Ultravox, Wembley Arena , 1986. Absolutely no atmosphere. Half an hour was enough then the pub beckoned.

c.1982, he went on for too long and I got bored, The Sisters Of Mercy - 3 times since 2003, I've only seen them 4 times too, Megadeth in their 'bare chested mean of RAWK' phase

Ex Spaceman 3 mainman "Sonic Boom" presented an evening of mind-melting boredom upstairs at the Garage a few years ago. I left after twenty minutes. I honestly believe he had fallen asleep up there.

but aswer is Joanna McGregor

and before that Pat Metheny (4th time I saw him though). And neither was in any sense bad, I just wasn't in the mood.

More of a mistake was not actually going to see Sting when I was workin in Paris and had a ticket---couldn't explain to you now, but I know I did it.

I think we had a thread on this, btw, worth a look.

The group was anything but 'super' and I decided that enough was enough. As I left Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton appeared in front of me by the exit and I distinctly remember one of them succinctly reviewing the show with the words "fuckin' bollocks".

Smug and boring.

Utter dross...

Empire Pool, Wembley. Walked out during their second number. I'd only gone for the support band, Girl, but thought Kiss might be a laugh. They weren't.

Hammersmith Whatsit early 90s. He was all over the shop so I took the decision to walk out on a true legend. Got to the exit and common sense got the better of me so I walked back in just in time to see Ron Wood take the stage for a very good version of Like A Rolling Stone.
Mark Ellen was sitting just in front of me. Not sure what he made of it.

Too cool for school - bored my mates and me shitless so we left. Think they only had a couple of songs left.

Odd, cos I don't mind them on record.

Brixton Academy, November 2008. Not bad exactly, just dull. He repeatedly joked about the songs all sounding the same; eventually most of the audience agreed with him and left.

I posted about it on this site, just as someone else was saying how wonderful he was. Then David Hepworth interviewed him and I believe shared the story with him.

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/a-first

The Venue - circa 1981. Heartbreaking.

A couple of months ago. They were full of energy but the sound was appalling and I couldn't even hear Pete Shelley. Decided to save what's left of my hearing and I bid a hasty retreat.

I love Van Morrison but left during an interminable encore (when he used to do long sets) to get ahead of the traffic (Wembley Arena, double bill with Mr Zimmerman).

[Edit] I also left a U2 stadium show (in Basel) after about 6 songs as I had only gone to see the support...... The Velvet Underground.

At the Barras, when Let It Come Down was out. Lots of drones occasionally punctuated by a song. My mate was going in late for a night-shift, and every minute we stayed was a minute he'd have to pay back. We didn't last long...

A couple of years back in the Point in Dublin, dragged along in the first place (honest) and we only last about 40 minutes. Garbage.

Recent ones include Dylan at the NIA in Birmingham (which I reviewed here, not to his advantage).

The Waterboys, two hours in to a gig that may still be going on, at the Barrowlands in Glasgow in 86. Endless. Not in a good way.

But if I'm leaving, I'll leave quietly : I can't stand people who leave, harrumphing, as if those of us who are staying are the ones who are yet to see through the Emperor's New Clothes. In the 2 I have mentioned, those who stayed were digging it.

Manchester Apollo, date unknown but before the split. Could not see the point in staying any longer for Bittersweet Symphony so made a hasty retreat halfway through the painfully dull set. Met Mark & Lard doing the same.

I saw a truly awful band called 65 Days of Static who had only one song which was basically Mogwai on steroids. Sounds good on paper but after 1hr of this I upped and left when it was clear there was nothing else going to come out of the bag.

F**k Buttons I really expected to like but there was something about the sheer lack of dynamics in what they were doing. They did peaks, they did troughs but never both in the same song. Ducked out before encore.

I didn't walk out on Word favourites Midlake, but I did retire to the bar and left my fellow gig goers to it. I'm not usually too bothered about stage presence or whether bands put on a show (I've seen Spirtualized many times, and Autechre who play in pitch darkness) but these guys shuffled on like they had come to fix the amps and just bored the pants off me. I swear their beards grew several inches during the show. The Banjo arrived and I beat a hasty retreat.

Gong at Manchester Uni, Christmas 1989. Utter hippy bollocks. Didn't get it then, don't get it now.
David Sylvian (Nine Horses) at Bridgewater Hall. I'd seen him a few years previous when he'd put to bed the Japan numbers and actually seemed to be enjoying himself on stage. Not this time, though. Po-faced and doggedly dull. Loved the album, but just thought he wasn't even trying to enjoy himself.

in Cologne Opera House (no less)in 1990 or thereabouts, just excruciating. Not because he was being Cecil, he was just plain dull.

Similarly, early nineties, in Wuppertal, the Sun Ra Orchestra. My mate and I couldn't believe how naff they were with their electric-bass-based wannabe "funky" "groove". Maybe he was trying to become a bit mainstream coming up to the end of his life (he passed away in 1993) but damn, the band were vile. Left in the break.

And speaking of vile, anybody remember Rip Rig And Panic? They played Moers (Jazz)Festival back in the mid-eighties and were reasonably well-known as John Peel had been plugging them quite a bit. I was mortified when they started into some Daily-Mail-type war bollocks, which most of the German punters didn't understand. I did though and found this extremely rude and regretted buying their album. Sank without trace though, didn't they.

