Yup, I've only done it once. Sometime in the seventies I went with a friend to see Bad Company at Brighton Centre.

They weren't bad but they weren't Free. About halfway through we left and went back to my flat to get drunk listening to old Free records.

The rest of the audience seemed to be loving it. Trouble is history suggests that Bad Company were more successful than Free (certainly in the US) which goes to show what I know.

Van der Graff Generator, Free Trade Hall Manchester early 70's,
Charisma label's bargain tour of Lindisfarne (wonderful), Genesis (not my cup of tea even with Peter Gabriel) and the Van Der's(shreiking awful noise, screaming singer and over amped sax player. bloody awful)

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Concert Hall Toronto early eighties, sorry even "the Message" couldn't make me stay to hear what sounded like a bunch of blokes arguing loudly inside an echo chamber.

Yes, often. I don't bother trying to 'persuade' anyone to go with me as I prefer to attend gigs on my own so I don't have to pay attention to anything other than the act. Is that odd?

Early 90s, Boardwalk in Manchester. Not-so-tip-top indie popsters The Popinjays were playing to an assembled throng of eight. Two of which were my mate & I. Try & skulk out of that one without the band following you out of the venue if you dare. We dared. Well done us.

When watching (or failing to watch) James at the Free Trade Hall, we managed to turn up at what we thought was a judicious avoid-the-support act time of around 9.30/10pm only to find streams of people leaving the venue. I'm assuming the FTH had a unique chucking out time.

Have been to several gigs solo & particularly enjoyed a Tanya Donelly one at Manchester University a few years ago. Nothing to be ashamed of. Quite liberating in fact. Going solo, not Tanya Donelly. Lovely though she is. And certainly not to be ashamed of.

Belle And Sebastian at Brixton. My ladyfriend at the time was a big fan, so I got us tickets and off we went. I quite liked them but had never seen them live.

Well I could see them. But could I hear them? Hardly! They were the quietest band I've ever seen in my life. The spoken intros were louder than the band itself, including the drummer. I'm not sure if it was the band's fault or the venue - the venue isn't the greatest for acoustics. But I've seen other louder people there before now and had a great night...

I didn't walk out because my ladyfriend wanted to see them. But I did have a running argument with a trio of people stood behind me talking. All the way through the entire set. Loud enough to drown out the sound of the band! I can't stand that and I'm not the type to not say anything. We moved away to another quieter spot (I think the band were playing another girl another planet at that point but I couldn't be sure because it was..too quiet!) and I could see other people arguing with them later on. Who goes to a gig to stand near the front and spend the whole time talking? I guess the same people who go to the cinema to spend the whole time on the phone....

Yup.

PJ Harvey at Brixton Academy a year or so back. Friends took myself and my wife for a well earned break from three kids and we just didn't have the heart to tell them that the gig was a bag of the proverbial. Instead we waited until they'd moved about ten yards away from us and then carefully sneaked out before they saw us.

At The Venue - early 80s - one comeback ago - my hero, patently unable to speak, let alone play, surrounded by loud unsympathetic band who kept referring to him as "PETE" and "THE LEGEND" while said legend gazed into the mid distance...left after 30 minutes broken hearted.

...at Knebworth in 1975.
I might have only been a teenager, but I knew when someone was taking the piss.

Manchester Academy. The only gig I've left early.

A friend persuaded me to go to see him recently. I'd never even heard of him. He seemed awfully pleased with himself, and I left before it was even half over.

I've been to a few gigs on my own but I really don't like it. It's far more fun with friends. To go on my own it has to be someone I really, really want to see, but no-one else does. Last time was Keith Jarrett at the RFH.

Did the reverse at a Manchester Uni gig with The Sisters of Mercy in the mid 80s - went to the bar during the support, had one, another, oh and another...shit aren't the sisters on now? Saw about the last third of the gig.

