Inspired by the “who do you wish you’d seen live” thread, here’s a “what bands were you excited to see that didn’t turn out to be half of what you expected” thread.
For me it’s:
Sisters of Mercy (boring as fuck)
Foetus (off the “Sink” tour - Jim kept trying to leave the stage and was fucked up and irritable through the whole show. He was much better on a later tour)
Dead Voices on Air (boring, could have been renamed Dad Voices on Air as the show seemed rather like your dad trying to do cool Download style techno live)
Thrill Kill Kult (opening for Ministry they sucked, I’ve seen them 5 times and every time is less impressive than the one past. The Sexplosion tour owned however)
I’m sure there are others I’ll remember.
Hanzel Und Gretyl
I was SO into them before I went (this is when their 2nd album came out, before they turned into Nazi fetishists) and they did the then typical industrial-metal setup with extra guitars and the electronics and percussion on a DAT somewhere backstage. Lame.
Only one band comes to mind and that would be…
Ministry (C U LaTour)
Starting the set off with the first 5 trax from the last Sucker. Then a few from HOTM and stuff from RGB. Then the predictable classics NWO, Just 1 Fix and Theives featuring Burton from Fear Factory. Then they waste time on 3 covers from Cover Up. All in all the most disappointing show I’ve ever been to
Project Pitchfork was terrible when I saw them in 98. Seemed like everything was prerecorded and they were way off.
I thought HuG were decent that tour (97), but every time since then has been pretty weak.
Danzig
barely talked to the crowd (“It’s good to be here tonight” was the only thing he said in between the like the second or third song!) The sound was ok but sounded straight out like listening to the CD I go to concerts cause I want banter and surprises with the songs and covers and what not!
The Ramones: Saw the Adios Amigos tour and it was horrible they didn’t introduce the songs or talk to the crowd or anything it was really like watching the Chuck E cheese animatronic robots perform
Late,
grmpysmrf
saw ramones at lollapalooza and they were great…
i’d say the most inconsistant band i’ve seen live are the deftones. sometimes they dominated sometiems they just were horrific
Aphex Twin - Not really a band I guess, just a guy and a laptop mostly. He came out, sat on a couch, twiddled a few knobs and played a 45 minute set with no encores and not once talked to the crowd. He seemed so genuinely bored to be there I wonder why he bothered with the tour in the first place, perhaps it was in his contract with the record label to tour?
Oh well, since he cheated me out of my hard earned money by putting on such a lousy show, I returned the favor by stealing lossless audio files of his music which I enjoy fairly often and don’t feel the least bit guilty about. Fuck it, he made several million on a car commercial alone that I doubt the illegal downloads will hurt him.
Danzig
barely talked to the crowd (“It’s good to be here tonight” was the only thing he said in between the like the second or third song!) The sound was ok but sounded straight out like listening to the CD I go to concerts cause I want banter and surprises with the songs and covers and what not!
The Ramones: Saw the Adios Amigos tour and it was horrible they didn’t introduce the songs or talk to the crowd or anything it was really like watching the Chuck E cheese animatronic robots perform
Late,
grmpysmrf
Which Danzig tour was this on grmpy? I’ve seen him a handful of times, and sometimes he is great other times he just is off. I did see the Samhain reunion in '99 that was pretty damn cool, and his Misfits mini-sets with Doyle in 2005 were pretty intense and he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself.
Aphex Twin - Not really a band I guess, just a guy and a laptop mostly. He came out, sat on a couch, twiddled a few knobs and played a 45 minute set with no encores and not once talked to the crowd. He seemed so genuinely bored to be there I wonder why he bothered with the tour in the first place, perhaps it was in his contract with the record label to tour?
Oh well, since he cheated me out of my hard earned money by putting on such a lousy show, I returned the favor by stealing lossless audio files of his music which I enjoy fairly often and don’t feel the least bit guilty about. Fuck it, he made several million on a car commercial alone that I doubt the illegal downloads will hurt him.
he’s done that shit alot… once he’s supposed to have just played a blender to 45 minutes or so to piss people off, then left
[reply]Danzig
barely talked to the crowd (“It’s good to be here tonight” was the only thing he said in between the like the second or third song!) The sound was ok but sounded straight out like listening to the CD I go to concerts cause I want banter and surprises with the songs and covers and what not!
The Ramones: Saw the Adios Amigos tour and it was horrible they didn’t introduce the songs or talk to the crowd or anything it was really like watching the Chuck E cheese animatronic robots perform
Late,
grmpysmrf
Which Danzig tour was this on grmpy? I’ve seen him a handful of times, and sometimes he is great other times he just is off. I did see the Samhain reunion in '99 that was pretty damn cool, and his Misfits mini-sets with Doyle in 2005 were pretty intense and he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself.[/reply]
October 31,1994. at irvine Meadows… I believe there is a VHS boot floating around out there of it. IT was in support of the 4p album…The last good Danzig album. would’ve been cool to catch the Misfits mini tour in 2005 but I didn’t even know that was going on. probly didn’t come to cali anyway.