Was dragged along by a mate to witness this mumbling, charmless and tuneless man steal two hours of my life in St David's Hall, Cardiff. Every number was like a pseudo-jazz dishcloth being rammed into my ear and, halfway through, I had a Billy Liar-type moment where I stood up and machine-gunned everyone in the hall- starting with the 'May You Never' almost-hit maker and his fretless bass player. However, I figured that if I chose this option I might face jail for mass murder so, instead, I squirmed in my seat and muttered abuse under my breath whilst smiling through gritted teeth every time my mate nudged me and said 'Isn't he great?'

Golden Earring,Liverpool Stadium.So bloody awful the whole audience walked out.

...interminably dull.

I didn't walk out of Coldplay (as I needed a lift home) but I did spend quite some time at the bar, and also (sorry) had to unload a number two of quite epic proportions during the show, in the appropriate location, of course. *insert joke here*

1992, Creep had just been released for the first time. Me and my indie mates thought it was the greatest song ever recorded. They played an initially packed UCL union bar. They played Creep and the place went mad. Played a few more songs and the place emptied, including us. Utterly dreadful. Subsequent globe-rogering success a big surprise.

Not because I didn't enjoy them, but my mate came along and (a little influenced by an exotic substance methinks), moaned all the way through about Paddy McAloon's shirt. Having told him for the one millionth time (no, I'm not exagerating) to shut up, I stormed out in protest about an hour in leaving him sitting in his seat. When I next saw him, he the audacity to tell me that I should have stayed because 'it got better'. Maybe Paddy changed his bloody shirt.

Lyon 1990. Shockingly shite.

Hammersmith Odeon about five years ago. He came out with band played about five numbers that i had never heard. The band seemed bored. I've seen better lights in my local pub. It seemed to me he was simply playing to keep the bank account topped up for Xmas. Retired to the bar. It's a shame as I had never got round to seeing him before. Apart from a few tracks I think he is one of our most over rated artists.

Stone the Crows: Not because they were bad, but because I had to catch a train back to boarding school. St Alban's City Hall in January 1972 on the same tour as when Les Harvey died on stage in May. Actually they were phenomenally good, and I always regretted it, especially as the support, Flash, (Yes spin-off) who we sat through, were pretty rubbish. We heard 3 songs before we had to drag ourselves away. What a great band, live at any rate.
Family: again a great band - I had a ticket for their last gig in Leicester in 1973, but threw it up for a girlfriend who then dumped me. Never walked out of a gig out of choice though, although Van Morrison can stretch your patience it must be said.

A combination of all-the-songs-sound-the-same and the venue's AirCon being bust. Sweaty and bored I managed maybe three songs and left.

no story here, they were just shite.

at Selinas, Coogee Beach, Sydney. He'd had an unfavourable review in a local rag, remained pissy that night and told us all about it, then took it out on the audience. Noise, distortion and a dirgy grind meant it was a huge disappointment. We only lasted about 4 or 5 numbers.

I've only done it once at a gig - it was some kind of new music thing that a friend of a friend was playing at, but it was absolutely shocking. Some bloke in a hoodie which obscured his face on a synth apparently jabbing keys randomly. I like a bit of experimental electronic music, but this was just a dirge. To be fair, I did get an urgent call which meant I had to leave, but it would only have been a matter of minutes before I walked out of my own accord anyhow.

I've only ever walked out once at the cinema and the theatre, too - for the cinema, it was during 'Grindhouse' (specifically, Robert Rodriguez's 'Planet Terror'), which I thought was an appalling waste of time and money, and the rather graphic and visceral nature of it made me feel a bit queasy too. At the theatre, I made my escape during the interval of a particularly awful version of 'The Tempest' at the Liverpool Playhouse, directed by Philip Franks (Catherine Zeta-Jones' other half in 'The Darling Buds of May'). The staging was inept, the performances were nothing special, and it ruined one of my favourite Shakespeare plays - I'd have left sooner were it not for the fact that I was stuck in the middle of a row and couldn't easily get out!

Around the time of their last album A New Morning. I can't remember what made it particularly turgid, but it was. I think the point that broke our spirit was when Brett Anderson bellowed:

'Who wants to hear some new songs?'

Cue tumbleweed.

At this point not even some early classics had been received particularly well so I'm not sure why he thought this was a good idea. The apathetic response riled him somewhat and his response was to growl:

'Oh come on, you can do better than that. I said do you want to hear some new songs?'.

The second response was indistinguishable from the first. With a sulky 'fine' the band ploughed into some 'new'. My friend and I, plus a significant proportion of the rest of the crowd, decided this would be a good time to leave.

1996

Depends what the definition of walking out on is

I have to admit that if it was not staying till the lights come on, then its 95% of the time 'I'm off'. When it gets to encores and its that crowd's favourite but its also a chance to get ahead of the shuffle and be on my way, its no decision.

However, for an early exit ie within first half hour? Many

Last was Joanna Newsom - please, I tried, I just don't get it - and she spent ages adjusting her chair and microphone and every time she cooed 'sorry' and 5000 men-fans giggled and simpered. 4 songs about monkeys and bears and I was off.

