Worst sets you've seen at RandL

[VCK]

On 5/5/2022 at 11:18 PM, Benj said:

That was bad, very bad, however...

Having been to every single Reading since 1997, so assuming I've seen on average 8 acts a day I've seen 600 odd sets.

Despite all these there is one solitary moment that sticks out as not only the worst act Ive seen at Reading ever but possible the worst music act Ive seen anywhere ever.

Ladies and Gentlemen Mr Ian Brown, 2019. Utterly awful - 

 

Ian Brown was pretty dull that year and would have been much better headlining the tent rather than playing the Main Stage in broad daylight. However, he wasn't even the worst act on that stage on that day. Arctic Monkeys were dogshit.

RHCP 2007, QOTSA 2008 and Kings of Leon 2009 were all poor too.

[VCK]

On 5/6/2022 at 11:28 AM, gfa said:

Ian Brown has one of the worst live reputations, worse than RHCP even!

The Wombats set in 2018 was my first ever set at the festival, could hear it completely fine and it was full of rarely played songs from their first album!

The Stone Roses at Heaton Park still remains the greatest live performance I've ever seen by any act, but he was definitely the weak link that night. Being surrounded by three absolutely immense musicians and a loud crowd singing along to every word, and him being a confident frontman/showman, got him off the hook really.

I mean, him being a terrible singer live was the straw that broke the camel's back that led to the Roses splitting to begin with - at Reading no less.

Edited May 7, 2022 by VCK

[gfa]

3 hours ago, VCK said:

The Stone Roses at Heaton Park still remains the greatest live performance I've ever seen by any act, but he was definitely the weak link that night. Being surrounded by three absolutely immense musicians and a loud crowd singing along to every word, and him being a confident frontman/showman, got him off the hook really.

I mean, him being a terrible singer live was the straw that broke the camel's back that led to the Roses splitting to begin with - at Reading no less.

I meant solo

[Benj]

4 hours ago, VCK said:

Ian Brown was pretty dull that year and would have been much better headlining the tent rather than playing the Main Stage in broad daylight. However, he wasn't even the worst act on that stage on that day. Arctic Monkeys were dogshit.

RHCP 2007, QOTSA 2008 and Kings of Leon 2009 were all poor too.

He was fucking appalling, properly shite. Arctic Monkeys were dull but they weren’t musically bad

[Benj]

4 hours ago, VCK said:

The Stone Roses at Heaton Park still remains the greatest live performance I've ever seen by any act, but he was definitely the weak link that night. Being surrounded by three absolutely immense musicians and a loud crowd singing along to every word, and him being a confident frontman/showman, got him off the hook really.

I mean, him being a terrible singer live was the straw that broke the camel's back that led to the Roses splitting to begin with - at Reading no less.

Squire and Reni had already left by Reading 96 hadn’t they?

[VCK]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

I meant solo

I know that, I was just mentioning that even during the Roses glorious comeback, his vocals were still poor.

[VCK]

34 minutes ago, Benj said:

He was fucking appalling, properly shite. Arctic Monkeys were dull but they weren’t musically bad

Arctics were atrocious that night. When you're headlining a festival there's more expectation to deliver than if you're playing a daytime main stage slot and Arctics failed to meet those expectations. Slow, boring and unlively.

33 minutes ago, Benj said:

Squire and Reni had already left by Reading 96 hadn’t they?

Yeah but it was that performance that led them to decide to call it a day. There is a video of a press conference a few hours before they took to the stage where they spoke about the plans they had for the future of the band.

[Benj]

1 hour ago, VCK said:

Arctics were atrocious that night. When you're headlining a festival there's more expectation to deliver than if you're playing a daytime main stage slot and Arctics failed to meet those expectations. Slow, boring and unlively.

We left to see Gossip, who were much better. 

hoping for a decent alternative headliner in the pit this time. 

Edited May 7, 2022 by Benj

[foolee]

2006: Arctic Monkeys (too long and too many stoppages, didn’t know how to hold a crowd, a slot too soon for them at the point & completely overshadowed by Muse the same night)/The Streets (didn’t get it)

2007: RHCP (boring, too much jamming & didn’t play under the bridge)

2009: Arctic Monkeys (terrible, felt like they played loads of the new album, had to leave halfway through. The Prodigy were the true headliner that night)

2010: Guns N’ Roses (so late and weren’t very good when they came on, left to watch Marina & the diamonds)/The Libertines (not really a fan and overhyped, didn’t live up to it so I left to watch Enter Shikari)

2011: Madness (didn’t get it and still don’t get it, went to the bar)

2013: Twin Atlantic (main stage was too big for them, sounded terrible)/Fall Out Boy (reunion hype, got a massive crowd but didn’t live up to it. Very poor)

2014: QOTSA/ADTR/YMAS/Papa Roach (Not sure if there were sound issues this year but I was massively disappointed by all of those)

2015: The Libertines (don’t think they should’ve been headlining tbh, didn’t pull it off)

2019: Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes (seen him be much better before and didn’t rate the setlist)

2021: Nothing But Thieves (sound quality was terrible)/Two Door Cinema Club (not for me)

 

 

[sacred shape]

44 minutes ago, foolee said:

2006: Arctic Monkeys (too long and too many stoppages, didn’t know how to hold a crowd, a slot too soon for them at the point & completely overshadowed by Muse the same night)/The Streets (didn’t get it)

