All music fans have a list of acts that they wish they’d seen in their pomp: for me, it’s Otis Redding, Syd-era Floyd and the Smiths. But what about the bands you love, but know were abysmal as a live proposition?
For me, it’s the Velvet Underground: as a teenager, I was obsessed with their looks, their attitude and their sound. White Light/White Heat remains my favourite album ever, and I still contend that they are the most influential American rock band of all time, albeit with the Beach Boys and the Ramones snapping at their heels.
But on the available evidence (Max’s Kansas City, 1969, MCMXCIII, the Quine Tapes and various bits and pieces on box sets and bootlegs) they were pretty hopeless live. The simmering tension and rivalry between Lou Reed and John Cale, then Reed and Doug Yule, that made for such a delicious dialectic in the studio, translates as incoherence on stage. Reed’s nonchalance becomes petulance; the brutal simplicity of Moe Tucker’s drumming is just an annoying thumping sound. (And the stuff without Moe is by definition VU-lite anyway – Loaded has always been my least favourite studio album.)
So, over to you: an act you adore, but that you’re glad you never paid cash to see; or you’re sorry that you did.
4 Responses to Stage frights
I saw John Fogerty during his no CCR days (must have been 1986 or 87)promoting his awful ‘Eye Of The Zombie’ lp. The ‘Centrefield’ material was great but everything else was too polished and non-funky.
I’ve seen some below average Dylan gigs but for every below par performance I’ve seen three or four superb shows so I cut Zimmy some slack.
Definitely sorry that I saw Gordon Lightfoot live, back in the late ’80s iirc… he was so full of himself, and talking about how much better than everyone else, that he forgot about actually doing a good job. Though some friends saw him last year, and said he wasn’t cocky, just broken-down and pitiful.
He wasn’t a band, but I’m sorry I paid cash to see Hunter S. Thompson. He staggered onto stage, clutching a bottle, about 45 minutes late, blurted some absolutely unintelligible remarks, got lost in his bottle for a while, blurted some more, and finally almost fell offstage some time later. I don’t think I understood a single sentence…
Re: the VU, 1969 LIVE doesn’t stand up too badly!
Yes, I never saw The Velvet Underground, but 1969 Live is a thing of beauty, albeit quite low key.
I did see The Smiths live twice however – supporting Gang of Four at the Lyceum and The Fall at The Electric Ballroom (both just before they released their first single) – and I still want those hours back.