Concerts that ruled, Concerts that sucked.

[Ooogh]

What are the greatest gigs you ever witnessed and which ones really disappointed?

 

                                                  Winners.

1. Roger Waters, Us and Them  (2018?) Tour, Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Fabulous, enthralling.

2. Leonard  Cohen, (2012?) Adelaide Entertainment Centre. I was not even a fan. His performance, the sound , the band was absolute perfection.

3. Dire Straights , (1983/4?) Festival Hall Melbourne. My first BIG Concert. Hot, sweaty, standing. Brilliant.

4. Joan Armatrading. The Key Tour. (1983/4) Somewhere in Melbourne. Transfixing, love her.

 

                                              Losers.

1.Joan Armatrading. Berkeley University , San Francisco (1994).  A dream come true. Hanging out in San Fran, going to a gig at Berkeley, plenty of combustible assistance...... The sound sucked, the crowd sucked and Joan just wanted to go home(end of a long tour)

2. Paul Weller. Adelaide Entertainment Centre.  (2011?) Seen him before, usually pretty good. Couldn’t sell out the big hall so in the small hall. Started badly with technical issues. The crowd are no longer 18 year old Jam fans but middle aged suburban dwellers who you actually need to engage. If you can play ‘go F##k yourselves’ on a guitar then Paul gave a Grammy Winning performance.

3. Melissa Etheridge. Adelaide Entertainment Centre (2014?) Oh dear. A ‘show’ not a performance. I have no idea if the bass player died the night before and they needed a fill in but the pineapple playing was either off his tree or simply had never heard the songs before. Rather than figure he should just hit a note correctly occasionally he decided that if you try them all you might hit a winner at some point.  Atrocious!

[Ooogh]

Thought of some more.....

 

                               Winners.

 

Hunters and Collectors. Fern tree Gully Hotel (1983?) Rocking hard and loud. Right up front left with some huge PA blasting my eardrum. Spent the concert with my finger in my right ear, Mark Seymour thought it was pretty funny. Actually permanently damaged my hearing...

 

                          Losers.

 

Cheap Trick. Palais Theatre StKilda (1980 something)

JUST TOO LOUD MAN!!!!!!!

 

Pink Floyd (1984?) Melbourne.  Just didn’t float my boat.  Maybe I just didn’t know where to score acid. The big inflatable pig on a guy rope hanging at the back of the hall awaiting it’s grand entrance just reeked of Spinal Tap.

 

[Pebbles]

Great ones that remain in the memory

Slade supporting the Stones(I think) looking down on the stage set up on the finishing straight at Randwick from the top of the grandstand. Must have been the 70s

Daniel Lanois  and his hot band at Sydney’s Basement

Fat Freddies Drop at the Hordern

Neil and Liam Finn at Taronga. Never been a huge Split Enz/ Crowded House fan but this was out of this world! 

Dont really remember any bad ones.

[RoHo]

Winners:

Ramones, Palace Melbourne, mid 80s. “ONE, TWO, FREE, FOUR”. I’ve seen the ramones, I have lived a full life.

Flaming Lips, Palais Melb, 2017ish.  Confetti cannons, hundreds of mega-balloons floating around, crew in giant blow up costumes wandering across the stage and a huge inflatable “F*#K YEAH MELBOURNE” sign being bounced around the crowd.  Made perfect sense.

 

Losers:

Matthew Sweet, Collingwood Town Hall, mid 80s.  You have one of the great indie guitar heroes in Richard Lloyd in your band and you mix him way down below the other guitar?  Dumb.

And Cheap Trick were too loud but I did catch one of Rick Neilson’s guitar picks which he was throwing into the crowd.  Still got it, too.

[Esoterica]

My greatest gigs...

 

1. David Bowie - Entertainment Centre, Sydney - 2000-2005?

 

It was Bowie! Had pretty bad seats side of stage but the music made it irrelevant. Still was only dancing.
 

2. Midnight Oil - Hope Estate, Pokolbin NSW 2017?

 

I've been a fan for most of my life, and only half-saw them live before when I was much younger and wasn't paying much attention. They rocked the hell out of this outdoor venue. Only negative was finding out after the event that we had been upgraded due to a seating stuff up, and could've been about 20 metres closer to the stage!

