930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: walkonby on October 18, 2008, 11:37:00 am
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mine was when i went to see the flaming lips open for string cheese incident at the harbor center in portmouth, va. i booked a hotel, drove four hours, got very happy, walked to the venue . . . to see that it had been closed and destroyed by a hurricane, and the show had been moved (last minute) to the norva. no notice from ticketmaster, no refund either, because the show was not cancelled. i had no clue where the norva was at the time, and the people out front of the harbor center laughed at me as i walked away with a frown on my face.
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only one that comes to mind: i was at an outdoor electronic music festival in south-central PA. during a lull in the music i left the festival site to go make a beer'n'snack run, there was a gas station a few miles away. i was high on life (yes, at the time, only life) - weather was beyond gorgeous, music was awesome, i was hanging out with some great friends, bbq'ing in the forest, swimming in a stream, etc etc etc. on my way back to the festie, ripping down a country road, music blaring, i came across a doe and her two fawn in the middle of the road. mom & jr#1 got out of the way in time, jr#2 didn't. if i had been a little more responsible, if i had kept my hands-in-the-air attitude under control until i returned to the festival, i probably wouldn't have killed that deer. ruined the rest of my weekend. i didn't tell anyone back at the festival (i feared, probably wrongly, that it would bum them out as much as it was dragging me down) but everyone noticed that i wasn't having as much fun.
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when that drunk douchebag cracked me overthe head with a bottle at the 9:30, and i had to sit in Howard Hospital for seven hours beforethey stitched me up. But you guys already know tht story.
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i don't think i've heard the story, rhett. remind us?
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Originally posted by Julian, certified WEBLEBRITY:
Let's start at the very beginning, because Julie Andrews once told me it was a very good place to start. I had the extreme misfortune of meeting DeathFromAbove on the otherwise pleasant, albeit rainy, night of August 9th, 2007. I was at the Patriot Center -- which has a terrible color scheme for those of you keeping track at home -- for Muse and shortly after the opener this sweaty, ill-shaven beanpole of a homeless person saunters up and is all "Hey, Jew Lion!" That's right, "Jew Lion." I knew then I hated him but I didn't realize at the time it was only the beginning of a hate affair that only grows deeper every day.
His ugly spectacled face kept blathering onward about the most inane garbage, and I tried my God's honest best to be nice, and commented on how delightful his username was because it contained the titles of two Smashing Pumpkins songs. He then felt the need to correct me, and tell me it was the name of a band, as though I didn't know. Apparently "joking around" isn't a place to be found in DeathFromAbove's America.
So then I tried to smooth things over with a less subtle joke and said, "Oh yeah, never heard of them. Are they a My Bloody Valentine cover band or something?" Again, this registered with him about like a sack of barbells to the face and he proceeded to give me a wikipedia-esque rundown of the band's entire history. Sarcasm must have gotten deported from DeathFromAbove's America during the second World War.
I would recant in painful detail the rest of the evening, but let's just say he had a certain odor to him, and leave it at that, because children may read this message board and I don't want to frighten our younger readers...
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well there goes the cease fire :roll:
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Wolfmother, Bonnaroo 07. This was worst ever based solely upon their performance.
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Originally posted by kosmo:
well there goes the cease fire :roll:
Oh, come on, once we saw the thread title we were all thinking it. It's not as though I retold the story in even more excruciating detail.
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Originally posted by Julian, certified WEBLEBRITY:
Originally posted by Julian, certified WEBLEBRITY:
Let's start at the very beginning, because Julie Andrews once told me it was a very good place to start. I had the extreme misfortune of meeting DeathFromAbove on the otherwise pleasant, albeit rainy, night of August 9th, 2007. I was at the Patriot Center -- which has a terrible color scheme for those of you keeping track at home -- for Muse and shortly after the opener this sweaty, ill-shaven beanpole of a homeless person saunters up and is all "Hey, Jew Lion!" That's right, "Jew Lion." I knew then I hated him but I didn't realize at the time it was only the beginning of a hate affair that only grows deeper every day.
His ugly spectacled face kept blathering onward about the most inane garbage, and I tried my God's honest best to be nice, and commented on how delightful his username was because it contained the titles of two Smashing Pumpkins songs. He then felt the need to correct me, and tell me it was the name of a band, as though I didn't know. Apparently "joking around" isn't a place to be found in DeathFromAbove's America.
So then I tried to smooth things over with a less subtle joke and said, "Oh yeah, never heard of them. Are they a My Bloody Valentine cover band or something?" Again, this registered with him about like a sack of barbells to the face and he proceeded to give me a wikipedia-esque rundown of the band's entire history. Sarcasm must have gotten deported from DeathFromAbove's America during the second World War.
I would recant in painful detail the rest of the evening, but let's just say he had a certain odor to him, and leave it at that, because children may read this message board and I don't want to frighten our younger readers...
[/b]
LOL
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My personal worst experience was Zwan w/ Queens of the Stone Age at Towson's bloody gym. It was general admission, the place was absolutely packed, and it was hotter than hades and humid with the collective sweat of the great unwashed alt-masses. I'm prone to migraine headaches, and ended up with the worst one of my life that night. Made it through the concert but was in serious pain by the time I had to drive over an hour home. By the time I got back I was shaking uncontrollably and in the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life.
It sucked.
As for most disappointing experience, I think daisy's review sums it up best (http://www.greenplastic.com/gigography/showDetails.php?showID=679#reviews).
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Originally posted by Arthwys:
My personal worst experience was Zwan w/ Queens of the Stone Age at Towson's bloody gym. It was general admission, the place was absolutely packed, and it was hotter than hades and humid with the collective sweat of the great unwashed alt-masses. I'm prone to migraine headaches, and ended up with the worst one of my life that night. Made it through the concert but was in serious pain by the time I had to drive over an hour home. By the time I got back I was shaking uncontrollably and in the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life.
