a live audience. FYI he also filmed the 5 O'clock Somewhere music video there. Pretty much have seen most of the country singers in the 70's and 80's if they toured through south Florida. Even saw Elvis in 1977.
Best U2 in Boston- They went from the Garden to the top of the Copley Plaza hotel and eventually Boston Municipal cut their power. It was about four hours long and it was before Bono became a Kpunt.
Worst was probably Snoopdog up here. Milli Vanilli was about as bad.
The best - too many good ones to pick from but the Monsters of Rock in 87 at the Metrodome stands out as it was my first big stadium concert.
Worst is a toss up between Hank Jr. sometime around 88 (he fell off his stool multiple times and was too drunk/stoned to sing) & Willy Nelson in 2019. Willy couldn’t get enough breath to string together 2 words. He walked off stage halfway through the first song and was gone about 20 minutes while his band played random instrumentals. When he finally came back after an apparent breathing treatment he was a little better but still pretty bad.
Best was Queensrych, 2 nice looking girls from school wanted me to go. That's why it was best, not really a fan. Worst was Garth Brooks. Same arena I'd smoked dope and cigarettes in at other concerts, but a different crowd. Every man & woman in the place was wearing a cowboy hat & telling me to put my cigarette out. Music sucked to
In 2003 Alan Jackson came to our dock and had a jam session, he played and sang 47-48 songs, even sang Dinosaur for us. No concert before or after ever came close. It was also the first time he played 5 O'clock Somewhere before a live audience. FYI he also filmed the 5 O'clock Somewhere music video there. Pretty much have seen most of the country singers in the 70's and 80's if they toured through south Florida. Even saw Elvis in 1977.
I saw Elvis in either March or May possibly at the Palm Beach auditorium. Still have the ticket stubs somewhere.
Best was The Who at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1975. A lot of other good ones like Yes and ELP. Worst was Todd Rundgren on his "Tiki Lounge" tour. He rescored every song so that it had a Hawaiian sound. You couldn't even recognize what it was unless you listened to the lyrics.
The best is hard to tell... Been to a lot of good one.... but the worst by far was Eric Clapton
Why was Clapton a bad show?
I might as well just put on his records... He literally said hello, this song was written for my son, introduced the band and said good night... very little difference in his live music and records that night... seemed like he was mad about something and did not want to even be there
Best-Aaron Lewis in 2019. Played his newer country stuff with the band for about an hour then came back out and played his old Staind stuff acoustic for hour and a half at least. Runner up-Tracy Lawrence in about 1996 at the local county fair. Killer show.
Worst (by far) Pearl Jam about 1998ish. Opening act finally screamed FU to the crowd and walked off after the booing was so loud you couldn’t hear them perform. Eddie Vedder isn’t easy to understand on a good day, so my assumption was this was a really bad day for him.
Lots of other great concerts that get honorable mention.
Saw Bob Seger in Cleveland in 96. Hands down the most enjoyable. Class act!
Saw Sheryl Crow opening for the Eagles on the Hell Freezes Over Tour. I think that was also in 96. She was horrible! She was unprepared, unprofessional and untalented. She got booed off the stage.
The best concert I attended was at the Atlanta Pop Festival in Byron Georgia, 1970. I saw Jimi Hendrix, at midnight on the Fourth of July, perform The Star Spangled Banner. Great fireworks show to go along with what Rolling Stone calls "the greatest rock guitarist" in history.
I was, to be fair, in an "altered state" but I recall it pretty well. Great fireworks show.
And you just had to "be there" because 3 months later, Jimi was dead.
Best: KISS Reunion Tour 1996 Though I got to see the non-makeup KISS several times in the '80s-early '90s, I never got to see my makeup clad heros in their prime. The Reunion tour was everything I'd hoped it would be and I felt 8 years old again.
Worst: Danzig, also 1996 Small club show and Glenn never said a single, solitary word to the audience from the moment he hit the stage until he slammed his mic down and exited stage right The band just went from one song to the next so fast that you couldn't tell when one song ended and the next one began. Really bizarre show.
Best-Aaron Lewis in 2019. Played his newer country stuff with the band for about an hour then came back out and played his old Staind stuff acoustic for hour and a half at least. Runner up-Tracy Lawrence in about 1996 at the local county fair. Killer show.
Worst (by far) Pearl Jam about 1998ish. Opening act finally screamed FU to the crowd and walked off after the booing was so loud you couldn’t hear them perform. Eddie Vedder isn’t easy to understand on a good day, so my assumption was this was a really bad day for him.
Lots of other great concerts that get honorable mention.
Aaron Lewis plays here a lot, and he's always awesome.
Best, Janes Addiction in 1990. Worst, David Allen Coe in 1992/1993 I think. He was Fugkin trashed, band quit playing, tried to play an acoustic and sing, fell off a stool and just laid there. Love his music but that was retarded.
