Fox Reviews Rock

What Is Your Worst Experience At A Gig Or Festival?

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As I (Fox) travel back today from Download Festival, it has prompted me to think about at some other experiences that I might have had previously at Gigs or Festivals that were not so great. Not because Download was bad but for how bad things can get.

For a change I wont be leaving all the details to my own personal worst experience for fairly obvious reasons but I would love to know what your own experiences are?

What festival/Gig was it, and what made it the worst experience?

I’ll reply to them all in the comments!

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44 responses to “What Is Your Worst Experience At A Gig Or Festival?”

  1. Author Ellie Potts avatar
    Author Ellie Potts

    The last Ozzfest Ozzy was on the small stage and I happen to be one of the lucky ones to get into the caged off area in front of the stage. I was not prepared for the pushing of people to get to the front and almost died when Momma I’m coming home started. I was like dude Ozzy is cool but not worth death cool and I swam out of the people to get to the gate door with security and got hit in the face with a water cannon and realized my sunblock did not work. Although I think the 3rd degree sunburn was worth seeing SOAD 😂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Oh wow that is one hell of a cool but bad experience at the same time! Were SOAD worth it in the end ?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Author Ellie Potts avatar
        Author Ellie Potts

        Yes.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  2. missparker0106 avatar
    missparker0106

    1994–The Stones in Cleveland OH. I paid an obscene amount of money only to find out the seats were obstructed–that, and the idiot/psycho/narcissist/@sshole I went with all added up to really ruin that experience.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Oh wow! How bad are we talking seat view wise? Also yeah going with someone who later turns out to be an idiot can ruin an experience when you look back at it.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. missparker0106 avatar
        missparker0106

        The seats were on the floor behind a huge concrete column. They had video screens on either side of the stage, but I didn’t go to watch the concert on video. The live portion of the act in the middle of the stage–band, etc.–was pretty much obscured by the post.

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          Oh wow that sucks!!!!

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  3. lyndhurstlaura avatar
    lyndhurstlaura

    In my late teens I used to go to The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, London, on Sundays. From 3pm until midnight they had a whole line-up of lesser-known bands, and it didn’t cost much. The atmosphere was brilliant, and they used to say you could get stoned just by breathing in there, because there was a laid-back attitude to what some people smoked. I found this to be true one Sunday, as I felt really ill without having drunk alcohol or smoked even just cigarettes. I had to run outside and was violently sick. A very nice guy came over, gave me water and talked to me until I felt better, then took me back to my friends. I lived to tell the tale, but I felt so bad and the day was spoiled. 😐

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Sorry that you got ill off other people smoking some dodgy stuff! Sounds like in general though the roundhouse put on some awesome events!

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. lyndhurstlaura avatar
        lyndhurstlaura

        It was great, a regular Sunday activity. It didn’t usually affect me, so maybe I had some underlying bug. To counter that bad experience there was the one where I was sitting at the front on the floor with my friend Lucy, and some guy passed a joint down the line. What can you do when faced with such generosity, lol? Golden days. 🙂 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          Haha I wish i’d been a regular at such events! 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  4. Patti Aliventi avatar
    Patti Aliventi

    I had 4 tickets to see AC/DC back in the 1980s and one of my bffs set me up on a blind date. The guys picked us up and when we got to the arena, we had decent seats on the 1st level off the floor towards the rear. The guy I was set up with didn’t like them, though, and decided to try to get a better view. We never saw him again. I heard back from my bff later that he had tried to get to the front on the floor and gotten beat up and carted out of there to the hospital. He never even saw the concert.

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Well im sorry that the blind date didnt go well but at least you got to see AC/DC or at least more than he did 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. Sergei Korschmin avatar
    Sergei Korschmin

    Hm …, interesting topic. Do you think organisation, sound quality, deteriorating?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I find if sound quality is poor , I mean really poor it can turn a great gig into a terrible one! Also if something has been poorly organised it can not only be a bad experience but also really dangerous!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  6. Emily avatar
    Emily

    I went to see GWAR in late 2014 and snagged front row spots. I didn’t mind getting drenched so I wore clothes I didn’t care about but still it was a mistake because behind me the pit was insane and I am not into moshing. I felt crushed up against the railing and someone’s body part hit the side of my head during crowd surfing and it obviously was starting to vex me so I had to yell at security to pull me out because I was stuck. Never doing that again. If I ever see GWAR again I will just hang at the back of the venue.

