I saw Less Than Jake with Yellowcard and Fallout Boy. Enough said.

i can only think now of the bad ones i found funny (i managed to forget the others):

bruce dickinson;
the mission (none of these two need any comment);
and john cale (promotional gig, he repeated songs because he said he wasn't being fair to the guitar player's abilities while performing stupid choreographies dressed like a member of offspring).

by the way,i was one of the lucky ones who saw an amazingly good concert by catpower

Loyd Cole and the Commotions... the name speaks volumes, they were shite!

Need I say more?

I was hoodwinked into seeing a band called "the Old 97's" -I was told they would be really twangy country, and i figured with the Johnny Cash refference in thier band name they might be ok... I ...was...dead...wrong.

This was the most vapid, unimaginative shit i had ever heard. But hey guys, they did smile alot, and gosh their singer was a cutie!

-w

I saw the 2 worst bands at the same show, opening for the Detroit Cobras.

Peelander Z - I think that's what they were called. All gimmick, no musical ability whatsoever. "Hey! We japanese! We love america and steak!" It was really not funny. Boring, stupid, and horrible.

Electric Six - the lead singer has a really annoying voice, the music is generic, and the goof-rock made me want to hide. Too bad the show was at the Magic Stick so there was nowhere to go to escape this horrible band.

When the Cobras finally played well after midnight, it barely made waiting through those two bands worthwhile.

I played with an all girl band called pussy control. they spent the first part of the evening sitting on the couches with fashion mags and talking about their band's "look."
then they went downstairs and butchered some easy 4/4 verse/chorus/verse songs on their cute instruments. these girls definitely spent at least 30 times more time on thinking about their name and their "look."
I took care of them, though. I threw a babes in toyland record at them and they exploded. now no one has to suffer through their set anymore.

I had the funny experience of seeing Hometown Hero (I don't know if anyone remembers this band or not) play a small 2nd stage for this Weezer concert a few years back.

Being a general admission kinda thing, my brother and I went right to the front of the stage as all of the people came in. The lead singer came out, like a total jackass and started trying to show off to all of the girls with their drop D, 4/4 tired attack which sounds like a bad Helmet meets an even worse Our Lady Peace (to me anyway). The lead singer goes to grab a guitar to play along with one of the songs and his wireless system isnt working so he calls the roadie a piece of shit or something like that and made fun of the guy for the longest time in front of everyone. He was about to get what was coming to him though.

So they go into their big radio hit, eighteen or whatever it was called, and I start chatting with my brother. The lead singer goes to dive into the crowd and catches all of us off guard almost kicking me in the face. We all kinda catch him but push him off at the same time. He ends up kinda falling and now theres a big opening in the middle of the crowd and hes right in the middle. Then this 20 something girl comes up and pulls the lead singers pants down. Boxers and all. hahaha I thought this man was going to die of embarressment right there. He managed to crawl back on stage eventually, but not after lots of shame and heckling. Funniest and the worst show I've ever seen!

A few years ago, my friend's band played at Camden Underworld. They were supporting Spear of Destiny, who were the worst crock of shit I have ever had the misfortune to see.

EXCEPT for (wait for it) The Levellers, who I promise I only went to see so that my girlfriend at the time had someone to go with to watch a bunch of soap-dodging, prancing, faux-folk shitheads skipping to the sounds of fiddles. I never forgave her for that - the sacrifices of love.

Bradley R. Weissenberger wrote:The Polyphonic Spree -- Imagine 25 or so of the most obnoxiously self-obsessed indie dorks dressed up in choir robes on a stage. Had enough? Well, imagine these jokers playing unmelodic, shapeless 15 minute "songs" built around the repetition of a single non-hook. Then imagine these 25 dildoes acting incredibly earnest in that bullshit Age-of-Aquarius sort of way, but simultaneously believing themselves to be very funny and clever, which they were not. Moreover, their lead singer guy man gave me the creepy sense that he felt superior to his audience, like he was pulling one over on everyone. Ah, no.

The movie tunes at my theater job had that song "Light & Day" on it and I thought it was the biggest piece of garbage I have ever heard. This was further exemplified when the corporate schill DJ whoremaster cited some nameless, no doubt mentally deranged, rock critic who claimed: "I lost faith in Rock and Roll, then I met the Polyphonic Spree!" I nearly vomitted.

There have been so many local bands Ive seen over the years that have been horrible. However, I have to say one of the most annoying bands Ive seen live has to have been Umphrey's Mcgee. There's nothing that ticks me off more than musicians smacking the audience across the face with pure technique. Nothing says "Gee I cant really write a good song that people would want to hear and my sound is pretty unoriginal so lets just do scale runs and Eddy Van Halen licks for three hours while stoned neo-hippies drool in amazement." 9 minutes into the first song you're trying hard not to just scream your head off. Its one thing watching Jimmy Page or Hendrix exude pure energy during a 5 minute solo but these guys aren't that. I don't know... What do you guys think of that whole scene?

-R21