Unfortunately it can often be because of the audience...I hate fans...

I love Cat Power, I was very excited about seeing her. She was great, but it had gone down to penalties in the Liverpool/ Chelsea Champion's League Semi Final in 2007.

I don't support either team, but I got swept along by drink and my friends.

I regret that a bit, but I think time will heal the blow

I saw her in 2008 and she was superb.

Jack, I went out for a ride and I never went back...

But not for musical reasons. After enduring many hours of average bands at a V Festival several years ago, I was looking forward to the headline act. Unfortunately, due to the various bars running out of everything apart from cider, my GLW had been compelled via necessity to partake of a pint or two of said refreshment. Having pushed and burrowed our way to somewhere near the front of the very 'up for it' crowd, I witnessed just two numbers before the LOML decided she had to visit the lavatory ... desperately. Cue a frantic retreat from the stage, emerging sometime later out the back.

Neither of us could face another fight back in. They looked good from the far off distance but in a fit of pique I decided we might as well beat a full retreat.

So didn't physically leave...

At Brixton Academy. They kicked off with Home And Dry, I decided that was where I wanted to be. Love them to bits but they left me cold that night.

Earls Court about 6 years ago.

Just awful - They'd just transferred the outdoor stadium rig they were using on the rest of their European jaunt inside and the sound made your head physically hurt. After one number of "new" we retired back to the pub.

Also JJ72 at Shepherds Bush Empire - the singer performed a guitar solo laying on his back and kicking his legs out like a dying fly. Not even the sight of glamourpuss Hilary Woods could make me stay.

Hammersmith, 1978. Bass solo in second number. Painful.

Yes, me and a mate had our curiosities aroused by an evening of Tuvan throat singing at the Purcell Rooms. First up was the excellent Yat-Kha. Next was above lady, who in informed us that she had been "working with free-jazz musicians in Paris". See the warning signs. The sound which she created I can only describe as Yoko Ono being stretched on a rack alongside a couple of distempered wildcats. But, dear Massive, as Dave and I decided to cut our losses and go for a pint halfway through the second number ( and seeing that small clutches of people had already departed), we were followed by pretty much the entire audience, whose reactions ranged from bemusement to hysterical laughter.

As Did a Mr D Baker in 1996..he said when they started playing Josie he decided it was dreary and went home.He explained this on his old Radio 1 show.

at Manchester Academy about 5 years ago. She very visibly chewed gum throughout the show. Her singing wasn't good, the songs forgetable. She didn't play 'Ways to be wicked' the reason I went in the first place.

Ian Brown, Manchester GMEX a couple of years ago - managed half hour of him trying to sing, whilst trying to dodge the heavy guys who decided that queueing for the toilets was for pooftahs and instead just piss up agains the walls of the GMEX right next to where we were stood - lovely ambience topped off by some bloke who used to be in the stone roses trying to strangle several cats through enormous speakers! Dont get me wrong, the man's a legend in many ways, but singing isnt one of them!

About 4 or 5 years ago, HMHB at whatever that dire venue underneath Leeds railway station is called.

The band were fine, but the venue's acoustics were so shockingly bad it was impossible to hear most of Nigel Blackwell's lyrics. This was made worse by the fact that they were playing a lot of material from their yet-to-be released new album, so I had no idea what was coming up.

Bob Dylan at Liverpool Arena last year. Weighed up the odds of it getting better and opted instead for an early night.

Martha Wainwright at the Scala (I think it was) a good number of years back. She wasn't bad, but she'd gone on for bloody ages, and when she started singing in French I made a beeline for the door.

Rolling Stones - Don Valley Stadium. I'm sure they were fine, but it was pissing it down and showed no sign of stopping, and the security made me move on from where I was sheltering, so I gave up.

Elton John - I'd never seen him live so thought I'd give it a go. The night came round and I was in a bad mood, so after four or five songs of him getting up and bowing after *every* *fucking* *song* I could take no more.

Bob Dylan at Liverpool Arena last year. Weighed up the odds of it getting better and opted instead for an early night.

Martha Wainwright at the Scala (I think it was) a good number of years back. She wasn't bad, but she'd gone on for bloody ages, and when she started singing in French I made a beeline for the door.

Rolling Stones - Don Valley Stadium. I'm sure they were fine, but it was pissing it down and showed no sign of stopping, and the security made me move on from where I was sheltering, so I gave up.

Elton John - I'd never seen him live so thought I'd give it a go. The night came round and I was in a bad mood, so after four or five songs of him getting up and bowing after *every* *fucking* *song* I could take no more.

Genesis - This one was the audience's fault. Old Trafford a few years back. I'd got my seat fairly last minute and it had seemed a good price for the location. Turned out, I'd bought a seat they'd been unable to sell amid the tools who had paid for the "VIP EXPERIENCE!!!!1111" which entailed a free bar. They were all pissed up (as you would be if you'd paid £300 or whatever it was) and their antics made it impossible to enjoy the show.

Very pretty, slightly proggy folk music but how long can you stand (in a sweaty and crowded Boardwalk in Sheffield)watching three guys sitting in a row playing a faithful reproduction of an album?