 

3. Morrissey - Livid Festival 2002, Sydney

 

Morrissey's fantastic voice in all it's glory.

 

I'll just list others here as I couldn't be bothered explaining lol...

 

Refused - Enmore 2016? - How good is it when you love a disbanded group, only for them to reform and you get to see them live?!

 

No Fun At All - Gaelic Club, Sydney 2012?? No idea when tbh - Just an awesomely fun show, from one of my favourite bands.

 

The Police - Homebush Stadium, Sydney - circa 1998? Again, I'm hopeless with dates. 

I guess I've been lucky because I can only think of one disappointing show, that was Coheed and Cambria, Soundwave Festival, Sydney 2017 or thereabouts. I was full of anticipation to see them live after years of them being one of my favs, only for the audio to suck so bad. Totally ruined it.

 

Other good ones.... Beastie Boys - Both times I saw them were great (Hordern and Selinas) but Selinas was insane, being a much smaller venue, although got into the after party after the Hordern Pavilion gig, which was cool. Didn't meet the "boys" other than DJ Hurricane though, and got his autograph on a piece off a VB carton lol.

 

Public Enemy and Ice T at the Hordern was awesome too.

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by Esoterica
Stuff

[frednork]

Winners

Ha, strangely Pink Floyd in Melb same as @Ooogh , felt like the only one not on drugs but still loved it, maybe a different night?

Hunters and Collectors Village green 80's , also same as @Ooogh

Silverchair, a couple of weeks after they released their first album at the Empress, a tiny pub in Fitzroy, couldnt believe that that huge sound was coming from these little kids on the same PA as the band before.

ACDC at Myer music bowl in the 70's straight after back in black was released. My first concert and was deaf for a week.

Ian Dury at festival hall (80's) awesome band.

John Scofield at the Continental (90's?) unbelievable band.

Vince Jones, anywhere in Melbourne, conti, Tankerville arms

Most suprisingly Devo in 2010's? at Festival Hall,  Eddie Current supression ring and Regurgitator supported and were great but Devo blew them away with (unexpectedly) their energy.

 

Losers

Me for refusing to pay 15 GBP (the door price was 4)  from a scalper to see Nirvana a few weeks after Nevermind was released at the Kilburn National in London.

 

 

[Esoterica]

I'll keep remembering as my brain thaws out

 

Pixies - Hordern Pavilion around 2014. Another band that I thought I'd never get to see live. They played a huge set (around 20 songs from memory) and I think it was one of thise gigs where they play one of their albums in entirety.

 

Bad Religion - Hifi Bar? Sydney around 2016. Much like above. Didn't think I'd see them live, but did and they didn't disappoint. So good.

[Esoterica]

7 minutes ago, frednork said:

Me for refusing to pay 15 GBP (the door price was 4)  from a scalper to see Nirvana a few weeks after Nevermind was released at the Kilburn National in London.

Ouch! Sadly, I only came to really appreciate Nirvana after it was too late to see them live. I have friends that saw them at BIg Day Out.

[Esoterica]

4 minutes ago, Esoterica said:

Pixies - Hordern Pavilion around 2014

I googled it and THE Pixies did their Doolittle 20th anniversary tour in 2010, so it must've been that. They toured here again in 2017, which is too recent to be the show. 
 

Apparently they played 27 songs at the gig I attended! Talk about getting your money's worth.

[cafe67]

Worst gigs

 

dead can dance at Perth concert hall 2012 , last show I think of world tour , they just went through the motions. Disappointing. 
 

new order Canterbury court Perth mid 80’s , they looked bored, hooky played with his back to the audience, no interaction with the audience.  Afterwards they admitted they would sooner stayed in and watch the FA cup. Have seen them since a few times and they were better. 
 

The damned Canterbury Perth, late 80’s got drunk, had to bail a mate out of a fight, can’t really remember concert. Drunk 

 

surprising gigs 

 

OMD in the late 80’s Canterbury court Perth ,wasn’t a big fan wondered how they would go live. Had a full band including brass section and was a really good concert.