I was the only person I knew fond of Fairport/Albion/Thompsons, so I had to go alone. I did enjoy feeling a little different from their usual crowd, affecting (then)ECostello-alike uniform of skinny tie and bumfreezer. I still now feel youthful at 51, compared to the rest of, at least, the Fairport audience. Mrs Path, at 45, thought we had gone by mistake to an old folks home outing, further exemplified by the dire singalong of the opening act, whose name I won't elevate by mentioning, at their recent tour.

but in my gig-going days I nearly always went on my own. I went to hear music, not to have a chat.

I walked out. I just didn't understand what everyone was laughing at.

For years and years, I stoically endured bad gigs through a combination of not wanting to admit I'd made a poor selection and a misguided sense that things would improve (like a bad football match). And there were some very bad gigs. The nadir was probably in the mid-90s, seeing the Smashing Pumpkins on the Mellon Collie tour perform a two part concert, the second of which consisted of an hour long acoustic set. Still I endured though, and instead of walking out, choosing either to retire to the bar or in a continental-style expression of displeasure turning my back on a band (Hundred Reasons at the Astoria). It was like not finishing a novel, walking out of the cinema, etc., something you just did not do. However, one night my mates and I finally cracked, walking out 4 songs into a set by the thankfully shortlived duo McAlmont & Butler at Shepherds Bush Empire. Sitting in the Walkabout afterwards - a venue chosen only for its proximity and the availability of strong liquor - we were overcome by a mixture of emotions - depression that the gig had been so bad that we had all walked out for the first time, collective relief, euphoria and a sense that THINGS WOULD NEVER BEEN THE SAME AGAIN. Fortunately, an OK gig by The Coral a few days later at the same venue restored a little of our belief (getting back on the bike, after falling off). I now appreciate the freedom to vote with my feet, but I've chosen to exercise it with discretion (only walking out of two Maximo Park gigs early since then).

despite their age. By the way I am 51 too!! I saw them at Birmingham Symphony Hall about 5-6 years ago, it was another of their legendary anniversary gigs where the final night of the tour is in Birmingham. Anyway,sitting behind me and the wife were 2 older geezers and I was eavesdropping their conversation as one does. I was quite tittilated by the one guys story of a threesome he had with a mate and willing lady participant!!!Bet you dont get that kind of thing at a Coldplay gig!!

Anyway, yes I walked out once - Hatfield and the North,Birmingham Town Hall - mid 70's.Half the audience had walked out in droves much earlier and my mate suggested we do the same. Ever the optimist I thought they would get better, they didnt, we left.

at a Dire Straits gig at Hammersmith Odeon back around the time of Brothers In Arms. I'm not sure why I went in the first place. I never liked then and it was so bloody tedious...

I go to festivals with other people but always end up watching a few acts on my own. I'm quite happy doing this, I can get stuck in and enjoy it (no one else wanted to watch Robert Plant at Green Man last year - they went for John Power or Battles - so I got right down the front on my own. It was great!) It's nice to compare notes afterwards though.

I don't tend to go out to gigs on my own very often, just can't really be bothered. I had to for Neil Young recently though as know one fancied it and I wasn't buying my girlfriend one at that price just to keep me company! Going on my own didn't detract from it so I may do so again in future.

I don't talk through the acts as someone suggested above (I make a point of scowling at those who do...) but I like sharing the experience with someone I know.

I haven't been to a gig in the UK for 20 years, but before that I used to go to a lot. And I can never remember being bothered by people talking. Shoving, elbowing, sloshing with beer. . . yes, all that, but talking? Except perhaps for solo acoustic concerts, gigs in the Seventies and Eighties were loud. I said they were VERY LOUD. No, I'm not going for a slash - just read my lips - I said the VOLUME. It's. . . REALLY. . . LOUD. . . .

So what's happened? Back in my day (screws flat cap on head) even "quiet" artists like John Martyn would have some badass decibels pumping out of the PA. Have municipal love-thy-neighbour programmes been implemented across the board since I left, resulting in a big drop in average volume levels? I'm genuinely puzzled by this now-common complaint.