It sucked.
That was, without a doubt, the hottest, most overpacked indoor concert I ever attended.
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wimp
Originally posted by Arthwys:
My personal worst experience was Zwan w/ Queens of the Stone Age at Towson's bloody gym. It was general admission, the place was absolutely packed, and it was hotter than hades and humid with the collective sweat of the great unwashed alt-masses. I'm prone to migraine headaches, and ended up with the worst one of my life that night. Made it through the concert but was in serious pain by the time I had to drive over an hour home. By the time I got back I was shaking uncontrollably and in the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life.
It sucked.
As for most disappointing experience, I think daisy's review sums it up best (http://www.greenplastic.com/gigography/showDetails.php?showID=679#reviews).
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Working:
One of the guys from Squeeze doing a solo acoustic show at Fletchers. Something was wrong with the monitor system that night, they would go loud/quiet at random times. Opener was irked by it, but got through. The guy from Squeeze (Difford or Tilbrook I think) was freaked by it and went up stairs fuming. I was the responsible party since I was doing sound, but it wasn't my system, I was just the guy dumped with the task. Went upstairs, apologized, he ended up doing the show on the floor with all the fans, it worked great, he made it work and I was calm by the end but it sucked big time for quite a while.
Seen:
PiL at the Ontario Theater. I think 9353 was supposed to open up. Doors were like 7 or 8 pm, we were highschool kids who got dad to drive us down. School the next day. Left around 11:30 pm, NOTHING had happened, they kept playing Souxie and some guy would come up on stage going "2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2". So in the end, saw nothing, heard it sort of started around 1 or 2 amp.
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Steve Kimock Band state theatre in March of '04 I think?
It was the first night of a brutal roughly week-long bout with strep throat. Started to come down with it right there at the show. Miraculously, I was able to hold off on puking my guts out until I made it home.
Show was a boring wanky snoozefest, too.
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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, September 1998, Warfield...I had this big cold sore more than the size of a quarter, IN MY THROAT. This was after a terrible car accident a couple weeks prior.
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How's the State Theater by the way? I might go there for the first time for Broken Social Scene next week.
Originally posted by azaghal1981:
Steve Kimock Band state theatre in March of '04 I think?
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The general concensus on this board is that it's a shithole but I didn't mind it the times I've been there.
And you're passing up APTBS for BSS? For shame!
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I might still make it to APTBS since it's a late show. The opener for BSS starts at 8:30...
Or I can skip APTBS for this one:
http://www.boweryballroom.com/calendar/show/2189/ (http://www.boweryballroom.com/calendar/show/2189/)
but I already have a ticket for Magnetic Fields in Philly that night. :(
Originally posted by azaghal1981:
And you're passing up APTBS for BSS? For shame!
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Wow that looks ridiculous.
::checks calendar::
Nothing.
Hmmm...
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state theater: i think it's fine. only ever seen two shows there, enjoyed them both. i appreciated the laid-back athmosphere, the fact that you could arrive early and have dinner there, and the randomness of the crowd... at the ozric tentacles, there were several families of yokels who had no idea what hit them - but got in to the music anyways. staff was always really nice, and they have decent beers on tap.
oh, azaghal: having seem APTBS previously, they only get a 6 or 7 out of 10 from me. slightly above average, but i'm definitely not staying out late to catch them at the 930 this week. BRING YOUR EARPLUGS - these guys are loud.
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I think I saw the same APTBS show you did and liked it a lot more than you did.
With Holy Fuck and Sons and Daughters at RNRH?
My only complaint was that their set wasn't longer.
I think I was at that Ozric Tentacles show, too!
Winter '05?
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unfortunately, nope and nope :)
only time i've seen APTBS was at the hall of williamsburg, after sirenfest this summer. decent show but way too loud. i wanted to attend the APTBS+HF@RnR show but work got in the way, if i remember correctly.
saw the ozrics at state theater on june 22, 2006 - just dove through my stub collection to confirm that.
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word
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Worst "experience":
Having my wallet stolen.
My friend had won tickets to the Warped Tour in 2001, and I foolishly decided to attend, primarily to see Rancid and Rollins Band. My friend eagerly wanted to see A.F.I. and I had heard a lot of hype about them, so we moved up through the crowd to watch their set.
After a few songs, I decided to move to the back to avoid all the pesky crowd surfers. That's when I noticed that my wallet and keys were gone. There was no way that they fell out since I wasn't crowd surfing or jumping; obviously someone grabbed it out of my pocket while I was trying unwillingly to hold up a crowd surfer.
About a dozen others kept looking for their wallets about the set was over, and fortunately I found my keys. I lost about $60, all my IDs, family pictures, and so on. To this day, I hate A.F.I. by association.
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Runners-up:
1.) Leaving a 311 concert halfway through the set because my girlfriend hated the show. I missed "Let the Cards Fall," which is rarely performed.
2.) Driving through hurricane weather on the highway to get to a Deftones/Glassjaw show. I couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of me the entire way there. Scary.
3.) Being denied entry into the first 45 minutes of the Virgin Mobile Festival because the place I won tickets through didn't have my tickets ready. I missed 90% of Cat Power's set (though I heard her from afar), and she was one of the main reasons I was thrilled to go.
4.) Stepping in a piss-covered ground at every show at The Boathouse for years.
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cat power was the worse (in buenos aires)
and also rusted root or as i call them crusted poop at the electric factory a few years ago
just horrid...
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i'm sure someone will regale us shortly with stories of the horror that was being denied entry to this summer's radiohead show at nissan, due to the monsoon conditions and road closures. i spent 3 hours tailgating inside a small car with 5 other folks, waiting for show time. left there cold and soaked to the bone.