Sometime in the 1990's - horrid sound (distorted), horrid venue (seated upstairs). Very disappointed as had travelled 60+ miles. Never been back.

Also "Rhyddian" (went for support act, the no-more-credible, "Only Men Aloud", who were, however, v. good). Managed to hold it together until got out of the auditorium, then collapsed through the doors of the arena, Mr Mandy and I clutching each other, doubled up laughing.

I can't believe no-one else has posted about him.
About 10 years ago, on his Ecstasy tour at The Albert Hall. 'Playing' for the most part with his back to the audience, all he was doing was jamming. It was like watching guys rehearsing; "Hey, this is a good riff..." On and on and on it went. No attempt at communication. Certainly no concern that people might be enjoying themselves. The first people started leaving after about 30 minutes. The exodus swelled. Mrs P and I lasted for an hour, leaving our friend who in turn lasted another hour before walking out. I'm sure there must have been other members of The Massive there that night.
That weekend every Lou Reed album I had went to the local 2nd hand shop and I've never listened to him since.
Ash Ra Tempel (sic) who played at Julian Cope's CornuCOPEia at the Festival hall. He had got them to come together for the first time in years. Two casually dressed late middle aged guys wandered onto the stage looking for all the world like a couple of lost tourists. Then they started playing. All fairly inoffensicve stuff. And it stayed inoffensive and meandering and frankly boring, so we went to the bar and waited for another band (was it Coil?). They came on in fluffy suits like cuddly polar bears and played computers. Pretty boring too so we had our 2nd walk out of the night and went to the bar.

Utterly dull and soulless. Boredom by numbers. I was just glad I got the ticket for free.

... seems to be a popular walkee. I would have put money on Van the Man taking the honours.

last year ... brixton academy. They seem to have confused themselves with Ted Nugent. It was possibly the loudest gig I've ever been to, and their subtleties and musicality got lost. and we were towards the back, upstairs. It was painful.

I was waiting for that. There's a totally believable review of some recent Lou walkouts here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/05/lou-reed-booed-free-improv

Couple of my own walk-outs:

"The Rutles" at the 100 Club - Was sceptical about this but was taken along by friend who insisted "it will be great". We didn't realise we'd actually gone to see The Grumbleweeds. Everyone else in the capacity crowd seemed to be absolutely in orgasms of slaving devotion but we left at half time and went to Bradleys to put coins into the jukebox and drink Spanish beer;

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at Camden Palace - Other way around since I was quite a fan at the time, and took a mate along, promising a top show etc etc - it was terrible - just awful skronking din, which went on and on and on until yes we ran off with our hands over our ears.

The Rolling Stones in New York - the show was fantastic. They'd played "Sway" in the meat of it, so I walked out when the encores started. I was so elated that I didn't feel any need to hear "Brown Sugar" and "Sympathy" etc. A great show.

Jethro Tull and Steve Hackett in Malta - they played on the same bill at a small festival. I left for the bar during the JT set as it was just a codpieced nightmare. I returned at the beginning of the Hackett set, and promptly turned around and left the venue. Really not my thing, I guess.

Keb Mo in San Francisco - I'd seen him at a blues festival and he was excellent. Then on his own, it was just a different experience. Sort of syrupy and pop-ish.

Spin Doctors in New York - wait, did I just admit to seeing the Spin Doctors? I attempted partial redemption by running for the door, with the bulk of the rest of the audience (this was in uni - we were all young then, right?)

It was only a couple of months ago. I remember liking a couple of their songs in the early 90s and saw J Mascis and the Fog at ATP last December and they were OK. Their last tune was even a highlight of the festival. But Dinosaur Jr, I have now found out, I do not like at all. Apart from being nearly an hour late on a school night in dreary Shepherds Bush, the gig was terrible. So I talked to a few old friends for 30 minutes, much to the annnoyance of a 10 tonne dumper truck stood behind me and then left. Listened to their albums again to make sure and, yep, dreadful. I was duped by Start Choppin' and John Peel's endorsement on late night Radio 1 when i was 14.

would like to let it be known that she slept all the way through a performance by Asian Dub Foundation.Not because they were crap but because she was very,very tired.

Otherwise, if a gig is crap, a chap can get bladdered you know...

Risible I know and frankly a woman was involved but Meat Loaf at Wembley made paradise by the dahsboard light go on for so long and it was so offensively sexist that i walked and probably delivered a slightly huffy "that concludes the case for the prosecution". we went our separate ways shortly after - she to a summer of Bon Jovi and Brian Adams and me elsewhere.

Wembley Stadium 1991.

The sound was terrible, with a stiff breeze blowing across the stage and taking it up and away at odd annoying moments.

After the big opening hoo-haa it descended into solo's from everyone rather than a steady trawl of the hits and the new album(s)

Also I was about two thirds of the way back on the pitch so could see nothing going on on stage. Once the big screens stopped showing lasses flopping their bosoms out and instead focussed on Axl in his Freddie Starr-like underpants and wellies I hoofed it.

Grandmaster Flash, Masonic Temple Toronto mid-eighties--embarrassed to be there, raps about the "ghetto" and the "street" played to us, the 90% white, middle-class hip crowd getting "down" ...after half an hour left only to find half a dozen black kids from Malvern locked outside because they couldn't afford a ticket.....

