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Your Top Live Music Experiences By Venue


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Oh worst outdoor gig ever... Hands down winner for that one... Stone Roses at Spike Island

Anyone that says it was a brilliant gig either wasn't there or was out of their mind on hallucinogens.

Yes, I know it's THE legendary SR gig but trust me as someone who was actually there and straight (working at gig) it was absolutely awful. Sound shite, band shite, facilities shite and a very naughty atmosphere.

Possibly the most over hyped gig ever

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1. Bar - Half venue / half bar - Death From Above 1979 supported by The Fever, Bar Academy, Brum, 2005

2. Nightclub - This is a special entry for the nightclub category because they played a normal gig, then when the nightclub opened after they played another gig as part of the club night at around 1am - Los Campesinos!, The Cockpit, Leeds, 2011

3. Outdoor - The National, Piazza Castello, Ferrara, Italy, 2014 or Arcade Fire, BST Hyde Park, 2014

4. Arena - Could pick The National again at the O2, 2014 but I'll go for Frank Turner supported by Flogging Molly and Beans on Toast at Manchester Arena, 2014

5. Stadium - This may be the only one in the category but it was brilliant - Bruce Springsteen, Etihad Stadium, 2012

6. Concert Hall - Has hall in the name so I guess it counts - Biffy Clyro (just released they're last good album) supported by Hell is for Heroes - Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, 2005

7. University/College - Might be cheating as it's part of the academy complex but it is under the Student's Union - Electric Six, Club Academy, Manc, 2013 (They play this every December it seems)

8. Festival - Too many to single out so I'll pick a few more recent ones - LCD Soundsystem / New Order, Glastonbury 2016

9. "Venue" - Bright Eyes or Beirut, both Manchester Academy, 2011

10. Theatre - Can't think of anything else, was great, half play / half concert - Paul Heaton & Friends, "The 8th", Salford Lowry, 2012

11. Church / Cathedral - Mystery Jets, Manchester Cathedral, 2010

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Club gig - Ozric Tentacles at the Limelight NY in 94.

Just thought it was a nice little venue when we arrived.

Then we realised it was labyrinthine and larger than we suspected.

Very much larger, decadent as f***, crawling with lunatics with lots of things coming in vials.

It was run by Michael Alig, his Wiki entry is interesting. Not long after we left he casually murdered one of his friends. They made a film about him called 'Party Monster'.

25 minutes ago, theboyangel said:

2. Nightclub - The Hummingbird

Sonic Youth 1990 was a goody.

 

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4 minutes ago, bickster said:

Oh worst outdoor gig ever... Hands down winner for that one... Stone Roses at Spike Island

Anyone that says it was a brilliant gig either wasn't there or was out of their mind on hallucinogens.

Yes, I know it's THE legendary SR gig but trust me as someone who was actually there and straight (working at gig) it was absolutely awful. Sound shite, band shite, facilities shite and a very naughty atmosphere.

Possibly the most over hyped gig ever

My worst gig ever was Wolf Eyes, somewhere in North London. I don't mind music that's a bit out there, and noisy, but this sounded like a tape being dragged through a tape machine backwards, while someone hit a dustbin lid. Too hip for me. I went to the back of the room, and listened to Pet Sounds on my MP3 player, in protest.  

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8 minutes ago, bickster said:

Oh worst outdoor gig ever... Hands down winner for that one... Stone Roses at Spike Island

Anyone that says it was a brilliant gig either wasn't there or was out of their mind on hallucinogens.

Yes, I know it's THE legendary SR gig but trust me as someone who was actually there and straight (working at gig) it was absolutely awful. Sound shite, band shite, facilities shite and a very naughty atmosphere.

Possibly the most over hyped gig ever

Remember seeing the Stone Roses at Reading (possibly 1994/1995) and they (meaning Ian Brown) were atrocious - just cannot sing live!

As for worst gig - Oasis at Glastonbury 2004. Never a major fan but my mates cajoled me into watching them instead of another act (can't remember who). I didn't last long as Liam Gallagher was a complete tit and so mooched off and left them to it.

Edited by theboyangel
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Stone Roses were just fine when I saw them at the Etihad the other year with @Risso ...  Brown was , well Brown but even by his standards he sounded ok but as a package the band sounded on top form

mind you we'd had a few so it could have been the beer

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13 minutes ago, Xann said:

Club gig - Ozric Tentacles at the Limelight NY in 94.

Just thought it was a nice little venue when we arrived.

Then we realised it was labyrinthine and larger than we suspected.

Very much larger, decadent as f***, crawling with lunatics with lots of things coming in vials.

It was run by Michael Alig, his Wiki entry is interesting. Not long after we left he casually murdered one of his friends. They made a film about him called 'Party Monster'.

Sonic Youth 1990 was a goody.

 

The documentary and film of Alig are amongst my favourites. Really interesting but **** up story.

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1 minute ago, mjmooney said:

I'm trying to think of a 'worst' gig, and I'm struggling. Not sure I've ever been to one that I really hated. 

Depends. I've been to absolutely lots of dreadful ones but in the main I was being paid to be there or on the guest list

Don't think I've been to a gig I paid for that I walked out of but I've left plenty that I was on the guest list for because I had a remote interest or was just out on the pop

 

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7 minutes ago, bickster said:

You just reminded me... Sonic Youth, Strathclyde University, 1989 - Daydream Nation Tour was pretty special

I've seen Da Youth a few times. My favourite being at the Roundhouse in Camden. They played Daydream Nation in full, from start to finish. Me and my mate then went on the piss in Camden, and staggered back to the Holiday Inn, to find the band (well Thurston, Kim, and Mark Ibold of Pavement fame) sat in the lobby drinking Guinness. My mate was plastered, and so NEEDED to go and talk to Thurston. I imagine it would be like what it's like for normal people to meet Beyoncé or something, as he kind of lost it. Thurston was very nice to be fair, and asked where we were from etc, and didn't call security like I probably would have if I'd been him.  