    Also it’s why at other GA gigs I stick to the side as well because it’s less rowdy if you don’t want to participate in the pit.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I have had a similar experience when I went to my first download festival! I had no idea that going to the front barrier for Enter Shikari was a bad idea. 1 song into the set I could barely breathe!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  7. A Gift of a Unique Hope avatar
    A Gift of a Unique Hope

    In the mid-2000s
    I went to Jordan to see Mika, remember “relax take it eaaaaasy” and “big girls you are beautiful”
    First of all, not my cup of tea when it comes to his music, but I was excited about the venue and the chance to swim or, in better terms, float in the dead sea
    Booked a flight from Egypt to Jordan
    The concert was a disaster he was high off his ass the equipment was disastrous, not to mention the humidity

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Oh wow! I genuinely cannot imagine Mika high! Was it at least funny bad?

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  8. isabellawolgoth avatar
    isabellawolgoth

    Once upon a time, I and a lover of mine, ventured out to a Jerry Cantrell show. I do believe it was his solo tour after Alice in Chains. Cantrell was great, but the venue wasn’t large enough to comfortably serve the crowd. We ended up at the back of the ballroom enjoying the show. We had to claw our way out of the crowd to get back there, and they were all horrible zombies.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      He actually played download festival this past weekend my dad went to see him! 🙂 Although I’ve been to plenty of gigs like the one you have just described! Hoard of zombies is accurate!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  9. Robert Cirhian avatar
    Robert Cirhian

    It was the 2011’s Sonisphere festival in Barcelona: lots of great metal bands where Metallica were the lead ones. We were enjoying a lot the concerts until Slipknot started playing. It started to get so crowded that a friend and I were just being crushed by the sides, front and back at the same time; if someone in our row tried to jump, everyone in the same had to try to jump at the risk of being swollen by thr crowd. It took us fairly 20 minutes to get to the side and find a tranquil space near the back, where we saw Metallica with out other friends, that also had found a way back,

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Yeah that sounds like a nightmare , and one I have experienced many times! Still at least you got to see some epic bands! Also I wish Sonisphere was still a think , it was download festivals main rival in the UK and I never got to go 😦

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  10. NAE avatar
    NAE

    When bands don’t show up and they get horrible fill ins causing people to be pissed, drink too much and puke on my shoes. Smaller festival venues.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Oh wow! Can you give an example of a band doing that?

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      1. NAE avatar
        NAE

        I remember one of them was waiting for the Johnny Holm’s band and back in the day, maybe 1990s, they had opening bands start out the night. One of those local bands didn’t show up. The bar got hit hard with extra drinks and people grew impatient. Johnny Holm’s came out early and saved the night. But some people just came to get drunk I guess.

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  11. writinstuff avatar
    writinstuff

    Summerfest 1997. Overall the weekend was great, I got to listen to, if not see, Soul Asylum, Verve Pipe & DMB. I was there for Bush and I was 17 and alone with incredibly poor navigation skills. I got turned around leaving and stopped to ask for a street name and found myself with a sawed off shotgun in my face. First and only time that happened and I was shaken. Nothing to do with the bands but it took a long time before I could think of that festival positively.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Holy sh*t! That must have been such a scary experiance , i am sorry that happened to you 😦

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  12. Elizabeth avatar
    Elizabeth

    I went to a Tyler Childers concert last August, After driving 6h across the border through some of the worst traffic and weather I have ever dealt with and being stressed that we were going to miss the concert (I had gone to the same venue a year before and it’s tiny and isolated. At that time there were back-to-back concerts and traffic was so bad some attendees didn’t get into the venue until the last 15mins of the show). We arrived at the hotel, found out I had booked the wrong day, and then went back out to my car only to discover the battery had died. After all that and we finally got to the venue and the show was delayed by 2h because it was an outdoor venue and there were thunder & lightning storms. Like, the lightening had caused 2flash fires in the area, and my hair was standing on the top of my head every time I stepped out out of the van of the dads who had saved us. None of these acts of god was Childers’ fault (obviously), he actually put on a truly incredible show all things considering, but he still had to cut the concert a couple songs short, and we left a song or two before then, because it had started sleeting and we were pretty high up so it really hurt. It was an awful experience, but I do it admit it made a pretty good story when I got back home.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Holy crap! That is biblical levels of bad luck! However you did manage to see most of the show and now have a kickass story to tell.

