The price to see artists live in concert, especially in the United States, is too astronomical these days...and that's if you can even get a chance to buy a ticket (thanks you, bots). And call me conservative (don't actually), but if I'm gonna drop a pretty penny on an artist, I want to know if it's even worth it. So when someone asked concertgoers, "What band or artist would you NOT recommend seeing live?" I was tuned TF in.
Here are the artists they called out:
Disclaimer: These are alleged stories from people on the internet and cannot be confirmed as true or as fact by BuzzFeed.
1. "Lana Del Rey. She showed up late, barely put any energy into her performance, and just held the microphone out for the crowd to sing more than half of each song. It's like, I came here to hear you sing, not the people next to me. It's the only concert I’ve ever left midway through."
2. "Frankie Valli. A concert shouldn't be upsetting to watch and give me an existential crisis about how the relentlessness of time wears us all down in the end, and how the scythes' remorseless swing is waiting to beckon us. He's too old to be up there."
3. "Smash Mouth. The lead singer, who is now dead, threw a fit because slices of bread were landing onstage. He tried to fight an audience member, swore at the audience a bunch in the mic, rage-quit the performance, and went backstage while the band played the intro to 'All Star' for five minutes until he cooled down and came back... Upon second thought, it's one of my favorite concert memories. I was laughing so hard as it all unfolded."
4. "Nicki Minaj — she is a complete lip syncing fraud. Everything about her is fake. I saw it with my own eyes, so there's my proof."
5. "Snoop Dogg. I saw him years ago at a small venue. The show was terrible. He had his giant posse with him, there were so many dudes on the stage. It was impossible to understand anything anyone was saying; they were constantly talking, and nobody was rapping or singing. The beats were overpowered by the multitude of guys that had microphones. Not one recognizable song was ever played. It was hours of noise and guys saying 'Yeah' into microphones."
6. "Lil Wayne because he literally will not show up."
7. "I saw Bob Dylan recently. I knew what to expect. I actually enjoyed it and thought he sounded good. I had to see him as a bucket-list item. But if you’re expecting any songs you know, or for him to be present and say, 'Hey, everyone!' or even to see his face, I don’t recommend it."
8. "Motley Crue. I saw them roughly 20 years ago, and it was not a very enjoyable show. I can't imagine they're any better now, being 20 years older."
9. "Marilyn Manson. Worst show I've ever seen. He came out drunk, fell over, kept mumbling his singing, and then basically gave up after 20 minutes or so. I thought the crowd was going to riot, with the amount of booing that was happening."
10. "Enrique Iglesias spent one entire hour drinking rum, 30 minutes hiding backstage, 20 minutes interacting with fans, and 30 minutes lip-syncing."
11. "I had the unfortunate experience of having to witness Buckcherry live. I feel like this is well known at this point."
12. "John Mellencamp. He went into an expletive-ridden, boomer-style rant about kids these days between songs and would stop songs to scream at audience members for taking photos. It was the most bizarre concert I’ve ever been to."
13. "Puddle of Mudd. Saw them open for Shinedown on the Sound of Madness tour, and it was...so bad. Their singer walked offstage at least a dozen times because 'the people in the seats aren't standing.' He'd cuss them out and walk off, and then he'd come back play a song, bitch some more, and walk off again. I couldn't wait for their set to end."
14. "I saw 21 Savage, and there were like 10 openers we had to sit through, and he played for, I’m not joking, like 21 minutes and then left."
15. "For me, no one has been as bad as Jelly Roll. It was horrible."
16. "As much as I loved Ozzy Osbourne's music, he was absolutely horrible live. Rest in peace, Oz Man!"
17. "The Black Eyed Peas — single worst set I’ve ever seen performed. I’ve been to hundreds of concerts and festival sets over the last 20 years, and, while it was a full-on sing-along, it wasn’t a good performance."
18. "Jojo Siwa."
19. "Apparently, Guns N' Roses has always been a problem, no matter the decade. Thanks to Axl's punctuality, off-and-on singing voice, and attitude, you never know if you're going to get the greatest show on Earth that night...or the worst experience ever."
20. "Everclear. I really dig their classic albums, but wow, it was a ROUGH set when I saw them. Admittedly, it's been like 10 years, so maybe the frontman Art doesn't seem like he is heavily on substances anymore during shows?"
21. "Playboi Carti. I saw him when he opened for The Weeknd and Abel practically had to force him to sing, and I still couldn’t understand a word he was saying."
22. "Taking Back Sunday. Do you enjoy someone holding a microphone out for the crowd to sing for half of every song, while they sound terrible trying to sing the other half? If that sounds horrible, stay away from their live shows."
23. "Lauryn Hill. I have worked on multiple of her shows. She is always super late. The last time, she came out in a black gown with a black veil over her face, and her voice was scratchy."
24. "Modest Mouse was the worst show I’ve ever seen. They were messy, wasted, and fighting with each other onstage. Sounded like shit and uncomfortable to watch."
25. "Never seen a band who hates their own music as much as Weezer. They're very low energy and unenthusiastic."
26. "Staind. Dude just curls up into a ball and cries for an hour and calls that a performance."
27. "Counting Crows. I love their stuff; August and Everything After is one of the best albums, cover-to-cover, of all time. But when they play live, they play newer versions of their songs that are completely unrecognizable to anybody who’s used to the originals."
28. "More of a comedian than a musician, but I went to a comedy show that Craig Robinson was headlining. The openers were amazing. We'd laugh at anything by this point. It got to Craig and...we wondered if the dude was on something because he seemed skittish and didn't really tell any jokes. He sang a couple of cover songs on the piano, but they weren't even comedy songs. Then he ended with the joke, 'What kind of car does Jesus drive? A Chrysler.' Dude could have stood onstage and made fart sounds, and we would have laughed. I don't know how he effed it up so bad."
29. "30 Seconds to Mars. I saw them in like 2005 at a festival, and it was so boring and gaudy. If there was a second stage, I would’ve been at it."
Well, that was quite the list. Who do you think was left off of it? Tell me the worst artists you've seen live and why in the comments or the anonymous form below. Or, if you feel like it, let me know the best concerts you've been to.
Note: Responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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