Started well with "Where Do You All Come From" but after an hour of "Here's another one from the new album" I realised that the neighbours had a nice bottle of wine on the go and that I was never going to get back the eighteen quid I'd spent to listen to what sounded like Keith Richards singing obscure Bob Dylan outtakes. Later I got a text from a friend which read, simply, "Ever heard All The Young Dudes done in the style of the theme from Trumpton? I have". Yes, it was in Ipswich.
On the other hand, when no-one wanted to come and see Richard Thompson's Borderline record company launch for Rumo(u)r and Sigh I went on my own. Even I didn't know that Crowded House would be playing later and anyone was welcome to stay. Okay, so by then you had to pay for your own drinks, but when they invited RT back onstage to do his solo in Sister Madly and insisted he stay for the rest of the set it kind of made it worthwhile. He signed my CD. I believe he was playing a Freinder Strat at the time.

... and can't imagine that I would - after all, I've paid my money to see them. I might not go to see them again, mind.

As for solo gigging - pretty much every gig I go to, I go to by myself. Partly as not many of those I know like the same music as I do, but mainly I'm only there for the music anyway - I'd do something else if it was a night out with friends.

The only concert I've ever left early was Runrig a few years ago, but it wasn't because they were bad - in fact, I was bad.

The evening began well with a nice support act, Canadians Great Big Sea and then Runrig kicked off with a couple of stormers. But almost immediately I felt sick, and had to run from the gig to be violently ill. Over the next few hours I was sick eight times and didn't recover for a couple of days.

It could have been Runrig or it could have been a really bad case of food poisoning. I'd like to think it was the latter, because I've always been a fan of the band. Still, you never know...

Shelby Lynne at Wolves Civic, shortly after "I am Shelby Lynne" had come out. She was so, um, refreshed, that when called out to the encores, she had taken off her blouse and, if earlier worn, brassiere, and in her enthusiasm to get back out on the stage, had only time to put on a denim waistcoat, un buttoned and flapping open. I was so sickened by what I saw that I had to stay until the end.

...at Glasgow Barrowlands roundabout 1994. Henry Rollins was the support and he "kicked ass" if I may fall into the parlance of the time. Then the Chilli Peppers came on and proceeded to play one of the most half arsed shows I've ever seen; much gurning, terrible "jam sessions" and a hell of a lot of moaning from them about the crap weather. It was truly abysmal and I'm not sure if I've ever walked out of a gig since.

As for going to gigs by myself I've done it a few times but the worst time was Guns n Roses at Hammersmith two years ago. I wangled a last minute ticket from a friend for free because he didn't want to go alone. I had no such inhibitions so off I went. Hours later the band aren't on stage, the DJ is playing what can only be described as half remembered tunes by the likes of Anthrax which I hadn't heard since I was about 14, I'm drunk and lonesome, my legs are hurting from standing for so long and it's all too teenage for words, single bloke unable to talk to anyone. The gig itself wasn't terrible by the time it started but the epic build up had sucked any joy I had in me before it began and the drunken cycle home at about four in the morning on a Thursday wasn't fun either... Frankly I should have walked out but who can resist a freebie?

I saw Los Lobos at the Electric Ballroom and was a bit bored so I didn't bother with the encore - I was very miffed to find out afterwards that Elvis Costello had joined them for the encore!

I go to most gigs alone. I first started back in the early 80's when the only way to get to London from where I lived was on my motorbike which wasn't big enough for a passenger! I like going with others but would much rather go alone than feel I was dragging someone else where they don't want to be. It also allows me to see support bands when they're good or find another room if they're bad. I've got 5 solo outings planned this month alone.

Saw him early 90's at the International 2 in Manchester. I'd just graduated and was seeing an 18 year old called Rebecca, half an hour in and she says 'hes not very Australian is he, can we go?'. So ended a beautiful friendship.

Saw Nick Cave at Hammersmith last night. He could not have been more Australian.