Worst Crowd Reaction you've witnessed

SwordLord

SwordLord

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Sep 20, 2004
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St. Paul, Minnesota
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I posted this question on my FB page and the responses were so great that I thought I'd do it here.

So in general, crowd reactions are usually moderate to favorable for live bands. But every once in a while, a band gets bad reaction -- sometimes REALLY bad.

What are some of the worst responses you've seen and to what band? Try to remember the date, venue, bill, tour, all that good stuff. :loco:
 
For me it would have to be when POOR opened for the Scorpions in 1992. It was at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota, about a 5,000 seat venue. The crowd heckled them unmercifully -- "YOU SUCK!" "GET OFF THE STAGE!" "F*CK YOU!" With the exception of ... I kid you not ... 4 windmilling kids dead center in the front row ... I think the ENTIRE crowd hated that act. Subsequently they were never heard from again.
 
The one that stands out in my mind the most was for Converge when they opened for Dethklok. Converge is great...consistently one of the best live bands, probably the single hardest working band in hardcore, incredibly influential, etc, but you can't expect a bunch of 13 year old kids and 30 year old rednecks coming to see a fake band to get into that. They nearly were booed off the stage.
 
In 2006 at the House of Blues Orlando, Blind Guardian with Leaves Eyes opening. Over-full house, but a ton of extremely irritating girls there to see Leaves Eyes - once their set was done, the floor went *whoosh* and they all disappeared. Still a really great crowd for BG, but these kids just didn't even bother.
 
dcowboys311 said:
The one that stands out in my mind the most was for Converge when they opened for Dethklok. Converge is great...consistently one of the best live bands, probably the single hardest working band in hardcore, incredibly influential, etc, but you can't expect a bunch of 13 year old kids and 30 year old rednecks coming to see a fake band to get into that. They nearly were booed off the stage.
Click to expand...

Wait.. were they the guys where the lead singer sounded like he was screaming "bock-bock" like a chicken? I don't remember the name of that band, but I saw Dethklok on Halloween in 2009 and they were HORRIBLE. I guess it was hardcore/grindcore, and admittedly, that's not my style.. but I don't know how you can listen to a guy go "bock-bock" over and over again. I assume he was saying "fuck", but I couldn't tell. I do remember them getting a really bad response...

However, the worst reaction I ever saw was for Buck Cherry during a KISS concert in DC. 2009 too, I think. One girl in the entire place was dancing, while everyone else meandered. I think maybe 10 people clapped when they were done.

EDIT: Yup, just looked it up, it was Converge. x_x Sorry, dude.. I wasn't a fan, either. My husband almost left.
 
A show featuring a bunch of local bands. The shitty teenage hardcore fans only in it for their windmill kicking put their hoodies up, turned their back and sat on the stage during one band's set. I'd never heard of them before but it ended up being the best band of the night but far too experimental for the kiddies.
 
I haven't witnessed anything truly horrible yet - a few awkward moments here and there (System Divide opening for Eluveitie comes to mind).

One thing I vividly remember is a local deathcore band opening for Sonata Arctica in Hartford a while back. Already a recipe for disaster. They decided to begin their set by running on-stage all at once, the singer jumping in circles and screaming "YEEEAAAAHHHHHH" all the while. I tried being polite and nodding along to their horrible music until I realized I was the only one in the front row doing so. Not to be deterred, the lead singer decided to win us over! ... by singing a really mocking rendition of a few lines from Wolf & Raven. A guy to my right flipped them off. The singer got in his face - "What instrument do you play? Drums? Guitars? Well, it doesn't matter - BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT!"

And verily, Once Beloved went down in personal memory as one of the worst bands I've ever seen live.

As for one I didn't personally witness, my dad had a story about seeing The Motors open for Kansas. The crowd was apparently just a sea of people flipping the bird - and then, an abrupt silence, followed by bouncers jumping into the crowd. What happened? An audience member had reached up and stolen one of their guitars...
 