RH really haven't had any luck playing in DC: tibet freedom fest = canceled by lightening, bull run = flooding, nissan'08 = more flooding... as one of the band members wrote on their website, "what's next - locusts?!?".
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Anything at Nissan!
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I saw Cat Power at the 930 a few years back and nearly fell asleep on my feet...
but the worst was seeing the Kinks at the Bayou years ago sometime in the late 80s (yes I'm old). I was psyched to see this great band of yesteryear. And then they came on way late, they played a short set, could barely be bothered with an encore, and worst of all, played several of their best songs in a medley. That's when I realized a once-great band had degenerated into a group of aging bad-toothed British hacks just out to make a buck. It is one of the reasons for my longstanding aversion to nostalgia shows.
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Nirvana @ Bender Arena. My car wasn't big enough to take all of us, so one of my friends drove us. The show was great, but my friend was one of those "let's leave early and beat the traffic" types. So we left before the encore. My only shot at seeing Nirvana and I missed about 20 minutes of it. I'm still kind of angry about that and I still give my friend a hard time about it whenever I have the chance.
Then there was the time we drove from DC->Orlando to see The Grateful Dead. We got right up to the entrance and were told the show was canceled. That made for a crappy night - not knowing if we drove all the way down there for nothing. The next night went on as scheduled, but we got tear-gassed by the cops.
The Stones at RFK in 89. I was really sick. It was pouring down rain. We were in the 500-level with obstructed view seats. The sound was abysmal up there. I wouldn't have gone at all, but my friend wouldn't go alone. I wasn't going to let her miss it.
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Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
but the worst was seeing the Kinks at the Bayou years ago sometime in the late 80s
I remember being pissed I couldn't make that show. Thanks for making me feel better. :)
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Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
but the worst was seeing the Kinks at the Bayou years ago sometime in the late 80s
I remember being pissed I couldn't make that show. Thanks for making me feel better. :) [/b]
Yes, consider yourself lucky. :) It's painful to see a band you love turn in a performance like that. It made me vow to never see them again, which wasn't a hard vow to keep because I don't recall them coming back here after that.
It was especially disappointing because I'd seen them a few years earlier at Georgetown University, and they were great. I guess they just decided they'd had enough.
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Until you experience such massive head trauma from a car accident that you need 11 hour surgery to reconstruct your face with titanium, thus causing debilitating migraines, please keep your ignorant opinions to yourself.
Thanks.
Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
wimp
Originally posted by Arthwys:
My personal worst experience was Zwan w/ Queens of the Stone Age at Towson's bloody gym. It was general admission, the place was absolutely packed, and it was hotter than hades and humid with the collective sweat of the great unwashed alt-masses. I'm prone to migraine headaches, and ended up with the worst one of my life that night. Made it through the concert but was in serious pain by the time I had to drive over an hour home. By the time I got back I was shaking uncontrollably and in the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life.
It sucked.
As for most disappointing experience, I think daisy's review sums it up best (http://www.greenplastic.com/gigography/showDetails.php?showID=679#reviews).
[/b]
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Originally posted by serpent boy:
To this day, I hate A.F.I. by association.
Wow, there are so many better reasons to hate AFI...
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Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
Nirvana @ Bender Arena. My car wasn't big enough to take all of us, so one of my friends drove us. The show was great, but my friend was one of those "let's leave early and beat the traffic" types. So we left before the encore. My only shot at seeing Nirvana and I missed about 20 minutes of it. I'm still kind of angry about that and I still give my friend a hard time about it whenever I have the chance.
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I would consider that 20 minutes from your short live salvaged.
When I was in my concert going heyday I had the opinion there's no such thing as a bad concert, just some that didn't live up to expectations....but those of (dis)honorable mention in my 'my god that was not what I was expecting'
Beck at the hfstival - He must've left whatever talent he's alleged to have in the tour bus.
Big Bang Theory as support for The Waterboys in 89 - some people should not be allowed within 50 feet of musical instruments.
Tin Machine - Mr. Bowie, sir...just what were you thinking?
Billy Bragg singing all that Guthrie shit - Why cover songs from an inferior song writer than yourself?
Most shows at the Shusmere - Amazing how the staff of a venue can ruin a show for you.
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Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
Nirvana @ Bender Arena. My car wasn't big enough to take all of us, so one of my friends drove us. The show was great, but my friend was one of those "let's leave early and beat the traffic" types. So we left before the encore. My only shot at seeing Nirvana and I missed about 20 minutes of it. I'm still kind of angry about that and I still give my friend a hard time about it whenever I have the chance.
Dude, with friends like that, who needs enemies? Besides missing a show that was great all the way through, you also missed the odd spectacle of Kurt Cobain wigging out at the very end. At first I thought it was just rockstar showboating, and then I saw the worried looks on the faces of his bandmates as they tried to get him to leave the stage and realized it was for real. Sad in retrospect.
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Originally posted by They call me Doctor Doom.:
Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
Nirvana @ Bender Arena. My car wasn't big enough to take all of us, so one of my friends drove us. The show was great, but my friend was one of those "let's leave early and beat the traffic" types. So we left before the encore. My only shot at seeing Nirvana and I missed about 20 minutes of it. I'm still kind of angry about that and I still give my friend a hard time about it whenever I have the chance.
Dude, with friends like that, who needs enemies? Besides missing a show that was great all the way through, you also missed the odd spectacle of Kurt Cobain wigging out at the very end. At first I thought it was just rockstar showboating, and then I saw the worried looks on the faces of his bandmates as they tried to get him to leave the stage and realized it was for real. Sad in retrospect. [/b]
OMG! Are you saying that Craig Nichols is the reincarnation of Kurt Cobain?
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Jaguar, I was all like "Craig who?" so I Googled Craig Nichols, and all the links I got were for an "internationally renowned Oncologist."
