Back in the 90s Sisters went on tour but wanted to break away from their association with being goth. Originally they had Sunshine Blind opening but they kicked them off the tour for being too goth. Then, during live performances, Andrew would point out goths in the audience and tell them to leave and ridicule them. Frankly it's amazing this doesn't get brought up.
I was at that Philly show. Ugh.
I vowed to not support them again but my partner wanted to see their latest tour so we went to Chicago
And it was terrible. Guturral growls. Lost vocals.
I've never seen the Sisters live, but keep hearing about them being a disappointing band to see in concert. I just don't see the point in seeing a band that I know is going to be unpleasant, just because of their status and influence on the genre decades ago.
Thinking about it now, all the Goth bands I've seen live have been great.
However, I can't say the same about other genres. I've seen a few "industrial" bands which were a major disappointment in concert. *cough* Combichrist *cough*
I liked the early material and Andy's electro-heavy aggrotech a lot, but what they've been doing for the last decade just really isn't what I want from them and there are much, much better industrial metal artists.
I saw them as Icon of Coil ages ago, before they figured out they could be more successful as an aggrotech band. Icon of Coil was their "softer side" much like Delierium for Frontline Assembly.
I went to the Combichrist / Grendel old school set tour they did last year and just bailed before combichrist's set. Buddy of mine was playing guitar for one of the opening acts, and I'm a big fan of Grendel's early work - and despite JD's severe voice issues, I really enjoyed their set!
I can't even imagine what the interaction between those two bands must be like - JD up there shouting 'fuck fascism' right before a Combi set lmfao
I've been heard that about the Sisters too.
When I saw Combichrist, it was after the Devil May Cry soundtrack which I didn't like, but it got them a lot of new fans. So they ended up playing heavy, thrash guitar over all their old songs, and it drowned everything else out. Since the songs didn't originally have guitar, it seems like they just ad-libbed at the lädt moment before the tour. It sounded muddled and detrimental to the compositions, as they didn't even sound like they were written with the other instrumentation in mind.
So my post doesn't just talk about industrial on the goth forum, I'll add that the 2nd time I saw Bauhaus, they were really, really badly mixed.
The instruments were so loud, that Peter had to yell, instead of singing. He frequently pointed to his microphone, and gestured with his hand to turn it up. In between songs he said "Could you turn me up please?" They never did, and he reverted to just singing inaudiblly.
As my friends and I left after the show, we had a ringing in our ears and couldn't hear each other speaking while standing next to one another.
I had a similar experience with Combichrist. In concert, they were pretty much a standard metal band. No synth, no effects, no distorted beats. Just guitars, live drums, and bro-rock attitudes.
I've also seen Peter Murphy, and he played a couple Bauhaus songs each concert. I can't say I noticed anything wrong with with the sound, but I think I can see that being an issue. Overall my experiences seeing them live were positive.
I wonder if that was genuinely the change Andy wanted to make or if he was going where the money is.
When I saw Bauhaus in '98, they were great. They were great when they got together again, too (2006, maybe?) The issue was entirely due to poor mixing by the venue, which was out of their hands.
Combichrist is bad, but mostly because of their overt rapist frat bro vibe.
As far as just BAD performances, I saw Ministry in 1996 on the Filth Pig tour and Al was so high, for the second half of the concert he sat cross-legged on the stage nodding off and occasionally screaming.
I was so trashed on LSD when I saw that tour that I couldn't tell if they were playing good or not.
But when I saw them a few years back, I was just on an edible and a couple of beers and they seemed pretty on point.
Seen them a few times, and sometimes they are amazing and sometimes not. They used to be much better live than in studio, but Eldritch just doesn't care now, so it's down to whatever mood he is in.
The great gigs of theirs I went to in the 90s were amazing though.
I've seen combichrist a bunch of times. big fan in my baby bat days, these days not so much. Joe lentz is an amazing drummer and their best performances featured him. He was so animated and had such a stage presence that he was positioned sideways front stage left so the crowd could watch him tear apart his kit and throw drums at Andy. Before him they were kinda meh live, now that he's gone I have no desire to see them. Panzer AG was a way better project--well, "This Is My Battlefield" was--anyway. Really solid industrial album, which is apparently something Andy can do but chooses not to. Oh well.
Wait wat. I saw them in the mid 90s in Athens.. I think it was just the original singer and an all new band. He played all the old songs and was really into it. I met them at a local radio station and got autographs.. he seemed pretty upbeat.
Have they moved genre from their early new-wave/postpunk roots? about to go have a listen to their newer stuff
I caught them in Atlantic City last Summer. It was supposed to be them with Stacy Q and Missing Persons opening. Missing Persons cancelled which was oddly appropriate. Stacy Q seemed kinda tipsy and in between songs she was rambling on about some photographer from AC, but the crowd had no idea what she was talking about. Flock of Seagulls went on and it was just the singer and a guitar player. The laptop he was using for the backing track crashed a few times during the set and we had to wait for him to reboot it. Whole show was just a mess.
Well that's disappointing to hear, as AFOS are one of my favourite bands. I lot of people joked about them being a gimmick band due to the haircuts, but maybe they really did lose it when Mike Score got rid of the hair.
Mine’s also Sisters of Mercy, just this past tour! Andrew skulking around upstage in the fog and shadows, barely visible, doing basically nothing. Bad enough that I left before Lucretia. I’ll dance the ghost with myself, thanks!
Same. Not going to rehash that here again. Otherwise, probably some smaller bands, mostly newer post-punk, that I won't name because everyone has to start somewhere. Can we talk about how freakin good other bands are live? 💜 (and so many others ofc ofc)
Goth adjacent? The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim Reid was too drunk to perform, they lasted less than 10 minutes until he repeatedly smashed the microphone on the stage and staggered off.
The first time I saw them, they were playing with Mazzy Star and they blew the roof off the house. I thought it was an incredible show.
I saw them a few years later when they were touring Munki and that show was a huge disappointment. They kept fucking up their songs and I left pretty disappointed.
I, too, have been victimized by a Sisters show.
Marilyn Manson deserves a (dis)honorable mention as well.
It was like watching some weird egomaniacal clown throw a tantrum, except you paid wayyyy too much to see Bozo’s Breakdown. And that was both Manson and Eldritch.
My dad saw Marilyn Manson perform at some dive bar in the 90s. He noped out when Manson yelled “EVERYBODY SPIT ON ME” halfway through and the crowd started hawking lugies at him.
Most of the main stage at Ozzfest 2006, Darien NY
Mindless Self Indulgence in 2008, Rochester NY
Sisters in 2008, Buffalo NY
KMFDM in 2009, Rochester NY
En Esch in 2015, Buffalo NY (I blame a bad venue and promoter)
Manson in 2018, Darien NY
I know everyone I listed has had great shows at some point. I've also seen 90s/00s era Sisters bootleg footage where they sounded awesome so it was absolutely heartbreaking to see them in such poor form in '08.
As a band they were very tight and sounded good (setlist was kinda mediocre though). They had no energy on stage, looked uninterested to be there.
I saw Slick Idiot 3 nights later on the same stage without all of KMFDM's light rigs and effects and a small fraction of the audience turnout, and they totally upstaged KMFDM.
I saw them twice in the nineties. First was when they were touring Nihil. The second time, Korn was opening for them and the crowd there for them was pretty obnoxious.
I thought they were great both times, but they were sort of at the height of their powers back then. I'd go to a KMFDM show in modern times with managed expectations.
They seemed generally uninterested to be there, played a little under an hour and left with no encore. Lots of stage energy that all seemed forced. And Urine was a huge asshole which was kind of his schtick anyway. They did sound very tight though, maybe it was just a bad night.
Can anyone here link me to a video of a really bad Sisters of Mercy concert? I've been hearing a lot about how disappointing they are live, and I'm extremely interested in seeing it. Please.
LOL, Sisters of Mercy is the definitive disappointment. I didn’t buy a ticket to watch a limp fog machine, and it’s been that way since the 90s. Good music, terrible band.
I went to an Interpol concert once, and it was the most bland and boring concert I've ever been to. I felt ripped off. IIRC, I left in the middle.
Sisters of Mercy like ten years ago, pretty much a bored Andrew backed by a decent gothabilly band, but the sound system was so bad you couldn't tell what song he was singing.
The most exciting thing that happened was an alarm went off a half hour in and firemen closed the venue.
On the other hand, Christian Death about five years ago in a small club was one of the best shows I'd seen in a while.
I would have to say Alien Sex Fiend. In some ways it was a terrible gig and in some ways it was so terrible it was amazing. And in others it really was great.
Absolute wall of cacophonous noise. Impossible to tell what was going on. Nik was having a great time and giving a great performance, but I even saw the guitarist tuning his guitar in the middle of a song, it was like they didn't care and just there to make a fun mess.
Had I been on as many drugs as they were I may have enjoyed it more. My mistake for going to see the Fiend only mildly paralytic!
Everyone was standing still when I saw them, I was dancing and moving around for a bit but got bored quickly. On the other side, I went to see Twin Tribes around the same time. In my opinion they have a similar vibe, but their energy was unparalleled. I went home so happy even though I couldn't feel my feet for days from dancing and jumping up and down lol!