2007: RHCP (boring, too much jamming & didn’t play under the bridge)

2009: Arctic Monkeys (terrible, felt like they played loads of the new album, had to leave halfway through. The Prodigy were the true headliner that night)

2010: Guns N’ Roses (so late and weren’t very good when they came on, left to watch Marina & the diamonds)/The Libertines (not really a fan and overhyped, didn’t live up to it so I left to watch Enter Shikari)

2011: Madness (didn’t get it and still don’t get it, went to the bar)

2013: Twin Atlantic (main stage was too big for them, sounded terrible)/Fall Out Boy (reunion hype, got a massive crowd but didn’t live up to it. Very poor)

2014: QOTSA/ADTR/YMAS/Papa Roach (Not sure if there were sound issues this year but I was massively disappointed by all of those)

2015: The Libertines (don’t think they should’ve been headlining tbh, didn’t pull it off)

2019: Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes (seen him be much better before and didn’t rate the setlist)

2021: Nothing But Thieves (sound quality was terrible)/Two Door Cinema Club (not for me)

 

 

Surprised about NBT. We were behind the second barrier (Leeds) and sound was great

[foolee]

1 hour ago, sacred shape said:

Surprised about NBT. We were behind the second barrier (Leeds) and sound was great

I think as they were the first act of the weekend at Reading they messed it up. Such a shame as I watched them do an acoustic in store last year having never heard or seen much of them and thought the lead singers voice was amazing. 

[Huwey]

Placebo in 08/9? Boring. Artics 09 also boring ,played most of humbug ! Eminem 13 mostly shite and bfmv in 12 thought they were shocking. And the legendary king's of Leon 09 shiteshow (didn't see it ,but it was all anyone spoke of in the campsite after!)

[BenG92]

Interpol 2011. So boring it put me off wanting to watch them again. Apparently they're very hit and miss like that. 

[andyrhodes24]

Have we covered Catfish in 2021? Utterly dreadful from them considering it may be one of the last gigs they ever play. Rattled through the songs, uninterested, even less engagement with the audience than normal and the crowd felt it.

I have so many good memories of watching them after first seeing them play to a couple of hundred people but that was a shite way to end it.

[Benj]

2 hours ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Have we covered Catfish in 2021? Utterly dreadful from them considering it may be one of the last gigs they ever play. Rattled through the songs, uninterested, even less engagement with the audience than normal and the crowd felt it.

I have so many good memories of watching them after first seeing them play to a couple of hundred people but that was a shite way to end it.

I quite enjoyed it. Have even watched it back and quite enjoyed it again.

Nowhere in the same league as Ian Brown 09 for plane awfulness, or RHCP 07 or AM 09 for boring you to death. 

I’ve seen Catfish at festivals and their own show previously and don’t think it was hugely sub par. 

[andyrhodes24]

3 minutes ago, Benj said:

I quite enjoyed it. Have even watched it back and quite enjoyed it again.

Nowhere in the same league as Ian Brown 09 for plane awfulness, or RHCP 07 or AM 09 for boring you to death. 

I’ve seen Catfish at festivals and their own show previously and don’t think it was hugely sub par. 

I think I overhyped that set in the run up to it which didn't help me. Plus, for whatever reason, Saturdays at Leeds have always been poor for me - no rhyme or reason to it, they've just been worse, whether it be the lineup, the bars running out of drink, or the general vibe. Something always seems to go wrong, my mate broke his ribs this time.

No doubt it was just an off-day in my mind but it was a stinker of an occasion to think they were poor!

[charlierc]

6 hours ago, BenG92 said:

Interpol 2011. So boring it put me off wanting to watch them again. Apparently they're very hit and miss like that. 

I was at that set. Didn't think they were terrible, and indeed it picked up near the end, but did think that they were outshone by Friendly Fires and the crowd was very flat. Of the 5 times I've seen them, the festival sets have been the least fun imo - other was All Points East on Strokes day, where the sound system wasn't working properly.

[charlierc]

I remember watching the Arctic Monkeys at Reading in 2009 set on TV and thinking it was good, which I stand by from re-watching on YouTube. It helps that I like Humbug, mind. But then I do agree it was a strange choice to promote an album that had just come out that week by playing 8 songs plus their Red Right Hand cover to a crowd that was there for Mardy Bum and Teddy Picker.

[Nicklord]

I love to watch that RHCP show in 2007 because they jammed a lot and didn't play all the hits and I love to watch that AM show from 2009 because they played almost the whole Humbug 😄 Different tastes I guess

[Benj]

2 hours ago, Nicklord said:

I love to watch that RHCP show in 2007 because they jammed a lot and didn't play all the hits and I love to watch that AM show from 2009 because they played almost the whole Humbug 😄 Different tastes I guess

There's certainly a market for it, probably not at a Festival though, when most there may not be huge fans

[charlierc]

On 5/10/2022 at 1:43 PM, Benj said:

There's certainly a market for it, probably not at a Festival though, when most there may not be huge fans

AM played Brixton Academy a few days before Reading/Leeds 2009 with a near-identical set. Playing more or less a whole new album probably would've gone down better in that kind of environment than a big scale thing like Reading tbh.

[Matt42]

Interpol 2011

[Guest]

Arcade Fire 2010

[FloorFiller]

20 hours ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

Arcade Fire 2010

Mental opinion. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, FloorFiller said:

Mental opinion. 

I wouldn't know I wasn't there