Then I remembered this is from Jaguar. So I Googled "Craig Nichols, shoegaze" and I got the right results. :)
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Ah, I never could spell that well and wasn't up to Googling to make sure I got his name exact though I did question myself. Guess I should have taken the extra step. Then again, reading you thinking he might be a Shoegazer made for a good laugh. Btw, if you can find the Letterman meltdown, that's even better.
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sick of it all at the old 930 club...i hit that poll HARD and needed 5 stiches in my head. lol.
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Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
Nirvana @ Bender Arena. My car wasn't big enough to take all of us, so one of my friends drove us. The show was great, but my friend was one of those "let's leave early and beat the traffic" types. So we left before the encore. My only shot at seeing Nirvana and I missed about 20 minutes of it. I'm still kind of angry about that and I still give my friend a hard time about it whenever I have the chance.
Then there was the time we drove from DC->Orlando to see The Grateful Dead. We got right up to the entrance and were told the show was canceled. That made for a crappy night - not knowing if we drove all the way down there for nothing. The next night went on as scheduled, but we got tear-gassed by the cops.
The Stones at RFK in 89. I was really sick. It was pouring down rain. We were in the 500-level with obstructed view seats. The sound was abysmal up there. I wouldn't have gone at all, but my friend wouldn't go alone. I wasn't going to let her miss it.
Stones show... I had 3d row center seats on the field and ended up NOT GOING. Both my kids ended up with one of the various childhood diseases and I sold the tickets for FACE to someone who happened to walk up to the box office to see if there were any late releases.
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i see..its worse concert EXPERIENCE not worse show....i'll have to think of that but there are many contenders..
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from a radiohead message board, about the nissan show:
Here's one for you. My wife and I left Central PA at Noon that Sunday. We got to Nissan at approx 330. We walked a mile or so up to the gates in a light rain to hear the soundcheck. We heard them play 2+2=5, Jigsaw, Super Collider and then LSP. Sometime during the soundcheck, it began pouring, and it might still be pouring in Bristow for all I know. I remember during LSP, we were standing by the porta potties and met this guy who had flown in from Chicago. We started talking about setlists from the Grant Park 01 show and the Alpine Valley show in 2003 (which the young man from Chicago had attended). My wife thought I was nuts, cos I had knowledge of the sets without having attended either of the shows.
After LSP, we walked the mile or so back to our car in the heavy rain, and got drenched. We sat in our car and cranked up the heater to try to stay warm. At 6 , we walked the mile or so back to the gates. It was raining sideways. It was cold as hell, and little streams and lakes were forming everywhere. I was (and will always be) a Bull Run survivor, so I knew what I was up against. In fact, we stopped at the Bull Run rest stop coming to and from the show, just to pay our homage to the ghosts. The Bull Run Rest stops were quite spooky on 5-11-08, let me tell you.
We finally found our seats in the 18th row, and sat there like zombies and shivered. For months we had tickets for the lawn, but that previous Wednesday, I was able to snag great seats on Ticketbastard.
They arrived UPS on Friday morning. Anyway, The Liars came out, and they were just what we needed. They were the perfect opening act for the context, and their weirdness took our minds off of the miserable conditions.
I remember going into the bathroom before Radiohead came on. No one was speaking. It was just stunned silence. I remember just running warm water over my hands for minutes at one of the sinks, and thinking, this must be what hell is like on Chistmas day. Anyway, Radiohead came on stage, and it was like 2 hours and seven minutes of heaven in the pits of hell. It was strange, beautiful and utterly other worldly. I knew we would never experience anything like it ever again, at least not in this world. After the show, in the bathrooms, everyone remained silent. As I ran the warm water over my hands, I thought of the Hank Williams song-I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive.
The walk (run? mad scramble?) back to the car was a nightmare. It was lashing, and we lost our sense of bearings in the dark. We walked through rivers, waded through new lakes and dodged impatient cars, all at the same time. We had to scale a wall before we figured out we were on the right path.
At 3am, somewhere south of Fredrick on 270, I began to fall asleep at the wheel. I cranked up the AC and the radio. I instructed my wife to find songs I could sing to, so I would not fall asleep. She found Dancing Queen by Abba, and I sang along in mad joy at the top of my lungs (It was a real Gummo moment). Dancing Queen was the perfect song for the moment, and it may have saved our lives.
At 330 am, we stopped at a small redneck mini-mart just off of Rt. 15, near Thurmont. We told this clerk with a southern accent that we were not drunk or high, but rather we had just been to a Radiohead show in VA. He said he had never heard of them and only listened to country music(It was a real Ghost World moment).We got back in our car, and I stuffed a three pack of chocolate Tasty Kakes into my mouth, as we drove down the long, lonesome highway.
The Tasty Kakes woke me up just in time to feel our car die just south of Gettysburg on Rt. !5. It was still lashing, and we had no cell phone. It was fucking freezing and windy as we tried to flag someone down. We were out in the middle of nowhere, and cars and trucks just kept whizzing by. Finally. a kind, conservative looking man on his way to upstate NY stopped, and let us use his cell. My inlaws and my two year old son came and picked us up and took us out for the best breakfast we ever had in our lives. As we sat in the small town diner, my wife and I looked and felt like two strung out heroin addicts.
At 11 am-23 hours after we had left-we arrived back at our apartment. Go Slowly was playing in my head, still haunting me from the night before.
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Wow, and I thought my time getting to and from radiohead was horrible. They were true soldiers.
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i remember seeing Great White up in Rhode Island one time......
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I heard that show was HOT HOT HOT!!!
Originally posted by very sonick:
i remember seeing Great White up in Rhode Island one time......
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I heard it was a smokin' show, too!
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The GOons @ Black Cat
"Punks" are such douchebags.