 

Suzanne Vega Astor theatre Perth 2013 ( I think) just her on acoustic guitar and another guy on electric guitar. A surprisingly good concern , she really knew how to treat a crowd and the 2 of them played really well. 
 

Lamb Astor theatre Perth (2014 I think) not a band I knew a lot about or a lot of songs. Her on vocals, him on electric double bass and a keyboard player. They played really well and engaged really well with the audience. 
 

kraftwerk as part of global dance festival (mid 2000’s) on the Perth esplanade. Amazing one of loudest yet clearest concerts ever been too. Super cool 
 

peter  hook and joy division orchestrated at the Perth concert hall . Was in 2 minds about this, thinking It could be tacky. Turned out to be awesome, well put together with a lot of thought behind it. Was really impressed 

Edited November 3, 2020 by cafe67

[JukKluk2]

Winners:

Yes at Wembley Empire Pool, supporting Going for the One. Bliss! Got on the wrong train after the concert and ended up walking around Watford all night waiting for the buses to start running so that I could get back to Luton.

Genesis at Earls Court, must have been '77/'78, a short time before/after seeing Bowie at the same venue. Both great shows.

U.K. at Hemel Hemstead. Got to shake the hand that wipes the bum of Bill Bruford. He took the album cover from me and went back into the Green Room so that all of the guys could autograph it for me.

King Crimson at Aylesbury Friars, a warm up gig the night before their official first night at The Venue, in Victoria, London. Went to both shows. The Aylesbury gig was much better. Got to shake Fripp's hand and had a brief chat.

Sebastian Hardie, as support for Yes at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 2003. Never thought that I would ever get the opportunity to hear Four Moments played live.

Richard Thompson at Tilly's in Canberra, twice in two years. The man's a genius.

The Angels at Merimbula RSL, and Chisel at the Tarthra pub, both early '82. Two of the greatest nights out that I have ever had. For a fellow on holiday from Derby in WA it was like being in the big city.

 

Losers:

Can't really remember many concerts that made me wish that I hadn't bothered. Cat Stevens at the WACA in Perth, about '74/'75, supporting Catch Bull at Four. It was in his drinking days and he was chugging a bottle of Jack Daniels all through the show. He didn't connect very well with the audience, said we were very strange, and didn't do an encore.

 

I'm sure that there's lots more but they escape me at the moment.

Edited November 1, 2020 by JukKluk2
grammatical

[Ooogh]

4 hours ago, RoHo said:

Winners:

Ramones, Palace Melbourne, mid 80s. “ONE, TWO, FREE, FOUR”. I’ve seen the ramones, I have lived a full life.

Flaming Lips, Palais Melb, 2017ish.  Confetti cannons, hundreds of mega-balloons floating around, crew in giant blow up costumes wandering across the stage and a huge inflatable “F*#K YEAH MELBOURNE” sign being bounced around the crowd.  Made perfect sense.

 

Losers:

Matthew Sweet, Collingwood Town Hall, mid 80s.  You have one of the great indie guitar heroes in Richard Lloyd in your band and you mix him way down below the other guitar?  Dumb.

And Cheap Trick were too loud but I did catch one of Rick Neilson’s guitar picks which he was throwing into the crowd.  Still got it, too.

You suck Rodney! I must have been standing right next to you and spent the whole night trying to score one of the numerous guitar picks Rick Neilson was throwing out with no success. The whole time running the risk of permanent deafness from the industrial strength PA!  Have you got a photo of your glory box find? 

[frednork]

Amazingly there are multiple recordings of the entire Pink Floyd concerts in 1988 in Melbourne, on youtube  at least 3 dates i have seen. I may review and see if they differ in quality.

 

Did remind me of this shtinker performance tho

 

 

[BuzzzFuzzz]

Too many to list in full ( only one bad - Pantera, Newcastle circa '90 )

 

In chronological order...

 

Iron Maiden 'The Beast on the Road', Capitol Theatre, Sydney '82

My first gig as a 15 year old, allowed to catch the train, on a school night, with a school friend... by ourselves.

The Capitol is no more, demolished I think?

But it was a beautiful old theatre with a very English look and feel.

The street full of Harleys turned out for one of Australia's first real Metal tours.

The black, Metal t-shirts, the denim, the leather, the studs, the long hair and lots of hot chicks.

