Bad Brains

[chaz]

Originally posted by JSmith:
  I can't believe you were all at the same show I was. That show was terrible! I was amazed HR was not booed off the stage or that the band did not attack him. He refused to sing most of the songs and when he did he often forgot or invented lyrics. He did not appear to give a damn about the show. I hope the rest of the tour is cancelled and people receive refunds. I saw the Bad Brains at the old 9:30 in 1985 and consider it one of the best shows I have ever seen. Last nights show is the worst I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of shows over the last 25 years.

That's pretty much what i thought this show would be (didn't go).  Sounds just like the last 2 BB shows I saw..one in 95 and one in about 05.
 
 Old 930 shows were transcendant and riveting.

[Mr.Whippy]

Originally posted by JSmith:
  I can't believe you were all at the same show I was. That show was terrible! I was amazed HR was not booed off the stage or that the band did not attack him. He refused to sing most of the songs and when he did he often forgot or invented lyrics. He did not appear to give a damn about the show. I hope the rest of the tour is cancelled and people receive refunds. I saw the Bad Brains at the old 9:30 in 1985 and consider it one of the best shows I have ever seen. Last nights show is the worst I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of shows over the last 25 years.

I'm in agreement.  I had never seen them before, but was really not impressed.
 
 One question since you saw them in the old days, what was HR like on stage then, was he pretty animated?

[twangirl]

Originally posted by Itouchmyself:
 [/qb]

One question since you saw them in the old days, what was HR like on stage then, was he pretty animated? [/QB][/QUOTE]
 
 I saw 'em at the 9:30 on the I Against I tour, and HR backflipped onto the stage. It was one of the most electrifying shows I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of shows.

[matts]

So I had a pretty decent time - mainly driven by the nostalgia factor.  The band absolutely rocked but HR was so odd and lifeless and completely unable or unwilling to keep up with the fast songs.  I kept hoping he would come to life and belt out one of those wicked screams of old.  
 
 Anyone know the cause of his current state? Drugs, age, found Krishna, drugs?

[manimtired]

crackhead

[chaz]

Originally posted by Itouchmyself:
   

Originally posted by JSmith:
  I can't believe you were all at the same show I was. That show was terrible! I was amazed HR was not booed off the stage or that the band did not attack him. He refused to sing most of the songs and when he did he often forgot or invented lyrics. He did not appear to give a damn about the show. I hope the rest of the tour is cancelled and people receive refunds. I saw the Bad Brains at the old 9:30 in 1985 and consider it one of the best shows I have ever seen. Last nights show is the worst I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of shows over the last 25 years.

I'm in agreement.  I had never seen them before, but was really not impressed.
 
 One question since you saw them in the old days, what was HR like on stage then, was he pretty animated? [/b]

A man posessed.

[chaz]

Originally posted by matts:
  So I had a pretty decent time - mainly driven by the nostalgia factor.  The band absolutely rocked but HR was so odd and lifeless and completely unable or unwilling to keep up with the fast songs.  I kept hoping he would come to life and belt out one of those wicked screams of old.  
 
 Anyone know the cause of his current state? Drugs, age, found Krishna, drugs?

Combo of drugs, mental illness and just being an asshole, I'd say.  But with an emphasis on the mental illness and asshole part.

[matts]

I saw them in the late 80s in Milwaukee and it was one of the most energetic shows I have ever seen.
 
 HR was absolutely on fire - somersaults, leaps off the speakers, diving into the crowd, and lots of vocal power.  An excellent frontman for the band.  My understanding is that most shows (back then) were like this.
 
 
 _______________________________________________
  [/qb][/QUOTE]I'm in agreement.  I had never seen them before, but was really not impressed.
 
 One question since you saw them in the old days, what was HR like on stage then, was he pretty animated? [/QB][/QUOTE]

[JSmith]

Originally posted by Itouchmyself:
  One question since you saw them in the old days, what was HR like on stage then, was he pretty animated?

Go check out some of the Bad Brains YouTube videos from the 80s to get an idea of the type of performance HR put on. He used to be a very high engery performer who actually sang the songs.

[andyrichter]

Originally posted by JSmith:
  I can't believe you were all at the same show I was. That show was terrible! I was amazed HR was not booed off the stage or that the band did not attack him. He refused to sing most of the songs and when he did he often forgot or invented lyrics. He did not appear to give a damn about the show. I hope the rest of the tour is cancelled and people receive refunds. I saw the Bad Brains at the old 9:30 in 1985 and consider it one of the best shows I have ever seen. Last nights show is the worst I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of shows over the last 25 years.

I'm not saying this was a great or even a good show.  I just already knew coming in what to expect and tried to enjoy the show as best I could and I did for portions of the night. The band was on fire and on point for most of the night, which was the main reason I came.  HR on the other hand was forgetting lyrics, mixing up songs, and probably the one who bailed out on the encore.  You also have the benefit of seeing them in their heyday so anything less (or far less in this case) is downright disappointing.

[lexicondevil]

I can't believe you were all at the same show I was. That show was terrible! I was amazed HR was not booed off the stage or that the band did not attack him. He refused to sing most of the songs and when he did he often forgot or invented lyrics. He did not appear to give a damn about the show. I hope the rest of the tour is cancelled and people receive refunds. I saw the Bad Brains at the old 9:30 in 1985 and consider it one of the best shows I have ever seen. Last nights show is the worst I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of shows over the last 25 years.
 
 
 This is my first time on this forum, so excuse the lack of proper quoting etiquette. We actually agree with EVERYTHING JSmith said and then some. Bad Brains were the godfathers of DC punk and this bullshit that HR pulled last night was offensive; embarrassing for his bandmates (who were f-ing tight as all get out) and a complete joke to anyone that grew up with the raw,animal aggression and passion that HR used to perform with. After Re-ignition, we walked out.

[Mobius]

Great vintage clip.  Big Takeover CBGB 1982
 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcspR0yCRLY

[TheREALHunter]

Originally posted by JSmith:
  I can't believe you were all at the same show I was. That show was terrible! I was amazed HR was not booed off the stage or that the band did not attack him. He refused to sing most of the songs and when he did he often forgot or invented lyrics. He did not appear to give a damn about the show. I hope the rest of the tour is cancelled and people receive refunds. I saw the Bad Brains at the old 9:30 in 1985 and consider it one of the best shows I have ever seen. Last nights show is the worst I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of shows over the last 25 years.

Co-sign, that show was fucking GARBAGE.
 HR is completely fried and is a total shell of his former abilities as a frontman and IMO the band played with no real intensity (it sounded OK but there IS a difference in putting some emotion into it and just phoning it in which I felt they did the latter), I suffered through a Soul Brains show in '03 to catch 5 minutes of brilliance but this time I didn't even get that.  I'll always love their earlier material but they need to hang it up.

[mekmad]

Originally posted by andyrichter:
  and by the way, what was with the patdowns?  i think that's a first for me at 930 and i've been going almost 10 years now.  i thought the only band to possibly warrant that was a slayer crowd.

I think the patdown was to prevent tapers from recording the show and impacting ticket sales to the other suckers out there at future tour dates.  
 
 Kinda kidding, I enjoyed the slower songs the other night since I have never seen this iconic band before.  No encore sucked, but I can't imagine anyone was really suprised.  I'm sure its tough to convince HR to do anything these days.

[Cash is King]

The rest of the band kicked ass.  H.R. sucked.  I enjoyed the Virgin Fest show better.  He had no energy at the show either, but he was at least "there."  H.R. wasn't even at the show on Tuesday.