First Gig/Best Gig/Worst Gig

[Rossman]

Dylan's been shit live for ages. I bought Before The Flood which was his first live album back in 1974. His songs are interlaced with tracks by The Band.  Theirs all sound great and as you would expect. Dylan's just sound like he's made them up as he went along on the day.

Club singer round.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Rossman

[Keith Houchen]

Whenever I hear of Dylan horror stories, I think of Rich Hall. 

 

[Egg Shen]

My first gig was a pearler. Sepultura in Newport in December of 1996. I was 14 at the time and Sepultura were my favorite band. I'm not sure why, but whereas most people in those days tends to lean towards Metallica or Pantera as their gateway band, Sepultura was mine. It helped that I was getting into music around 95/96 and Roots had just came out which just blew my tiny brain at that point. Anyway's, I ended up on the band's mailing list and got a flyer through the post adverting their tour. My parent's got a hold of it before me, saw the Newport date and asked if I'd like to go. I was young enough where I was shocked they'd even consider letting me go to something like that but I couldn't say no. 

So me and 2 mates went, it was one of the best nights of my life up until that point. Just an amazing night, i'd never experienced anything like it. Still going to gigs 26 years later and i'll probably never stop. You never recapture the feeling of those first few shows you attend though, it's some special shit. I remember we sat in the seats of Newport center for the support band Floodgate (brilliant one and done album band), and then we planned on staying there for Sepultura because we were afraid of the crowd. Literally 30 seconds into Roots Bloody Roots were running down the steps and dived into the mix, it was great. Max left Sepultura 5 days after the show too I saw which genuinely upset me at the time.

My new few gigs off the top of my head were: Korn on the Life is Peachy tour, Deftones on Around the Fur, Radiohead on OK Computer and Machine Head on The More Things Change. Not a bad run at all.

What's also nice about the Sepultura show I saw though was that it was filmed for a Headbangers Ball special that aired on MTV, pretty cool to see that first show documented. 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Egg Shen

[theironshake]

My best and worst gig kind of happened on the same night and it was my first gig. I was a weird kid at 14..i was into 50s Rock n Roll (still am) my dad surprised me with tickets to see Fats Domino,Chuck Berry amd Little Richard at the Birmingham NEC. Fats Domino got Pneumonia amd cancelled after the first show. So when i got there it was a double header. Chuck Berry was so awful it defied words. His songs were in the wrong key he seemed to be purposefully pissing off his backing band in a lot of ways like a Dylan gig....But then after a Break Little Richard took to the stage. Sang all of Fats Domino's Hits and pretty much all of his own with a super tight backing band and sounding like he did in 1955 (40 years later) Everything about his performance was perfection. Ive seen loads of amazing gigs in the 28 years since but nothing as good as Richard or as bad as Berry. Still love Chuck Berry's music tho even if he was a total wrong un.

[Panhead]

My first gig was Marilyn Manson at the MEN Arena in 2001. Obviously this is long before we knew what a piece of shit he is. I went with my two best friends. We were 15 at the time and our parents let us skip school that afternoon. My friend's Dad drove us there. It was a proper spectacle with loads of gimmicks. I fucking loved it. We were supposed to be up in the top tier but it was curtained off and we got moved down to the lower tier. My neck was sore for days afterwards from headbanging. 

It's really hard to narrow it down to one show being the best I've ever been to. Me and my sister saw My Chemical Romance at Liverpool University back in 2006. The Black Parade had just come out a few weeks before. Obviously it was incredible seeing them in a small venue, but they were really good.

Ben Folds Five on their reunion tour in Leeds is up there. I never thought I'd get to see them live. The set list was borderline perfect. 

I've seen Slipknot live 11 times and I've genuinely never seen a bad show. Manchester in 2002 and Download 2019 were probably the best. 

Hatchie in Manchester last September was one of those gigs where I was genuinely gutted when it was done. I could've listened to her for hours. 

Honourable mention for Rammstein at Manchester Apollo in 2002. How they got away with all that fire and pyro in there is beyond me.

 

As for worst, again, there's a few that stand out. MGMT at Leeds Academy (Might've been in 2010) was self-indulgent shite. They did Kids as the encore but it was just a backing tape while they danced around, laughing at the audience for thinking they were actually playing it. I'm all for challenging your audience but there's no need to be cruel. 

I've seen System Of A Down twice (Nottingham Arena 2002 and Download 2005) and they were so flat and dull both times. 

I don't want to jump on the bandwagon, but Bob Dylan in Newcastle back in 2002 was just awful. He played for 2 and a half hours and I could only tell what some of the songs were when the backing singers joined in on the choruses. I'm not a huge fan anyway but my friend was. His fans were an odd bunch too. Loads of blokes stood with their arms folded throughout the show. 

[Egg Shen]

On 2/2/2023 at 6:48 PM, LCJ said:

Soundgarden were accused of phoning it in at Download 2012 too. I quite liked their performance but some of my friends didn’t.

