I loved CSNY 2001 with "Duck Dunn" and Booker T. It was great to hear Neil play and sing on CSN and CN tunes he didn't originally play on. It was amazing to hear the CSN harmonies on Neil solo tunes. Great nearly 3 hour night of music.

They returned about 6 years later in support of Neil's album that basically said "GW Bush is a Nazi" with screens in the back spelling out politics......I skipped.

I loved CSNY 2001 with "Duck Dunn" and Booker T. It was great to hear Neil play and sing on CSN and CN tunes he didn't originally play on. It was amazing to hear the CSN harmonies on Neil solo tunes. Great nearly 3 hour night of music.

They returned about 6 years later in support of Neil's album that basically said "GW Bush is a Nazi" with screens in the back spelling out politics......I skipped.

Can't take the politics with artist anymore. Saw Alan Cumming and he sange 5 minutes for every 10 he pontificated. Imagine if Roger Federer was starting to serve and stopped mid motion; grabbed a mike and called for there to be more Croatian tennis players. Its all out of hand.

Think the NFL came up with the perfect solution. You don't have to pledge; but you can't protest on the field. Imagine how long we would last if we protested at work?

Paul McCartney a couple years ago. We left about 6 songs in. Since then, my wife and I still can't see something about him on television and not say the word "cheesecake"

Only Allmans show that has ever left me bitter was a couple years back when they toured with Widespread Panic. The show was supposed to be outside on the river (in Nashville) but rain forced it inside to a terrible basketball gym/auditorium and the sound was just awful. Not really the band's fault. The Allman's actually opened; and being the sound was a wall of mud, you can imagine how muddy Panic sounded after the Allmans. Only Panic show I ever left early to my recollection....

Aerosmith Springfield civic center late 70's band was beyond awful. They played about 40 minutes and home town crowd (Boston based) basically boo'd them off stage. All band members were totally wasted.

My son and I caught Greendale tour, he loved it. I didn't but Neil & Crazy Horse redeemed themselves with an amazing 45 minutes of blazing classic rock to end the event. Lucinda Williams kicked a$$ to start the show.

My son and I caught Greendale tour, he loved it. I didn't but Neil & Crazy Horse redeemed themselves with an amazing 45 minutes of blazing classic rock to end the event. Lucinda Williams kicked a$$ to start the show.

My problem with the "classic" ending at Jones Beach was that it felt slapped together to please the hungry wolves at the door. Was not a flowing concert (As David Bromberg always says when the audience makes requests: "You know what you want to hear but you don't know shit about putting together a set list")

I loved CSNY 2001 with "Duck Dunn" and Booker T. It was great to hear Neil play and sing on CSN and CN tunes he didn't originally play on. It was amazing to hear the CSN harmonies on Neil solo tunes. Great nearly 3 hour night of music.

They returned about 6 years later in support of Neil's album that basically said "GW Bush is a Nazi" with screens in the back spelling out politics......I skipped.

Can't take the politics with artist anymore. Saw Alan Cumming and he sange 5 minutes for every 10 he pontificated. Imagine if Roger Federer was starting to serve and stopped mid motion; grabbed a mike and called for there to be more Croatian tennis players. Its all out of hand.

Think the NFL came up with the perfect solution. You don't have to pledge; but you can't protest on the field. Imagine how long we would last if we protested at work?

+1

I saw ZZ Top in 2016 cheese it.up in Atlanta. They were going thru the motions! Caught David Lee Roided Roth’ out with fake hair and gold jumpsuit play at music midtown in Atlanta . It was circuis like !

I saw ZZ Top in 2016 cheese it.up in Atlanta. They were going thru the motions! Caught David Lee Roided Roth’ out with fake hair and gold jumpsuit play at music midtown in Atlanta . It was circuis like !

haha that's funny. Sorry to hear that ZZ Top just basically go through the motions now. I'm not a van halen fan at all, but I'm not surprised that screaming closet queen David Lee Roth takes steroids and wears a gold jumpsuit.

most recent was Dickey set at The Beacon. The show started off with the too short Devon and Duane 3 song set . Dreams and Multicolored Lady were outstanding and the crowd definitely showed their appreciation. There clearly was a Beacon buzz in the air. Doug Gray of Marshall Tucker managed to destroy the buzz as soon as he said hello to the crowd . Still the other Tucker players overcame Doug's disheartening interruptions and pulled off a satisfying set.
Dickey didn't hit the stage till around 10:30 after some lengthy technical issues with Mike's gear ( Isn't that what sound check is for? ) . Pedro finally joined the band and picked up his bass several minutes after the rest of the band ( what the heck was he doing?) . The idea of a Hot Lanta opening was brilliant in concept only. Sloppy play, missed cues , shitty Dickey notes and the beginning of what ended being a very disappointing set for The Dickey Bett's Band.

