Best and worst gig

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  • Best gig: without doubt The Saw Doctors - they were brilliant and so much fun!

    Worst: Morrisey supported Bowie (I think it was the glass spider tour - what was up with that bassist chick with the horns and tail??) - he was the biggest load of kack I have ever had to endure. (I do agree about Van Morrison though - he was a grumpy git and made me tense!  Not what you want in a concert!)

    Gig you were lucky to see - Buddy Rich - he died the nxt month or so - he was amazing

    Gig you regret missing - well I haven't missed it yet but I would love to go see FAFF who are playing here tomorrow night but my 18 year old son is going and apparently it would not be cool! 

  • I just remembered something. I once hitch-hiked to Manchester to see Altered Images at the Apollo because I had a huge crush on Clare Grogan. The support band were Vic Goddard & The Subway Sect, a band I also quite liked having heard them on John Peel's show. The audience seemed to be largely made up of small girls and accompaying parents - I think we raised the average age despite being only 19 or 20. We sat and sat as nothing happened, then about 40 minutes after the supposed start time a voice came over the PA and said "Is Vic there, cos he ain't f**kin well here!". Cue much annoyance from the parents about the swearing. Another 40 minutes passed then The Subway Sect came on minus Vic Goddard and played their entire set as instrumentals at maximum speed, lasting about 11 minutes. We then sat and waited for another 90 minutes as the complaint levels rose from the parents about the late running of the show before Altered Images came on. The volume was painful, and any attempt to dance (we were on the balcony) was met by bouncers insisting you sat down, and that really helped the mood. They played for 40 minutes, then did a 2 song encore and that was it - well over 4 hours in the venue and less than an hour of music.

    I did of course forgive Clare image

  • MACbMACb ✭✭✭
    BOTW, bet you've got a copy of Gregory's Girl haven't you?
  • Lawro wrote (see)
    You're right Cake - thanks for making me feel old image
    That doesn't mean your old does it? image
    the egyptian toe wrote (see)
    Best - Machine Head at Manc Academy
    Which time are you the chap who broke my nose in the pit?image
  • I'm 33 image - younger than some, older than others, but still feel 18.
  • I went to see The Jam at the Deeside Leisure Centre about 80.  The were supported by The Vapours (Turning Japanese).  Support band came on and they were okay and everyone was bouncing along happily and then on came The Jam... first few chords of 'In the City' and all hell broke loose.

    The Liverpool Mods started battling the Manchester Mods and the Welsh Mods were picking off the stragglers... any punks in the room were battered by Mods from anywhere... it was pure mayhem.  I'd recently joined up and had a skinhead haircut so I was fair game for Mods, Punks, Rockers and the odd Ted...

    Paul Weller stopped playing and said 'If you don't stop killing each other we're not playing any more songs'... and they stopped right in the middle of 'A bomb in Wardour Street'... an irate mod jumped on the stage to complain and Bruce Foxton wellied him one with his guitar... and that was it.

    Worst gig I ever went

  • Best gig - SilverGinger5 in London Astoria in about 2000. Someone told me they were the first unsigned band ever to sell out the venue (the main Astoria not the LA2) but whether this is true or not I have no idea.

    Worst gig - Aphex Twin at Leeds festival in 2002. We only went into the tent to see them because we got bored of watching the Strokes in torrential rain. My mate had a pass to get us in front of the security barrier so we got down there and all we could see on the stage was flashing lights and dry ice with the crowd going mad to the music behind the barrier. Oh, and there was some bloke down on the floor messing around with the PA, equipment, etc - must be the sound guy right? It took me at least 15 minutes before I realised that the 'sound guy' WAS Aphex Twin! OK, I'd been drinking and I'm not into dance music...........

  • I had that when I saw the Orb.  Didn't realise that the roadies were the actual band.  Not seen a band set up all of their own stuff before.

