boy bob, I think you might have just had an unlucky night. I saw My Morning Jacket during their At Dawn tour and it was amazing. I felt like I was watching the reincarnation of The Band. They followed two great opening bands that would have left most other groups sounding weak in comparison, but they played like crazy for over two hours and had the whole audience in the palm of their hands. Definately one of the better shows of the last five years for me.
on another note, did you like Wilco at all? I saw them a couple months ago and it was also great. I had seen them once before, about two weeks after Jay Bennett left the band, and they were pretty weak as a four piece. The new band blew me away.

Eh, maybe I just have a genre-bias against My Morning Jacket. My objection was more to their material than their performance. I got the impression that they were trying to overwhelm me with dramatic sounding guitar riffs in an Aerosmith/Guns N Roses-esque fashion in lieu of interesting songwriting.

If they have really gone down the road toward GnR and Aerosmith then it is a sad day. I have loved each of their albums, and can't really imagine them going toward a more traditional hard rock sound. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed that it was just a bad night.

Jim James' vocals will never sound like Steven Tyler or Axl Rose, and I have a difficult time believing that the band would ever sound like those singers', but I'm through with this.

The *vocals* sure don't sound like them.

The band doesn't sound much like them, but...I guess, what I'm trying to say, is that the music seems to be written with the same intention. To be all dramatic and stuff.

Maybe I lied. To me, they sound like a "country version" of their good ol' boy brethren, the Flaming Lips, except not nearly so pretentious. Oops, the sky is fallin'!

I recently saw Broken Social Scene, Metric and Do Make Say Think in Toronto. Sub-par at best. I just don't get the whole BSS thing ...'You Forgot It in People' is okay, but nothing groundbreaking. Live, I found them totally pretentious and quite un-inspired.

Other 'bad' shows of note ...Beck w/ Flaming Lips at Massey Hall in Toronto. The Lips were ok, but they're computer went for a shit and they couldn't play any tunes (what kind of band can't play tunes when a computer goes down?? - why not play acoustically??) ...and Beck was totally not into it and was really boring ...

... recently saw Reba McEntire (I work at a country radio ..not my kind of music) ...she can sing, but it was so contrived and put-on ...quite sad.

quote:

Originally posted by mark f:
I'm probably coasting as much here as my accusees are. I mentioned in "My Top Ten" thread that when my wife and I saw the Replacements at UC Irvine, the entire show "reeked with stinkness." The Replacements, without a doubt, were one of the best bands I have ever seen, but at least, at this show, their and the location's incompetence, allowed me to have a romantic walk through my memory lane, which my wife would probably never had experienced otherwise. Even so, this qualifies.

I couldn't agree with you more on this show. I was a big Replacements fan and this was the first time I had seen them live. What a disappointment! I know they usually played pretty drunk and sloppy live, but this show was a step beyond that. Crawford Hall at UCI was not a good venue for live shows. I did see R.E.M. at the Bren Center at UCI around that same time and I thought that was a great set.

Radiohead, sometime in 2001. God, how boring. Thom barely faced the crowd. I just sat there, unable to see the band because I was so far away, and the crappy muffled sound washed over me dull-ly. I could have had a better time at home!

never seen a full on bad show but mars volta openin for RHCP was absolutely terrible.

1. The Rolling Stones, 1975, Bloomington, IN. The sound was awful. It was Mick's birthday, they were to head out to Chicago after the show for a party. They didn't seem to care to be there and it showed. Billy Preston was the highlight of the evening.

2. Bob Dylan, 1999(?), same town, but in the college auditorium. I didn't like the band he had with him. Bob seemed bored, or maybe it was me.

I saw And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead live here in phoenix, az a few months back and it was pretty bad. To be honest I picked up the album 'Source Tags and Codes' solely based on the name of their band, plus the fact it was on the bargain bin for only like 8 bucks. I listened to it one time through and thought it was ok other than a few standout tracks. Then, as I do with alot of albums, I got bored one day and threw it in the cd player and listened to it for months without taking it out. Anyways, lets just say their live act was disappointing. They played for only about 30 min tops and then proceded to destroy their instruments and the set as if they were some kind of washed up 80's metal band. Lame.

I went to one of those 'Family Values' tours once because I hadn't realized Staind sucked yet, and Stone Temple Pilots were there. (This was pre-me listening to stuff from the 60's, of course).

And...well, Linkin Park. I thought they were like a metal band. Turns out they're essentially a rap/metal boy band. I had *assumed* they at least played instruments. Nope. When they played a song not on their album, they apologized to the crowd. Worst concert I ever saw.

