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Best/Worst Concerts You've Ever Seen


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Best has to be Metallica/GnR at Rich Stadium in 92.

 

Got the ticket as a high school graduation gift. It wasn't just the performances that made it great but also the atmosphere and the craziness that went on in the stadium that night. Anyone who was there has to remember the crazy garbage war between the upper and lower decks and the tons of bare breasts on the big screen as the crew for GnR zoomed in on random girls in the crowd before their set.

 

I can't think of a worst I actually paid for but I worked at the Darien Lake concerts for a summer and some performances stand out as awful from that experience. Tops is probably Brittney Spears. First off when I moved up close to check her out for a couple songs she was obviously lip syncing but what made it even worse was the thousands of little girl high pitched screams that almost made my ears bleed and never seemed to end.

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Best: Sammy Hagar '85 @ the Cow Palace; Stones '94 at Oakland Coliseum

 

Worst: George Strait at MGM / Vegas - 2009. I loved Kellie Pickler and Reba, but George was horrid. Center state was a square, he sang two songs in a corner then moved to next corner to sing two more and so and so on for a what seemed like an eternity. I thought I knew George Strait music, but of his extensive catalog of tunes, I knew only a handful of songs (of course all the REAL George Strait fans knew every dang lyric to all the songs played). No stage presence what-so-ever, just old school country...just stood in once place (with the exception of moving to each corner numerous times throughout the concert) and sang. Heck, even taking my kids to see the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus and listening to 1000's of shriekng tweens was better than Good Ole George.

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Best: BB King at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, 1997. I don't think I need to elaborate. He was incredible.

 

Worst: Marilyn Manson at Rensselaer Poly in the late 90's. My cousin, who was a freshman at UAlbany, convinced me to tag along with he and his friends. Not my cup of tea. It was just a bunch of screaming, and some goth twirp accidentally poked me in the eye as he was thrashing around.

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I almost forgot Panic! At the Disco. Free tickets, and they opened for Weezer. But Panic, granted isn't my cup of tea, was terrible. I couldn't hear the band over all the screaming teenage girls. And all the weirdo, wrist cutting whatever the modern day version of emo is called. Then the lead singer dropped F bombs in between songs. That doesn't offend me or anything, but you could tell it was forced to show "Hey kids. Look how f***in' edgy I can be." Then like a bunch of rants about how great gay, lesbian, and like five other genders are, which again, was just to pander to the audience. The one lone highlight was a Bohemian Rhapsody cover that was good.

 

Thankfully, all teenage girls left, and Weezer put on a hell of a show.

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i've seen rusted root a couple times, always enjoyed their shows, but i do like the hippie scene

 

Rusted Root at St. John Fisher was one of the worst events that I have ever attended. It was a 2 hour hippie bongo session that sounded exactly the same for the entire show. The patchouli stench made an already miserable experience even worse.

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i've seen rusted root a couple times, always enjoyed their shows, but i do like the hippie scene

 

Maybe I caught them on a bad night, but it sounded like one long crappy song. It was also in a gym with horrible acoustics so I'm sure that didn't help. If it was outside, the smell of patchouli and clove cigarettes probably wouldn't have been as nauseating.

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oh heck yeah, definitely an outdoor friendly band, like most good jam/hippy bands

 

 

Maybe I caught them on a bad night, but it sounded like one long crappy song. It was also in a gym with horrible acoustics so I'm sure that didn't help. If it was outside, the smell of patchouli and clove cigarettes probably wouldn't have been as nauseating.

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I saw Neil Young last summer here in Cincinnati. Amazing show. I was worried he would go rogue and do what he wanted but he played all the greats and his backing band (Willie Nelson's kid) sounded exactly like Crazy Horse.

 

Worst was Pearl Jam, at the same outdoor venue, in 2000. It was right after the deaths at their overseas show and they lacked energy and had the sound turned WAY down.

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I saw Neil Young last summer here in Cincinnati. Amazing show. I was worried he would go rogue and do what he wanted but he played all the greats and his backing band (Willie Nelson's kid) sounded exactly like Crazy Horse.

 

Worst was Pearl Jam, at the same outdoor venue, in 2000. It was right after the deaths at their overseas show and they lacked energy and had the sound turned WAY down.

 

Saw Willie a few years back. Great show, especially for his age. His son was the opening act, and he was amazing. Voice sounds exactly like his dad.

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Best was the Tragically Hip at the Roseland Theater in Portland , Or. Great smallish intimate venue. That was 1998 I believe. Worst was a Alice Cooper concert at the old CNE Stadium in Toronto that got canceled last minute. There was a mini riot after. Mid 70s can't remember exactly.


