What’s the worst concert you’ve been to?

I went to see the Smashing Pumpkins in the summer of 1996 at memorial auditorium in Buffalo, NY. The Pumpkins were supporting their double disc opus Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness- which I loved. Garbage was opening the show and as I recall I was a pretty big fan of their self titled release as well.

I went to the show with some high school friends and I wore a pumpkin costume. One of the guy’s mothers was a really excellent seamstress- so this was a big time fancy homemade pumpkin costume- complete with a stalk hat. Perhaps this doesn’t seem like a totally advantageous move- in the middle of summer- at an indoor rock show. Maybe it just seems dumb logic aside. But I did have a plan.

The local modern rock station was running a contest to “expose the edge” (the call letters were WEDG). The fan that drew the most attention for the station would get to sit onstage for the set. I figured I was a shoe in. Alas- it was not to be. I’m not sure who did win- but it must have been a pretty impressive display. That was the first disappointment.

I remember Garbage being very good- the songs live were quite different from the record- but they pulled it off and were very entertaining. Then came the Pumpkins, they had a giant stage show- complete w/giant videos screen and Planet of the Apes clips. They stunk. Billy was off key on everything, and sort of mumbled incoherently between songs. I’ve heard a lot of folks say- since that night- that the Smashing Pumpkins in their original glory where a sight/sound to behold live. I’ll chalk it up to an off night. At least we go to go to Denny’s afterwards- the evening was not a total wash.

They can’t all be gems- leave a comment and tell us about the show you were most disappointed by- for whatever reason.

Dear 52 Shows Reader,

Every Wednesday we’ll post a topic we’d like you to weigh in on. As this is a new site- about live music- we thought it would be appropriate to start off with a post about first concert experiences.

My first concert was the Grateful Dead at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, NY (that’s a suburb of Buffalo- the Bills play there- though it has since been renamed). Some research indicates that this particular show was in June of 1993 so I guess I would have just turned 14. My dad and Uncle Terry took me. I remember walking around the parking lot and being very overwhelmed by the number of people in their tie dyed attire- at that age my appreciation of dead heads was not overly developed.

Sting opened, as I recall he had recently released Ten Summoner’s Tales, which I can remember being a fan of at the time, and he did a bunch of songs off of that record.

I can remember that the set change was much longer than I would have expected. During that set change a fan in the row directly in front of us left his seat- as he did so instructing me to keep an eye on a package of cookies he was leaving behind. Much to my dismay- moments after he had left- Jim (a co-worker of my fathers who we were sitting next to) ate the cookies. At this point in life my understanding of munchies was also underdeveloped.

Not that I can really remember most of it- but looking at set list- it was a pretty good- I imagine highlights would have included “Touch of Grey,” “Me and My Uncle” (appropriately), “Mexicali Blues” and “Truckin’”. I do remember “Truckin’” because it was followed by lengthy drum solo during which we left. Too bad though, we missed “Space,” “Johnny Be Good” and “I Fought The Law”.

On the way out I bought a homemade t-shirt in the parking lot. I got it from one of those guys who just holds up the shirt and you have to ask how much it costs because their not licensed vendors. It sported a black Grateful Dead skull with Sting’s face in half of it. I wore that shirt until it literally fell apart.

I guess I’m lucky that my first show was the Dead, because 14 years later, you can actually listen to the whole thing online- pretty amazing. Here’s the link.

Leave a comment and tell us about your first show.