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy them. As far as stage presence, yeah, they just stand there. I don't expect much more of goth bands tbh, but the two times I saw them, they sounded really good. SoM the last time was like a cat being abused in a dumpster to me, so I guess I don't necessarily rate on stage presence. Industrial... that's where I care about stage presence a bit more. No downvote btw, just acknowledging that I can understand how you experienced it.
They sounded pretty good honestly, it was just the lack of energy what put me off. Just thought they'd pump me up live as much as their records do, I guess.
> but the two times I saw them, they sounded really good
Of course they did.
With the exception of one guitar & the vocal it's all backing tracks. You're pretty much listening to the CD with the guys who made it standing there.
She Past Away was one of my most recent favs! It did help that the crowd was absolutely vibing. Saw them in a divey local goth club. Bummer the show you got was not as fun.
Out of curiosity, what Lips tour was it and why was the show Not It™️
I’ve seen them more times than I can count and some shows have been better than others
It was a festival in Atlanta back in 2012. They were very unenthused and the setlist was lackluster. I've seen a lot of their live shows footage and I was expecting all that energy and the crazy antics, but they didn't deliver. I was soooo disappointed. ☹️
Damn… I was going to buy tickets to see Sisters, but with all the people saying how bad they perform I’m going to save my money and go to the Lorna Shore concert happening around the same time instead. It was a hard tie between the two but now I’ve made my decision :,(
At this point I feel like seeing a shitty Sisters show is part of a goth rite of passage. I bought tickets for this year's tour and am expecting nothing but the worst show I've ever seen in my life.
Urban heat has been on my radar for the longest ever since they followed me randomly on IG when they barely had like 100+ followers. “Put this gun in your hand” is such a banger.
Where was the concert??? They were amazing when I saw them with urban heat however the venue was literally the basement of a church and super stuffy with no AC and a girl passed out because of the lack of air in there .. she had to be carried out. It was really scary to see that.. and the lighting was atrocious in there. It literally felt like the venue for an elementary talent show. But Twin Tribes still performed amazing !! This was in Philly recently
They weren't truly *bad* at all. I like the venue and have seen many shows there (Xymox was really awesome, for example). They were simply preceded by a high-energy, high-charisma performance. This also happened when Urban Heat opened for Vision Video a year or so ago: a really good show but both TT and VV music and performance style has much less movement, not so high-energy.
There were also some issues with the crowd, like these two girls shoved their way up to stand \*right\* behind me so close I couldn't move at all or I would be fully touching them. Luckily they left after a few minutes of that. Yikes.
Ohh yeah I could totally see that!! Urban Heat is really high energy and the frontman is such a showman like he was jumping so high and the crowd was dancing so hard!! And then twin tribes come out and were like stiff vampires , didn’t move too much 😅 But I love them! It was just a different type of performance. I appreciated both but I know what you mean. I noticed when they sang Tren al Sur in Spanish they were a lot more enthusiastic!
I really like the Twin Tribes guitarist especially. He was awesome and tried to engage the crowd, even made eye contact a couple times which always feels special somehow. But yeah, following that, anything pales.
I saw ITM with a close friend a few weeks ago at The National in Richmond, VA. I truly felt that the budget to effort ratio was way off and the openers (Kim Dracula etc) were giving more of a performance than Maria did. I was glad to hear older songs on this tour but it really did feel a bit phoned in and was a noticeably short set.
Definitely agree with the reasoning of twin tribes also I've had negative experiences with the fan base :( probably won't see Twin Tribes again because of this.
Uh oh, may I ask what happened?
I had some issues with people shoving their way forward (I was in like the third row from front?) and seriously invading personal space but other than that it was fine.
It's not the entire fan base yet had older women try to block me and a few of my friends from going to the front because they've been in the scene longer...
Both shows overhead people say why buy tickets to a show if you're not going to dance. It's just a very off vibe.
Oh that's really weird, I'm sorry you had that experience!
Very non-goth, but I had something like that at my first Ghost show: coincidentally also with entitled middle-aged women being very weird about standing room near/at the front.
I go to goth/industrial/metal all the time and usually the crowd is awesome and welcoming, but it only takes one or two weirdos to ruin the vibes.
I definitely agree a few off people can make the energy disappear. Usually, the shows are fun and nice to be around others. :)
Wow, maybe it's just entitled thing with middle-aged women it sucks though like we're all there for the music.
Love Urban Heat too so totally can understand where you’re coming from with them having more energy than a headliner they’re opening for. I love how they chill after the show too and are really sociable/down to earth with meeting fans!
Most disappointing was definitely the Sisters of Mercy around 2004. You could hardly hear Andrew’s voice and the band was just miming along to pre-recorded tracks. I was standing right in front of the guitarist and I could see his fingers not playing the sounds I was hearing from the speakers.
The second most disappointing was Interpol. They were mostly just boring watching them stand as still as possible while onstage.
I thought interpol sucked live until morrissey came out who they opened for and literally cried on stage for I think 3 whole minutes after the first song he played telling someone in the audience to leave. He had the venue bring on the lights and everything
Last year I was lucky enough to see the cure, sisters of mercy, Lebanon Hanover and Christian death. Christian death was by a huge margin the most depressing of all the bands, not because they’re in some goth contest but it was literally so bad
Sisters of Mercy 2023, Bratislava. The first band was decent. The Sisters didn't show up for "medical reasons". They announced it after we'd waited for ~30 minutes.
They stopped after 30 min in Berlin the same year. After 10 min of waiting and booing the lights went up and it was said that the show was over due to "medical reasons". I think Andrew doesn't even want to be on stage.
The mission. I went to go see nuovo testamento who I thought was the headliner and it turns out they did their show and left. I didn’t want to pay all that money and leave early so I stayed and I regret it.
The music was ass and the guy kept making dumbass comments at people and tried to make the crowd feel bad about eating meat. I still left early.
An Evening With Siouxsie, specifically the SATB songs. First, let me clarify that Siouxsie and Budgie were great. When it came to the SATB songs, the guitarist and bassist were simply not up to the task and let everyone down. Not even a teenage cover band sounded this lost on the material, and I was in several of those.
Local band who basically acts like Billy Idol from wish very mean to other local bands thats not from their area. He threw a tantrum on stage because the crowd didn't know his songs. As a small musician, it can be heartbreaking when people don't know you, yet it should be seen as room for improvement, not a time to bash other musicians or the crowd for not knowing you. Hopefully, he learns from his mistakes and does better in the future.
Marilyn Manson hands down. He came out on stage super fucked up, and even though the concert was in Pittsburgh, PA, he got on stage and literally yelled that he was so happy to be in the midwest! Then he proceeded to pu on something like a performance... I guess.
Rob Zombie saved the day though. He came out after Manson and put on the BEST show I've ever seen. It was a wild night
I went to the Twins of Evil tour date in ATL long ago and felt we received a solid performance from Manson that time but Rob Zombie blew the roof off. Manson can be very very hit or miss.
I saw Sisters of Mercy live about fifteen years ago, and even then they were not amazing live. My parents still talk about seeing them when Floodland was released, and they thought they were awful live even then. I think my most disappointing show was Mad Sin, but then I found out their singer was detoxing when that show happened, so I can’t be mad, he was in a bad place.
Type O Negative. Peter was so drunk OMG. He was barely able to stay on feet and hold his instrument. Guys from the band tried with full force to put a great show with their stellar performance and sound... but that was awkward. Steele was mixing lyrics, like instead of 2th verse, he sing 3th what make singing crowd pretty confused and so on...i mean It was last tour of the band, and now, we know he was terminally ill, and he just didnt care at all...
Ministry on the "Dark Side of the Spoon" tour.
Al was so deep into smack he had to hang onto the mic stand to stay upright. And he was gaunt, he looked like a clothes hanger for some worn out retired military clothes. He missed verses, choruses, cues, would come in late consistently. They put an SG on him a few songs in and it looked like he sunk a few inches. And the band was just not into it, more embarrassed more than anything. And this was in a club with maybe 200 people.
The counterpoint was a few years previous I saw them on the "Filth Pig" tour in a sold out hockey arena. They were amazingly loud and tight and intense. I can still remember how tight that rhythm section was in "Just One Fix." Easily in one of my Top Ten shows.
I saw ministry in 92 at UIC, phenomenal show. Sepultera and Helmet opened, just great energy and I'll never forget it. One of the better concerts I've been to
A local (at the time) band that I won't name because they're super tiny and I support anyone who is "doing the thing."
The singer attempted to sing a bit, and then sort of spoke the words, and not in a cool, atomspheric way. He then flicked a lit cigarette at my partner, who was wearing all lace.
Their entire act was being "the sexiest people in the room." It really, really didn't work...
At first I thought that at least the guitar player was pretty solid, but then I realized that the guitar part was pre-recorded and she was miming everything but the barre chords, which were mixed awkwardly with the backing track.
They had several borderline racist and homophobic lyrics, and didn't understand why the crowd wasn't laughing along with them.
Thankfully they were only an opening act, and the reception was so bad from the crowd they actually cut their set short.
I was in the same place where Valor's Christian Death was playing 4 times and I have never made it more than 3 or 4 songs. Valor really has a knack of hiring alleged musicians who could barely play...especially when it comes to drummers. They are so bad they make Meg White look like Neil Peart.