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a real blast!
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A barnburner!
Explosive!
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The Radiohead show that would have been Bull Run. We had just made it through the gates to see how awesome it would have been when the sky opened up and turned it into a lake. (At least some of the Nissan attendees got to see some songs performed)
Elliott Smith at the 930.
Cat Power at the Ottobar.
Modest Mouse at the Black Cat (first night)
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Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
I heard that show was HOT HOT HOT!!!
Originally posted by azaghal1981:
A barnburner!
Explosive!
Originally posted by very sonick:
a real blast!
Originally posted by azaghal1981:
I heard it was a smokin' show, too!
You all were quite misinformed. The pyrotechnics set the building on fire, and several people died of smoke inhalation while being trampled. It was not generally well perceived as you all would seem to make out. I question whether all of you were actually in attendance.
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I went to a Yo La Tengo show at the 40 Watt Club in 2002 and it was pretty terrible. Here's a review:
37 Record-Store Clerks Feared Dead In Yo La Tengo Concert Disaster
April 10, 2002
ATHENS, GAâ??Thirty-seven record-store clerks are missing and feared dead in the aftermath of a partial roof collapse during a Yo La Tengo concert Monday.
"We're trying our best to rescue these clerks, but, realistically, there's not a lot of hope," said emergency worker Len Guzman, standing outside the 40 Watt Club, where the tragedy occurred. "These people are simply not in the physical condition to survive this sort of trauma. It's just a twisted mass of black-frame glasses and ironic Girl Scouts T-shirts in there."
Also believed to be among the missing are seven freelance rock critics, five vinyl junkies, two 'zine publishers, an art-school dropout, and a college-radio DJ.
The collapse occurred approximately 30 minutes into the Hoboken, NJ, band's set, when a poorly installed rooftop heating-and-cooling unit came loose and crashed through the roof, bringing several massive steel beams down with it.
Andy Ringler, an assistant manager at Wuxtry Records, sustained head trauma when he ran back into the building to rescue a fellow clerk.
"I just had to help," said Ringler, listed in stable condition at a nearby hospital. "I saw all these people coming out bleeding and dazed. I gave up my vintage Galaxie 500 shirt just to help some guy bandage his arm. It was horrible."
Added Ringler: "I just pray they can somehow get this club rebuilt in time for next month's Dismemberment Plan/Death Cab For Cutie show. That's a fantastic double bill."
Joe Gaer was among the lucky record-store clerks who escaped unscathed. "I was in the bathroom when it happened," said Gaer, a part-time cashier at School Kids Records. "There was this loud crashing sound, followed by even louder crashing, and then all these screams. If I hadn't left to take a leak during 'Moby Octopad'â??to be honest, never one of my favorite songs on I Can Hear The Heart Beating As Oneâ??I'd probably be among the dead."
"It's just tragic," Gaer continued. "I heard they were going to play Daniel Johnston's 'Speeding Motorcycle.' They almost never do that one live."
Devastated by the disaster, Athens record-store owners are still holding out hope that their employees are still alive.
"All I can do is wait and pray they'll find them," said Bert's Discount Records owner Bert Halyard, who lost clerks Todd Fischer and Dan Harris in the collapse. "They were going to start an experimental/math-rock band together. Dan had a really nice Moog synthesizer and an original pressing of the first Squirrel Bait EP."
As of press time, police and emergency rescue workers were still sifting through the wreckage for copies of Magnet, heated debates over the definition of emo, and other signs of record-store-clerk life.
"I haven't seen this much senseless hipster carnage since the Great Sebadoh Fire Of '93," said rescue worker Larry Kolterman, finding a green-and-gold suede Puma sneaker in the rubble. "It's such a shame that all those bastions of indie-rock geekitude had to go in their prime. Their cries of 'sellout' have been forever silenced."
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i was hoping we'd get to relive the great julian eye debacle of 2007 .. not the dfa1979 debacle of 2007/2008
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Originally posted by miss pretentious:
i was hoping we'd get to relive the great julian eye debacle of 2007 .. not the dfa1979 debacle of 2007/2008
Originally posted by Julian, good manners AFICIONADO:
I had tickets to all 4 nights but only made it through 2.5. I came down with both an ulcer on my eye and uveitis and the band's light show all but blinded me. Monday night I had to leave early, my eye was bleeding and I was having photophobic spasms. I had to call an ambulance and turned up in the emergency room of Jefferson Hospital in the most pain of my entire life. I was for all intents and purposes completely blind, and have only regained a semblence of sight today.
The hospital was increasingly unprofessional. They refused me a room even though I have insurance, and shot a steroid into my eye and discharged me even though I could not see and told me to see an opthomologist ASAP. I told them I'm from Richmond, cannot see, and have no clue where anything is in Philly and they said it wasn't their problem. They offered to put em in a taxi and to tell the driver to drop me off at ahomeless shelter. The wheeled me out of the hospital and left me on the front stoop. I wandered back into the waiting room and sat there for 6 hours until my father drove down from Rochester to come get me. My car is still in DC and my luggage in Philadelphia. :(
Basically, it was a terrible last couple of days although the shows were good. I don't blame the band because if my eyes were hurting, I should've left earlier, and the doctor said even w/o the light show, I would've been in that condition within a day, it only sped it up.
One positive note about humanity: I was texting a kid from Netphoria the setlists and I told him I had to leave because of my eye and he kept calling to see how I was doing. When I was sitting in the waiting room, he apparently posted on the Pumpkins board about what had happened and another fan from a few blocks away came down and checked on me and filled my prescrition (since I couldn't walk/see). I gave him my ticket for night 4 but he didn't know I even had one, so he was just doing it to be kind. So there are still some cool people out there.
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wishes really do come true.
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Originally posted by miss pretentious:
wishes really do come true.