King Sunny Ade, Masonic Temple Toronto mid-eighties, brilliant, danced non-stop for 2 and a half hours, just got plain tired went home to bed..next day I heard they played for an astonishing 4 and a half hours.... Phew!

2009 Air Canada Centre Toronto, fell asleep during Fleetwood Mac, wife dancing, me snoring...Shameful really!

Wembley Arena 1987ish?
Awful tosh. Lots of people in baggy suits and espadrilles.
Nasty anaemic performance. I don't think they could be bothered. They were as flat as the wembley beer.

I saw them supporting Magazine in 79 and enjoyed that one. This was a world away.

Oh. My first post.

Hello all.

Curve at Manchester Uni late 90's, dry ice/strobing & goths AOTS, awful stuff

Van Morrison at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, left after 5 songs, what a miserable c*nt

Wembley Arena 1987ish?
Awful tosh. Lots of people in baggy suits and espadrilles.
Nasty anaemic performance. I don't think they could be bothered. They were as flat as the wembley beer.

I saw them supporting Magazine in 79 and enjoyed that one. This was a world away.

Oh. My first post.

Hello all.

Love his voice but this was such a load of self indulgent avant garde rubbish. Wife and I looked at each other after the first "number" and asked whether they had been just warming up - honestly there was no difference; just a collection of random notes and warbling. Walked out and joined a queue for the doors

Such a rude and arrogant man, but what a genius. gets on stage late, doesn't talk to the audience (who are paying his wages), does the minimum set, walks off. Seen him many times but I've had enough now of financing his christmas shopping.

twice, once about 6 years ago, once 3-ish years ago. Utter bilge, tired old men throwing the worst cliched rock poses, while sounding like a bunch of session musos playing some marketing man's notion of what is 'transgressive'. Audience of horrible blokey-blokes tragically trying to relive the rave years too. Few good moments when they played their genuinely rousing tracks like 'Xtrmntr', but not worth sticking around.

Durutti Column, last year. He couldn't even play in time to his own backing tape. It was like a care in the community workshop. Carcrash. But because it was in Kings Place and was a "concert" (a tribute concert to Tony Wilson in fact) not a gig, everyone stared earnestly, trying to make out that it was meant to sound like that. It really wasn't. I lasted about 20 minutes and wished I'd left earlier.

Been and really enjoyed the festival on 3 previous occassions.
Left early Friday after camping for a week in Dorset and then being kept awake all night by a group of teens with no tent, a ghettoblaster and one Beastie Boys cassette...
Weather awful (this was the year tents floated or sank).. mixed emotions at leaving so soon GLW happy at the decision to hit the M5....
So missed Dylan, Pulp and Sonic Youth.. saw one band My Life Story (not good)...

...at the Empire Pool, Wembley, 1977, promoting the album "Come Taste The Band". Dunno what went wrong, but messrs Bolin and Hughes "did not fit" Deep Purple IMHO. Terribly turgid, muddy sound,a long BORING Tommy Bolin solo every other song.... the Band seemed to be playing for themselves, not the audience. Funny, Come Taste etc is one of my all time favourite Purple albums. Go figure...

After a fun opening from Kurtis Blow and a mind-blowing set from Bob Marley and the Wailers, we stayed on for the Commodores at Madison Square Garden. Brick House was great, with a very funky bass solo. Then it quickly got sticky sweet with the ballads and we high tailed it. This was back in 1981.

Edinburgh Ingliston, 1983-ish

Just got bored. Sorry.

We were on honeymoon in Canada and spotted The Muses were playing in Vancouver where we were staying the night so bought tickets. After the third support band came and went and it was after midnight we made our excuses and left. I wish I'd asked for a refund on the basis that they didn't play on the date shown on the ticket.

Having seen Marillion described in Time Out as being like Foxtrot era Genesis, girlfriend and I went along to find them playing Supper's Ready backwards and calling it Grendel. I quite liked it this being the progless early 80s, but she insisted we leave.

John Martyn at Bracknell festival - pissed or stoned or possibly both. Abysmal.

Support band and personal favourites Explosions In The Sky were so stunnigly good that I didn't want to hear anyone else, so left before Four Tet came on.

Santa Barbara 2007. I have seen thousands of shows, and never once been disappointed. Until then. They looked so bored and robotic my husband nearly divorced me for dragging him there. It was pretty bad. They tend to have a huge touring schedule, and that seemed to be the result. We had tix for them and Muse in San Francisco (our hometown) the next night. He loved their second album Sam's Town and was excited to see them. The only person into it was their drummer. They were on and off in 70 mins. Muse, the next night were sheer perfection. My hubby, who never had listened to one song of theirs, was an instant fan. We have seen the Killers since, and they still are on and off in 75. Muse, still awesome.

John Martyn at the Cropredy Festival 2007 - thousands of people seemed to enjoy what was left of a great talent; for me one song blurred (slurred?) into another and the tent was a long walk away.
Roy Harper at the 100 Club a couple of years back - thought he was ok personally but my other half certainly did not. Just leaving and at the top of the stairs when he started playing 'One Of Those Days In England' and she said 'oo I really like that one'.
Supertramp - Wembley (I think) too many years ago to mention - I vaguely remember the Logical Song but the rest was blissful sleep.
And finally in terms of lack of audience engagement, Clapton certainly managed that at the Albert Hall: hardly a word, no emotion and the sound of money being stuffed into already full coffers.Shame, as before that I was big fan and paid good money to see him many times - not since.