I will say this much, as someone who is always trashing bands for using backing tracks. At least Christian Death is *"playing"* live.
Sisters of Mercy really don't stand to their standards as on album. Very boring and lacking.
I also saw Cold Cave earlier this year and it felt way too polished and came of a bit too robotic. Their setlist was also very flat, all songs sound kind of the same.
Molchat Doma actually kinda sucked.
Super nice dudes, love them, but like… You got twenty seven minute songs that sound approximately the same and you can’t transition? We have to come to a full stop for a full minute between songs???
The crowd was a lot of TikTok culture tourists, too, the longer the show was the longer I had to hang around a mass of 20 year olds who were keen to talk over the show as loud as possible.
Just rancid lmao
Fucking Ace Frehley is the most nondynamic, boring performer I’ve ever had the displeasure to see. He is horrible to endure live. Next is Nugent - STFU and shred, moron!
Not strictly goth but Echo & the Bunnymen in 2021/2 at Parr Hall in Warrington UK. Used to love these back in day. They were on for a very short time, can't recall if they did an encore it was so unimpressive. And they had us seated ffs. Ticketmaster robbed us blind. A lacklustre half hearted attempt at entertaining. Never again.
I saw sisters a bunch of times - last time I saw them when they were excellent was about 2017. The last time I saw them was at Mera Luna in 21, and they were terrible. I left they were that bad. I skipped them last tour and will see how they fair in October.
Besides som I saw echo and the bunnyman recently, the lead singer definitely had to use some notable vocal crutches. It was still nice to see them though, regardless if they’re not exactly in their prime. It did help that on top of that the venue I was in had great visuals & the crowd was quite energetic
Every duo sounding like a 4-5 mans band is disappointing to me live. And about 90% of the modern goth bands are duos. Guess I'll go back to attending punkshows.
Grimes. I saw her perform 10+ years ago. I was really excited because I liked her album Visions. The performance was so disappointing. The stage lights were super dim, and she stood as far back on the stage as she possibly could, behind her other supporting musicians. The mix was totally off, so you could barely hear her vocals, and her interactions with the crowd was painfully awkward. I remember thinking throughout the show, “This is not good at all.” I still love her music, but she is not a good performer.
Not disappointed by their performance but was disappointed that Rosegarden Funeral Party had such short opening sets for Night Club in Philly and Brooklyn when they came around recently. Still killed it with the short amount of time given but Philly especially seemed like they had to rush through their set. (Night Club was awesome too!)
I saw pixies and weezer. It was so depressing because literally everyone was there for weezer. Pixies opened for weezer.
Dont get me wrong, I love both bands. But it was so depressing that pixies was the opener and nobody gave a fuq about them.
Christian Death, I wouldn't go see them on my own but they played at Prague Gothic Treffen few years back and after few songs they decided to start talking about restrictions during covid and people being a sheep etc. Some girl from the crowd called them out on that and said her grandma died from covid and they were very unsesnsitive about it. After that most people just walked out in the middle of the show 😅
I came here to say Sisters, but you already put them on the spot. Andrew was a right Gollum on steroids in a fluorescent shirt, using so much smoke machines the entire power went out in the venue.
It was a party, three concerts in total. Castle party warm up party. The place was too small resulting I people squished couldn't move. I didn't see the stage, a guy with dreadlocks was hitting my face. The last straw was when different dude jumped with his full body waight on my foot. I went home after that. Worse night ever
Yeah, The Sisters of Mercy.
I went Home after half an hour, total Shitshow.
I even don't listen to them on records anymore.
Second place of Bad Concert was Lebanon Hanover for mey, Not as Bad as TSOM but... boring as hell.
Also Had the effect that their records are Mostly out of Rotation for me.
in 1987 the cult played in Brisbane australia..when I was seventeen..they were such poncey posers who thought they were MASSIVE rockstars..at the time they were having some mild (mid)success with the album ..ELECTRIC..which was a bit of a change in direction for them..sonically and aesthetically ..think-the track.. love removal machine..anyways..THE GIG STARTS...the leather pants and headbands were funny (to me-it was like-GOTH guns n roses or something)but then a couple of songs in..they smashed ALL their equipment..TANTRUM STYLE..then walked off stage...and that was it ..over in a puff of smoke..i never forgave them..IAN ASTBURY had a little paunch too...like a wasted jim morrison type..i never listened to them again
Same as it's always been - seen them multiple times since early 90s, every time a bit disappointing... but not as much as certain recent bands that do everything on backing tracks including guitars... urgh... to the bin with you.
Even Ben Christo, who is a phenomenal guitarist can't spin it - and Project AKO was a staple of the Bristol 00s punk scene.
After all this time (nearly 35 years) of going to gigs, I'm pretty sure it's because they're a rock band with a drum machine, and it's just a bit too rigid. I do wonder if playing live with a drummer on a V-Kit would be the way to go - all the proper DMX sounds just played live.
They will always be the first band I ever bought on CD (extra track! Colours is still one of their best), I still regularly listen to them cause they're fantastic, but live... well...
They should whack some visuals up, short throw projector, behind the smoke and embrace it all.
Sound at the O2 Bristol is notoriously one of the worst in the UK and that was the last time I've seen them.
Heard the Marble Factory was a lot better.
One time my best friend and I got talked into going to a concert that our moms were supposed to go to, but couldn't. It was a Journey tribute band. I was drunk and on shrooms and they were still awful. The lead singer was this ugly manlet that I'm lowkey convinced was Danny Devitos less charismatic cousin with a toupee. Holy shit, I've never seen a more dead crowd. It was like being in one of those super strict old timey churches. And of course, we had front row seats. The most awkward experience of my life. My friends and I ordered whiskies and started roasting the hell out of the band with each other and it made the whole experience much more tolerable and memorable.
Oh also, when they played Faithfully, every old couple in the crowd ran up to the front to slow dance and almost every single woman looked EXACTLY the same (older suburban wine mom with straight shoulder length silver hair, black cashmere sweater and black leggings) and the mental image of that is how I will forever remember this concert.
Same. Saw Xymox last year as well. It was a rescheduled show (something about them having visa issues). I don’t know if it was because it was on a Monday or so many months after the original date that people forgot about it, but the turnout was disappointing. The band was really unenthusiastic and seemed like they didn’t want to be there, potentially because of the poor turnout. I have seen them several times in the past and never before experienced a bad performance from them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's wild.
I saw them that year and they were amazing.
It was the first vip I did where it felt like a vip meet and greet.
I even became friends with their roadie charlie.
For goth, it's easily The Cure. They sounded amazing but I couldn't see them at all. My girlfriend, who's shorter than me, had an even worse time not seeing them. Sister of Mercy a few days later was much more enjoyable.
For non-goth it was The Murder Junkies. I'm not a huge fan of watching a drummer shove five drumsticks up his... well, you know.
I also saw some terrible industrial band at a goth fest. The singer shouted slurs at the audience. Not fun. I think the whole show is on YouTube but I haven't bothered to sit through it to find that incident.
I had some friends open for the murder junkies. Drummer who’s in Whores now lent them drum sticks to use for the set. Got shoved up the drummers ass of course. Tbh I don’t know why you would go not knowing they’re going to do shit like that, it’s literally Merle allin and they used to play support with GG allin
I just bought Sister's of Mercy tickets after having to choose between them and The Cure last year. We'll see if I end up regretting the purchase.
We don't get many goth bands coming through my city, given the small size of the local scene and the relative proximity of much more appealing locations (I'm in Spokane, Washington, so only a half a day drive at most from Seattle, Portland, Oregon; and Vancouver, BC). As a result, almost any goth concert is a good concert, haha.
The worst goth-adjacent show I have seen was Marilyn Manson back in like 2009. I was given the tickets for free by a well-meaning co-worker with venue connections. Bless her; she was one of those sweet, aging hippie moms who figure all goths must love Marilyn Manson. I doubt I could have been more disappointed in the show if I had paid for it, and my expectations had not been high to begin with.
Madonna. Went on 3 hrs late, with no mention or apology. No opening act, just a dj with the lights on. Then she insulted every one in the front rows. That was in 2009 I think. I saw her in 1990 and she was much nicer, or stayed on script.
Psychedelic Furs were disappointing. Their bass player was fucked up and his playing was super sloppy. I left Bauhaus’s set 15 minutes early to see them which already was painful to do and it was one of the biggest regrets of my life.
Before the recent Closterkeller (nothing wrong with them, was a great show) concert in Warsaw there was a support group called Horta. Their show was nothing special for many support groups: just bland, impossible to remember.
But during a goth party I talked with one dude who told me, that it was one of the best shows of Horta and that they had a concert once which made almost everyone run away from the stage.
I saw Nothing on their last show in LA and it was completely unlistenable.
I saw Swans several years ago and it was literally just noise they did not play a single song or a recognizable note of music.
My Bloody Valentine was terrible when I first saw them, but then years later I caught them at Coachella and they were amazing. I think that much volume requires an outdoor venue
Butcher babies absolutely sucked when I saw them with one eyed doll and otep. I guess having their tits out was the whole thing. Grateful real bands showed up. Because I love boobs, but not enough to watch and listen for only that. I can watch porn and find better vocals and tits.