Akumu said:
I haven't witnessed anything truly horrible yet - a few awkward moments here and there (System Divide opening for Eluveitie comes to mind).

One thing I vividly remember is a local deathcore band opening for Sonata Arctica in Hartford a while back. Already a recipe for disaster. They decided to begin their set by running on-stage all at once, the singer jumping in circles and screaming "YEEEAAAAHHHHHH" all the while. I tried being polite and nodding along to their horrible music until I realized I was the only one in the front row doing so. Not to be deterred, the lead singer decided to win us over! ... by singing a really mocking rendition of a few lines from Wolf & Raven. A guy to my right flipped them off. The singer got in his face - "What instrument do you play? Drums? Guitars? Well, it doesn't matter - BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT!"

And verily, Once Beloved went down in personal memory as one of the worst bands I've ever seen live.
Click to expand...

I was at that show. I only caught a short part of their set though I do remember the non-reaction from the entire audience. Total mismatch of opening band and headliner. Although not as bad as this rap hip/hop duo from Boston that was one of 10 openers for After Forever in New Hampshire. There wasn't enough people at that show for anything to go down beyond no one being near the stage.
 
Akumu said:
One thing I vividly remember is a local deathcore band opening for Sonata Arctica in Hartford a while back. Already a recipe for disaster. They decided to begin their set by running on-stage all at once, the singer jumping in circles and screaming "YEEEAAAAHHHHHH" all the while. I tried being polite and nodding along to their horrible music until I realized I was the only one in the front row doing so. Not to be deterred, the lead singer decided to win us over! ... by singing a really mocking rendition of a few lines from Wolf & Raven. A guy to my right flipped them off. The singer got in his face - "What instrument do you play? Drums? Guitars? Well, it doesn't matter - BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT!"
Click to expand...

I remember that... Ugh. That was a bad one.

I'd also like to add Sonic Syndicate opening up for Amon Amarth a few years ago at the Palladium in Worcester, MA. Maybe it wasn't the entire crowd, but it seemed like everybody around me were uninterested if not downright hostile towards them. At one point a bunch of us even sat down right in the middle of the floor to get some R&R before Amon Amarth took the stage.

I was told that a song they wrote called "Hellgate Worcester" was basically a big "fuck you" to the crowd from the night's show. I don't know how true that is, but if it is... :kickass:
 
Jibrille said:
I was at that show. I only caught a short part of their set though I do remember the non-reaction from the entire audience. Total mismatch of opening band and headliner.
Click to expand...

Oy.. that reminds me of a local band that I see a lot, around here. They play death metal, but they always open for power metal bands. It's kind of weird, and usually the only people cheering them is their friends and parents.
 
The worst reaction I've seen was Lacuna Coil opening for Dragonforce (Between the Buried and Me was supporting too, if I'm remembering correctly). Lacuna Coil was touring in support of Karmacode (which I loved) and played a killer set, but the Guitar Hero/ironic/whatever fanboys were having none of it. LC was at best tolerated and nearly bood off stage. They quit after just 30 minutes.

Oh, and I lasted all of 10 minutes into Dragonforce's set before leaving. If you've been to at least one PPUSA you've seen way more than those guys have to offer.
 
dcowboys311 said:
The one that stands out in my mind the most was for Converge when they opened for Dethklok. Converge is great...consistently one of the best live bands, probably the single hardest working band in hardcore, incredibly influential, etc, but you can't expect a bunch of 13 year old kids and 30 year old rednecks coming to see a fake band to get into that. They nearly were booed off the stage.
Click to expand...

I saw this show at Hammerstein last year. People booed them, dude next to me asked what I thought of them and I said "they're the best band on this bill" to which he laughed and walked away. However at my show they handled it well. The bassist (dude in Doomriders) told a few of the hecklers to fuck themselves and by the end of their set at least half of the 2,000 people that were there were into it. Honestly they killed it so hard. I saw them headline with Lewd Acts a few months later and they weren't nearly as good. Something about seeing a legendary and totally relevant (Axe To Fall is a masterpiece if you ask me) hxc band playing in front of 15 year old kids and older dudes wanting to see Dethklok to be ironic and converting them to their cause that was exceptionally righteous.

