By Andrew Bansal
This is a list-based article I simply had to write, because I strongly feel that nobody should be paying money to watch a mediocre show, and bands that put on a bad show deserve flack for it. You might ask, why am I not making a worst albums list? Because as it is, not many people buy albums, so it’s kind of pointless to write about albums that nobody should buy. But people do go to shows and spend their money on tickets. It was actually pretty easy for me to come up with this list, because fortunately most of the shows I went to this year turned out to be good experiences, so there weren’t many bad shows at all. The only bit of ‘work’ involved was in putting these select few bad ones in order of 1 to 10.
Just to clarify, I do not hate any of these bands, and this list is purely based on what they did the night of their respective shows. Besides the actual performance of the songs, I have also considered the quality of the set lists and the ticket price in deciding my order. I haven’t considered each and every band I’ve seen this year, and have restricted my pool of choices to the headline bands and main support acts that played for 45 minutes or longer. People going to shows essentially pay to watch the headliner, not the first or second opener, but if the main support act plays a long set and is bad, that makes it a little painful to wait for the headline act to hit the stage. And the reason for making this list today on the 9th of December? I am more than confident that none of the 11 shows I have coming up this month are going to break into this top 10, so I didn’t want to wait any longer. Here it is, in order of #10 to #1, the worst live performances of 2011. I hope you find it an entertaining read, and do not get offended if your favorite band is featured here.
#10. Metallica – Apr. 23rd, Empire Polo Fields, Indio CA: This was supposed to be a special occasion. The only Big Four show on the US West Coast. But Metallica did nothing to make it special. Easily the worst Metallica show I’ve ever seen. The song selection was nothing out of the ordinary, except for “Orion”. Lars and Kirk sounded horrible. James’ vocals were cringeworthy. Add to that the ticket prices starting at $100, plus traveling expenses to make a trip to Indio, and what you get is a total rip-off. If not for “Orion”, this would have been in my top 3. I love Metallica to death. But this was just bad.
#9. Mastodon – Nov. 1st, The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA: I’m not a fan of the new Mastodon album, but I like their music in general. In 2010, I saw them at the Fox Theatre. Their music wasn’t translating at all in the live setting. After 7 songs, I left the venue and breathed a sigh of relief. This year, I walked out after 5 songs. They did nothing that could hold my attention. Once again, I don’t hate their music, but they’re just a horrible live band. To be fair to them, I was already disgusted and depressed after watching the main support band The Dillinger Escape Plan’s set, so that might have contributed to me not being in the right spirit for the Mastodon set. And that’s why this isn’t higher than #9.
#8. Adler’s Appetite – Jul. 16th, Key Club, Hollywood CA: It was cool to see Steven Adler play Guns ‘N Roses songs, but his backing band was simply not up to the mark. Their performance was weak, and their stage presence was ridiculously over the top. Unless you were drunk out of your mind at this show, I don’t see how you could have enjoyed yourself during this set.
#7. Stone Sour – Feb. 15th, House Of Blues, Anaheim CA: I’ve never been a fan of singers that talk too much between songs, unless their name is Bruce Dickinson. This is where Corey Taylor failed at this Stone Sour show. Their set technically lasted for 75 minutes, but there wasn’t more than 50 minutes of actual music played. In addition, he tried to pull off stupid dance moves on stage and even asked the crowd to start a “wall of dance”. Sorry, but no. During the course of this year, Corey redeemed himself with his performances at the Golden Gods, the solo show, and the recent charity all-star jam, all of which turned me into a fan of his. But still, this Stone Sour show was not great.
#6. Buckcherry – Jan. 21st, The Grove, Anaheim CA: This was bad mainly due to the song selection. The set overall was too mellow, and consisted of too many of the slow, poppy songs. May be that’s what their crowd likes, but it certainly didn’t make for a high-energy show, which they are very well capable of.