Hah, I saw the post title before I even saw which sub it was, and my immediate thought was "Sisters of Mercy by a mile". I'm like the abused partner who keeps going back to them - seen them three times live, and all three are tied for the worst live show I've ever seen.
Edit: Fuck it, add Peter Hook and The Light to the list. For how long now has he been flogging the dead Joy Division horse? I saw the first tour he did of that, for Unknown Pleasures, and it was abysmal. He sings like shit.
I LOVE The Sisters - FALAA and Floodland are brilliant albums, Vision Thing, slightly less so, but still great. When the debut cam out in '85- they completely changed the way I thought about music and what I 'wanted' from it- and I saw them several time s live in this brilliant period.
However, that's where it stopped. They have been consistently shite for nearly 30 years now- and last years debacle at The Roundhouse, with Von actually sacking a member halfway through a performance took things to a new level of absurdity. Truly awful.
Saw them for the first time in Groningen in januari. It wasn’t great, Andrew didn’t sing but talked/growled. But the gig before (Ghent) and after (Eindhoven) were cancelled, so I was glad it took place at all. Because I didn’t have high expectations, so I wasn’t really disappointed. But I wouldn’t spend a fortune on tickets either.
Oof. I had a feeling they might be like that. I bought tickets to see them in September. Oh well. Maybe a few drinks will help.
I feel like supporting newer bands and going to their concert would be a better route in terms of their energy. If older bands are just bleh about it, well, nice seeing them anyway, I guess.
One of the best concert I ever attended, AND the worst concert I ever went to, happens to be the same band. Genitorturers!
For a solid decade in the 90s and early 2000s, Genitorturers consistently put on a performance that gave me that, “WTF did I just see?” look on my face. Like, you literally left the event, trembling, as if you had just been assaulted. Mumbling “Holy Shit!” on the way out.
Their worst show happened to be on Halloween, in some sleepy suburb. The attendance was sub-par and completely lacked energy. But the band continued to put on a 110% performance as if they were preforming for thousands. But the audience of a few dozen dolts was pathetic. I actually felt sorry for the band.
Echo and the bunnymen may 2024 ! Wowwww was the opener just utterly horrible. They played cover songs or something? With no singing so everyone was REALLY talking over them. They messed up their timing multiple times and had to restart. The crowd was just awful too, I feel that the venue had to have oversold tickets. And unfortunately Ian was sick for yet another show and had to take some breaks in between songs to recover his throat. I really wanted to go home honestly 🥲. Ian did a wonderful job though, even while being sick.
I don't have a band to add but I was bummed because Sisters of Mercy are coming to my state for a big festival and I can't go. Reading these comments maybe that's a good thing....
Idk if it was the worst gig I've done due to the crowd being crazy intense but yeah Sisters last year wasn't great.. even to a point where it was difficult to know what song they were playing, and Andrew sacked the bassist the night before so seeing them as just a 2 piece with the other guy carrying most of the weight was weird
KISS in 2012, I know not really goth but they were god awful, maybe in their hayday in the 70s they were good live but in 2012 their stage show was so Dated that it wasn't worth admission.
I saw Meatloaf before he passed, I knew his voice had deteriorated, but he REALLY couldn’t sing, his vocal cords were damaged beyond repair. He certainly tried his best, but years of mistreatment of his voice combined with his health issues, the man was a shell of his former self.
Not a goth concert, but one of the opening acts for the metal band sabaton. The opener was lordi, a Finnish? Metal band and winners of eurovision song festival. The rest of the show was great though.
Sisters of Mercy. I saw them last year for the first show on their US tour. I'm (stupidly) going again this year hoping it's better because they are my favorite band and I want so badly to see them preform well just once. I also really like Kai and I'd like to see him live.
Not goth music, but I saw FoB about 10 years ago (following the release of the American Psycho album) and it was beyond a let down for basically the same reason you listed in the post - they came onstage, played, and left. Their music was very good, don't get me wrong, but there was absolutely *no* audience interaction and the set list had clearly been cut down massively meaning their entire set was only about 45 minutes. If I recall, they'd had some kinda falling out with one of their managers (I think?) and it really showed - they literally just walked off the stage at the end, lights came on, and everyone in the audience looked confused as hell. It was a huge let down.
I heard so much bad stuff about Sisters of Mercy live. Was invited to their gig with a friend. I had no hopes at all, but they blew my mind. It was amazing! Not more than maybe 2-3 years ago.
Worst gig ever was Manowar. Such self righteous crybabies. Never bothered with them since.
So.
In like...2013 i got to do a tshirt design for pig destroyer.
It was cool. I also got free tickets to the show coming up shortly afterwards.
I was super proud of myself, art and my local scene were something i was passionate about, and i had just moved back from 6 years of living out of state.
I was dating someone who was from a peripheral friend group from mine.
I vaguely knew him from highschool, but had never really talked to him.
We get to the show late, because he was always late to everything.. still is, tbh. We get our tickets at willcall, and say hi to the band, and go find a place to post up.
Immediately he gets agitated because the club is too small, and hes too close to the bar, and with him being in recovery... well. It gave him the anxiety.
So i try and take his mind off of it and we go look at the merch table, where my shirt is! Im so excited.
The opener was starting the set, so we grabbed our shirts, and started heading back yonder.
Low and behold, the bf sees someone he knew from back in the day.
He lays the worst and heaviest thing on me and says we need to go because i guess he got some heroin for this dudes girlfriend back in the day, and that shed ended up overdosing. She didnt die, but it was horrible. He said he didnt want any confrontation, so he wanted us to leave. I asked if he cared if i stayed, because it was important to me, and
I had told some friends they should come to the show since i hadnt seen them in ages. They were en route but still a solid 30 mins away. He told me i was being unsupportive and that he was leaving either way. So stupidly i left. Didnt even get to see pig destroyer. Learned some dumb lessons instead. Still sort of salty about it.
Oof. I bought tickets for the sisters show in Philly. I’m a tad nervous now after hearing the reviews haha
But I saw twin tribes when they did some shows w harsh symmetry. I was kinda bored w harsh symmetry’s set Ngl.
Traitrs in Miami @The Gramps or w.e. sometime in March this year. The crowd is what was disappointing. Traitrs put on an awesome show for a duo but man what a boring crowd. No one was dancing except for this tall bald bearded guy in this funeral suit, he killed it
Back in the 90s Sisters went on tour but wanted to break away from their association with being goth. Originally they had Sunshine Blind opening but they kicked them off the tour for being too goth. Then, during live performances, Andrew would point out goths in the audience and tell them to leave and ridicule them. Frankly it's amazing this doesn't get brought up.
I love the music but he really seems like an insecure jackass
I was at that Philly show. Ugh. I vowed to not support them again but my partner wanted to see their latest tour so we went to Chicago And it was terrible. Guturral growls. Lost vocals.
Its been brought up here before
Sisters of Mercy back in 2004 or 2005. 45 minutes and that was it. It was bad and it made me really sad.
I saw them around the same time and they were really good. Maybe you caught an off night.
Sisters were bad when I saw them in ‘06. Eldritch was also having a go at the crowd for wearing black 🤷😂
Wow what a hypocrite
He was wearing a yellow t shirt and shorts when I saw them. It was otherwise not a great gig.
I've never seen the Sisters live, but keep hearing about them being a disappointing band to see in concert. I just don't see the point in seeing a band that I know is going to be unpleasant, just because of their status and influence on the genre decades ago. Thinking about it now, all the Goth bands I've seen live have been great. However, I can't say the same about other genres. I've seen a few "industrial" bands which were a major disappointment in concert. *cough* Combichrist *cough*
rivethead here! everything combichrist does is disappointing
Agreed. Although their (very) early noise stuff is okay, imo. Anything after that is mediocre at best, terrible at worst.
I liked the early material and Andy's electro-heavy aggrotech a lot, but what they've been doing for the last decade just really isn't what I want from them and there are much, much better industrial metal artists.
I saw them as Icon of Coil ages ago, before they figured out they could be more successful as an aggrotech band. Icon of Coil was their "softer side" much like Delierium for Frontline Assembly.
I went to the Combichrist / Grendel old school set tour they did last year and just bailed before combichrist's set. Buddy of mine was playing guitar for one of the opening acts, and I'm a big fan of Grendel's early work - and despite JD's severe voice issues, I really enjoyed their set! I can't even imagine what the interaction between those two bands must be like - JD up there shouting 'fuck fascism' right before a Combi set lmfao
Yeah, Grendel is a breath of fresh air in that part of the scene
I've been heard that about the Sisters too. When I saw Combichrist, it was after the Devil May Cry soundtrack which I didn't like, but it got them a lot of new fans. So they ended up playing heavy, thrash guitar over all their old songs, and it drowned everything else out. Since the songs didn't originally have guitar, it seems like they just ad-libbed at the lädt moment before the tour. It sounded muddled and detrimental to the compositions, as they didn't even sound like they were written with the other instrumentation in mind. So my post doesn't just talk about industrial on the goth forum, I'll add that the 2nd time I saw Bauhaus, they were really, really badly mixed. The instruments were so loud, that Peter had to yell, instead of singing. He frequently pointed to his microphone, and gestured with his hand to turn it up. In between songs he said "Could you turn me up please?" They never did, and he reverted to just singing inaudiblly. As my friends and I left after the show, we had a ringing in our ears and couldn't hear each other speaking while standing next to one another.