DuchessOfDork said:
Wait.. were they the guys where the lead singer sounded like he was screaming "bock-bock" like a chicken? I don't remember the name of that band, but I saw Dethklok on Halloween in 2009 and they were HORRIBLE. I guess it was hardcore/grindcore, and admittedly, that's not my style.. but I don't know how you can listen to a guy go "bock-bock" over and over again. I assume he was saying "fuck", but I couldn't tell. I do remember them getting a really bad response...
Click to expand...

lol christ do you suck at music. :heh:

But it's okay we can still hug it out.


I'd say for me the worst crowd reaction I ever saw was Throwdown opening for Lamb Of God, Fear Factory, and Children Of Bodom in 2004. People spat at them. I don't like the band, but it was sad to see and I felt bad.
 
Justin (Dustro25) will probably agree with me on this one.

Poughkeepsie, NY - 2004 I think... James LaBrie played 3 solo shows... that was actually the night I met some of the Seattle/Chicago posse. Anyways, one of the openers for James LaBrie at the chance was this Motorhead-ripoff band consisting of a bunch of fat old dudes playing shitty songs and calling themselves speed metal... what a bunch of tools they were! All I remember is that a good portion of the crowd was flipping them off about their songs, all stupid. I remember one of the choruses going "More Beer!" Anyways, at the end of their set, Justin was actually engaged in a heated argument with their guitarist from the floor. Funniest moment was one of their wives joined in and said "They did very good, better than you little kids would ever do!" Justin's reply: "Excuse me, I have a degree in music. What they played wasn't music. It was shit!" :lol::lol:

The worst is when the bands can't take the fact they suck and engage into arguments, fights, etc. with the crowd. I hope those guys never played another show in their lives...
 
Weirdly, or luckily, enough, I haven't seen a real negative reaction from a crowd to a band. I have seen crowds ignore bands that sucked, but never get actually hostile. There is one incident I was present for where a band had written a diss-track aimed at a group of irritable guys I knew, and those guys showed up to the band's show, ran up on stage during their set, and beat up the band while they were playing. But overall, I'm more frequently frustrated when genuinely good bands get ignored by indifferent crowds.
 
Rammstein opening for Kiss in Brazil in the late 90's... The crowd was vicious.

Tub Ring opening for The Gathering in New York in 2007 was pretty bad... The crowd wasn't too hostile, but it was clear they were not into it. What made this show stand out was that the feeling was mutual! The band hated the crowd too and they made it very clear...
 
'99 - early pre-Ozzfest era Slipknot gig, or Machine Head or whatever it was.

This band called Primer 55 opened.

Not 3 songs aired until a heckler in the crowd noticed nobody at the venue was enjoying the tunes, and that the band had the energy level of a corpulent fruitfly. The "singer"kept pushing for more attention. The audience member then told the band "Get off the stage!! This isn't working for you."One more song passed, and the reaction of the crowd was becoming less satisfying. So, the audience member told them "- if this is your best - Break Up. Kill Yourselves." The singer of said band threw his microphone down and ran offstage. The audience cheered.
 
Manowar in Sao Paulo -The only time I saw a HEADLINER being booed off the stage! The crowd was really pissed off....

Manowar deserved it too... After 12 years without playing in Brazil, they played a set list with ZERO old songs... NONE!

This was the set list:

Hand of Doom
Call to Arms
Swords in the Wind
Solo Karl
Let The Gods Decide
Die For Metal
The Sons of Odin
Sleipnir
Screams of Death
Solo do Joey
God or Man
Loki
Thunder In The Sky
Warriors of the World

House of Death
King of Kings
Army of the Dead
 
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