Late,
grmpysmrf
The biggest live disappointment I had was Cornershop. They were opening for GusGus (who were exceptional), so I wasn’t specifically going to see them. But I had, and enjoyed, their album from that time period. And they just stood there. And played the songs exactly the way they sounded on the album. And never said anything. They were practically cardboard cut-outs on stage. I couldn’t earnestly enjoy them after that, and I sold off the CD shortly thereafter.
Flaming Lips, The Palace, St Kilda March 2004.
Great music and atmosphere but had to put up with Wayne Coyne pontificating on the current state of world affairs for 15 minutes in between each song.
I don’t care if you don’t like Bush, Wayne. I don’t care if you think the occupation of Iraq by Allied forces is wrong - I paid $65 to hear your band play, thank you for coming the cheque’s in the mail!
Danzig barely talked to the crowd (“It’s good to be here tonight” was the only thing he said in between the like the second or third song!) The sound was ok but sounded straight out like listening to the CD
He was ok when I saw them in '93. Ok but not great.
Dub Trio. I really like their Another Sound Is Dying album but last year I saw them open for Les Claypool and was looking forward to them but I was disappointed. As far as I could tell, they were just playing songs from the album over the PA and doing some live drums and shit to it. Maybe some guitar parts, but played over with it. The lights were cool, but the show was very lackluster.
Oh I have another:
NIN/JA tour 2009. Horrible set from NIN. I mean they played a bunch from Fragile but they were still playing stuff from the slip and wasted a good 5 or more minutes playing Metal. Other than that the classic songs were as predictable as it gets of Trent and co. Other 3 times I saw them they were great. First on the with_teeth tour in 2005. That was kind of a disappointment cause I was in a seat. Then I saw em twice during Lights In The Sky and those were two of the best shows I’ve ever seen. But the NIN/JA setlist was lackluster and they didn’t really seem into their performance at all
Then theres Jane’s Addiction and only cause the sound was shit. The perils of outdoor venues and having it be windy. They mostly played stuff from Nothing’s Shocking, a few from Ritual and of course the classic Whores, but like I said the sound was shite. Kinda glad I went to that concert for free. Of course its not on par with Ministry
Only one band comes to mind and that would be…
Ministry (C U LaTour)
Starting the set off with the first 5 trax from the last Sucker. Then a few from HOTM and stuff from RGB. Then the predictable classics NWO, Just 1 Fix and Theives featuring Burton from Fear Factory. Then they waste time on 3 covers from Cover Up. All in all the most disappointing show I’ve ever been to
QFT!! don’t forget the balloons… good god.
Project Pitchfork was terrible when I saw them in 98. Seemed like everything was prerecorded and they were way off.
I thought HuG were decent that tour (97), but every time since then has been pretty weak.
saw pitchfork last year in Chicago and Milwaukee. they’re coming back again in may. i can’t speak for the 98 show, but they were pretty badass when i saw them. mebbe i was just happy to finally be seeing them. give them another chance in Chicago this time. mebbe i’ll see ya there sir.
The one band that comes to mind in this post is Sister Machine Gun.
I saw them in 96 and they were amazing. It is still one of the best shows I have ever seen. I remember Hole in the Ground, Negative and Strange Days being killer.
A year later on the Metropolis tour they were boring, flat and pissy. I was so let down.
Tool in '07 at Gold Coast Big Day Out comes to mind. Saw them on the legendary Lateralus tour in '02, which was utterly amazing. Phenomenal energy, everything performed amazingly, long and unpredictable setlist (including ‘H’ !). I had not been to many shows at that time, but it was very hard to fault.
BDO is notorious for killing the sound of any band you love, especially on the main stages, so that can’t have helped, but they were mechanical, predictable and something fucked up happened to maynard’s voice in the intervening years. Until that tour he was legendary for pitch perfect and gutsy performances, perfect screams and everything, but he struggled this time. Obviously the guy’s voice has suffered with age. Also, the sound warbled in and out, and the set list was pretty much the same one they took around the world for 2 years on that tour. Danny and Justin tore it up, obviously, but at the end of the day, the band lost that spark of genius in the live setting, sigh.
That reminds me, The mars volta, on their first tour here, were unlike anything I have ever seen. Their set was one continuous, bombastic jam. Three songs played seemlessly over 45 minutes (festival set), very heavy and intense, and an almost psychic ability on the band’s behalf to carry the songs into unexpected places. It really was like something from a different age, where music was passion and the drugs pure and strong. Their drummer, who was amazing, wore an orange ‘Fuck Bush’ shirt (Peligro - I think Wayne from Flaming Lips should have taken a leaf from this guys book).
Then in '06 they came out in suits and played a robotic set that was pretty much the songs note for note. It was lifeless and mildly soul crushing, and I realised that The Mars Volta had become what all their most passionate detractors always said they were.