Also same year, I saw Fuel. I previously thought they were about the music. (People who don't listen to independent bands think anything that's not a boy band or Britney Spears is non-mainstream and therefore hip). First thing that guy does..he gets out onto the stage in these cheesy leather pants and screams "YOU CAME TO SEE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The entire concert was about selling his sex appeal to the women and they played with no passion at all.

I could never listen to Fuel the same way again.

These are the only two concerts I've been to that were so bad that I actually stopped liking their studio albums because of it.

My older brothers music taste has basically become whatever I'm listening to + jam bands, so when we get together we make it a point to go to shows. I choose a couple, he chooses a couple, etc. I must say, the maj. of jam bands have the been most uninspired, boring shows ever. I'm one person who can say that I enjoy their studio albums wayyyy more than their shows.

quote:

Originally posted by Craigster:
Other 'bad' shows of note ...Beck w/ Flaming Lips at Massey Hall in Toronto. The Lips were ok, but they're computer went for a shit and they couldn't play any tunes (what kind of band can't play tunes when a computer goes down?? - why not play acoustically??) ...and Beck was totally not into it and was really boring ...

That's funny, it was one of my all time favourite shows. Their computer didn't go for a shit...the dumbass dressed in the goldfish costume danced on some power supply and all the power to the stage was lost. I remember Wayne even mentioned that the show might not continue, but they got a little bit of power going and they finished the set with just the basics, bass, guitar and drums. By the time Beck came out, the problem was fixed.

I do agree that Beck looked a bit bored, but I think he was in pain. Remember, he tried to spin his guitar around his head and the butt of his guitar smoked him and he was even bleeding.

The show had all kinds of unplanned things happening, and I thought that was part of its charm. Plus you could tell Beck thought Wayne was quite crazy, and kept looking over his shoulder at him. I loved it.

I've seen Black Rebel Motorcycle Club twice now. Both times they looked very bored and appeared to put little to no effort into anything they did. As such, I was less than inspired. Luckily, I didn't pay for either show.
Still, Howl is brilliant.

The only show I ever saw that I hated was back in the '80s. George Thorogood opening for Journey opening for the Stones. I went 'cuz I had a GF at the time who was interested in the Stones, and for a punk like me (at the time, anyway) the experience was like a root canal.
The best truly bad show I ever saw was the Pogues opening for Violent Femmes. Shane McGowan was dead drunk, stumbling around and smoking, forgetting lyrics and just walking offstage at intervals. I was so mad at the time that I'd wasted my money on this, but now I kind of look on it fondly. I saw the Pogues again when they booted Shane, and corralled Joe Strummer into doing the lead vocals, and that was some kind of sublime! I saw Flaming Lips on their Yoshimi tour, and thought they were fun. Lot's of audience interaction, and thoughtful use of video.

quote:

Originally posted by keylimetrev:

If [My Morning Jacket] have really gone down the road toward GnR and Aerosmith then it is a sad day. I have loved each of their albums, and can't really imagine them going toward a more traditional hard rock sound. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed that it was just a bad night.

This is a funny comment to read in hindsight, considering how good and not-GnR Z is. Not sure where the hell Bob was trying to go with GnR and Aerosmith comparison.

I saw Pinback at the Del Mar Fairgrounds (san diego) this summer, and it wasn't very good. I had a fun time because I was with some good friends and the girls I was with were smoking a lot of weed and acting really funny...Even though I was front and center, the vocals were entirely inaudible, and bass drowned out any other sound. It sounded like an instrumental concert, which was a little boring since a lot of Pinback's strength lies on the dream-like melody of the singing.

I also saw a concert with Finch/The Bravery/Bloc Party/Interpol. No one even stood up for Finch, the crowd hated it! They were/are a crappy screamo band in a crowd that clearly came for the dancey punk-rock of Bravery and Bloc Party, or for the glory that is Interpol live. The band even joked about how "we know this isn't your guys' type of music, but..." I found out later that Finch was a replacement for Maximo Park, which would have been a much better fit.
Next up was The Bravery, and I've never heard a worse vocal performance - this guy was trying to sing well but sounded like CYHSY. At least that music was danceable.

Putting through the first two crap bands was worth it for Bloc Party and especially Interpol, though.

Oh, at the Sigur Ros concert, some guy started singing (yup...attempting icelandic/hopelandish) really loud. And someone yelled at him to "shut the fuck up". But it was a good concert.

Bob Dylan - NEC Birmingham, November 2005
Consisted of Bobby murdering songs from his catalogue for about two hours by choosing to 'experiment' a little with the melodies and tempo of his singing.

Id had more than enough after 40 minutes. Its a shame really cause the band was solid.