    RIP Andy Hughes

  • best - the housemartins at the national
    any time i see billy bragg
    the dubliners in liverpool at the irish center

    worst - the pouges on shane mcgowan's birthday, i probably don't need to explain but he was so sh*t faced that he could not remember the words to his own songs, total waste of money
    also,
    john martin at the mean fiddler - cos he never turned up and my sister loved his music and was in tears
    and
    van morrison at warwick castle, it was like listening to a CD, no atmosphere whatsoever

  • wish i'd seen - earth wind and fire when they did their tour when they had all the special effects stuff, or parliament - totally over the top clothes and music

  • best gig - Morrissey, Glasgow SECC, tour for You Are the Quarry (2004ish?)

    Worst gig - The Cult - so loud we left half way through

    Gig you regretfully missed - Smashing Pumpkins

    Gig you were lucky to see before they split - A Perfect Circle (dont think they have officially split though?)

  • image No they havn't split they are a side project for members of other bands including folks from Tool they will be back in a few years the next time Tool take a break and the singer has nothing to do hopefully image 

    image sorry I'm a bit obseased by music. Only the good stuff. image

  • Best gig - probably Blur at Hyde park in July. Killers and Arctic Monkeys at Glasto running close. Rufus Wainwright was pretty good there too, (especially when he had a go at an incompetent sound man).

    Worst gig - The Noisettes at a small uni bar before they were famousimage. They were so loud I couldn't tell you if they were good or bad. All I could hear was noise. The drums were miked up and amplified in a bar that was little bigger than the average school stage. My ears rang all next day. Glasvegas played the same place a few months later and were fantastic, and audible.

    Gig regretfully missed - The Who at Glasto - couldn't actually get to the stage. Saw Bootleg Beatles instead who are brilliant.

  • Oooh I saw the Pumpkins before they split, okay gig, I think I was expecting a bit more. 

    I caught a drumstick at Reading whilst watching the Cult.  Can't be too noisy for me.  RAWK image I thought Motorhead would have been louder image I guess Lemy is getting on a bit though.

    Got a drumstick from Ministry too, and a plectrum from Staind. 

    I'm obsessed with music too, can talk about it until the cows come home. 

  • Best gig...:    Genesis in Rome, 2007.  It was an outdoor gig in the old chariot racing arena.  500,000 people there.  Brilliant set list, brilliant atmosphere.  Loved the whole thing.  Was right down the front.   It was sooooooo loud!  I saw AC/DC at Wembley back in the 1980s and that was nothing compared to how loud Genesis were.  My ears were still ringing the following day.

    Worst gig..:   David Bowie on the Glass Spider Tour, at Wembley.  Unbelieveably boring set list. 

    Regret missing...:  The Jam, Stranglers, Coldplay in their early days, Genesis in the early days..

    Worst support act ever..:  Paul Young (whereever I lay my hat...).  geezz..  he was shite!!

    Lucky to have seen..:  Michael Jackson at the peak of his fame.  Superb performer..

  • I make that 3 worsts for Bowie Glass Spider.  LOL.  In Sunderland besides greeting Newcastle for me it was just too clockwork and machine perfect.  Did enjoy 'Loving the Alien'.  Missed the first support (Blue Oyster Cult I think), but second, Big Country, was good.
  • Best - Springsteen O2 2007 - best set ever and when 'badlands started' - sheer joy. Billy Bragg at Cambridge - blubbed when he did 'tank park salute' . Genesis at Earls Court 1977. Muse.

    Worst - David Bowie Wembley Stadium 1987(?) turgid rubbish (Big Country were great). Queen new years eve 1976, only did an hour and Freddie's voice was shot. AC/DC. Black Sabbath.

    Sorry to have missed - Led Zep and The Jam.

    Mentions in dispatches...10cc 1976, Carter USM 1990, Amy MacDonald 2008, Kate Bush 1979, The Kinks, Hall and Oates, 10,000 maniacs 1992, Slade 1972..been lucky really.

  • Foghorn, I think Glass Spider Tour would have been 86 I think.  So are you making it four votes for worst?

    Did anyone see Bowie do a concert they enjoyed?