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How could I forget, Nightclub Gig

I promoted this one...

On-U Sound System with Gary Clail and Mark Stewart at the Mardi Gras (A club I later owned for a while), Mid 80's sometime, probably 87-88

Long story short, mental mental gig and they blew every speaker cone in the in-house system in the end apart from a couple of Bass bins. We had to pay to have the PA re-coned the next day so the club could open that night and still made a marginal profit

(Good job we were almost double the 350 capacity)

 

 

 

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Then there was the infamous Beastie Boys riot in Liverpool, worked that one, security. I stopped the Beastie Boys security posse from entering the rear of the venue, told them in no uncertain terms if they wanted to wade in, they were going over the stage as I wasn't opening this door under any circumstances. I'd rather take on the ten of them than the 1500  baying people on the other side of the door. I won

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On 22/01/2018 at 11:07, dAVe80 said:

Neil Young at Leeds Arena. A 12 hour long version of Down by the River being the best single performance of a single song I think I've ever seen.

Exactly this. Although I think you'll find it wasn't actually 12 hours. That performance in fact stopped time, and is still going on. You just have to know how to tune in. 

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52 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

I'm trying to think of a 'worst' gig, and I'm struggling. Not sure I've ever been to one that I really hated. 

I've played at loads of Australian festivals over the years and seen some right old shit as a result, but I'm not sure anything can top the misfortune of seeing Motley Crue at a festival circa 1990. My god they were fecking atrocious and then some.

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1 hour ago, tonyh29 said:

Stone Roses were just fine when I saw them at the Etihad the other year with @Risso ...  Brown was , well Brown but even by his standards he sounded ok but as a package the band sounded on top form

mind you we'd had a few so it could have been the beer

I thought they were excellent, and it was a top night all round.  They were really good at Heaton Park a few years before that as well.  Ian Brown is never going to be Pavarotti, but as long as he works well with the band, then it's all good as far as I'm concerned.

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12 hours ago, krisagg75 said:

bar-fred zeppelin,bear tavern

nightclub-the scorpians at Edwards on john bright st 1980's

outdoor-slade monmore green greyhound stadium 1981

arena-metallica genting arena 2017

stadium-queen Wembley 86

There it is! knew I'd read some of these with the green eyes of envy :)

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Worst gig? Thankfully there’s been a lot less of these.
INXS at Brum NEC was stand out crap. My seat was at ninety degrees to the stage. A tiny man a few kilometres away, knocking through another set in another city in another country. Took about 2 hours to get out of the coach park. I can see why he topped himself having a strangle tug if he was going through that tedium every night.
Beverly Craven, St David’s Hall, Cardiff. Walked on the stage, sat the other side of a grand piano lid for the whole set. Total interaction with the audience was ‘this next one is called…’. Just staying home and listening to my wife’s CD would have been a marginally better experience. Although if I had stayed home I’d have missed the support act. I say support act, I mean educational talk on the dangers of toxic shock syndrome. Turns out you shouldn’t stick dirty cloth up your fanny when you’re on the blob. Who knew!
Brian May, The Ice Rink, Cardiff. Shit from start to finish. Didn’t want to go as I detest that sort of music. First song was that **** ford advert. Half way through, he did that **** ford advert again. Encore, he did that **** ford advert. My seat was right next to a downpipe, so I at least had the occasional bit of the gig drowned out by someone flushing a shit away.
 

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1 hour ago, dAVe80 said:

I've seen Da Youth a few times. My favourite being at the Roundhouse in Camden. They played Daydream Nation in full, from start to finish. Me and my mate then went on the piss in Camden, and staggered back to the Holiday Inn, to find the band (well Thurston, Kim, and Mark Ibold of Pavement fame) sat in the lobby drinking Guinness. My mate was plastered, and so NEEDED to go and talk to Thurston. I imagine it would be like what it's like for normal people to meet Beyoncé or something, as he kind of lost it. Thurston was very nice to be fair, and asked where we were from etc, and didn't call security like I probably would have if I'd been him.  

Completely unrelated but randomly about 3 weeks ago I dug out Crooked Rain Crooked Rain for the first time in about 15 years and have been steadily introducing it to everyone that will listen after I got annoyed that no one around me had heard of Pavement. ;)

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Not sure all of these necessarily fit into the categories outlined but 

1. Bar / 2. Nightclub - TJ's Newport. Two mighty years of seeing so many great gigs while living in Newport. J. Mascis, Green Day, Hole, Daisy Chainsaw, Therapy?, Bikini Kill, Die Toten Hosen. So many awesome bands but my favourite would have been the Drop 19's as I pulled one of the singers who I was always slightly in love with.

3. Outdoor - Standing in the wings at the Hollywood Bowl, watching a friend headlining. 

4. Arena - Depeche Mode Music for the Masses - Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver

5. Stadium - They've pretty much all be awful with the exception of the Tsunami Relief Concert at the Millennium Stadium in 2005. Couldn't tell you much about the gig but I was hungover for a week and apparently I was rude to Heather Small.

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