hole
isis
ted leo
melt banana
minus the bear

also i can't think of very many shows where i haven't walked out early, the bands i'm listing are the ones where i was really disappointed

q and not u held my interest everytime i saw them

I saw Radiohead when Kid A came out at their big tent thing. It was pretty crap, soul-less and the audience were a bunch of cocks. They were much better recently though.

Metallica were worse than boring. They pissed me off. "Remember, Metallica loves you..." Fuck off.

The Streets. Went down hill after the first album, and the music does not suit a band.

I saw Cat Power in Carrboro last year, and though it wasn't a disaster (no one burped, no one yelled anything vulgar, etc., it was completely limp. Every song, whether on guitar or piano, had the exactly same rhythm. 1-2-1-2-1-2 etc. Considering that she hardly stopped between songs and had a boring guitar tone I had had enough after about an hour and a half. So if you've ever gotten "gypped" at a Cat Power show because it ended hilariously and prematurely, what you got was better than the alternative.

Trail of Dead...good thing they had two drummers, because that was the only entertaining thing about this performance. Conrad Keely apparently thought it would be totally hardcore and wild to create a "barrier" of packing tape across a couple mike stands, no more than 18 inches off the stage, for a drunk Jason Reece to run through and jump into the crowd. Then there was the first-grade "wooo, rock and roll!" stage banter. And, at the end of the show, they invited everyone on to the stage to....stand on the stage and do nothing. I liked Source Tags and Codes, so this was a huge disappointment.


And Tall Dwarfs! If it hadn't been for beer, I would have walked out even before Ash Bowie did.

ruby falls

endofanera wrote:

jason smith wrote:Gray Matter (supposedly from chicago)

Youre kidding, right?

Oops! Sorry. They're called grayarea.
Thanks for noticing the mistake.

melt banana?

WHAT THE CHRIST ARE YOU ON ABOUT?

every time I have seen them they have ripped me a new arsehole.

i was almost painfully underwhelmed when i saw Smog for the first time, in Milwaukee at the Globe a few years back. quite simply, he didn't seem to give a fuck. he was going through the motions at best. and to make matters worse, there were a few hecklers in the audience. it was a lousy time all around. i nearly felt insulted by what a non-experience it was.

Gang of Four in Minneapolis earlier this year was also thoroughly disappointing. i've heard from numerous sources that they were great in Chicago, but the MPLS show was a chore to sit through, especially on a work night. i felt guilty afterwards for having urged my ex-girlfriend to show up, as if she was gonna "miss out bigtime" by not attending. Jon King's "Midnight Oil" gestures hardly helped matters.

Superchunk at the Rave Bar in 1999. it wasn't until i saw them live that i realized for the first time: wow, i really hate Superchunk. what a patently redundant rock band! seriously, i can't believe people eat this shit up. it amazes me how many bands emulate them, and furthermore, how cocky they are for having such an entirely limited range. pure crap.

The Fall at the Empty Bottle a little while back. not a bad show, exactly, but hardly something to write home about. halfway through their set i started playing Millipede or Centipede or whatever that game is that's tucked away near the restrooms. and i don't even like video games! i was just looking for something to do while everybody was enthralled with Mark E. and his "hip priest" schtick. yeah, we get it: you're old and still rockin', but i'll be damned if i'm gonna hang on your every word, especially amdist such stock music.

Henry Grimes at Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee. not a bad show at all, really, but one thirty minute set of free jazz solo bass playing was enough for me. i know he's a legend, and he was missing in action for years, and it was heart warming to see an old great still alive and kicking, but as soon as my buddy Jon showed up, i was more than happy to leave the show halfway through and grab a beer.

Shellac
Big Black
Rapeman





Ha ha! Just kidding! Sorry Steve. Never saw any of them live, although Im sure they rock(ed)!

Anyway, I find that a good deal of the bands some of you have mentioned "brought it" quite abundantly to me.

Surely many of you are performers in your own right as am I and we all should recognize (at least vaguely) that some nights we really have it and other nights we, well, we just don't "bring it".

BTW, I saw Pixies reunion tour and was right up in front of the stage, and oh yeah, they brought it! All 10 tons of it!

Sock OR Muffin? wrote:Neko Case

Jesus, what a letdown.

This saddens me, i have seen her 3 times and while not blown away at all of 'em. It certainly wasn't a letdown.

She did blow me away when she played with the Sadies as her backing band.