I've discovered in life that when you really, really need it the most, that's when rock and roll dreams come true.
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For me it was unlucky concert #13, Ned's Atomic Dustbin at the Metro in November of 1992. In the grand scheme of things, it SHOULD have been a great evening. I hung out with the band beforehand, and the crowd was really pumped for the show. My 2 friends Colleen and Erin were right up front, I was just behind them by a couple people. The band came out and during the first song "Suave and Suffocated" (kind of ironic looking back), there was a massive crowd surge and I went down like a ton of bricks because we were SO packed in and there was nowhere to move. A bunch of people landed on me, and I was face down on the floor, getting stepped on, kicked, and what blew me away was how there was ZERO oxygen down towards the floor. I felt like I was drowning. My glasses broke (and I'm blind without them) but after what seemed like forever I finally managed to force my way back on my feet and I staggered away to the back where people looked at me like I was crazy. My friends never even saw what happened to me, but I had bruises and footprints all over me. To this day, I cannot stand it when there's too many people around me. I have a bootleg of the show because it was broadcast on WXRT at a later point, and you can actually hear people screaming (thankfully not me) right at the beginning when people started falling on top of each other. Ned's shows always had a bit of a knucklehead factor, but that night just plain sucked. It was not fun.
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bearman - your story reminds me if being at the first RATM reunion show at coachella.
i've been going to punk/hardcore gigs since i was 14'ish, and have been in more than my share of mosh pits (including several that i probably had no business in). i had seen Rage twice before they broke up. rough stuff, definitely, but still fun.
nothing could have prepared me for that coachella pit. i was halfway between the stage and the soundboard. when the band hit the stage the surge picked me up and move me a good 12 feet. i've never experience a hurricane of humanity like i did when the music started. it wasn't fun. i tried my best to suck it up, deal with the endless random elbows to the face, the suffocation, and shoves from all directions, let alone being hit by endless crowd-surfers... i lasted less than one song before fighting my way out of there. and i do mean fight - the only form of communication that those people seemed to understand was "bully". i practically had to climb over folks, thank god for survival instincts and accompanying adrenaline boost. i won't soon forget the looks on people's face - humans turned into animals. eventually made it back to the soundboard where there were still a few traces of civility. once i caught my breath i was able to enjoy the show.
guess i was asking for it. there is no other band that can do to a crowd what RATM does. not necessarily a good thing.
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Originally posted by sweetcell:
guess i was asking for it. there is no other band that can do to a crowd what RATM does. not necessarily a good thing.
I hate crowdsuring so much, almost always have.
at Woodstock 99 during Limp Bizkit, my buddy said he was "going up".
now there was easily over 100,000 people in front of this stage and we were barely in the front half sorta middle right. he went up and the crowd took him so far we couldnt even see him anymore, he crowdsurfed out of sight!!
that was at aroud 7pm. we didnt see him again until about 4am. but this is off topic. sorry.
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most of my bad concert experiences are 1) a band i dont like 2) spilled beer 3) philly
oh and the one time security dropped me on my back while crowd surfing. still nothing compared to jizz or glitter
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i liked thatguy's ball sac tease. would love to hear the rest of that one!
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do raves count as concerts?
if so, i remember some party in new york in the early 90s. someone dropped a pepper gas bomb in the place and it wasnt far from me. we were evacuated, cops were everywhere, dogs chased me, then i had to drive back to Toronto in the pouring rain tripping like crazy while everyone else slept.
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Wait...is it just me or are my thread and this thread starting to blurr together?
Originally posted by walkonby:
i liked thatguy's ball sac tease. would love to hear the rest of that one!
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Saw Gavin DeGraw at the 930 club a few years ago. On the way there another driver hit me on the beltway and while there my damaged car was broken in to.
Virgin Fest 1- I was kicked in the head by a crowd surfer and had to leave early. Virgin Fest 2- on the way home from day 1 another driver hit my car while I was stopped and I couldn't make it back for day 2.
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virgin fest 3 - hollywood undead headlines.
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walkonby wins. no way any concert experience could be worse than that.
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Originally posted by azaghal1981:
Wait...is it just me or are my thread and this thread starting to blurr together?
Originally posted by walkonby:
i liked thatguy's ball sac tease. would love to hear the rest of that one!
[/b]
i posted it in here, because he likes me to keep my "fantasies" to myself. i think, like george takei said to artie lange on the stern show, i'll start referring to him as a "cuddle muffin." i wonder how that will go over?? :D
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Originally posted by K8teebug:
The Radiohead show that would have been Bull Run. We had just made it through the gates to see how awesome it would have been when the sky opened up and turned it into a lake. (At least some of the Nissan attendees got to see some songs performed)
Elliott Smith at the 930.
Cat Power at the Ottobar.
Modest Mouse at the Black Cat (first night)
Oh God....the concert story that won't go away..you all went to a show and it pissed down...get the fuck over it will you?
I hope you whiney arsed fuckers never go to Glastonbury.
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Originally posted by Ever Circling Skeletal Family:
Originally posted by K8teebug:
The Radiohead show that would have been Bull Run. We had just made it through the gates to see how awesome it would have been when the sky opened up and turned it into a lake. (At least some of the Nissan attendees got to see some songs performed)
Elliott Smith at the 930.
Cat Power at the Ottobar.
Modest Mouse at the Black Cat (first night)
Oh God....the concert story that won't go away..you all went to a show and it pissed down...get the fuck over it will you?
I hope you whiney arsed fuckers never go to Glastonbury. [/b]
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Originally posted by Ever Circling Skeletal Family:
Originally posted by K8teebug:
The Radiohead show that would have been Bull Run. We had just made it through the gates to see how awesome it would have been when the sky opened up and turned it into a lake. (At least some of the Nissan attendees got to see some songs performed)
Elliott Smith at the 930.