Not really seen the rock aristocracy, more the indie circuit;. ULU was a regular spot to flounce out as you could go to the bar instead. Briefly fashionable goth rockers Crazyhead were the most hopeless thing I had heard at that point in my life ,and I also walked out on a boorish Pop Will Eat Itself. Later on, US drone rockers The Warlocks were much hyped at the turn of the century but I left the Brighton Concorde after 15 minutes, irritated at the sluggish, stoner vibe.

On the other hand, Loop, supported by the House of Love at the LSE in 1987, were fantastic and Robert Hampson is still cool.

noodle upon noodle
admittedly free tickets

err the guy that was in the band that spawned calexico -was it cooonor oberst -shoddily self indulgent unprofessional

I walked out on The Hamsters once. Not by any stretch of the imagination a big-name band. A combination of seen-'em-once-seen-'em-a-million-times boredom and the absolute disgrace of them being the headliners and Wilko Johnson (with Norman Watt-Roy) being the support.

Heckled (and retired to the bar) The Strawbs once at UCW Aberystwyth, mid-seventies.

......Dreadful show. He went on constantly about Obama - "I don't want politics, Stevie - I WANT TO HEAR YOU PLAY YOUR CLASSIC TUNES!!"

His band, very large, ALL took a solo, including bass player, drummer and 2 percussionists. Then the icing on the cake. He stopped the gig to walk to the front of stage, aided by his daughter, to tell the audience about the death of his mother. FFS!!

Me and the wife, still only 75 mins into the gig and STILL not having heard any classics aside from Higher Ground, decided to call it quits and leave. And we weren't the only ones - there was a steady trickle of people leaving. £75 per ticket as well.

That was the moment when I pretty much gave up on live gigs. Only seen one or two since then.

Johnny Winter and ‘special guest’ Rick Derringer Newcastle City Hall around 1971
I think that they had been playing a gigantic outdoor gig just before this appearance at the City Hall – so it made perfect sense to them to use the same kit and sound set-up in a 2000 seat venue.
I went deaf after the first number and, as I recollect, bled copiously from each and every orifice thereafter - or at least it felt that way!
Such was the ridiculous noise. Nigel Tufnel’s amplifier setting of 11 would have been a whisper compared to this.
10 minutes was enough and away we went.
We enjoyed the rest of the show sat on the wall outside the Hall!

Johnny Winter and ‘special guest’ Rick Derringer Newcastle City Hall around 1971
I think that they had been playing a gigantic outdoor gig just before this appearance at the City Hall – so it made perfect sense to them to use the same kit and sound set-up in a 2000 seat venue.
I went deaf after the first number and, as I recollect, bled copiously from each and every orifice thereafter - or at least it felt that way!
Such was the ridiculous noise. Nigel Tufnel’s amplifier setting of 11 would have been a whisper compared to this.
10 minutes was enough and away we went.
We enjoyed the rest of the show sat on the wall outside the Hall!

Dublin Castle, in Dublin (not the one in Camden). Outdoor thing around 2001/2? Utter dross. Just THAT voice, THAT grumbly guitar noise and THAT thumping, lifeless drumming and no other instrumentation for what seemed like hours on end (it was about 45 mins until I gave up) was all too much for me. Never walked out of anything before or since, but I really had a 'life's too' short moment.

We went primarily to see Family, fave band at the time. Got a spot under one of the giant Oaks but could only stand. Consequently, as the build up to the Stones heightened, we were pelted with cans and bottles by those behind us who couldn't see (nobody stood at gigs then). When a branch on the next tree collapsed, with about 10 people on it, we thought "sod this for a game of soldiers" and buggered off, passing a mob of several hu8ndred skinheads on their way to take on the Hells Angels "Security" - thankfully nothing really materialised.

Spiritualized - when my ears started to bleed, time was called.

Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter (one bloke) - a hot , sultry night in a very small venue. One monotonous song after another provoked snorathon pdq. Had to get up and go, telling promoter reason on way out. He didn't blame me.

Black Keys - sub White Stripes, same formula each song, deafeningly loud, students singing along, just didn't get it. Went cos a mate, big fan, had got tickets and the album didn't sound too bad. Come the first encore I said to him: "I'll just nip out and get the car and wait for you outside." He said: "Where are you off, wait for me!" and we both retired pronto to nearest pub.

Absolute shite, couldn't find anywhere at Wembley to hide from the headache inducing racket. 1979 I think, was there to see the Who and the Stranglers but I still couldn't believe how bad AC DC were. Time moves on but some things never change.

Only walked out the once when me and a mate went to Shepherds Bush Empire about 15 years back to see Robert Cray. We had managed to get free tickets as my buddy was meant to be reviewing it* but it truly was one of the most eye dryingly dull experiences I ever known and we decided to split to a decent curry house after the fifth song. Now whenever I see his name in any magazine I only think of that night which is unsurprising really as I can't think of a single song of his. Is he ever played on the radio? Radio 2/Paul Jones?