As a young fella at an all boys Christian Brothers school...  I was hooked.

 

Motorhead - Central Coast Leagues Club '83 ( I think ).

A regional tour of Aust. as a new four piece.

About 50 people in a 2,000 capacity room...  they played their guts out, as if the room were full.  It was F*CKING LOUD.

Plenty of room front stage...  talking with the band...  A plectrum and a beer from Wurzel, though the smartarse shook it first.

Underage, in the good ol' days of paper, no photo ID.

 

The Angels - Any Central Coast Leagues Club gig at all...  but especially when I met them backstage.

Always an electric atmosphere leading up to them coming on stage.

 

Rose Tattoo - A rough pub in Woy Woy, can't recall the name, '85.

Sneaking in underage, such a naughty boy...  But, I wasn't there to drink...  I was there to see & hear the band.

 

Many, many more memorable gigs...

 

Nirvana  BDO Sydney  Hidden Pavilion 1991

 

Ministry  Selina's, Coogee Bay Hotel.

 

I'll probably be posting a few more here.

 

 

[RoHo]

2 hours ago, Ooogh said:

You suck Rodney! I must have been standing right next to you and spent the whole night trying to score one of the numerous guitar picks Rick Neilson was throwing out with no success. The whole time running the risk of permanent deafness from the industrial strength PA!  Have you got a photo of your glory box find? 

Read ‘em and weep, Ooogh.

 

[evil c]

Good:

Genesis, December 1986 at the Tennis Centre. 

Broke my arm in a motorbike accident earlier in the afternoon, but went along to the concert anyway- well worth the effort too !

 

Calexico September 2013 Athanaeum Theatre Melbourne .

Met a few members of the band after the concert in the foyer and happily got the whole band to sign a few albums of theirs!

Invited me to come to their concert the next day at the Corner hotel Richmond. 

Bad:

Dire Straits - Myer Music Bowl February 1986 - Mark Knopfler sounded like he'd been singing non stop for a month, and pulled an all nighter on Speed before coming down in this performance.

Terrible flat concert , no interaction or conversation with the audience !

 

[frednork]

14 minutes ago, evil c said:

Calexico September 2013 Athanaeum Theatre Melbourne .

Saw them at Myer music bowl on a pleasant afternoon in december in 2003, Nick Cave was the headline but I think I enjoyed Calexico more.

[evil c]

21 minutes ago, frednork said:

Saw them at Myer music bowl on a pleasant afternoon in december in 2003, Nick Cave was the headline but I think I enjoyed Calexico more.

Amazing band live, also saw them a few years ago with @Anatoly Beaver-Hausen - happy times! 

[JukKluk2]

And how could I forget: My first annual leave after starting full-time work, three weeks off (the following year it became four weeks) and my mate and I booked our Around Australia tickets with TAA (about $200 each, weekly wage for me was about $20 after tax. Them were the days).

We ended up in Melbourne for a total of 10days as we scored tickets to Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Festival Hall, and Led Zeppelin at Kooyong. Those days will never come again.

[garm1520]

Stick to one band.

                                     Winners.

Led Zeppelin, in icehockey arena in Gothenburg, Sweden.

A dream come through, they were on fire.

 

                                      Losers.

Led Zeppelin, six monthts later in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Off their faces, no interest in the gig what so ever, just wanted to finish up and go home.

 

About six months later, they played what I think was their last concert

live, Glastonbury?

Did not go after the Copenhagen experience. Heard reports that it was one of the best gigs they ever done. Bastards.

[Jake123]

Wow, this brings back some memories and a lot of Alcohol (although don’t drink now)

 

Great Concerts

 

1984 Sweethearts Cabramatta 

radiators  ? But have slight recollection of Jimmy Barnes singing

a couple of songs. But it was a big night.

 

1985 ?  Sydney EC.

