Lowest attendance at a show you've been to?

[Perditions Ghost]

Out of the shows you've been to, what was the lowest attendance you've seen for a band doing a national tour.

Mine would be Paths of Possession in Providence, Rhode Island back in July.

15 People were there, tops, in the middle of their country-wide tour. Lack of promotion, according to the guy selling t-shirts.

Side fact, I was the only one getting into it out of the 15 people there. Randy dedicated Bring Me The Head Of Christ to me.

 

[OdinsCourt]

Angra in North Carolina, November 2003. 12 people including me. The band played like there were 12,000.

 

[Braxil]

Mindflow in Hollywood in July. I was the only person there to see them.

 

[zedowns]

Mindflow at the OC Fair.

Me, Braxil, DarkLawnGnome, and two others.

Still played a hell of a show though.

 

[Entropiastrife]

there were about 10 people to see Project Z in back in 2001, although that is a jam band not a metal band

in terms of metal, i'd say 30 for therion at the webster in ct in 2005, a pretty sad showing for a 1,200 capacity venue

 

[sh0kr0k]

Yeah I don't know why there weren't more people at those shows for MindFlow, but that's what happens with a last-minute tour. The next time around, they won't be playing infront of small audiences, so those past shows will be rather special. Like personal concerts! haha

I've been to countless shows where I am the only person in the bar that's not working or part of the band. Strangely, those were some of the most fun, too!

 

[shaq]

probably the F5 show a couple years back. A lot of people left after the Soulfly guitarist, and when F5 hit the stage there were maybe 10 people there, and I was literally the only one against the stage singing along and going crazy

 

[TychoCelchu]

I'll stick to international/national/tour shows, since I think we've all been to some pretty empty local shows. Some of the shows I list did have a good amount of people (like 50-100), but they were shows booked in large-size venues so it looked really empty by proportion. I also included shows where I think the band should have had drawing power well over what they actually brought out.
EDIT heh, I'm the only one who's made a big list so far, but while the first show answers the topic, I'll leave the rest there for your perusal.

The Gates of Slumber in August 2007 - about a dozen people there. Gates put on an incredible set and made me a new fan. Most of the others already knew them; I think I may have been the only person to come to the show as a total stranger.

Kayo Dot in Detroit in October 2005 - they started out playing to maybe 25 people who were just there hanging out, of course by the time the first song was over the place had cleared! haha. About 7 or so people stuck it out.

Dark Tranquillity in March 2006 - this was a side-show they'd booked on an off-date during the Opeth/Devin tour. Maybe 2-3 dozen people showed, but they were all into it, which was really cool. Mikael Stanne remarked during the show that we were the smallest crowd they'd ever played to.

Symphony X in May 2003 - dismally attended show that resulted in Harpos cutting their set short due to nobody being there. Shame.

Lacuna Coil in November 2003 - there were probably close to 100 people here, but it was in a huge venue so the place looked dead.

Moonspell played to a dead house in October 2006 after all the Katatonia fanatics dispersed during that tour.

Therion in 2005 - awful. Attendance was so low I felt kind of embarrassed for Christopher & the band.

Satyricon in 2004 - maybe 75 people in a huge venue that looked disproportionately vacant. The band put on a fantastic show. On this tour they played the day after a Cradle of Filth show at the same venue - I think we can guess which show most of the kiddies picked.

Morbid Angel in 2005 - 50 people at best; David Vincent remarked "I'd like to thank the few people who are here, for braving it to come see us" (the weather was really bad that day)

Kamelot in 2006 - probably over a hundred people, but again in a big house.

 

[rms]

Arsis on that tour with BTM, maybe 15 people but they fucking slayed

 

[TBJ]

I'm terrible with estimations but the Gigantour show in Atlantic City, NJ this past year wasn't as full as I'd thought it would be. the VIP section(2nd floor) only had like 5 or 6 people. the bottom part looked fuller but no more than 100 maybe. it still was an amazing show.

 

[Rezz]

There were 30 people in the venue for Lillian Axe about 6 weeks ago. I think that cound included a few roadies as well.

 

[RagePSV]

I saw Virgin Steele at Jaxx in Springfield, VA with about 10 other people. There were more people who were there for the local opening act and then left....

I also saw Overkill at The Point in Little Five Points (ATL) in 1995 with about 15-20 other people. That show rocked! (by far, the smallest club I've been to, probably couldn't have fit many more in there...)

 

[Valkyrie]

Dream Theater-in 1993....maybe fifteen to twenty people...just goes to show what a few years can do.

Vinnie Vincent Invasion....ten-fifteen people, but that show was a blast!

 

[Bear]

Saw Yngwie Malmsteen & Lita Ford at the Fillmore SF way way back, I think late 80's or early 90's. Maybe 25 people.

I saw Lizzy Borden at the Maritime Hall in SF about 5 years ago, maybe 35 people...

Bear

 

[Bullet For My Valentine]

Moros Eros (tour) - 8~10 people at the Masquerade(Purgatory), Atlanta in May 2007

Daphne Loves Derby (tour, headliner) - 12~15 people at the Masquerade(Hell), Atlanta in Nov. 2007

Falconer (festival) - 20~30 people in Notodden, Norway at 11:00AM on Aug. 17th, 2007

 

[zekeyou]

VoiVod at the China Club in Seattle on the Negatron tour-- I'd say about 40 people.

Big shows with empty halls--
Metallica/The Cult on the Justice tour-- saw it in Minot, ND and in Bismarck, ND-- both times attendance was about 2000 in arenas that held 5000 and about 10000, respectively.

Iron Maiden/Queensryche/Halford on the Brave New World tour-- the Tacoma Dome-- it was maybe 1/5 full with a capacity of 23,000+

One that doesn't fit this topic entirely-- Iron Maiden/Fear Factory at the Off Ramp in Seattle touring for the X Factor-- 275 people-- granted, the club was sold out, but wow, talk about downsizing...

 

[mëtålspëd]

Green Carnation in Chicopee, MA. There could not have been more than 15 of us.

 

[eaeolian]

I saw Virgin Steele at Jaxx in Springfield, VA with about 10 other people. There were more people who were there for the local opening act and then left....

Yeah, I know, I tried to get them to stay. That's probably my lowest "national act" count, too - I felt really bad for the VS guys, since they were very cool and put on a good show anyway...

Oh, and Vicious Rumors at The Rage in Baltimore on the "Welcome to the Ball" tour. There might have been ten people there all night - no one showed up for the locals, either. They played like there were 10,000 of us, though.

 

[King Lek]

To Die For / Virgin Black......maybe 15? not including those with the bands.

That and....the first show I ever brought Travis (son) to was a reunion of an 80's hard rock/ metal local band out of Charlotte (to the best of my knowledge), who apparently had a very large following back in the day (have forgotten their name now, something like Johnny Flask or Lighting...something like that) but they came on to the stage with a very large fanfare type opening, all the visual bells and whistles....and realized, once on stage, that there were about 10 people in the venue...and not so sure we were not the only ones who did not work there.

Not sure how they missed that up till then but you could REALLY see the letdown.

They were supposed to play two sets....they barely finished the first, and left.

 

[rushzil2112]

After Nevermore did gigantour, they stopped and did a few headline shows on the way home(they said they might as well make money on the way home instead of just driving home). It was last minute, but maybe 30 people were there and they were nails on and amazing. Back in September at the Katatonia show, most people cleared out before they came out and kicked everybody's ass. Most people were getting into scar symmetry and they sucked big balls(the band was on but the singer, holy crap was bad). Maybe 40 people stuck around for katatonia. Planet X maybe had 40 people and they slayed.