* He made up the review in the end

It was summertime, the Brixton Academy was hot and uncomfortable. We waited, then waited some more. Periodically an MC would emerge and ask us whether we were ready for GC, whipping up the crowd into a torpor of indifference. Some band members played a bit, if my memory holds up, with some zany antics to keep us 'amused'. Meanwhile we were repeatedly asked if indeed we were 'ready' for the maestro. We had been ready for oh, about two hours, plainly the maestro wasn't. How ready can an audience be, I wondered, before George deems us ready enough? And on it went. I had been there for about three hours and nothing of note had happened. The beer was warm and tasteless. I realised that if I waited any longer for the genius of George, I would miss the last tube home. Finally, I was 'ready'. So I left with an almost euphoric sense of relief, a feeling of liberation from all the crap that gig goers experience so profound that it rivalled any high achieved at a gig where the band had actually played - I had escaped some form of purgatory and would soon be at what now seemed an impossibly welcoming and attractive place - home. To this day I have no idea if George ever showed up, but it was probably the most expensive, and educative, three hours of non-event I have attended.

Three weeks ago in Hyde Park.

I've read the rest of this thread and I can't actually remember walking out on anyone. After all, you've paid your money and made an effort to travel to the gig and forego whatever else you might have been doing, you might as well stay and see if it gets better.

But CS&N drove me to explore the franchise stalls, the toilets and the bar. They were sandwiched between Elvis Costello, Crowded House and Paul McCartney. All of those acts were excellent. CS%N were OK but nothing special. I enjoyed, for example, "Our House". But what drove me away was the obligatory Stephen Stills guitar solo on almost every song. Awful. Absolutely awful.

Martha and the Muffins at Royal Theatre in Nottingham about 1980/81 - dreadful turgid stuff. Support band 'Any Trouble' were great though.

Soulwax (supporting Semisonic) at Leicester Uni about 6/8 years ago - so painfully loud that we retired to the bar until headline band came on. We bought tickets for a close friend's birthday. Guilt - My wife got ill before the gig, so we put her on a train back to Coventry and stayed on. I haven't been allowed to forget that one.

Also:-
Flock of Seagulls - Dreadful
Paul Carrack - perfect but so dull.
Little Feat last year at Wolves Civic - self indulgent - terrible sound. Once again support (Ian Parker) sounded great.
Georgie Fame - smug and dull - don't get me started.

an old Cinema in Elephant and Castle...loads of avant garde acts picked by him...including some paniful cello action I seem to remember. Then a band dressed up in animal masks came on at about 12.30am and started hacking at their guitars so my friend and I started shouting 'You're F##@ing S@@#!!' at the stage. Four Tet still hadn't appeared...and that's probably a good thing.

Self-indulgent tosh of a night...a Sunday as well... salvaged by a decent kebab in Camberwell.

Walked out on George Clinton at Brixton on an 'all-nighter' with Primal Scream. Both were poor that night..and came on way too late.

I'm sure there are a dozen others but I tend to remember the good ones rather than the bad to be honest.

Had a similar experience as Bodhisattva in Dublin at their 1996 gig. Utter wank. Left early, annoyed, half drunk and proceeded to rectify at least one situation. Huge fan too...

But for sheer willful obscurantism, it has to be J Spacemen, Kilkenny Arts Festival 2009. Check out the clip.

That went on for about an hour and ten minutes. Worse again, I was sober and I had to stay...had to take down a stage. Will feed into those looking for a reason to cut funding for Arts I'm afraid. Brave? Maybe...Boring? Certainly.

The Belgian bloke that wrote the soundtrack for the Amelie....

Camden, 2009.

I know you can't go to a gig and expect them to play stuff from one period only but a nod to things that they're known for would be nice.

Sadly he was unable to notice the change in the crowd when he did a song which had him going mad on his fiddle, the crowd really got into it.

Turns out this multi-talented fellow was going through his Plastic Bertrand period. We stuck it for surprisingly long, especially given that his support was a fellow hauling feedback out of a guitar into loops and stacking it up into an impressive noise.

It was the point when you could tell more folks were chattering than listening that we eventually went to the pub.

I'm frankly astonished (to use Mark Ellen's favourite word) that no-one has reported walking out on Gorillaz so far. I saw them at Manchester Uni (Academy 1 I think - the biggest venue) when they toured their 1st album in the early 2000's. The 'gig' (cinema show would be more accurate) consisted of a white sheet across the stage onto which was projected cartoons / videos for each song. Behind the sheet we were expected to believe that Damon & co were playing the music. I'd bet my Word subscription fee that no bugger from the Gorillaz band was there. A complete rip-off. After 2 videos we buggered off to the bar. Dreadful.

I've only ever felt the need to walk out once and that was on Teddy Thompson at the Royal Festival Hall last month. He played music from his latest, incredibly boring (not yet released) album. I had a seat quite close to the front so felt a little guilty but I'd had enough after the first couple of songs - utter crap ..

Hacienda, early 90's. Should've been good but the sound was so terrible it was a complete waste of time. Slipped down the "Gay Traitor" for a few instead.