Dickey and crew made up for The Beacon set with a very satisfying appearance at Peachfest the following Sunday . The only disappointment was the lack of any Brother collaborations with Dickey, Oteill and Warren all on site on the same day . A nice Southbound at the end of Dickey's set with Warren and Oteill joining in would have been the appropriate finish to Dickey's fine set. Mike Kach has raised his level to the point where you look forward to anything he does on the stage. His vocals and keyboard work were outstanding.

Why did Duane and Devon play only 3 songs at the Beacon? I understand that two other bands were playing that night, and that it takes time to set up and take down the stage/equipment for them, and Duane was playing with his dad's band as well, but why only 3 songs?

I agree with you about Peach Fest. I am not surprised Oteil, Jaimoe, and Warren did not play with Dickey.

I love the Allmans and Dickey's music as I literally grew up with it as my mom is a fan of them and took me to my first show as a teenager back when Dickey was still in the band; but I'm really glad I did not go to the Beacon or Peach fest, as I was fine hearing Dickey's music from peach fest on youtube.

'Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Good night!'-Johnny Rotten

Pretty standard for 3 band show is 30min/45min/90min. They played long songs so only three in the half hr

Curved Air, at Leeds Town Hall, in the 70’s walked out after around 20 minutes truly awful, however the support band, Climax Blues Band, were excellent.

I saw Neil Young and the Blue Notes way back when. Really disappointed, but I should have known better because it was advertised as such. Another time I saw Neil, he played for only 90 minutes. Really disappointed. His reasoning was that there was two opening acts. Not what I paid my money for. I've seen him a bunch of other times and loved the shows.

Saw Judy Collins when she was into her "Whale Noise" period. We all struggled to stay awake. Encore was "Both Sides Now." The audience was awake for a brief moment and clapped along - she put her hands up to stop the clapping. YIKES

Indigenous show in a smallish bar. Their volume was turned up so loud that even with earplugs, my ears were ringing for about another 24 hours. It was loud enough for an outdoor stadium. Decided right then that I'd never go to another one of their shows and I have passed on numerous ones that were close by.

I saw ZZ Top in 2016 cheese it.up in Atlanta. They were going thru the motions! Caught David Lee Roided Roth’ out with fake hair and gold jumpsuit play at music midtown in Atlanta . It was circuis like !

haha that's funny. Sorry to hear that ZZ Top just basically go through the motions now. I'm not a van halen fan at all, but I'm not surprised that screaming closet queen David Lee Roth takes steroids and wears a gold jumpsuit.

I've seen ZZ Top twice in the last two years, they certainly DON'T "go through the motions".

The co-bill with John Fogerty this year was excellent.

Cheap Trick opening for Aerosmith a few years ago in Wichita. Aerosmith was fantastic but Cheap Trick is hands down the worst show i've ever seen. The guy with the 5 neck guitar...I swear one of the necks was broken off. I do have a theory though about opening acts at arena shows: I think the energy of the crowd has a lot to do with the opener sounding bad, or if it isn't "bad" i'm just not feeling it at all, and I think it's the apathy of the crowd that brings down the collective energy of the place. For example, I saw Roger Daltrey open for Clapton once and although the set was great, I wasn't really having a good time listening to it. And last year I had 6th row for Tom Petty and Joe Walsh opened and the same thing happened. Even in the 6th row on the floor and Joe right there in front of me, I just couldn't get in to it. It's the collective consciousness.

Widespread Panic. I LOVE Jimmy Herring and my 2000 Allmans show in Bonner Springs, KS is one of the concert highlights of my life. They fulfilled one of my dreams that show, opening with Les Brers (scanning the set lists that summer, they only did that twice. Thank you ABB for doing that. It's the best opener!) Also, one of my favorite CD's is Jazz is Dead Great Sky River. So because of all that, I gave Panic a few chances, even making it up to the front row the last time I saw them, on Jimmy's side, a few years ago at Starlight Theater in KC. The band didn't say a word to the crowd and even in the front row, it felt like they were over "there" playing their songs and we were over "here" disconnected to the whole thing. It feels like they don't let Jimmy do what he can do and the music holds him back from his potential. I left completely bummed out and unfulfilled and that was the last Panic show for me. If front row can't do it, nothing will. One of the best shows I ever saw was my one and only time seeing Panic with Micheal Houser, at the first Bonnaroo.

[Edited on 8/8/2018 by Joe_the_Lurker]

I loved CSNY 2001 with "Duck Dunn" and Booker T. It was great to hear Neil play and sing on CSN and CN tunes he didn't originally play on. It was amazing to hear the CSN harmonies on Neil solo tunes. Great nearly 3 hour night of music.

They returned about 6 years later in support of Neil's album that basically said "GW Bush is a Nazi" with screens in the back spelling out politics......I skipped.