#5. Deicide – Mar. 8th, Key Club, Hollywood CA: I enjoyed their latest album and most of their previous albums, and was really looking forward to this show, having never seen the band live before this. But their performance completely lacked venom, and was extremely weak. They seemed to just go through the motions and didn’t really create a strong enough sound up there on stage. I was disappointed, because I expected a lot better. I definitely won’t blame the venue’s sound for this either, because the Key Club is a great-sounding venue. They are coming back in March of 2012, and I’ll still go to the show in the hope of better things from them.
#4. Cradle Of Filth – Feb. 5th, Fox Theatre, Pomona CA: For all the symphonic elements they use in the music, and the gothic imagery they employ in their artwork and lyrical themes, Cradle Of Filth’s live show was pretty half-hearted. There was nothing in the name of stage production, and Dani Filth’s vocals were not up to the mark. The song selection was also not great. Paul Allender on guitar and Caroline Campbell on keyboards and backing vocals were the only saving grace here.
#3. Mayhem – Nov. 27th, House Of Blues, Hollywood CA: This was another band I was eagerly anticipating, but alas, they turned out to be a damp squib. The stage production, a big part of Mayhem shows, was minimal at this particular show. They hit the stage 30 minutes later than scheduled. Even though the set list had 15 songs in it, they played only 11, walked off the stage, and did not come back out for an encore. The 11 songs they did play weren’t creating any kind of impact on the meagre crowd either. If I had paid for this show, I would have felt very, very ripped off.
#2. Otep – Nov. 2nd, Key Club, Hollywood CA: Wow. That was the first word that came to my mind as I watched this band and thought about how terrible it was. Otep had no right to be main support for a band like Cavalera Conspiracy in the first place, and during this set, Otep Shamaya realized that this crowd wasn’t digging her performance. She then started treating them with disrespect, which made the crowd hate her even more. All in all, a complete failure of a set, and you won’t see too many worse performances than this.
#1. Black Label Society – Oct. 25th, Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield CA: Where do I start? Even though they were supporting Judas Priest here and weren’t the headline act, two intro tapes were played as they got ready to hit the stage. Not one, but two. A piano intro followed by sirens. It took forever. Then they finally appeared on stage, with Zakk Wylde wearing the worst piece of headgear I have ever seen, a tribal hat of some kind. Totally disregarding the fact that his band was a support act, he played a 10-minute guitar solo, easily the worst solo I have ever seen. It made people leave the concert hall and run for the bathrooms. They did not play “In This River”, did nothing to change up their tempo, and every song was sounding the same. You don’t do a BLS set without playing “In This River”, it’s really as simple as that. The fake biker image did not go down well with me either, and to add further to the agony, Captain Caveman Zakk Wylde kept beating his chest for no reason. I could go on and on, but in short, this was the longest 60 minutes of my life, and the worst performance of 2011. Thank you very much.
As much as I love Mastodon and D.E.P. I kind of have to agree with #9. Mastodon isn’t amazing as a live band, but they still can rock it. Generally the singers get really off key during harmonized vocals. I give them a little credit since they’re generally playing the progressive stuff and singing harmonies simultaneously.
And the fact that Cradle of Filth didn’t par up was hilarious to me.
#10 I was there & Orion was the only Awesome song they played.
#9 Didn’t see this tour saw Black Diamond Skye they were very boring
#8 Saw them at benefit show in April nothing special cool to see Steven play
#7 I was there lame show “we love our fans” but cancel San Diego show day b4
#6 Saw 1st tour show in San Diego Show couple of days before plenty of energy
#5 Wouldn’t waste my time
#4 Had won tix but but due to an auto accident didn’t make it but wasn’t super hyped
#3 Wasn’t worth my time to go
#2 Never liked her & after her part in Eggfest not worth any time .
#1 Saw 2010 show @ Wiltern liked show but too long of solos best “In This River”
Man, you were right on about that Otep performance….they stunk up the joint, not to mention all the “technical difficulties” before that horrible set….I was saying to myself, “we waited all that time for that??” They had no business on that bill.