Gigs you have walked out of

[Rob W]

Can I propose an another tread ? Has a band ever walked out on you?
Happened to me at a Groundhogs gig around the 'Split' album period.

Well on my post,  I spoke of Elton John walking out on us. You've mentioned Groundhogs, so yes, there may be mileage in another thread

[akko]

Gary Numan at Birmingham Odeon 1979 ish. All dry ice,ties and zzzz.... Iron Maiden at Brum just after Brucie had returned.Left after an hour. Gumby rock at its finest. Motorhead at Brum academy about 10 years ago. Again after about an hour the ears were bored and hurting. Three "big uns" that left me cold.

[Jon M]

Very few so far and still looking forward to King Crimson tomorrow night, mainly for Sailors tale, the letter and anything from Lizard.
Now that Fripp has no one to challenge him, less surprises in the music.

I did walk out of The Trembling Bells at Cafe Oto and Holger Czukay at the Roundhouse

I have sat through 2 Yoko gigs which were thankfully short so i suggest another topic, worst gig that you did not walk out of.

[Rob W]

Very few so far and still looking forward to King Crimson tomorrow night, mainly for Sailors tale, the letter and anything from Lizard.
Now that Fripp has no one to challenge him, less surprises in the music.

I did walk out of The Trembling Bells at Cafe Oto and Holger Czukay at the Roundhouse

I have sat through 2 Yoko gigs which were thankfully short so i suggest another topic, worst gig that you did not walk out of.

Loads of them over the years. Excluding those attended for brownie points, biggest disappointments were Rainbow 76 or so. Uriah Heep about the same time. Wishbone Ash (can't recall which of the two bands it was) 2000 and something.

[Tim W]

AC/DC 1976.

At one point the schoolboy guitarist asked the audience "d'you wanna see a human kangaroo?" And proceeded to drop his shorts and hop around stage with his, er, joey bouncing up and down. The girl I was with was not impressed. Both artistic and quantative reasons.

I don't think that features in their stage act these days.

[Allan Heron]

Jumping.

Like a kangaroo.

😨😉

[Arjayay]

John Martyn
Helped onto the stage as he was staggering, sat down, completely missing the chair and pulled several leads out the amps + monitors trying to stand up
Told his roadie, who was trying to plug things back in again, that he was fired (roadie said something like "what - again?" and carried on working)
Strummed a chord - only to discover his guitar wasn't in tune - tried to tune it - tried again - and again .......
I was not the only person to leave at that point

[Olly Goodwin]

( A personal message to ) Mr Heatley !
Some-one else on this site has suggested you are ( or were) a fan of King Crimson ? If so, surely ( another band) playing 20 minute pieces with lots of improvisation, where epic songs from earlier decades have been given new treatments by new ( and some old) band members, was exactly what you wanted / were expecting? And does this ethos / modus operandum remind you of anyone else we might enjoy?  Sound familiar?  If, like me, you were such a fan, I am extremely surprised  you didn't love the gig. I was there on Sunday, and as a fan from the 70s, who saw them in the early 80s, to me it was an amazing performance, a very special gig indeed. And, re your reference to Schizoid in the second halr, they didn't play it. Not many bands would be brave enough not to play their most famous song. Were you there on Sunday or Monday ?

If you were never a fan of Crimson, I fully get it - they are different and an acquired taste, (but then why go?).

Message to Mr. Heron; I agree with you on the new Melt Down album, it is the same line-up, of course, and the tone is very similar, in my view sublime, and it appears they may be changing the set list quite a bit throughout the tours. So lots to look forward to.....
 

[Michael Heatley]

Not sure if I should be answering you in public, Mr Goodwin 

Your legal training is showing through here; perhaps I should plead the fifth...

All I can say is Man have never had three drummers - at least, not at the same time - and what I heard live didn't remind me at all of the (early) KC pomp-rock stuff I remember liking. That said, I never bought their albums.