Can't take the politics with artist anymore. Saw Alan Cumming and he sange 5 minutes for every 10 he pontificated. Imagine if Roger Federer was starting to serve and stopped mid motion; grabbed a mike and called for there to be more Croatian tennis players. Its all out of hand.

Think the NFL came up with the perfect solution. You don't have to pledge; but you can't protest on the field. Imagine how long we would last if we protested at work?

Take politics out of music from 1962-1975. You'd certainly have to remove some of the most famous songs of all time.

No Joe Hill, no Woody Guthrie. No Woody Guthrie, no Bob Dylan.

Pete Seeger? Edwin Starr? Country Joe and The Fish? Hendrix? Phil Ochs? Joan Baez? Marvin Gaye?

Politics and popular music have a rich history together. Can't separate the two.

Politics and popular music have a rich history together. Can't separate the two.

Perhaps if you go back you are probably correct. It was like that back then. But times change.

Think about this; if you pay your $$$ for a musical event and a political diatribe breaks out, why did you pay your money for the concert to begin with?

Some artists have a soapbox to stand on and they use it. Pretty sad if you ask me.

Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.

 

Politics and popular music have a rich history together. Can't separate the two.

Perhaps if you go back you are probably correct. It was like that back then. But times change.

Think about this; if you pay your $$$ for a musical event and a political diatribe breaks out, why did you pay your money for the concert to begin with?

Some artists have a soapbox to stand on and they use it. Pretty sad if you ask me.

Depends on who the artist is, but even then, it doesn't bother me. Art has been commenting on the society around it since there's been art.

I've seen Roger Waters twice. Pretty much his whole career his music and message has come from a place where his father was killed when Roger was a baby and ever since he's written and sung material that is very political and very anti-war, so, if there's political messages in the show, I'm not surprised.

Carlos Santana usually comments on his faith. Rage Against the Machine is political by design, there's certainly others.

Everyone's different. I don't look at musicians as paid organ grinder monkeys that must put on a show to fit my exact likes and dislikes. I've never understood why entertainers must adhere to a strict rule of no social awareness.

 

I have no problem with the contact of anyones music; its the 20 minute tirades re: politics between the songs.

Have to agree with Buzzy on the Van Halen Music Midtown show in Atlanta on their last tour. Roth can't sing much any more and he refuses to go with the melody. That's an ok approach some of the time, but not every.single.song.

And the music was muddy with tons of kick drum. Every song sounded like the drums from Hot for Teacher.

What made it worse is that I took my 13 year old boy and it was his first rock concert.

PS....(Maybe) I"m amazed anyone would say McCartney was the most disappointing show they saw. Mac & his killer band (together now for 17 years) have been tremendous to the two times I saw them (2009, 2017)

I would include the following under disappointing; due to high expectations.

Neil Young's Greendale tour was a love it or hate it phenomenon for most. Later for me. About 10K people at Jones Beach were waiting for the classics; mouths agape like when they sing "Springtime for Hitler" in the Producers. The 4 or 5 songs from the old stuff played for an encore couldn't revive a very catatonic audience.

(btw Neil was also responsible for two of my top ten memorable concerts)

I caught his Greendale tour at Radio City and was on the "loved it" side of the fence. But it didn't take long to realize there were many who didn't. Neil even told someone he was free to leave if he didn't like it. At least the "haters" got a 3+ hour show where the entire second set and encore Neil & Crazy Horse torched the place with many classics.

This is a great thread, because our musical heros can't always live up to our expectations. Having said that, when you go to a show, there is a resonable expectation that you are going to hear something that you are familiar with. Having said that, I apparently picked the wrong time for me to see Neil Young, he played whatever he wanted and couldn't care less about playing songs anyone knew. I get it that he's entitled to play what he wants and that he doesn't have to cater to the masses, however, when you go hoping to see a few songs that you might be familiar with, then you could possibly be dissapointed.

Easily The Sex Pistols, reunion tour. They played for about 45 minutes. Looked and acted like they wanted to be somewhere else. Sound was just white noise.

Dropkick Murphys opened. At the time I hadn't heard of them. They played a killer close to 2 hour set. Had to extend because the Reverand Horton Heat didn't show up.

Can't really go by me I was at the Brother's show that was released as "Live at Great Woods." I had a miserable time at that show. Not related to the music, just could not get into it, too many distractions.

I have no problem with the contact of anyones music; its the 20 minute tirades re: politics between the songs.

BINGO

Agree 100% but my limit is about 10 seconds. If I didn't hate politicians so much I might have more tolerance. They're a bunch of pimps in suits & ties.

I saw Pat Benatar/Cheap Trick a few years ago just to celebrate a friend's 50th. Pat nailed it. She still has her pipes and her band was tight. Cheap Trick stunk. We left sometime in the middle.

