The worst concert ever

[Deirdre Long]

What's the worst concert you've ever attended, and what made it so bad? Post a picture if you've got one.

[Bob Davis]

1983, Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Roundhouse coliseum on the campus of the University of Tennesee-Chattanooga.
Huey Lewis and the News opening for .38 Special.
It was neither news nor special.

Runner-up:
1992, Dallas, Texas
The Lizard Lounge
The Shamen, U.K. electronic music band playing their "hit" song "Ebeneezer Goode."
The best part: I got paid for reviewing the show.
The worst part: Part of getting paid included actually sitting through the bad's entire set.

[Brandon Wynn]

A few of my friends and I went to Atlanta's Music Midtown in '97. I bore witness to what would be the low point in all of my live musical experiences: Barenaked Ladies.

While I was not a fan beforehand or had any real inclination to catch them that day, they were playing right before the Squirrel Nut Zippers, who I wanted to see.

We were pretty close to the stage but we ended up giving up our spot because the Barenaked Ladies were so horrendous. The music was flat and uninspired and just sounded awful (muddy, off key). It was too much to handle so we decided to head over to another stage ... can't even remember where we went at that point.

We never even got remotely close to the stage when SNZ finally came on. The crowd was a sea of humanity in which everyone was seemingly trying to walk in a different direction at once resulting in the worst cluster**** I've ever been associated with. It was only after that when Music Midtown organizers recognized they had poorly planned the thing and it greatly improved after that year.

[Buck McPherson]

1985 or '86, Omni Coliseum, Atlanta, Ga.
Roger Waters, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking Tour
Waters was so obviously lip-syncing that people, including myself, walked out in the middle of the show.

[Michael Bell]

Wearing a poncho and getting pelted with rain, waiting for Radiohead to take the stage in Bull Run, Va. It was May 2001, and I had never seen the band, my favorite. Had tickets to their back-to-back shows. But both were canceled because of rains and heavy flooding. Two years later, though, I was on my way back to the D.C. area for a Radiohead show and saw a random car pass by me, a passenger holding a sign that read "Remember Bull Run." I got chills.

[Deirdre Long]

I took a friend of mine to Asheville, N.C. to see Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard in May 2006. It was my first (and only) Dylan show, and I can't say I was impressed. The crowd was somber, and all he did was hit a few notes on the keyboard and play his harmonica. It wasn't horrible, just boring -- not what I expected from such a legend. But hey, it's Dylan. He could take a crap on a record and it would still sell.

Merle really saved the day though. He opened the show, and for a (then) 69-year-old he was jumping around the stage and rocking out like he was 21. He played his classics, too, like "Working Man Blues" and "Okie from Muskogee." I would definitely see Merle again.

[Benny Kelly]

Tha Hag has always been one of my favorites, sure hope he has many more years to perform!

[Katrina]

April 9, 2003, Kings of Leon, The Nick - Birmingham, AL

Honestly, Kings of Leon were great...what made this so bad was the venue! The Nick is super small and the crowd literally poured out of the tiny venue. Going to the bathroom was a nightmare, getting a drink was a nightmare, very smoky...and I'm allergic to cigarette smoke. I guess this is more of a rant to The Nick as a concert venue than anything else...I've been to plenty smaller, intimate type shows but this was ridiculous. Despite the amazing band, I had to leave in the middle of the show because I was so miserable. Haven't been back to The Nick since!

[dusty fraser]

tone loc and expos'e at pete mathews collesium in J'ville around' 89 or 90. Tone loc comes down with larengitis and no shows. Watching expos'e at age 16 with a crowd of pissed off college kids is far from entertaining. atleast it only cost a few bucks to get in