And why did I go (Bournemouth BIC, 29/10)? It was my birthday, and a couple of friends I hadn't seen for a while were coming down to the gig. Would I like to go? Of course...but the b*stards made me pay for my ticket!

Will you let me off with a suspended sentence?

[Olly Goodwin]

Aha ! First, Belated Birthday Wishes, sorry your mates made you buy your own ( expensive) ticket, and sorry you didn't enjoy it much / at all. As you were never moved enough to buy their records, that puts you in the "innocent bystander" category, and therefore no charges will be brought.
Full Confession; I was given a ticket to the " friends and family only" gig on Sunday. I had seen tickets advertised the previous year for £75 - £100 odd, and thought, that's ridiculous ! I don't need to see them again at that price. However, I am so glad I saw them, and would have gladly  paid the price, had I known.

Celebration Day in Bournemouth; I hope you and your mates all left and found somewhere good to celebrate during the second half. Its your local town, isn't it ? Our little group met at a seafood restaurant called the Crab, just round the corner from the venue (in Exeter Street) - very good, but virtually empty apart from us at 6pm on Sunday. And after the gig at 10.30, nowhere was open at all ! We roamed the deserted boulevards, devoid of excitement, but eventually found a cheery little Spanish restaurant. They played my newly acquired triple live King Crimson CD on their sound system. Very soon, we had the place to ourselves.......

Pretty sure I've never left a band I had paid to see. Walked away from acts at festivals, though.
How about starting a more positive category; " Gigs I attended under protest, but which turned out to be brilliant" ?

[Rob W]

How about starting a more positive category; " Gigs I attended under protest, but which turned out to be brilliant" ?

My first Man gig in September 1974! 

[Allan Heron]

How about "Gigs I attended but which turned out to be 12 miles further up the river"? 😈😈😈😜

[Olly Goodwin]

Okay! Walked out of my first gig last night. Mate asked me to Jane Weaver at the Hackney Arts Centre.
I listened on Spotify and loved the music, a bit Portishead, a bit female Mogwai.
The venue is cool, new to music, I'm told. Rustic conversion of a Twenties cinema.
But, young Jane stood alone, conjuring all the sounds from two keyboards and a laptop, often pressing just a single button to create a soundscape, sometimes strumming along on an acoustic. Even the lead vocals were recorded at times ( or she is a great ventriloquist ).
Perhaps that is what young performers do, these days, but it is not what I want from a live gig.
My mate said " I could be listening to the CD at home, in fact, I will - I'm off ."
 I can understand the cost of fielding a band, I expect capacity is around 500, don't know the economics. I didn't like the idea of leaving, as I liked the music, but I did feel a bit cheated.
Perhaps publicity for the gig could make it clear " Jane will actually only be playing or singing 10% of what you hear live, the rest will be via her Mac."
Some Live footage of recent St. Vincent has her alone on stage with guitar, and I suspect the rest of the band isn't behind a curtain, so that is just the same. Grace Jones was doing this live 20 years ago. Is it a female thing ? What men have dared to do this ?
Keep Music Live !

[mikey a]

i used to visit the Swansea Delta blues club on a regular basis , and one SPECIAL gig was Tony Mcphee backed by a band  i think was called THE UNION  ...not 100% on that...Anyway they did the first half, and were quite good, he then joined them for the second half, and it was dreadful...we were too polite to walk out, and also we believe he wasn,t very well for whatever reason(this was post stroke)..  unfortunately our club finished years ago, but we saw some great acts there, including many that were not exactly well known

[Colin Salter]

Re Jane Weaver, I went to see David Byrne's American Utopia tour the other week in Glasgow. Twelve musicians, no drum kit, no visible amps or cabling of any kind, all choreographed and on their feet for the entire gig carrying their instruments. He made a point of emphasising that there were no backing tapes, that it was all absolutely live. It certainly seemed to be, and was all the better and more impressive for it. (There was one keyboard, around one of the musicians' necks, but even that just seemed to be actually being played, not sequencing anything.)
Couldn't agree more about Jane Weaver and her ilk. Why bother?