      Like

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  13. So Then... Movies avatar
    So Then… Movies

    Placebo at Northumberland Uni, think that was about 2004. The support were The Faint who were dynamic, fast and really connected with the crowd, then the headliners came on, barely moved from their marks and made a lot of their songs half speed with clean guitars.

    Other one would be Korn at Download 2009, where they just didn’t seem to acknowledge the crowd much at all for the first half of the set, the music was fine but the energy was weird.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I think that is just every Placebo gig haha

      Korn just headlined download and were incredible , but i can totally believe that being the case.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. So Then... Movies avatar
        So Then… Movies

        I heard that this year they were fantastic, there just seemed to be a strange disconnect when I saw them. Granted, it was the same year Faith No More reunited so they kind of spoiled us with crowd interaction.

        I did actually see Placebo at a festival as well, and I thought that they had technical issues because the guitars were so anaemic, but that’s how they seem to be. Weird, because the Fun Loving Criminals kicked out a ridiculous level of noise with one guitar, an organ and bass pedals, so it was a choice rather than the venue, and also a shame as Without You I’m Nothing was a formative album and lived in my CD player

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          Yeah really great! 🙂

          I too have that cd! , with a lot of wear and tear on it! 😛

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  14. davesswan avatar
    davesswan

    In the late 90s I went to a blues festival right by the Chesapeake Bay, where the weather can change quickly – yet the organizers left the stage uncovered. So of course it rained and they had to stop the show for most of the day while we huddled under umbrellas, vainly trying to keep dry. Several people had their sets cut short, like Gatemouth Brown, who I really wanted to see and only got three tunes.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Well that sounds like piss poor planning! Did you manage to see Gatemouth Brown another time?

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  15. davesswan avatar
    davesswan

    Unfortunately, no.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      That is a shame 😦

      Like

      Reply
  16. Jax Riley avatar
    Jax Riley

    My worst had to have been when Lita Ford played a small casino stage (free show). was excited to see her live again since the last time was ages ago for the Dangerous Curves tour. So a buddy and I get in, standing in the pit area. Was chatting with another couple when the show started. Next thing I know, there was a girl to my right, shoulder to shoulder almost…and she’s got a Canon camera with a huge telephoto lens. The more she wagged that thing my face the more irritated I became. Couldn’t enjoy the show and I’m wondering what the hell does she need that lens for? She trying to get Lita’s nose hairs? I mean, we were pressed against the stage. Right then, I went back to my seat steaming and knocked back a couple beers and watched Lita on youtube. WORST CONCERT EXPERIENCE EVER. Think that may have actually been the last show I went to…or was that Motley Crüe later that year? Can’t recall

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Oh wow I totally understand the frustration! I recently got to go in the photo pit at a festival and was sat down taking photos when someone sat on me… TWICE!

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  17. pedometergeek avatar
    pedometergeek

    This was a long time ago (late 1970s). My friends and I went to the Seals and Crofts concert in Columbus, Ohio. The concert was great (Summer Breeze, Hummingbird, We May Never Pass This Way, etc.), that is, until the duo sang their biggest hit, “Diamond Girl,” because it sounded so off. It was such a disappointment. Apparently, in the recording studio there was lots of tweaking, overdubbing to make it sound so smooth, but the live version didn’t have the same vibe at all. It was the last song they sang before they started talking about their faith. Loved the concert until then… I don’t know if my friends felt the same way, but that was my reaction. ~Nan

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Oh wow that must have been such a massive disappointment!

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      1. pedometergeek avatar
        pedometergeek

        It was. Yet, my husband and I listen to a local station that plays Acoustic Sunrise every Sunday. For two hours or so, the songs are all acoustic and it is a delight to listen to them. Often, it is a real surprise to hear the differences between the acoustic version and the studio version. ~Nan

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          I really love acoustic versions!

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