Best large venue (and I was in the nosebleed section): Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart
Most disappointing large venue: Toby Keith
Most disappointing small venue (casino): Willie Nelson
Hands down best small venue (downtown dinner and concert): Dave Stamey - just him, his guitar, good friends and excellent food. He even took requests and told the back stories and the inspiration for writing them. Did that twice and I’d go again in a heartbeat.
Best - Wilco at a small theatre in Redding, CA around 2008 or so. 2nd to last stop on their tour and they sounded great!
Worst- The Allman Brothers 1996 or so at Shoreline. Dickey couldn't keep it together and eventually left the stage. Warren Haynes took over and was killer, but I went to see Dickey.
Clapton was pretty schidty when I saw him after he had released Pilgrim. Short concert. Fugger wearing an Armani suit and Gucci glasses playing the blues. Pretty funny.
AKCHOPPER: I was at that concert - as paid armed security - and it was okay as I recall. I was to busy handling drunk teenagers and overdosed hippies to give the concert my full attention though. That concert didn't hold a candle to the Rolling Stones concert that was also held at the Kingdome. My favorite concert was held at the Seattle Center Coliseum when the opener, B.B. King, "stole the show" from James Brown! Even all the rowdy, drugged up ghetto type concert attendees couldn't spoil Mr. King's amazing performance. Hold into the wind VarmintGuy P.S.: I miss the Kingdome - it held a lot of great memories for me.
Cool VarmintGuy! I was at the Stones concert back to back nights. '
Best was probably my first concert, Pantera. The worst was Phish. I had a buddy big into Phish we took three truck loads of friends across state for the concert. The ride to and back was a riot but the concert sucked. No encore and no charisma at least not at the show we we’re at. They did there sets walked off stage and that was it.
merle Haggard at the Fox theater in Bakersfield…. did an encore with Buck Owens … great show. Frampton and Skynard were great…. one of the best was Chris Ledoux at the Clements Rodeo…. dude jumped over the drummer….bad ass, saw him 3 times. Saw Korn at Shoreline ampitheater around 2002… they were cool.
I don’t remember the worst…. probably some festival or county fair show.
Looking forward to seeing the Chilli Peppers coming up in July at Levi’s stadium.
^^^^ The Kentucky Headhunters do put on a good show. That weird old drummer with the dumb sideburns plays his ass off. Best live drum solo I've ever seen. He absolutely destroyed a drum set.
Best, Janes Addiction in 1990. Worst, David Allen Coe in 1992/1993 I think. He was Fugkin trashed, band quit playing, tried to play an acoustic and sing, fell off a stool and just laid there. Love his music but that was retarded.
One of the best was sitting on a boat, on the Columbia river, behind the gorge amphitheater. We were anchored right behind it. Some bands played that I don’t remember but Metallica played that night and it was unreal how it sounded! Lmao……. We fished, did fun stuff and made our way back to camp.
If you haven’t been to the gorge amphitheater, do it.
Best, Janes Addiction in 1990. Worst, David Allen Coe in 1992/1993 I think. He was Fugkin trashed, band quit playing, tried to play an acoustic and sing, fell off a stool and just laid there. Love his music but that was retarded.
Janes is one of the best I have seen…….
I’d have to believe that Janes Addiction would be a great show live. Seems like it would have been some bring down the house stuff!
Best, Janes Addiction in 1990. Worst, David Allen Coe in 1992/1993 I think. He was Fugkin trashed, band quit playing, tried to play an acoustic and sing, fell off a stool and just laid there. Love his music but that was retarded.
Janes is one of the best I have seen…….
I’d have to believe that Janes Addiction would be a great show live. Seems like it would have been some bring down the house stuff!
Worst....Tj Sheppard.... mite as well been drunk in a bar dropping quarters..... Travis triit and CDB... ..omg !....elvis in 77 and neil diamond a few years latter....double fun!
The worst was Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals in around 1980. The music was that friggin loud my ears were ringing for days. The same with a Deep Purple concert with Tommy Bolin on guitar in 1975. It was that loud & distorted it took me near 2 minutes to work out the opener was "Burn" One of my best was Toto a few years back.
Best, Dokken opened for Ronnie James Dio in 1984, fantastic show. Worst, and it wasn't too bad, Ted Nugent in 1983; lots of songs from his newest album at the time and very few of the classics. Bonjovi was supposed to open but did not show up. After an hour or so delay the Nuge played without them.
^^^^ The Kentucky Headhunters do put on a good show. That weird old drummer with the dumb sideburns plays his ass off. Best live drum solo I've ever seen. He absolutely destroyed a drum set.
Simple best 1987 AC/DC 2nd row orchestra section. Worst... Even easier Chris Stapleton... Drunk idiot had the mic inside his mouth as he stammered and slurred all the "words" to his songs. That and the 2 hours to get out of the parking lot.
Best? Hard to pick. Stones & The Who were great along with Bob Seger. Saw Harry Chapin back around 1978 or 1979 in the Valparaiso gymnasium. Great show. At the end, he walked out along with the crowd. Was practically elbow to elbow with him.
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