Neither he or his band appeared to give a toss. I also felt resentful as I'd just bought a signed cd from him in the lobby. I thought he looked lonely. Yes I know. 20 bloody quid it was, so out of spite I've never played it. That'll learn him.

Lou Barlow - what's that about then? To be honest, I don't think I was that surprised that he was utter self indulgent petulant crap.

I didn't walk out of Godspeed you black emperor at the Glasgow Garage, but the 33% of the audience who'd bought tickets based on the List punting them as the next big thing (resulting in a sell out) did, when they found themselves standing in the dark listening to some droney Canadian squat dwellers soundtracking the fall of Western civilisation, with 8mm film projections.

Sleeper at the Southampton Guildhall, about 1996. Freebie tickets. Watched Ms Wener jump up and down, which was nice but she sings like Murray Walker. Awful.

Rainbow, Hammy whatsit, a couple of years later. An hour of self-indulgent Blackmore fretwankery, two staggeringly obscure oldies and we realised it wasn't going to improve. The juicer beckoned.

(or maybe another venue) in Northampton. OK, so I basically went to see the Webb Brothers, who were supporting, but if found OK Go supremely irritating.

It appeared that they had tried to write each song in a different pop genre/style (whether to get a hit or broaden their appeal? - I could not tell), to the extent that they seemed like a novelty act. It was hard to work out who they were. They looked like a collection of disparate individuals rather than a band.

I went with a friend (ex-colleague of my wife). He felt similarly - so we left after 6 or 7 (mercifully short) numbers.

Manic Street Preachers at Southampton Guildhall. The backdrop film show was more interesting...and that wasn't great either.

Nothing against Elastica, but my lady friend at the time wanted to see Garbage on the mainstage. Nothing bad about that, except that as I exited the tent I trod on the foot of one Lord Ravenscroft of Peel who gave a slight grimace of disapproval, whether it was for the foot squashing or the Elastica exodus, I shall never know.

Yep, it's time for the tw*t who points out that the header should read "whom" not "who" to chip in.

at the Stables, Milton Keynes around 5 or 6 years ago.

I think he'd just launched his solo career and I was dragged along by a friend.

I have to say it was possibly the most boring night of my life. I knew none of the songs, except for a couple of the Waterboys' hits and remained unmoved (not to say baffled) as the enthusiastic audience sang along with every word and generally went mental, football crowd style.

You know how at a dull concert you keep saying to yourself "Please, let this be the last song, please, let this be the last song"? Well, I started that silent incantation around 3 numbers into the set.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity and mid-way through a never-ending series of encores I could stand it no longer and retired to the foyer to browse the excellent Stables gift shop while waiting for my companion to re-join me.

How excited was I? It was 1993. We'd all heard about this new band of young Asian lads - as I'm British Asian, I was willing them to be good.

But after 15 minutes of watching them onstage at a pub in Leeds, I thought "Oh my God..they don't know how to play their instruments..."

I looked at my mates John and Stephen - we agreed to give the band a bit longer....then Tajinder shouted "Dance, you bastards!" Into his mic. We all turned around - shouted "Fuck off!" And walked out.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt, post "brimful of Asha". This time it was at WOMAD. And.....oh crap, they were still unbelievably shite.

Thought I would dip my toe in the Word message board waters with a couple of truly dreadful gigs.

Firstly: Radiohead. In a tent in a muddy playing field in some god forsaken bit of London. For a start, I didn't go out of my way to purchase the tickets, but was talked into taking them off a friend's hands. "Yeah why not" I said "I liked Fake Plastic Trees". - Not a good basis for any gig going excursion, I would suggest.
The stage was at the side of the tent as you entered, making it almost impossible to see anything from anywhere. Secondly, the first four or five songs were of the "this is one from our new album" variety, the new album being Kid A. Now, this is a difficult record to like at the best of times, but almost impossible to like with a crook in one's neck and the faint aroma of scouting jamboree's wafting around. I decided (and announced to anyone who might be listening) that unless I knew the next song I was gone. I didn't. I left.
From what I remember, the reason for the tent was because they had gone all anti-capitalist after one of them had read a book. Didn't stop them charging Joe Fan £30 a ticket to stand in a tent in the rain, did it? harrumph.

Second and third walkings out were both Fun Lovin' Criminal's gigs (my boyfriend was a big fan). First one was recorded for MTV and I'm sure it sounded wonderful if you happened to be watching it on MTV...at the concert it was like listening to someone singing with a sock in their mouth. Left after two drinks.
The other was at the Ocean in Hackney, an odd venue. The lead singer seemed to be fairly well oiled when he got on stage and spent a good 15-20 minutes trying to cajole a young lady in the balcony to get her tits out, which she duly did. Time to leave.

I also managed to sleep through Eric Clapton's entire set at the concert for Montserrat. The front row of the balcony at the Albert Hall has a nice velvety sloping bit which is just right for resting your Phil Collins weary head upon.

I must say though there is a very strange, almost smug feeling about leaving a gig early.

"Do you want your hand stamped, Darlin'"
"No thanks I won't be coming back in"

without the Daintees and, about ten minutes in, without me as well. I could have coped if there'd been somewhere to sit and have a snooze but it was standing only.