I think it's more the nature that they performed, only Ben Shepherd looked like he was giving it some welly on that comeback run. They sounded great when I saw them.

[SuperBacon]

On 2/3/2023 at 12:02 AM, SuperBacon said:

 

It makes me feel better that others have said this as well, as I've always thought that maybe it was just the gig I went to, or me.

I went with a Dylan superfan (a nice fan, not one of the hundreds of arseholes that surrounded us) and he was nearly in tears at how bad it was.

 

51 minutes ago, Panhead said:

I don't want to jump on the bandwagon, but Bob Dylan in Newcastle back in 2002 was just awful. He played for 2 and a half hours and I could only tell what some of the songs were when the backing singers joined in on the choruses. I'm not a huge fan anyway but my friend was. His fans were an odd bunch too. Loads of blokes stood with their arms folded throughout the show. 

*Alexa, play Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional*

[Jesse]

My first gig was David Essex, god knows when. My mum took me to it as she was a massive fan - I don't recall anything about it. The first one I can remember going to is Westlife, hardly my proudest moment but I didn't discover anything that wasn't pop until I was 15 so that's my excuse.

My absolute best gig was seeing Dessa at Oslo Hackney. She's been one of my favourite artists for years and getting to see her in a tiny venue just feet away gave the whole night a really intense energy that I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate. Fantastic night, also bettered because she reached out to thank me afterwards for sharing all her gig posts on Twitter, vindicating my parasocial relationship.

Don't know as I've ever witnessed a truly terrible gig. I've been to a lot of unmemorable ones (see above) so in true UKFF fashion I'll share an embarassing gig story instead.
In my late teens I go to see a local band, and while they're playing I meet and get on with a lovely girl whose name is lost to time. We engage in what I am old enough to refer to as heavy petting, and I think maybe I can convince her to come back to mine - but as the band winds up she says she has to go and ditches me. Consoling me in my sadness afterwards, a mutual acquaintance lets me know I had been cracking on with the bassist's girlfriend.

Nothing too memorable, but as a 19 year old who'd only ever had one long-distance girlfriend (met in an anime chatroom) it was a highlight of my teenage years. A year or so later, I start working at a local supermarket and in an attempt to seem like I wasn't a mouthbreather who watched wrestling in his spare time, I share the story of that night in the hopes they'll think I'm 'one of the lads'. Unfortunately, my direct boss at the time turns out to have a side gig as the bassist in the band I had been watching that night so my attempt to fit in instead got me stuck with a year of working Sundays until I switched departments.

[SuperBacon]

Confirming that all bassists are the worst.

[Fatty Facesitter]

First gig
Motorhead at the UEA in 2008. Supported by Danko Jones and, most pleasingly, Saxon. Great one to tick off for a first time and glad I got to see Lemmy before he kicked the bucket. 

Best gig
If you'll accept a festival entry - AC/DC at Download 2010 was a brilliant experience. It was absolutely rammed and I was bouncing around like a sardine for most of it - but all in good spirit. Angus - looking even then like he was in his 90's, performed with all the enthusiasm of a dog chasing a tennis ball. My ears were ringing for about a week afterwards. 

Worst gig
Fozzy in either Norwich or London - been twice and both times the audio was pants. Could barely hear Jericho's vocals...some might argue that's for the best anyway. Another one that springs to mind would be the first College gig organised by the music department during my formative years. All of the other 'creative' courses were encouraged to attend to show support. The first couple of bands were awful. The third band, firmly embracing themselves in a dominant sub-culture of the time, burst onto the stage and bellowed "ARE YOU HAVING AN EMO-TASTIC TIME?!"...After which a group of us immediately left and went to the pub instead. 

 

 

[Egg Shen]

4 hours ago, Fatty Facesitter said:

"ARE YOU HAVING AN EMO-TASTIC TIME?!"...After which a group of us immediately left and went to the pub instead. 

 

 

you made the right decision

[pitseleh]

I've went down a Dylan live rabbit hole since reading this thread and eh...

Incredible. 

[SuperBacon]

[Rockbus2]

Neil Young is one of my favourite live performers so I went to him and Bob Dylan in Hyde Park that year. So happy that Neil Young went on first so I could leave 20 minutes into Dylan's dirge and not waste two hours of my life.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

On 2/5/2023 at 10:37 AM, Fatty Facesitter said:

Best gig
If you'll accept a festival entry - AC/DC at Download 2010 was a brilliant experience. It was absolutely rammed and I was bouncing around like a sardine for most of it - but all in good spirit. Angus - looking even then like he was in his 90's, performed with all the enthusiasm of a dog chasing a tennis ball. My ears were ringing for about a week afterwards. 

I was at this and was grinning from ear to ear for the entire time. Wonderful stuff.

I think about this a lot. There was a bit where Brian Johnston said "get them out if you've got them, girls!" and loads of women complied without so much as a second thought. Imagine any other scenario where a little middle aged geordie guy in a flat cap was like "get them oot like" and I cant imagine it would go down quite as well.