"There seems to have been a
slight problem with the database." - How I love this message! (Attention! Sarcasm ahead!)
Ok, let´s see, there have been several opening acts that I found terribly boring - which might also explain why I don´t remember most of them.
(Especially Tori Amos - she´s one of my favourite live artists - seems to be very good at picking supporting acts that just bore me to death, though I don´t know if it´s really her or perhaps her management who´s deciding who gets the supporting slot.)
Well, I think the first time that I was really pissed off was when I saw Metallica on their "...And Justice For All"-tour in 1988, though it might not have been there fault. First of all, there were a few thousand fans, but just one rather small entrance, so quite a lot of people missed at least a part of the show of opening act Queensryche, and after the entire concert was over and everyone was pushing through that single entrace, poeple could have got seriously hurt or maybe even fallen and run over! Absolutely irresponsible! The really bad thing was Metallica´s sound, which was simply far too loud (well, maybe except for deaf people) - it was absolutely no fun anymore to listen to the music and I was really happy when the concert was over! I mean, I had already noticed a slightly deaf/muted feeling in my ears after the first metal concerts I had been to, but it was usually entirely gone when I woke up the next morning. Well, in this case it finally also went away, but it took more than one day. After this concert, I always had earplugs with me when I went to a metal concert, and I usually also used them. If certain people think that sheer loudness is a sign of musical quality, they are free to do so, but I´m not willing to have my ears ruined because of such idiocy, because I don´t think tinitus is fun!
In this context, another concert comes to my mind. In 1990, I saw Death Angel as headliner with Vicious Rumors and Forbidden as opening acts. A great package and until Death Angel entered the stage, everything was fine. Unfortunately, at this concert Death Angel had one of the worst bass sounds I´ve ever heard. I mean, I really liked their albums and I usually stay until the end of a concert, but the bass sound was simply unbearable (also with earplugs), so this was the first time I left a concert before it was over.
Well, in both cases I´ve just mentioned it wasn´t actually the show itself which was bad, but more the sound/circumstances. However, it made it impossible to enjoy the concerts - except for the opening acts - and I think that´s bad enough!