Worst Sounding Gigs

Leeds Arena, 2017, Australian Pink Floyd. I’ve never heard such appalling sound mixing at a gig. Judging by other comments, this is not an uncommon occurrence at the Leeds Arena!

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Strangely enough we’ve seen them twice in Venue Cymru Llandudno, the first time in 2013 I think and they sounded really good, I was very impressed, the next time was probably 12 months later and they sounded diabolical, we left after half an hour as they were that bad, definitely the worst sound at a gig

You’ve definitely got that right … one Bonamassa gig completely ruined for me!

I saw Wolfsbane in a small pub in the early 90’s, i don’t remember them sounding particularly bad, but it was packed in there. I thought it was a decent gig at the time, they were more about the vibe than sound quality. The worst sounding gigs I’ve been to have all been in very large venues. I saw Rush at the NEC and I was sat at the side, so near the front I was almost level with Geddy Lee’s keyboards. The sound was really muddy and the bass drum was echoing around wildly from my position. It was the last time I got to see Rush so a bit disappointing to have that memory.

93 saw Radiohead supporting James. All the songs merged into one. Even Creep sounded terrible. My verdict was they had to many guitarists.
18 months later they released The Bends just to prove my theory wrong.

When James came on the sound was good, so it wasn’t the venue or sound system. I thought it was in Gloucester but looking it up, it appears to be Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

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I was at that gig, in fact Rush in '81 at Bingley Hall was also bad.

I saw that same line up in Monmouth, the Groundhogs did play but TS wasn’t in great shape and they were a shadow of the band I’d seen in the early 90’s. Wishbone Ash were ok but a bit dull I felt, it was up to Focus to lift things and they put on a brilliant show.

Another gig in Monmouth, the reformed Mott the Hoople warming up for Hammersmith, it was a small theatre and I think they had set up the sound as if they were playing at Hammersmith, the volume was so loud my ears were in pain and I don’t think they have been the same since.

I saw them in London on that tour, probably the loudest gig I’ve ever seen (although Motörhead at the Brixton Academy came close). As a 16 year old I was watching Thames News with my parents the next evening, and they covered the gig, saying that you ran the risk of hearing damage within minutes. Through the ringing in my ears I heard my parents saying it was good I hadn’t been at that one.
I did like John McCoy’s Richie Blackmore wig he wore through a Purple number.

I was at that gig too. Heavy metal/rock bands at that time were in a battle for the badge of honour of being the loudest band in the world.
Within the space of a few months I saw AC/DC, Whitesnake & Motorhead at Deeside Leisure Centre and Rainbow at Bingley Hall. Everyone of them left my ribs sore from the pounding bass. A couple of years later I saw The Damned in the sports hall of the Northgate Arena in Chester. The loudest gig I’ve been too.
Back on topic though, the worst sounding gig would be LA Guns at The Tivoli in Buckley, North Wales. Awful sound and a miserly 68 minutes. Still 60 minutes too long …

Bryan Ferry at The NEC. Not a ideal venue for him and with him being pissed/ out of it didn’t help! Sang out of key and made zero attempt to connect with the audience.

Elvis Costello in the Hammersmith Arena last March, just before lockdown was diabolical. We left early. It wasn’t too loud, it just sounded very poor.

Elvis Costello in the Heineken Arena in Amsterdam in 2003. That was just loud. Since then I always bring earplugs.
And generally I remember not to go to big gigs anymore but do small local venues perhaps max 400 people. But sometimes I forget…

For me I think it was an INXS gig. The mikes kept cutting out along with one channel of the sound system. I am sure there will be more if I can sit down and think about it.

The strangest gig was watching JJ Cale playing with his back to the audience the whole time.

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We’ve seen Joe many times. The SQ varies for sure.

Worst ever for me was Simon and Garfunkel outdoors in Sydney. We were unfortunately positioned where we could hear both the main-stage speakers and the non-time-aligned intermediate speakers at approximately equal volumes. The 1/4-second delay was unbearable.

Many support acts have their sound compressed and frequency limited to make the main act sound better. Drives me nuts. Basia Bulat as a support act for some already-forgotten clown we never bothered to stay for, being a memorable example. Basia is utterly brilliant, but they mixed her to sound like mud. We only went for her show, and were so disappointed.

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I was at the second night for MOTH at Monmouth. Can’t say I noticed it being especially loud but I had been on the sauce all day!

His Jimmy Hughes phase?

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Gary Glitter at Sheffield Arena.Absolutely the worst gig ever, l think to enjoy it you had be rat arsed before you went in.

Was one rat arsed when one bought tickets?

Led Zeppelin at Brighton Dome 20 December 1972. One of the few gigs I’ve walked out of before the end. Apart from being literally painful in terms of volume, the sound quality was dreadful. ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’ was good as was the start of ‘Dazed and Confused’ but the rest came across as just a ghastly distorted self-indulgent noise. Apparently it improved in the second half. I was a fan too, and they were amazing at Bath Festival a couple of years previously.

No , a moment of madness