Cat Power at the Ottobar.
Modest Mouse at the Black Cat (first night)
Oh God....the concert story that won't go away..you all went to a show and it pissed down...get the fuck over it will you?
I hope you whiney arsed fuckers never go to Glastonbury. [/b]
Ahem. There's a big difference between Glasto and Bull Run. Namely, at bull run hell was went through (not just the damn rain, but the heat and humidity so bad that people were carted away every 15 minutes due to heat stroke) and we got nothing. No show, not even an opener.
I'd love to deal with 3 days of mud and rain and in my wellies at Glasto. Heck, I actually thoroughly enjoyed the torrential downpour at Nissan for Radiohead this past time, it made it all the more triumphant that I finally got to see them.
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And I forgot to mention that the trees caught on fire. Not sure how they managed that, because of the deluge going on, but lightning struck the trees we had been standing beneath in order to get out from under the relentless sun only a few hours earlier.
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Originally posted by walkonby:
virgin fest 3 - hollywood undead headlines.
you mean Virgin Fest 4.
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Originally posted by DeathFromAbove1979:
The GOons @ Black Cat
"Punks" are such douchebags.
haha i was at that show. i thought all the bands played great. but yea, some of those guys were out of control. there was a huge mosh pit for the 1st band and i remember 2 guys just spinning out and crashing into people and knocking over a camera which was filming the show.
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My vote would be being about 12 years old and convincing my mom to take me to go see The Tubes, as it was the only way I could get to go.
Sitting through the Mondo Bondage theatrics and the rape scene that was part of Mr. Hate while next to my mom scarred me for life.
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Originally posted by Itouchmyself:
My vote would be being about 12 years old and convincing my mom to take me to go see The Tubes, as it was the only way I could get to go.
Sitting through the Mondo Bondage theatrics and the rape scene that was part of Mr. Hate while next to my mom scarred me for life.
Ah, that explains your screenname.
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Originally posted by sweetcell:
i'm sure someone will regale us shortly with stories of the horror that was being denied entry to this summer's radiohead show at nissan, due to the monsoon conditions and road closures. i spent 3 hours tailgating inside a small car with 5 other folks, waiting for show time. left there cold and soaked to the bone.
RH really haven't had any luck playing in DC: tibet freedom fest = canceled by lightening, bull run = flooding, nissan'08 = more flooding... as one of the band members wrote on their website, "what's next - locusts?!?".
that would be one fo mine. I had people back out, and had to sit in my car by myself for hours. And the people who were buying my extras ended up bailing and going home. Thank goodness I got the NJ refund tickets, though i wasnt able to go and only was able to seel two of them.
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Originally posted by killsaly:
Originally posted by sweetcell:
i'm sure someone will regale us shortly with stories of the horror that was being denied entry to this summer's radiohead show at nissan, due to the monsoon conditions and road closures. i spent 3 hours tailgating inside a small car with 5 other folks, waiting for show time. left there cold and soaked to the bone.
RH really haven't had any luck playing in DC: tibet freedom fest = canceled by lightening, bull run = flooding, nissan'08 = more flooding... as one of the band members wrote on their website, "what's next - locusts?!?".
that would be one fo mine. I had people back out, and had to sit in my car by myself for hours. And the people who were buying my extras ended up bailing and going home. Thank goodness I got the NJ refund tickets, though i wasnt able to go and only was able to sell two of them. [/b]
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Mine would have to be seeing Flogging Molly at the Norva in Norfolk, VA. I only went because my other roommates were going and I didn't want to be alone in the apartment.
Their music really isn't my thing to begin with, the opening bands were really bad, not to mention spilled beer and a VERY crowded place. Felt like I was going to suffocate.
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Originally posted by Arthwys:
And I forgot to mention that the trees caught on fire. Not sure how they managed that, because of the deluge going on, but lightning struck the trees we had been standing beneath in order to get out from under the relentless sun only a few hours earlier.
Make that whiney arsed dumb fucks...I thought everyone knew that you should never stand under a tree during a storm...HELLO!!!
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Originally posted by Ever Circling Skeletal Family:
Originally posted by Arthwys:
And I forgot to mention that the trees caught on fire. Not sure how they managed that, because of the deluge going on, but lightning struck the trees we had been standing beneath in order to get out from under the relentless sun only a few hours earlier.
Make that whiney arsed dumb fucks...I thought everyone knew that you should never stand under a tree during a storm...HELLO!!! [/b]
No no, you have the chronology all wrong...here's a breakdown:
1. Arrive at 9:30am
2. Sun beats down remorselessly upon you for 6 hours straight. During this period take shifts w/ friends standing under trees for some shade.
3. 3:30pm gates open right about the time it starts sprinkling a bit
4. 4-5pm, rain harder than I ever hope to see again in my life
5. 5pm, told to get back in cars
6. 6:30pm, crazy people running through rain back to gate, we go too, Thatguy is shirtless and tells us it's been canceled.
7. As we walk through the knee deep water to our car, we notice that at some point, lightning has struck the trees we had been using for shade, and they are now on fire.
8. 8:30pm, thinking perhaps that Radiohead will show up at 9:30 club and do a free show (ala after tibet freedom), we arrive at 9:30 club only be told the basement is flooded and the club is closed.
