worst show

Pixel Pirate wrote: Guns 'N' Roses were massive because P.T.Barnum was right.

Who?

Petra wrote: The worst show i saw was Loudon Wainwright III back in the early 80's. He came on stage and as he started to sing someone heckled him in the front row, Loudon threw a massive wobbly and stormed off the stage in a huff!  Everyone just sat there amazed.   and he didnt come back either.

Was he supporting the Everly Brother at the Royal Albert Hall that night? Because stemming from  that particular show, LW3 got whisked away so as to be interviewed live on The Old Grey Whistle Test by Whipering Bob Harris (Nice). First question and probably the best put down ever on TV:

"Loudan, why were you so bad tonight?"

I bet that isn't on any of the OGWTT DVDs!

I'm told American folk and blues guitarist/vocalist Kelly Joe Phelps got heckled earlier this year at Leicester's Phoenix Arts Centre, by a fan who turned up to see somebody else (KJP stood in at the last moment) and was really miffed with Phelps as the  stand-in. To Phelps' credit he stood his ground when called an 'inferior musician', and played in the response to the heckling. However, Phelps was definitely affected and it wasn't his best performance for the rest of an appreciative audience.

Did you see Room 101 last night, and the stories about hecklers and put downs. Apparently an American stand up comedian did Birmingham (the English one), thinking that the English audience would be polite as an American one (apparently  US club bouncers are told to turf out hecklers so a comedian can finish his/her act???). This comedian went down badly  and so got heckled. His put down was: "Hey be quiet or you'll taken outside and killed". Hecklerin response : "Mate, Oi'll take me chances, because you're still shet!"

Slash is a blues based heavy rock guitarist,that's all he knows,he can't pick up a classical guitar and play Bach like Steve Hackett can or play flamenco the way Mike Oldfield can. Much like Clapton,Slash is far too limited to be called an amazing guitarist,I'm afraid. It takes a bit more to earn that accolade.

I saw April Wine backed by Angelwitch in the early eighties in Manchester.

Angelwitch were appalling! At one point the bassist threw his bass in the air but couldnt catch it-there was blood everywhere I remember one of the stewards was nearly crying in pain because of how loud they were.

April Wine were very average but the Drum Solo sticks out as a moment of pyrotechnic awfulness.

I also remember Van Halen on their first tour of the UK after their triumphant support slot for Black Sabbath. They played for 70 mins. Just over an hour as the Headline Act!!!That hour included 2 drum solos and two bass solos!

Motorhead in a school gym in Co Meath in 1981 - cobblers!

David Bowie - Slane Castle on the Never Lay Me Down tour 1987 - double cobblers! And i Love Bowie

Bryan Adams - Wembley Stadium 1996 - oh my God, so cabaret. But I was going on holiday with mates and one of them wanted to go to this travesty of music the night before we flew. I spent the whole gig kicking a coke can round, pretending I was playing an FA Cup Final on the hallowed turf.

The Smiths - SFX Dublin 1984. I loved their first few singles went to see them and aside from bits of Johnny Marr's guitar playing they were crap - and they only played for about 45 minutes.

But.... wait for it .... wait for it

Howard Jones - Dublin 1983/4/5? - free tickets, my then girlfriend wanted to go, some baldy blok hopped around the stage wrapped in chains while Howard with his 'mad hair' blithered away with his sub-early depeche mode synth pop. Uttery, utterly hideous.