"Pro" Bands that SUCK OUT LOUD

[gweimer]

And that reminds me of another band - UFO.  When I saw them, they were so wasted that Pete Way opened the show by playing the wrong opening chord for "Doctor, Doctor".  It was the first tour without Michael Schenker, and it really showed.

[mc2NY]

Oh yeah, no doubt about it.  They weren't good live back then, but we had a good time at their show ('79, I think) knowing that they were trying hard to stir things up a bit.  I remember hearing all the rumors about how Tom Scholz did most of the recording in his basement on homemade equip, etc.  Urban Myth stuff - most of which turned out to be true.  We saw them with The Cars - it's hard to look bad when you're playing along side The Cars - a truly terrible live band.

Oh yeah...The Cars were never great live early on. A piece of Cars trivia....Elliott Easton went to college with me, a couple years ahead, in Rochester NY area. When he left to move to Boston and join cars, my future guitarist Dick Grammatico (brother of Lou Gramm) replaced Elliott in the local band he'd been in.

BTW....I'm another fan of Adele. Great voice and good writer. Saw her on TV on (I think) The Grammys after her vocal chord surgery and she was great. I think she won me over after she laughed and snot shot out of her nose and she actually made a joke of it in front of the industry. Seemed very down to earth and unmoved by all the fast success.

I remember seeing Television after Marquee Moon just came out and it's the only concert I can remember where the booing was almost louder than the band. I just can't remember if they actually sucked or it was such a bad pairing of acts (they opened for Peter Gabriel) that the audience just ate them alive.

[rahock]

 Stiil the all time worst for me......

Led Zeppelin.

They were baked, boring. Undeniably great in the studio. Total $#!& live.

Ratt, not so much that they were bad, I saw them once opening for the Scorpions they were fine, second time they headlined with Poison opening, they were just horrible - left way early.

I couldn't agree more and a lot of people think I'm full of s@#t for saying it but I caught them twice and they just couldn't pull it off live
Their first two albums are absolute masterpieces in my book, but live, they couldn't compete with the local bands that opened for them.
Rick

[gweimer]

While Ratt was pretty good when I saw them, their backstage area was the most repulsive display of a band at its worst. Among the really sad and desperate people hanging around were a mother and daughter.  The mother was proud (in the most disgusting display I've ever seen) to offer her young daughter to the band for the night.  I think they took her up on it.
I've said it before - I love music, but musicians are all too often despicable human beings.

[TBird1958]

 

While Ratt was pretty good when I saw them, their backstage area was the most repulsive display of a band at its worst. Among the really sad and desperate people hanging around were a mother and daughter.  The mother was proud (in the most disgusting display I've ever seen) to offer her young daughter to the band for the night.  I think they took her up on it.
I've said it before - I love music, but musicians are all too often despicable human beings.

 One name...........Robin Crosby.

[gweimer]

 One name...........Robin Crosby.

Robin was so tall, that he was alone on the far side of the stage, and played with his knees bent and leaning back, just to make him look remotely similar in size to the rest of the band.

[Spiritbass]

Bad English sucked. Repulsive waste of time. The ONLY show I have ever walked out on. Probably no one else is familiar with their opener that night, Shooting Star (local to Kansas City). Another waste...

[nofi]

i left after 3 songs by rush in '74. i think they were touring behind the fist album. might have had the original drummer john rutsy as well. anyway, the sucked. i really showed up to see the the support band the dictators.

[Dave W]

i left after 3 songs by rush in '74. i think they were touring behind the fist album. might have had the original drummer john rutsy as well. anyway, the sucked. i really showed up to see the the support band the dictators.

That's an odd pairing. Not as odd as Hendrix opening for the Monkees, but close.

[Highlander]

How about Alternative TV above the Police with both supporting Spirit (Rainbow Theatre, '78)

[slinkp]

I always wonder who comes up with opening acts. 

For example, I saw the Who (aka the Two) on their 2006(?) US tour, the Wire & Glass one; and the opener was ... I forget the name but it was the then-current project of Mike Patton, the ex-singer of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle.  A very talented guy whose music has never really grabbed me. I thought this particular gig was at least kind of interesting, but it was tailor-made to piss off aging Who fans who were just waiting impatiently for the first chord of "I Can't Explain".

At one point the lady behind me shouted at the stage "YOU SHOULD BE ARRESTED!" .    They weren't that bad!

That was probably the least receptive audience I've been in since... maybe the Amnesty International tour in '86 in New Jersey.  People getting pumped up for Brian Adams started booing at Joni Mitchell???  That was just sad.  I wish they had shut up enough that I could hear her.

[gweimer]

I saw the sad remnants of Big Brother open for a young Blue Oyster Cult.  It was different.

I saw Def Leppard, as openers, mop the floor with Billy Squier.

The best was seeing Kansas fill in for an opener, Queen (who were supposed to open for Mott The Hoople), unannounced when Brian May got hepatitis a couple days before the Chicago show.  I missed the very first song, but they were NOT well received.  By the third song, the audience had been won over.  Kansas was really great, right down to one of the guys announcing, "Hey, I didn't know I was supposed to be here, either!  If I knew you wanted Queen, I'd have worn glittered underwear."

[Highlander]

I remember seeing Def Leppard open for Sammy Hagar and someone else (can't remember who) - I quite enjoyed them but thought what a bunch of spotty oiks...

Also a band called Girl (with Phil Coleen before he joined DL) a few times, and a few times at the Marquee - they were pretty good...

I remember feeling pretty hacked off when Black Sabbath (original Ozzy era) cancelled a show with Van Halen as support and when it was re-arranged having to suffer with a band called Quartz who did an excruciating cover of Nantucket Sleighride...

Or how about Rick Wakeman playing an out-of-tune pub piano for an evening (not the first time - rather fond of London Pride he was) in my "local" for an old-folks night, doing "Roll Out The Barrel/We'll Meet Again type stuff - really doing the "you hum it, I'll play it" routine...

The Who...? Only saw them the once but support was SAHB, Little Feat, Outlaws, Streetwalkers and Widowmaker (Ariel Bender and Bob Daisley)...

Favourite comment I've ever heard was at a Skynyrd gig in '77 with a US ex-pat (also talking about seeing the Allman Brothers at the Fillmore ) about Woodstock... "My lasting memory of Woodstock is the smell..."

[godofthunder]

  I loved Widow makers first album still have to get it on cd.

[ack1961]

Speaking of weird pairings, I saw Burning Spear open a show for The J. Geils Band, who co-headlined the show with the Talking Heads outdoors at the Merriweather Post Pavilion ('82ish?). It seemed like Spear played for 8 hours - they were brutal on the nerves. The highlight/lowlight of the show was an encore number where Peter Wolf chased, caught and tried to stuff David Byrne in a road case.