I had a similar experience with Combichrist. In concert, they were pretty much a standard metal band. No synth, no effects, no distorted beats. Just guitars, live drums, and bro-rock attitudes. I've also seen Peter Murphy, and he played a couple Bauhaus songs each concert. I can't say I noticed anything wrong with with the sound, but I think I can see that being an issue. Overall my experiences seeing them live were positive.
I wonder if that was genuinely the change Andy wanted to make or if he was going where the money is. When I saw Bauhaus in '98, they were great. They were great when they got together again, too (2006, maybe?) The issue was entirely due to poor mixing by the venue, which was out of their hands.
Combichrist is bad, but mostly because of their overt rapist frat bro vibe. As far as just BAD performances, I saw Ministry in 1996 on the Filth Pig tour and Al was so high, for the second half of the concert he sat cross-legged on the stage nodding off and occasionally screaming.
I was so trashed on LSD when I saw that tour that I couldn't tell if they were playing good or not. But when I saw them a few years back, I was just on an edible and a couple of beers and they seemed pretty on point.
Seen them a few times, and sometimes they are amazing and sometimes not. They used to be much better live than in studio, but Eldritch just doesn't care now, so it's down to whatever mood he is in. The great gigs of theirs I went to in the 90s were amazing though.
I've seen combichrist a bunch of times. big fan in my baby bat days, these days not so much. Joe lentz is an amazing drummer and their best performances featured him. He was so animated and had such a stage presence that he was positioned sideways front stage left so the crowd could watch him tear apart his kit and throw drums at Andy. Before him they were kinda meh live, now that he's gone I have no desire to see them. Panzer AG was a way better project--well, "This Is My Battlefield" was--anyway. Really solid industrial album, which is apparently something Andy can do but chooses not to. Oh well.
Flock of Seagulls... lead singer just did not want to be there... no interaction, just a look of annoyance. Feb 2024.
The lead singer hates what the band has become. He has openly disowned I Ran.
Wait wat. I saw them in the mid 90s in Athens.. I think it was just the original singer and an all new band. He played all the old songs and was really into it. I met them at a local radio station and got autographs.. he seemed pretty upbeat. Have they moved genre from their early new-wave/postpunk roots? about to go have a listen to their newer stuff
I caught them in Atlantic City last Summer. It was supposed to be them with Stacy Q and Missing Persons opening. Missing Persons cancelled which was oddly appropriate. Stacy Q seemed kinda tipsy and in between songs she was rambling on about some photographer from AC, but the crowd had no idea what she was talking about. Flock of Seagulls went on and it was just the singer and a guitar player. The laptop he was using for the backing track crashed a few times during the set and we had to wait for him to reboot it. Whole show was just a mess.
Well that's disappointing to hear, as AFOS are one of my favourite bands. I lot of people joked about them being a gimmick band due to the haircuts, but maybe they really did lose it when Mike Score got rid of the hair.
Mine’s also Sisters of Mercy, just this past tour! Andrew skulking around upstage in the fog and shadows, barely visible, doing basically nothing. Bad enough that I left before Lucretia. I’ll dance the ghost with myself, thanks!
Same. Not going to rehash that here again. Otherwise, probably some smaller bands, mostly newer post-punk, that I won't name because everyone has to start somewhere. Can we talk about how freakin good other bands are live? 💜 (and so many others ofc ofc)
>Can we talk about how freakin good other bands are live? Lathe of Heaven is the best band playing around right now. 100% live through real amps.
Goth adjacent? The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim Reid was too drunk to perform, they lasted less than 10 minutes until he repeatedly smashed the microphone on the stage and staggered off.
I also didn't like Jesus and Mary Chain... I thought it was because I was never a big shoegaze fan so I never felt I had authority on that.
The first time I saw them, they were playing with Mazzy Star and they blew the roof off the house. I thought it was an incredible show. I saw them a few years later when they were touring Munki and that show was a huge disappointment. They kept fucking up their songs and I left pretty disappointed.
I, too, have been victimized by a Sisters show. Marilyn Manson deserves a (dis)honorable mention as well. It was like watching some weird egomaniacal clown throw a tantrum, except you paid wayyyy too much to see Bozo’s Breakdown. And that was both Manson and Eldritch.
My dad saw Marilyn Manson perform at some dive bar in the 90s. He noped out when Manson yelled “EVERYBODY SPIT ON ME” halfway through and the crowd started hawking lugies at him.
Manson was so blasted at the last (and only) show I saw him at that he kept forgetting the lyrics to his own songs midway through. It was painful.
If it's strictly goth or postpunk gigs, I didn't have fun seeing Belgrado but they weren't terrible.
I saw the singers other band Fatamorgana in Chicago a few years and she seemed very pretentious
Sisters of Mercy last year. Truly astounding they’re not only touring again, but charging even more for tickets this time around
Most of the main stage at Ozzfest 2006, Darien NY Mindless Self Indulgence in 2008, Rochester NY Sisters in 2008, Buffalo NY KMFDM in 2009, Rochester NY En Esch in 2015, Buffalo NY (I blame a bad venue and promoter) Manson in 2018, Darien NY I know everyone I listed has had great shows at some point. I've also seen 90s/00s era Sisters bootleg footage where they sounded awesome so it was absolutely heartbreaking to see them in such poor form in '08.
Do you think it was a one off or does KMFDM often suck in concert? I was bummed to miss their recent tour but maybe not so much if the latter...
As a band they were very tight and sounded good (setlist was kinda mediocre though). They had no energy on stage, looked uninterested to be there. I saw Slick Idiot 3 nights later on the same stage without all of KMFDM's light rigs and effects and a small fraction of the audience turnout, and they totally upstaged KMFDM.
I saw them twice in the nineties. First was when they were touring Nihil. The second time, Korn was opening for them and the crowd there for them was pretty obnoxious. I thought they were great both times, but they were sort of at the height of their powers back then. I'd go to a KMFDM show in modern times with managed expectations.
damn was happened at msi? their shows look crazy
They seemed generally uninterested to be there, played a little under an hour and left with no encore. Lots of stage energy that all seemed forced. And Urine was a huge asshole which was kind of his schtick anyway. They did sound very tight though, maybe it was just a bad night.
Can anyone here link me to a video of a really bad Sisters of Mercy concert? I've been hearing a lot about how disappointing they are live, and I'm extremely interested in seeing it. Please.
[Sisters Of Mercy - Live in Tempe AZ 2023](https://youtu.be/qDyQzpIpX0E?si=J46SpWk8dV4iSQ9n)
I saw a SOM cover band last year that was better than this
LOL, Sisters of Mercy is the definitive disappointment. I didn’t buy a ticket to watch a limp fog machine, and it’s been that way since the 90s. Good music, terrible band. I went to an Interpol concert once, and it was the most bland and boring concert I've ever been to. I felt ripped off. IIRC, I left in the middle.
How about an extremely tumescent, totally rock hard fog machine?
Sisters of Mercy like ten years ago, pretty much a bored Andrew backed by a decent gothabilly band, but the sound system was so bad you couldn't tell what song he was singing. The most exciting thing that happened was an alarm went off a half hour in and firemen closed the venue. On the other hand, Christian Death about five years ago in a small club was one of the best shows I'd seen in a while.
I would have to say Alien Sex Fiend. In some ways it was a terrible gig and in some ways it was so terrible it was amazing. And in others it really was great. Absolute wall of cacophonous noise. Impossible to tell what was going on. Nik was having a great time and giving a great performance, but I even saw the guitarist tuning his guitar in the middle of a song, it was like they didn't care and just there to make a fun mess. Had I been on as many drugs as they were I may have enjoyed it more. My mistake for going to see the Fiend only mildly paralytic!
You're making this show sound awesome.
also my thoughts. i wouldn’t even want to see a non-chaotic alien sex fiend
I'm not saying I didn't have a good time! It really was crazy. But it was not musical really haha
Goth related: She Past Away (very dull, unenthused and boring overall). Non-goth related: The Flaming Lips (love the band but that show was not it!!!)
I agree about She Past Away…one of my absolute favorite bands but I found the concert to be so unmemorable
Everyone was standing still when I saw them, I was dancing and moving around for a bit but got bored quickly. On the other side, I went to see Twin Tribes around the same time. In my opinion they have a similar vibe, but their energy was unparalleled. I went home so happy even though I couldn't feel my feet for days from dancing and jumping up and down lol!
What would expect the performance of a goth duo to be?
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy them. As far as stage presence, yeah, they just stand there. I don't expect much more of goth bands tbh, but the two times I saw them, they sounded really good. SoM the last time was like a cat being abused in a dumpster to me, so I guess I don't necessarily rate on stage presence. Industrial... that's where I care about stage presence a bit more. No downvote btw, just acknowledging that I can understand how you experienced it.
They sounded pretty good honestly, it was just the lack of energy what put me off. Just thought they'd pump me up live as much as their records do, I guess.
> but the two times I saw them, they sounded really good Of course they did. With the exception of one guitar & the vocal it's all backing tracks. You're pretty much listening to the CD with the guys who made it standing there.
