For me it was Bob Dylan. Should probably remedy it but he was so disappointing live
I was obsessed with Highway ‘61 Revisited when I was 17, having read a bunch of books praising Dylan and loving the PJ Harvey cover. Then saw him at Fleadh in 2004 and it was so bad. To be fair, I had probably hyped it up a lot.
Just looking at reviews of the show and The Independent said
Worse is to come, with a plodding “Desolation Row” from which every drop of juice has been drained. Dylan shows have always been hit and miss, and this one must be considered one of the latter
Korn! Saw them at the Barrowlands touring their second album, 1997/1998 Had listened to them a bit before that on a C90 my friend had made for me. Have never felt any need to go back to them since about half way through the gig! Although being there does mean I also saw Helmet live as support so that’s cool.
Belle and Sebastian. Had quite liked them on record, saw them at latitude and after like 10 minutes was just like ‘what the fuck? These are shit’, left and don’t think I’ve listened to them voluntarily since.
I was a huge QOTSA fan as a teenager, saw them on the Like Clockwork tour and was so disappointed by them devolving into run of the mill classic rock worship that I’ve barely touched them since
The energy of the performance and in the crowd elevates the music to levels that listening at home can’t match. It just results in the songs feeling underwhelming.
haven’t really listened to Jeff Beck much since I saw him at the RAH and he brought out Johnny Depp for six fucking songs. real shame as he passed not long after. just found the whole thing so naff and disappointing that it really put me off.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I really liked them - constantly listened to the first two albums for a decade or so, caught them live a few times and they were fine. Saw them again in 2018 and they were terrible, Alex was in a proper strop and quite angry towards the crowd. I’ve not knowingly listened to them since.
The Sewing Club. Absolutely adored their early stuff but saw them last year right around the time they put out a new EP that was heading the wrong direction, and their live show stripped a lot of the prettiness out of the music. Talked to one of them and I guess their earlier direction had been guided by a producer they’d split with, so it seems like they aren’t going back. Bummer.
To be honest, this happens with a hell of a lot of acts for me.
Saw The Bug Club on the weekend, decent live show, but something about listening to that much of their music back-to-back just highlighted the saminess of their sound.
I think also it has a lot to do with me listening to an artist a lot in the lead up to seeing them live so after the concert it feels like a nice time for a bit of a break.
Chad VanGaalen I think. Saw him in 2017, intimate venue I liked, but he had a very…Chad vibe. His between-song banter or attempts at jokes didn’t really land. Didn’t help that my wife (at the time just 2 months into our relationship), wasn’t vibing with it at all. He played some classics but already at that time I wasn’t that into his 2 most recent albums. Had a slight uptick in listening when his next album came out in 2021, not otherwise very little since the show.
While the show wasn’t what I hoped for, sometimes it’s not just that…it’s likely I’d overplayed his classic s before that, had already moved on to a degree. Can’t just blame the performance.
Allah-Las were another one. They were September 2017, and their latest album was good but a step down from the first two. Show was fine but reflected their softening sound. Again a slight uptick in listening when their next album came out, but that was it.
The reverse happens more frequently, for me, that I’ll see a random band (usually a rock band, Jon Spencer comes to mind) and be so blown away that my album listening is mostly about recreating the thrill of the live set.
Bob Dylan, I can’t really fault an 80-something for delivering lousy shows when the albums he made before turning 35 are pretty-much the best albums ever made.