Uncanny x men, mondo rock, INXS 

 

1986 Sydney EC 

Ronnie James Dio

1989 Sydney EC

U2

 

1989 Some pub in Sydney 

Tism

1989 Sydney EC

Bon Jovi

1990 ? Sydney EC

Motley Crüe 

 

1995 Sydney EC

Kiss

 

2000ishSydney EC

Kiss 

2008’ish Sydney EC 

ACDC

 

2009 Sydney EC 

‘Iron Maiden 

 

2011’ish

Iron Maiden

 

2011 Hordern Pavillion

The Script
 

2013 Sydney Homebush arena

Motley Crüe & Kiss 

2013 Sydney Homebush arena

Black Sabbath 

 

2017 ? Sydney CG

Coldplay

 

2018 Sydney 

‘the script

2018 Sydney ANZ

Bon Jovi 

 

2018’ish ? Sydney Homebush 

Wiggles 

don’t really recall any bad concerts.

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by Jake123

[April Snow]

Brilliant & wish I could do it all again:

Prince - Welcome 2 Australia 2012 - Brisbane (went to two of those - both shows totally different set lists as he does)

Prince - Piano & A Microphone - Sydney Opera House - 2016

Madonna - The Girlie Show - MCG - 1993 (my first ever concert and what a way to start my concert journey!)

Kylie - Show Girl - the second time round as she had to cancel the tour mid way due to her cancer, this show was her return after her cancer - was beautiful - 2006

 

Excellent:

Celine Dion - Celine - 2018

Kylie - Aphrodite Tour - 2011

Kylie - X tour - 2008

Beyonce - 2011

Adele - 2017

Justin Timberlake - Future Sex Love Show - 2007

Janet Jackson 

My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade - 2007

Madonna - Rebel Heart Tour - 2016 - was a great show but she did not come on stage until after 11pm so I was a little stinky about that, had to go to work the next day so ended up staying up all night as I got home after 3am.

 

Disappointing:

Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape - 2007 - was disappointing as she did not even bring her full stage setup to Australia !!

Pink - I have seen her twice too, but I find the concerts are all too much the same ...........

 

I am sure I have missed some out......................but one thing I know is this, if you love someone and have the chance to see them- DO IT !!

I am so lucky I made the trip to Sydney to see Prince in 2016 - we lost him just two months later ..........................

so many of my friends regret not going and some of them lived in Sydney 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by April Snow

[BuzzzFuzzz]

Remaining in chronological order...

 

Bruce Springsteen 'Born in the USA' tour, Sydney Ent. Cent. 1985.

 

My older brother and his mate had tickets, but my bro had to work and couldn't go.

 

From my earlier post you may gather I was a young Metal Head...  and a purist...  if it wasn't Metal, or Hard Rock, I wasn't listening.

I was in year 12.

 

I was floored by this performance.

It was an eye opener for me... Of course I knew the album, how could I not, but I wasn't expecting such a passionate and consummate musician and performer.

The whole band was 'on fire'.

 

I saw Queen at the same venue, the same year.

 

As I got older and began digging into the roots of Metal, thanks to my year nine teacher, Mr Muldoon, who brought records in for me to take home, I found bands like Queen.

 

A thrilling, spectacular performance...  Sadly one of the last for Freddie.

 

I've seen Joe Jackson twice, also at the Ent. Cent.

Another passionate performer and first class band.

[Hifigoose]

Winners

 

AC/DC -  Stiff Upper Lip tour. A balmy Saturday night in Hobart, Jan 2001. Outdoors at the TCA Ground on top of Hobart’s domain hill. The blokes were in the mosh pit, the wives and kids were back home across the river at Rosny. When we got home after the gig the ladies recited the set list to us, having heard it clear as a bell. My ears stopped ringing the following Thursday.

 

Billy Joel - Madison Square Garden 2018. Playing concert #60-something on the trot in his home town. Amazing performance, zooming around the stage on a 3-wheeled stool. He went to hospital the next day for a hip replacement. I’ll never forget 15000 people singing Piano Man in unison.

 

Losers

 

U2 ~ 2002 Docklands Stadium in Melbourne. Kayne West turned the crowd off before the main act, then the horrendous sound system sealed the deal.

[April Snow]

Oh yeah, forgot I saw Queen this year - you know before that thing call Covid came around !!

Not an Adam Lambert fan, but have to say it was fantastic - I wanted to see Brian May and the "Red Special" at least once in my life. I was too young to go to their concerts when they came to Australia when Freddie was alive.

Edited November 1, 2020 by April Snow