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Originally posted by bearman:
For me it was unlucky concert #13, Ned's Atomic Dustbin at the Metro in November of 1992. In the grand scheme of things, it SHOULD have been a great evening. I hung out with the band beforehand, and the crowd was really pumped for the show. My 2 friends Colleen and Erin were right up front, I was just behind them by a couple people. The band came out and during the first song "Suave and Suffocated" (kind of ironic looking back), there was a massive crowd surge and I went down like a ton of bricks because we were SO packed in and there was nowhere to move. A bunch of people landed on me, and I was face down on the floor, getting stepped on, kicked, and what blew me away was how there was ZERO oxygen down towards the floor. I felt like I was drowning. My glasses broke (and I'm blind without them) but after what seemed like forever I finally managed to force my way back on my feet and I staggered away to the back where people looked at me like I was crazy. My friends never even saw what happened to me, but I had bruises and footprints all over me. To this day, I cannot stand it when there's too many people around me. I have a bootleg of the show because it was broadcast on WXRT at a later point, and you can actually hear people screaming (thankfully not me) right at the beginning when people started falling on top of each other. Ned's shows always had a bit of a knucklehead factor, but that night just plain sucked. It was not fun.
insanity... i have nightmares from carter USM and EMF from seeing them at UC Davis when i was in high school. There was this huge surge to the stage and the place went crazy. Some guy saw me about to get stampeded and yanked me out of the way. But whenever I see crowds like that i start having panic attacks.
I remembered that when I saw Neds and was nowhere near the stage. The place was mayhem.
Speaking of Neds - a friend is proposing a trip to London to see them over there. Will you be making it?
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i finally unearthed a really buried worst concert experience...
it was a late 90s show with Television... At the last minute the show was moved from a theater to this dumpy bar, which turned out to be packed to the gills and the band was stuffed into the corner on this tiny stage. And to add insult to injury, the band performed their entire set while right next to the stage one of those tacky LED display bars scrolled drink specials.. Needless to say it was a miserable situation in which to witness a legendary band I was really looking forward to seeing and they turned in a very lackluster performance...
i also remember a Paul Westerberg show where he was completely wasted... at one point he abruptly left the stage which cause his very confused band to fill on the spot until he returned...
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Originally posted by kosmo:
i also remember a Paul Westerberg show where he was completely wasted... at one point he abruptly left the stage which cause his very confused band to fill on the spot until he returned...
he's no bob pollard. . .there were shows where between songs or towards the end of songs when he didn't have anything to sing, he'd just sit on the drum riser and look like he was about to pass out. . .then, when the next song started, he get up and be ready to go all over again. . .just slurring a bit more each time.
saw frank black in austin just before "teenager of the year" was released. . .finished his rather short set, came out, played one song and walked off the stage while the band finished that song. . .band stayed on the stage waiting for him to come back out, each one of them alternating looks between the crowd and off to the side of the stage to see what's going on...after about 3 minutes, the band sort of shrugged their shoulders and walked off the stage.
there were a number of miserable concert experiences in austin, but they had nothing to do with the performers; rather, the lack of air conditioning coupled with humidity and no air movement created a very stifling environment, no matter how much i may have enjoyed the performance.
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Originally posted by kosmo:
i finally unearthed a really buried worst concert experience...
it was a late 90s show with Television... At the last minute the show was moved from a theater to this dumpy bar, which turned out to be packed to the gills and the band was stuffed into the corner on this tiny stage. And to add insult to injury, the band performed their entire set while right next to the stage one of those tacky LED display bars scrolled drink specials.. Needless to say it was a miserable situation in which to witness a legendary band I was really looking forward to seeing and they turned in a very lackluster performance...
i also remember a Paul Westerberg show where he was completely wasted... at one point he abruptly left the stage which cause his very confused band to fill on the spot until he returned...
For drunkness there was a Jesus and Mary Chain show where Jim finished two beers during one song. For GBV I have to say when I saw them, there were the "super drunks" in the band and the two that kept it two 2-3 beers for the set so that they could keep the beat.
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Ned's in London is SOOOOO tempting, but alas, I think I'm done with my major travel for the year with the exception of the holidays!
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S. Malkmus @ the 9:30 club a few years ago. He came onstage and announced that he just had pork chops at Florida Avenue Grill. And he played like someone with a stomach full of pork chops. Lots of guitar noodling and a lack of good songs. Total waste of time.
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i saw phish once
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Does almost getting killed at an Elvis Costello concert qualify?
I am pretty sure it was spring of 1981 (definitely warm weather my senior year so conceivably fall of 1980), cut school for the day to go hang with a friend outside the club in West Hartford so we could get a good spot for the show. It was called the Hard Rock Cafe but this was before the chain and copyright.
We were first on line (no big shock, weekday in Hartford), hung out, got into the venue early and took our spots at the stage. Stage was a little high so for me, being short, I was just about upper chest level but comfortable enough to be able to lean on my arms on the edge of the stage.
Chatted with the road crew and security guys as they set stuff up. Blah blah blah. Place gets more and more and more and more crowded and there is no sign of the Man yet. And as it gets later the crowd gets more restless (and drunk).
Finally ... and he's still not there ... someone thinks the show is starting and this huge crush begins from the back (remember this is GA) ... think the Who in Cincinnati but obviously on a smaller scale.
But that smaller scale doesn't make me feel better since the entire crowd is crushing me into the apron of the stage, and has lifted my little 5-2 frame up off the floor just enough that it is literally crushing my ribs and windpipe with the rows and rows of drunk people rushing the EMPTY stage.
I can't make a sound and I'm blacking out. Luckily one of the roadies I had made friends with earlier happened to come out on stage and saw me turning blue and rescued me and pulled me up onto the stage. I wasn't quite unconscious yet but I wasn't far off.
I turned down medical treatment because like z bozo I wanted to see the show. And at least I still got my first row spot back. How much would that have sucked if I'd died AND lost my spot???
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He hasn't changed. I like the recorded stuff, but live is something else.
Originally posted by dontmfme:
S. Malkmus @ the 9:30 club a few years ago. He came onstage and announced that he just had pork chops at Florida Avenue Grill. And he played like someone with a stomach full of pork chops. Lots of guitar noodling and a lack of good songs. Total waste of time.