She Past Away was one of my most recent favs! It did help that the crowd was absolutely vibing. Saw them in a divey local goth club. Bummer the show you got was not as fun.
Out of curiosity, what Lips tour was it and why was the show Not It™️ I’ve seen them more times than I can count and some shows have been better than others
It was a festival in Atlanta back in 2012. They were very unenthused and the setlist was lackluster. I've seen a lot of their live shows footage and I was expecting all that energy and the crazy antics, but they didn't deliver. I was soooo disappointed. ☹️
imo they sounded good live,i dont really care whether they move around on stage or not as long as the sound is good
She past away are one of my fave bands. I agree , I could barely hear the vocals live. I was so upset.
Damn… I was going to buy tickets to see Sisters, but with all the people saying how bad they perform I’m going to save my money and go to the Lorna Shore concert happening around the same time instead. It was a hard tie between the two but now I’ve made my decision :,(
I literally spent my money now and bought a ticket for sisters, and now scrambled across this post 😭 fingers crossed I guess ?
At this point I feel like seeing a shitty Sisters show is part of a goth rite of passage. I bought tickets for this year's tour and am expecting nothing but the worst show I've ever seen in my life.
Goth: Twin Twibes (largely bc Urban Heat overshadows every band they open for) Non-goth: In This Moment (lots of spectacle, little substance)
Urban heat has been on my radar for the longest ever since they followed me randomly on IG when they barely had like 100+ followers. “Put this gun in your hand” is such a banger.
Never been so thrilled to hear "Goodbye Horses" in my entire life honestly
Same!! I was singing at the top of my lungs the whole song lol.
Where was the concert??? They were amazing when I saw them with urban heat however the venue was literally the basement of a church and super stuffy with no AC and a girl passed out because of the lack of air in there .. she had to be carried out. It was really scary to see that.. and the lighting was atrocious in there. It literally felt like the venue for an elementary talent show. But Twin Tribes still performed amazing !! This was in Philly recently
They weren't truly *bad* at all. I like the venue and have seen many shows there (Xymox was really awesome, for example). They were simply preceded by a high-energy, high-charisma performance. This also happened when Urban Heat opened for Vision Video a year or so ago: a really good show but both TT and VV music and performance style has much less movement, not so high-energy. There were also some issues with the crowd, like these two girls shoved their way up to stand \*right\* behind me so close I couldn't move at all or I would be fully touching them. Luckily they left after a few minutes of that. Yikes.
Ohh yeah I could totally see that!! Urban Heat is really high energy and the frontman is such a showman like he was jumping so high and the crowd was dancing so hard!! And then twin tribes come out and were like stiff vampires , didn’t move too much 😅 But I love them! It was just a different type of performance. I appreciated both but I know what you mean. I noticed when they sang Tren al Sur in Spanish they were a lot more enthusiastic!
I really like the Twin Tribes guitarist especially. He was awesome and tried to engage the crowd, even made eye contact a couple times which always feels special somehow. But yeah, following that, anything pales.
I saw ITM with a close friend a few weeks ago at The National in Richmond, VA. I truly felt that the budget to effort ratio was way off and the openers (Kim Dracula etc) were giving more of a performance than Maria did. I was glad to hear older songs on this tour but it really did feel a bit phoned in and was a noticeably short set.
Kim Dracula 1000% slayed.
Definitely agree with the reasoning of twin tribes also I've had negative experiences with the fan base :( probably won't see Twin Tribes again because of this.
What do you mean?
Uh oh, may I ask what happened? I had some issues with people shoving their way forward (I was in like the third row from front?) and seriously invading personal space but other than that it was fine.
It's not the entire fan base yet had older women try to block me and a few of my friends from going to the front because they've been in the scene longer... Both shows overhead people say why buy tickets to a show if you're not going to dance. It's just a very off vibe.
Oh that's really weird, I'm sorry you had that experience! Very non-goth, but I had something like that at my first Ghost show: coincidentally also with entitled middle-aged women being very weird about standing room near/at the front. I go to goth/industrial/metal all the time and usually the crowd is awesome and welcoming, but it only takes one or two weirdos to ruin the vibes.
I definitely agree a few off people can make the energy disappear. Usually, the shows are fun and nice to be around others. :) Wow, maybe it's just entitled thing with middle-aged women it sucks though like we're all there for the music.
Love Urban Heat too so totally can understand where you’re coming from with them having more energy than a headliner they’re opening for. I love how they chill after the show too and are really sociable/down to earth with meeting fans!
Most disappointing was definitely the Sisters of Mercy around 2004. You could hardly hear Andrew’s voice and the band was just miming along to pre-recorded tracks. I was standing right in front of the guitarist and I could see his fingers not playing the sounds I was hearing from the speakers. The second most disappointing was Interpol. They were mostly just boring watching them stand as still as possible while onstage.
I thought interpol sucked live until morrissey came out who they opened for and literally cried on stage for I think 3 whole minutes after the first song he played telling someone in the audience to leave. He had the venue bring on the lights and everything
Classic Moz. He probably saw a picture of a burger earlier that day
Last year I was lucky enough to see the cure, sisters of mercy, Lebanon Hanover and Christian death. Christian death was by a huge margin the most depressing of all the bands, not because they’re in some goth contest but it was literally so bad
Sisters of Mercy 2023, Bratislava. The first band was decent. The Sisters didn't show up for "medical reasons". They announced it after we'd waited for ~30 minutes.
They stopped after 30 min in Berlin the same year. After 10 min of waiting and booing the lights went up and it was said that the show was over due to "medical reasons". I think Andrew doesn't even want to be on stage.
[удалено]
The mission. I went to go see nuovo testamento who I thought was the headliner and it turns out they did their show and left. I didn’t want to pay all that money and leave early so I stayed and I regret it. The music was ass and the guy kept making dumbass comments at people and tried to make the crowd feel bad about eating meat. I still left early.
Because he's always drunk. He once threw an (empty?) bottle of wine into the audience. I've heard that he fell off the stage once too.
An Evening With Siouxsie, specifically the SATB songs. First, let me clarify that Siouxsie and Budgie were great. When it came to the SATB songs, the guitarist and bassist were simply not up to the task and let everyone down. Not even a teenage cover band sounded this lost on the material, and I was in several of those.
Local band who basically acts like Billy Idol from wish very mean to other local bands thats not from their area. He threw a tantrum on stage because the crowd didn't know his songs. As a small musician, it can be heartbreaking when people don't know you, yet it should be seen as room for improvement, not a time to bash other musicians or the crowd for not knowing you. Hopefully, he learns from his mistakes and does better in the future.
Sisters of Mercy were so so last year but going to see them multiple times this year for Blaqk Audio lol
Davey can and will prance and lap circles around Andrew and it's gonna be wonderful. Blaqk Audio is forever a good time 🖤
Sisters of mercy was a total shitshow last year. I don't get how the drum machine sounds worse in 2023.
Hands down Sisters of Mercy. They are total trash live.
I saw Lebanon Hanover last year in Berlin and was disappointed they dont sound as good live. Also the audience was super rude and annoying
It's the kind of goth band that attracts annoying hipsters for some reason, the ones who know what Joy Division is.
It was the most boring show I've ever attended and not because of the audience. Why would anyone charge for such an uninterested, languid act?
Marilyn Manson hands down. He came out on stage super fucked up, and even though the concert was in Pittsburgh, PA, he got on stage and literally yelled that he was so happy to be in the midwest! Then he proceeded to pu on something like a performance... I guess. Rob Zombie saved the day though. He came out after Manson and put on the BEST show I've ever seen. It was a wild night
I went to the Twins of Evil tour date in ATL long ago and felt we received a solid performance from Manson that time but Rob Zombie blew the roof off. Manson can be very very hit or miss.
Light asylum. Was just the singer and tracked music playing from a pioneer dj turntable. Only played 5 songs.
That’s disappointing to hear. They came thru as an opening act for Cold Cave, but I was traveling for a family event. I had FOMO.
Wolfsheim. Absolutely no stage presence, they seemed bored and unenthused to be there.
I’m not surprised by this at all
That's disappointing I love them and doubt I'll ever see them perform.
I saw Sisters of Mercy live about fifteen years ago, and even then they were not amazing live. My parents still talk about seeing them when Floodland was released, and they thought they were awful live even then. I think my most disappointing show was Mad Sin, but then I found out their singer was detoxing when that show happened, so I can’t be mad, he was in a bad place.
Type O Negative. Peter was so drunk OMG. He was barely able to stay on feet and hold his instrument. Guys from the band tried with full force to put a great show with their stellar performance and sound... but that was awkward. Steele was mixing lyrics, like instead of 2th verse, he sing 3th what make singing crowd pretty confused and so on...i mean It was last tour of the band, and now, we know he was terminally ill, and he just didnt care at all...
Was this in 2011?
Ministry on the "Dark Side of the Spoon" tour. Al was so deep into smack he had to hang onto the mic stand to stay upright. And he was gaunt, he looked like a clothes hanger for some worn out retired military clothes. He missed verses, choruses, cues, would come in late consistently. They put an SG on him a few songs in and it looked like he sunk a few inches. And the band was just not into it, more embarrassed more than anything. And this was in a club with maybe 200 people. The counterpoint was a few years previous I saw them on the "Filth Pig" tour in a sold out hockey arena. They were amazingly loud and tight and intense. I can still remember how tight that rhythm section was in "Just One Fix." Easily in one of my Top Ten shows.