  • Yep, circa 1975... Manchester Apollo - Bowie was imperious, although quite clearly off his tits (Played lots of Ziggy Stardust/Aladinsane)

    It was my first concert... also at the concert was Ian Curtis and other members of Joy Division (Though, I didn't know it at the time.. I read about a couple of incidents in the Curtis biography that I remembered happening)

    To appreciate Bowie then you have to consider some of the shite around at the time and you were likely to be suspected of being gay and beaten up by your classmates... but we didn't know it yet but 1976 was just around the corner, and up and down the country bands were forming and music was about to get the biggest kick in the ass since the invention of the chromatic scale...

    Bowie was a catalyst in the invention of punk

  • Definitly not putting Bowie down!  Glass Spider does seem to have been far from his finest hour though!  I'm glad to hear he was capable of a good show.
  • Cake wrote (see)

    image No they havn't split they are a side project for members of other bands including folks from Tool they will be back in a few years the next time Tool take a break and the singer has nothing to do hopefully image 

    image sorry I'm a bit obseased by music. Only the good stuff. image


    Ooh thanks Cake! They had been quiet for so long i thought they had maybe all gone back to their own bands for good.  Ive also seen Tool live...brilliant!!  The highlight of A Perfect Circle had to be James Iha doing a solo, he cant sing but it was really sweet!

    Just realised Ive made a bit of a boob though.....Smashing Pumpkins reformedimage.  I will change my answer to Pumpkin's original line up!

  • MadameOMadameO ✭✭✭

    Gingerfurball, I saw FFAF a couple of weeks ago and they were amazing! They're my favourite band - I even have some of their lyrics tattooed on me. Definitely go next time, they're well worth being disowned by your son for image

    Anyway... Best gig: FFAF (of course!), Wolverhampton Civic December 07. It was the first time I saw them live and they played my favourite song of all time (Bend Your Arms To Look Like Wings), then finished with History. Singing the chorus back to them, doing two finger salutes while fake snow came down... I've seen them 5 times now and that first is still the best.

    VERY closely followed by Metallica at Reading last year - I got really squished, and crowdsurfed out to Seek and Destroy image

    Worst gig: Also at Reading last year - while waiting for Rage Against the Machine I had the misfortune of having to listen to Dizzee Rascal. Never again.

    Regretfully missed: Would love to have seen Queen and Joy Division. Also gutted to miss out on Slipknot twice, but hopefully I'll get the chance soon.

    Lucky to see: Nine Inch Nails at Sonisphere this year. I got a bit weepy during Hurt image

  • Rowan Green Faster at Forty http://www.justgiving.com/stroke100 wrote (see)

    Foghorn, I think Glass Spider Tour would have been 86 I think.  So are you making it four votes for worst?

     Definately.

    Would like to add that I loved Bowie up to the mid 70s which made this awful mess of a show even more of a let down. Would still like to see a greatest hits gig.

  • *boings in excitedly*

    I'm going to see Green Day tonight and I'm really looking forward to it

    Haven't been to many gigs but worst was Santana at Royal Albert Hall in 1980 ( I think)

  • MO, Slipknot were soooo good.  Saw them at Cardiff last year.  MachineHead who supported were amazing.  Great gig.

    I saw Metallica at Reading last year.  Mr Shimms and his mate were right down the front but I chickened out and had to crawl out.

    Enjoy Green Day Beebs, they are brilliant, saw them at Reading a few years back, great mosh pit image

  • Shimmy am doing the old person thing of sitting down image
  • You wont be sitting down for long.  image
  • Green Day? Seated? That's just plain wrong. image
  • I feel like a twat at most gigs these days - my natural habitat was bouncing up and down at the front like a loon... but as I'm likely to be spotted by my students and interrogated afterwards; I tend to hang around the back of an unseated auditorium with the other grandads or remain fully seated.

    Sometimes I forget how old I am... the latest occassion was watching SLF a short while ago and going absolutely manic when they played "Suspect Device"... unfortunately one of my students had her phone handy... image 

  • Oh it's not fun being a teacher/lecturers typee person.  I got caught at a Manson gig by a pupil once when I used to work at a school.  I was all gothed up at the time in a corset.
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