Best: Recently. Umphrey's McGee (of course) this year Red Rock front row. I love being up front but Red Rocks is so much different because it's an amphitheater you're on the same level as the band whereas most other places the stage is 4-5 feet high. RR makes it feel as if you're on the stage with the band. From the past? Lynyrd Skynyrd Buffalo Aud maybe 1976. Kick ass show. The best was when someone up front jumped up and tried to grab Ronnie's hat and he bashed the dude in the face with the base of the mic stand. Loved it!!

 

Worst: Well not the whole concert but one particular performance. A concert in Miami at some baseball stadium in 1982. Bryan Adams (very good) Journey (not bad) Sammy Hagar (kicked ass) Aerosmith (!@#$ing pathetic) That was the height of the Toxic Twins ere. Steven and Joe were so !@#$ed up. Steven forgot the words to Walk This Way. Bad, bad, bad.

Chef do you ever go to Mountain Winery for shows? Great venue in the mountains around Saratoga. I've seen Tears For Fears there twice and a couple other good shows.

Edited by Dante
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Best: Sammy Hagar '85 @ the Cow Palace; Stones '94 at Oakland Coliseum

After maybe a 30 year hiatus from concerts, I've gone to maybe approaching 10 in the last 2-3 years

 

Sammy at Artpark last year. The guy BRINGS the party. He seems genuine in his happiness to be playing and in front of a crowd. Did his music, VH, Montrose, even LZ as Jason Bonham was his drummer. Find his recent video with Billy Sheehan jamming with him. Sammy's birthday in Cabo Wabo is on my bucket list

 

Worst, and I had high expectations: Trace Adkins last year at Cattaraugus Fair. My friends are all into country, so I was getting into it and I liked his videos and top songs. His stage had banners of his top 5-6 songs. Plays one, maybe another 7-8 other songs never heard of. Then announces his next show is 500 miles away and he has to cut this one short, walks off the stage. Maybe played 40 minutes tops

Edited by MarkyMannn
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That had to be Miami Stadium, where the Orioles had spring training In a terrible part of town where there were big time riots I think in 1988.

 

 

 

Must have been that because I do remember thinking how bad the neighborhood was. We we're very naive and tried to take a cooler full of drinks in with us and they wouldn't let us. We (the future Mrs Chef Jim) and I had had maybe $5 and bought soft drinks because we could get more and it was super hot. I thought we were going to die.

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Best:

Foo Fighters and Black Keys (both played DC's Verizon Center) - with many a close second. Grohl is from the area and usually ends US tour in DC.

 

Worst:

Easy. Bob Dylan at Merriweather He traveled with Wilco and My Morning Jacket, who were great and I was looking forward to Dylan for first time. Just awful. We left.

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Best: A late 80s show at Melody Fair featuring Warren Zevon opening for Eddie Money.
Both guys played their asses off and I believe that Money did it three sheets to the wind.

(Honorable mention to the Roger Waters "Wall" tour and any of the handful of Avett Brothers shows I've seen).

 

Worst: Hands down, Morrissey at the Rapids Theater in Niagara Falls. I took my girlfriend at the time, though I had never heard of any of his music. The lowlight (among many) was when a series of animals being killed in slaughterhouses played behind him for 15 minutes while he screamed, "Meat is murder."

Edited by ChevyVanMiller
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lol @ morrissey reference above.

 

Best: Wow, this is tough. I worked as a DJ in college, so got a lot of free tickets. Uh...

 

I saw Exodus and Body Count at Hammerjack's in Baltimore. That was a riot, literally.

Lollapalooza 92 was a WHOLE lot of fun.

 

Worst:

 

I saw James Taylor with a girl I knew from college when I got out of the Army, I wanted to slit my wrists.

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Best was Sex Pistols at the Trump Borgata, Atlantic City 2003. Every song a classic, all killer no filler. Just on the edge of the mosh about 15-20 feet directly in front of Steve Jones; of course, Johnny was all over the place. 9:30 Club show in DC that year was great too, but I was further away from the stage.

 

Worst was Journey opening for the Stones at Rich in 1981, trapped because it was general admission and you couldn't leave your spot... and soaked from the torrential downpour. They were beyond brutal. Worst headliner was Yes in 1979, Don't Kill The Whale smh...

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Best was Sex Pistols at the Trump Borgata, Atlantic City 2003. Every song a classic, all killer no filler. Just on the edge of the mosh about 15-20 feet directly in front of Steve Jones; of course, Johnny was all over the place. 9:30 Club show in DC that year was great too, but I was further away from the stage.

 

Worst was Journey opening for the Stones at Rich in 1981, trapped because it was general admission and you couldn't leave your spot... and soaked from the torrential downpour. They were beyond brutal. Worst headliner was Yes in 1979, Don't Kill The Whale smh...

 

Journey after Thorogood and before the Stones was the only time I ever saw a band literally booed off the stage.

 

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