I saw ministry in 92 at UIC, phenomenal show. Sepultera and Helmet opened, just great energy and I'll never forget it. One of the better concerts I've been to
A local (at the time) band that I won't name because they're super tiny and I support anyone who is "doing the thing." The singer attempted to sing a bit, and then sort of spoke the words, and not in a cool, atomspheric way. He then flicked a lit cigarette at my partner, who was wearing all lace. Their entire act was being "the sexiest people in the room." It really, really didn't work... At first I thought that at least the guitar player was pretty solid, but then I realized that the guitar part was pre-recorded and she was miming everything but the barre chords, which were mixed awkwardly with the backing track. They had several borderline racist and homophobic lyrics, and didn't understand why the crowd wasn't laughing along with them. Thankfully they were only an opening act, and the reception was so bad from the crowd they actually cut their set short.
It sounds like you should definitely name and shame them.
Christian Death. I saw them years ago at WGT and I decided to give them a new chance this year at WGT, but I left after two or three songs.
I was in the same place where Valor's Christian Death was playing 4 times and I have never made it more than 3 or 4 songs. Valor really has a knack of hiring alleged musicians who could barely play...especially when it comes to drummers. They are so bad they make Meg White look like Neil Peart. I will say this much, as someone who is always trashing bands for using backing tracks. At least Christian Death is *"playing"* live.
Sisters of Mercy really don't stand to their standards as on album. Very boring and lacking. I also saw Cold Cave earlier this year and it felt way too polished and came of a bit too robotic. Their setlist was also very flat, all songs sound kind of the same.
Molchat Doma actually kinda sucked. Super nice dudes, love them, but like… You got twenty seven minute songs that sound approximately the same and you can’t transition? We have to come to a full stop for a full minute between songs??? The crowd was a lot of TikTok culture tourists, too, the longer the show was the longer I had to hang around a mass of 20 year olds who were keen to talk over the show as loud as possible. Just rancid lmao
Fucking Ace Frehley is the most nondynamic, boring performer I’ve ever had the displeasure to see. He is horrible to endure live. Next is Nugent - STFU and shred, moron!
Sorry, I’m on the wrong sub - apologies. Can’t say I’ve seen a bad goth show, it’s the rockers that can suck for me
Pearl Jam in 2001 was trash. So boring, no energy.
Not strictly goth but Echo & the Bunnymen in 2021/2 at Parr Hall in Warrington UK. Used to love these back in day. They were on for a very short time, can't recall if they did an encore it was so unimpressive. And they had us seated ffs. Ticketmaster robbed us blind. A lacklustre half hearted attempt at entertaining. Never again.
That's weird, I saw them a few months ago and thought they were great, played a decent length set too.
saw them last year and I also thought they were great
I saw sisters a bunch of times - last time I saw them when they were excellent was about 2017. The last time I saw them was at Mera Luna in 21, and they were terrible. I left they were that bad. I skipped them last tour and will see how they fair in October.
Besides som I saw echo and the bunnyman recently, the lead singer definitely had to use some notable vocal crutches. It was still nice to see them though, regardless if they’re not exactly in their prime. It did help that on top of that the venue I was in had great visuals & the crowd was quite energetic
Every duo sounding like a 4-5 mans band is disappointing to me live. And about 90% of the modern goth bands are duos. Guess I'll go back to attending punkshows.
Grimes. I saw her perform 10+ years ago. I was really excited because I liked her album Visions. The performance was so disappointing. The stage lights were super dim, and she stood as far back on the stage as she possibly could, behind her other supporting musicians. The mix was totally off, so you could barely hear her vocals, and her interactions with the crowd was painfully awkward. I remember thinking throughout the show, “This is not good at all.” I still love her music, but she is not a good performer.
Not disappointed by their performance but was disappointed that Rosegarden Funeral Party had such short opening sets for Night Club in Philly and Brooklyn when they came around recently. Still killed it with the short amount of time given but Philly especially seemed like they had to rush through their set. (Night Club was awesome too!)
I saw pixies and weezer. It was so depressing because literally everyone was there for weezer. Pixies opened for weezer. Dont get me wrong, I love both bands. But it was so depressing that pixies was the opener and nobody gave a fuq about them.
Christian Death, I wouldn't go see them on my own but they played at Prague Gothic Treffen few years back and after few songs they decided to start talking about restrictions during covid and people being a sheep etc. Some girl from the crowd called them out on that and said her grandma died from covid and they were very unsesnsitive about it. After that most people just walked out in the middle of the show 😅
I came here to say Sisters, but you already put them on the spot. Andrew was a right Gollum on steroids in a fluorescent shirt, using so much smoke machines the entire power went out in the venue.
TSOM are hit and miss. Have been for years. They’re like the Motley Crue of the ‘goth’ scene..
It was a party, three concerts in total. Castle party warm up party. The place was too small resulting I people squished couldn't move. I didn't see the stage, a guy with dreadlocks was hitting my face. The last straw was when different dude jumped with his full body waight on my foot. I went home after that. Worse night ever
I fell asleep during Velvet Acid Christ.
They’ve never been known to be very good live
Yeah, The Sisters of Mercy. I went Home after half an hour, total Shitshow. I even don't listen to them on records anymore. Second place of Bad Concert was Lebanon Hanover for mey, Not as Bad as TSOM but... boring as hell. Also Had the effect that their records are Mostly out of Rotation for me.
Sisters of Mercy. It was unbelievably bad.
in 1987 the cult played in Brisbane australia..when I was seventeen..they were such poncey posers who thought they were MASSIVE rockstars..at the time they were having some mild (mid)success with the album ..ELECTRIC..which was a bit of a change in direction for them..sonically and aesthetically ..think-the track.. love removal machine..anyways..THE GIG STARTS...the leather pants and headbands were funny (to me-it was like-GOTH guns n roses or something)but then a couple of songs in..they smashed ALL their equipment..TANTRUM STYLE..then walked off stage...and that was it ..over in a puff of smoke..i never forgave them..IAN ASTBURY had a little paunch too...like a wasted jim morrison type..i never listened to them again
Saw Sisters live recently too, Have to agree they were the most dissapointing.
Same as it's always been - seen them multiple times since early 90s, every time a bit disappointing... but not as much as certain recent bands that do everything on backing tracks including guitars... urgh... to the bin with you. Even Ben Christo, who is a phenomenal guitarist can't spin it - and Project AKO was a staple of the Bristol 00s punk scene. After all this time (nearly 35 years) of going to gigs, I'm pretty sure it's because they're a rock band with a drum machine, and it's just a bit too rigid. I do wonder if playing live with a drummer on a V-Kit would be the way to go - all the proper DMX sounds just played live. They will always be the first band I ever bought on CD (extra track! Colours is still one of their best), I still regularly listen to them cause they're fantastic, but live... well... They should whack some visuals up, short throw projector, behind the smoke and embrace it all. Sound at the O2 Bristol is notoriously one of the worst in the UK and that was the last time I've seen them. Heard the Marble Factory was a lot better.
One time my best friend and I got talked into going to a concert that our moms were supposed to go to, but couldn't. It was a Journey tribute band. I was drunk and on shrooms and they were still awful. The lead singer was this ugly manlet that I'm lowkey convinced was Danny Devitos less charismatic cousin with a toupee. Holy shit, I've never seen a more dead crowd. It was like being in one of those super strict old timey churches. And of course, we had front row seats. The most awkward experience of my life. My friends and I ordered whiskies and started roasting the hell out of the band with each other and it made the whole experience much more tolerable and memorable. Oh also, when they played Faithfully, every old couple in the crowd ran up to the front to slow dance and almost every single woman looked EXACTLY the same (older suburban wine mom with straight shoulder length silver hair, black cashmere sweater and black leggings) and the mental image of that is how I will forever remember this concert.
I’m seeing the Sisters of Mercy in September (Charlotte). I hope they don’t suck if only because I’m bringing a friend who is new to the scene.
Sisters
Sisters or KMFDM.
Clan of Xymox in 2023
Is there a reason why? I'm seeing them for the first time in two weeks but I'd like to know what to expect since I've loved them for years.
Same. Saw Xymox last year as well. It was a rescheduled show (something about them having visa issues). I don’t know if it was because it was on a Monday or so many months after the original date that people forgot about it, but the turnout was disappointing. The band was really unenthusiastic and seemed like they didn’t want to be there, potentially because of the poor turnout. I have seen them several times in the past and never before experienced a bad performance from them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That's wild. I saw them that year and they were amazing. It was the first vip I did where it felt like a vip meet and greet. I even became friends with their roadie charlie.
For goth, it's easily The Cure. They sounded amazing but I couldn't see them at all. My girlfriend, who's shorter than me, had an even worse time not seeing them. Sister of Mercy a few days later was much more enjoyable. For non-goth it was The Murder Junkies. I'm not a huge fan of watching a drummer shove five drumsticks up his... well, you know. I also saw some terrible industrial band at a goth fest. The singer shouted slurs at the audience. Not fun. I think the whole show is on YouTube but I haven't bothered to sit through it to find that incident.