Sheryl Crow-just awful,amateurish show-she’s good for a 3 minute pop song on tv but live...ugh.Her guitar player was terrible too.
Greendale-a waste of an evening-I love Neil but this was a mistake on my part...I shoulda guessed.
Matisyahu-also a big mistake.
Allmans-in 80 I think...so loud and so bad-I recall synthesizer music? Walked out...last time
I listened to them till 89-I’d just had enough but 79-80 was awful. when Dreams came out in 89 I reconnected.

I would include the following under disappointing; due to high expectations.

Neil Young's Greendale tour was a love it or hate it phenomenon for most. Later for me. About 10K people at Jones Beach were waiting for the classics; mouths agape like when they sing "Springtime for Hitler" in the Producers. The 4 or 5 songs from the old stuff played for an encore couldn't revive a very catatonic audience.

(btw Neil was also responsible for two of my top ten memorable concerts)

I caught his Greendale tour at Radio City and was on the "loved it" side of the fence. But it didn't take long to realize there were many who didn't. Neil even told someone he was free to leave if he didn't like it. At least the "haters" got a 3+ hour show where the entire second set and encore Neil & Crazy Horse torched the place with many classics.

This is a great thread, because our musical heros can't always live up to our expectations. Having said that, when you go to a show, there is a resonable expectation that you are going to hear something that you are familiar with. Having said that, I apparently picked the wrong time for me to see Neil Young, he played whatever he wanted and couldn't care less about playing songs anyone knew. I get it that he's entitled to play what he wants and that he doesn't have to cater to the masses, however, when you go hoping to see a few songs that you might be familiar with, then you could possibly be dissapointed.

Yeah, Neil marches to the beat of his own drum. That's for sure. As I have opined, I like it. Greendale was weird but I had a good time seeing it for instance.

Here's a thought; some of these artists are huge and probably don't really have to appeal to the masses. Can do whatever they want. I think it would suck to have to do the same song every night for 30 or 40 years.

But I get that if you only see the performer every few years (if ever), you want to hear what you know. For instance, I saw Steve Miller and Peter Frampton two months ago. Frampton did two Humble Pie songs. Other than those, I knew every song the whole night. Even Miller's cheesy Abracadabarra thing.

Years ago I saw Miller and he didn't have an opener. Played two sets for 2.5 hours or so and he had to dig deep. People were pissed. I loved. Played stuff from before I was even born.

I've seen Steve Miller 3 times I think. One of those was that 25th anniversary tour in 1994 with no opener where he did the 2.5 hour show and played a number of songs from from pre-1974 including some blues stuff. I don't recall a negative crowd reaction as he also played the mid 70s hits to satisfy the masses. It was indeed a great show.

Ga Tech basketball coliseum used to host concerts and the sound was always bad. One of my 10 Cheap Trick shows was there and the sound system was indeed terrible. I was a student so we still had a blast partying it up.

Another where I was very disappointed was the first time I saw Ryan Adams. He's known to be loud. The Tabernacle in Atlanta had just changed sound systems around 2006. His sound was loud and the mix was really bad. He did a 2+ hour show with a great setlist heavy on his first two albums plus Cold Roses and had a strong band in the Cardinals. I brought a friend who hasn't given Ryan Adams a chance since then. The next 2 times I saw him he was 15-20% too loud but it still sounded good. The last time was at a Festival where it was a perfect 60 minute set with superb sound. Still wish I could get that first one back as it was the ideal tour.

Just this past weekend my girlfriend and I drove out to San Diego to see Hall & Oates (Train opened) and at a different venue "Toto"...The Hall and Oates performance was very disappointing for a couple of reasons, first, I have never been a big fan ( aside from a couple of songs here and there) and secondly they were literally run over by a "Train". Where do I start?.. Train opened and to my surprise, these guys were pretty entertaining, covering a nice version of Zep's "Black Dog". being interactive with the crowd and putting on a show that featured a nice mix of the familiar with a touch of Vegas showmanship thrown in. The sound was bright and clear and overall quite fun. Hall and Oates followed and the mix was awful, so much bass that almost every other instrument was almost drowned out. Vocals were difficult to hear (and we had good+ seats) and whenever Daryl Hall addressed the crowd it was to sell his TV show. Mr Oates is almost invisible during the performance not only because of his meager contributions vocally and instrumentally, but dude is incredibly small as well. Slow ballads had long drawn out, aggressive guitar solos and the crowd was siting on their hands until the singer from Train was brought out to sing a "duet" with Hall that made the audience scream, not because of the tune, but solely because someone with a pulse had re-emerged, When Pat left the stage, the band kicked into "Rich Girl" which was amongst many songs that just well, showed their age. The band walked off and returned for a nice rendition of "You make my dreams come true" and mercifully, it was over.