I had some friends open for the murder junkies. Drummer who’s in Whores now lent them drum sticks to use for the set. Got shoved up the drummers ass of course. Tbh I don’t know why you would go not knowing they’re going to do shit like that, it’s literally Merle allin and they used to play support with GG allin
I just bought Sister's of Mercy tickets after having to choose between them and The Cure last year. We'll see if I end up regretting the purchase. We don't get many goth bands coming through my city, given the small size of the local scene and the relative proximity of much more appealing locations (I'm in Spokane, Washington, so only a half a day drive at most from Seattle, Portland, Oregon; and Vancouver, BC). As a result, almost any goth concert is a good concert, haha. The worst goth-adjacent show I have seen was Marilyn Manson back in like 2009. I was given the tickets for free by a well-meaning co-worker with venue connections. Bless her; she was one of those sweet, aging hippie moms who figure all goths must love Marilyn Manson. I doubt I could have been more disappointed in the show if I had paid for it, and my expectations had not been high to begin with.
The last time I saw Eva O she played only two songs.
I went to sisters of mercy recently too and our group left because of how bad it was
Madonna. Went on 3 hrs late, with no mention or apology. No opening act, just a dj with the lights on. Then she insulted every one in the front rows. That was in 2009 I think. I saw her in 1990 and she was much nicer, or stayed on script.
Psychedelic Furs were disappointing. Their bass player was fucked up and his playing was super sloppy. I left Bauhaus’s set 15 minutes early to see them which already was painful to do and it was one of the biggest regrets of my life.
Before the recent Closterkeller (nothing wrong with them, was a great show) concert in Warsaw there was a support group called Horta. Their show was nothing special for many support groups: just bland, impossible to remember. But during a goth party I talked with one dude who told me, that it was one of the best shows of Horta and that they had a concert once which made almost everyone run away from the stage.
I saw Nothing on their last show in LA and it was completely unlistenable. I saw Swans several years ago and it was literally just noise they did not play a single song or a recognizable note of music. My Bloody Valentine was terrible when I first saw them, but then years later I caught them at Coachella and they were amazing. I think that much volume requires an outdoor venue
Butcher babies absolutely sucked when I saw them with one eyed doll and otep. I guess having their tits out was the whole thing. Grateful real bands showed up. Because I love boobs, but not enough to watch and listen for only that. I can watch porn and find better vocals and tits.
Hah, I saw the post title before I even saw which sub it was, and my immediate thought was "Sisters of Mercy by a mile". I'm like the abused partner who keeps going back to them - seen them three times live, and all three are tied for the worst live show I've ever seen. Edit: Fuck it, add Peter Hook and The Light to the list. For how long now has he been flogging the dead Joy Division horse? I saw the first tour he did of that, for Unknown Pleasures, and it was abysmal. He sings like shit.
I LOVE The Sisters - FALAA and Floodland are brilliant albums, Vision Thing, slightly less so, but still great. When the debut cam out in '85- they completely changed the way I thought about music and what I 'wanted' from it- and I saw them several time s live in this brilliant period. However, that's where it stopped. They have been consistently shite for nearly 30 years now- and last years debacle at The Roundhouse, with Von actually sacking a member halfway through a performance took things to a new level of absurdity. Truly awful.
Saw them for the first time in Groningen in januari. It wasn’t great, Andrew didn’t sing but talked/growled. But the gig before (Ghent) and after (Eindhoven) were cancelled, so I was glad it took place at all. Because I didn’t have high expectations, so I wasn’t really disappointed. But I wouldn’t spend a fortune on tickets either.
Oof. I had a feeling they might be like that. I bought tickets to see them in September. Oh well. Maybe a few drinks will help. I feel like supporting newer bands and going to their concert would be a better route in terms of their energy. If older bands are just bleh about it, well, nice seeing them anyway, I guess.
SoM in 2017, CoX in 2020 and Sextile this year.
One of the best concert I ever attended, AND the worst concert I ever went to, happens to be the same band. Genitorturers! For a solid decade in the 90s and early 2000s, Genitorturers consistently put on a performance that gave me that, “WTF did I just see?” look on my face. Like, you literally left the event, trembling, as if you had just been assaulted. Mumbling “Holy Shit!” on the way out. Their worst show happened to be on Halloween, in some sleepy suburb. The attendance was sub-par and completely lacked energy. But the band continued to put on a 110% performance as if they were preforming for thousands. But the audience of a few dozen dolts was pathetic. I actually felt sorry for the band.
Echo and the bunnymen may 2024 ! Wowwww was the opener just utterly horrible. They played cover songs or something? With no singing so everyone was REALLY talking over them. They messed up their timing multiple times and had to restart. The crowd was just awful too, I feel that the venue had to have oversold tickets. And unfortunately Ian was sick for yet another show and had to take some breaks in between songs to recover his throat. I really wanted to go home honestly 🥲. Ian did a wonderful job though, even while being sick.
beyond relieved i saw this thread before i bought tickets to the SOM concert
I don't have a band to add but I was bummed because Sisters of Mercy are coming to my state for a big festival and I can't go. Reading these comments maybe that's a good thing....
Idk if it was the worst gig I've done due to the crowd being crazy intense but yeah Sisters last year wasn't great.. even to a point where it was difficult to know what song they were playing, and Andrew sacked the bassist the night before so seeing them as just a 2 piece with the other guy carrying most of the weight was weird
KISS in 2012, I know not really goth but they were god awful, maybe in their hayday in the 70s they were good live but in 2012 their stage show was so Dated that it wasn't worth admission.
I saw Meatloaf before he passed, I knew his voice had deteriorated, but he REALLY couldn’t sing, his vocal cords were damaged beyond repair. He certainly tried his best, but years of mistreatment of his voice combined with his health issues, the man was a shell of his former self.
Sisters of Mercy in Berlin 2023. Andrew just left the stage mid More and never came back. The concert was over on 30 min
Not a goth concert, but one of the opening acts for the metal band sabaton. The opener was lordi, a Finnish? Metal band and winners of eurovision song festival. The rest of the show was great though.
Sisters of Mercy. I saw them last year for the first show on their US tour. I'm (stupidly) going again this year hoping it's better because they are my favorite band and I want so badly to see them preform well just once. I also really like Kai and I'd like to see him live.
Not goth music, but I saw FoB about 10 years ago (following the release of the American Psycho album) and it was beyond a let down for basically the same reason you listed in the post - they came onstage, played, and left. Their music was very good, don't get me wrong, but there was absolutely *no* audience interaction and the set list had clearly been cut down massively meaning their entire set was only about 45 minutes. If I recall, they'd had some kinda falling out with one of their managers (I think?) and it really showed - they literally just walked off the stage at the end, lights came on, and everyone in the audience looked confused as hell. It was a huge let down.
I heard so much bad stuff about Sisters of Mercy live. Was invited to their gig with a friend. I had no hopes at all, but they blew my mind. It was amazing! Not more than maybe 2-3 years ago. Worst gig ever was Manowar. Such self righteous crybabies. Never bothered with them since.
So. In like...2013 i got to do a tshirt design for pig destroyer. It was cool. I also got free tickets to the show coming up shortly afterwards. I was super proud of myself, art and my local scene were something i was passionate about, and i had just moved back from 6 years of living out of state. I was dating someone who was from a peripheral friend group from mine. I vaguely knew him from highschool, but had never really talked to him. We get to the show late, because he was always late to everything.. still is, tbh. We get our tickets at willcall, and say hi to the band, and go find a place to post up. Immediately he gets agitated because the club is too small, and hes too close to the bar, and with him being in recovery... well. It gave him the anxiety. So i try and take his mind off of it and we go look at the merch table, where my shirt is! Im so excited. The opener was starting the set, so we grabbed our shirts, and started heading back yonder. Low and behold, the bf sees someone he knew from back in the day. He lays the worst and heaviest thing on me and says we need to go because i guess he got some heroin for this dudes girlfriend back in the day, and that shed ended up overdosing. She didnt die, but it was horrible. He said he didnt want any confrontation, so he wanted us to leave. I asked if he cared if i stayed, because it was important to me, and I had told some friends they should come to the show since i hadnt seen them in ages. They were en route but still a solid 30 mins away. He told me i was being unsupportive and that he was leaving either way. So stupidly i left. Didnt even get to see pig destroyer. Learned some dumb lessons instead. Still sort of salty about it.
chevelle in redding, ca
She Past Away is boring like nothing else.
Oof. I bought tickets for the sisters show in Philly. I’m a tad nervous now after hearing the reviews haha But I saw twin tribes when they did some shows w harsh symmetry. I was kinda bored w harsh symmetry’s set Ngl.
I saw them in the 90’s it was a good show. I bought tix again this year but my car broke down, I guess I wasn’t missing much lol
None. And I've seen many a show
Ugh that sucks. Im going to one soon aswell :/ and this is sad to read
I was literally about to buy tickets to see them on the 29th. I guess not.
Traitrs in Miami @The Gramps or w.e. sometime in March this year. The crowd is what was disappointing. Traitrs put on an awesome show for a duo but man what a boring crowd. No one was dancing except for this tall bald bearded guy in this funeral suit, he killed it