Five legendary musicians that you’d hate to go to a gig with
There are a number of important factors that you need to take into account when it comes to going to a good gig, these include picking a solid genre like rock, punk or rap, heading to a decent venue, but most importantly, being in good company.
When it comes to picking a band to go and see live, the choice is simple: you go with the artists that you enjoy the most. However, they often say that you shouldn’t meet your heroes, and the same applies when it comes to choosing someone to go watch a gig with.
Just because you might want to go see one person live, doesn’t necessarily mean they’d be a good person to accompany you to a show.
There are plenty of reasons why different musicians might not be great fun at a gig. It could be because they’re moody, have awful taste, or are just downright stuck in the mud. Whatever the rationale is, there is no escaping the fact that someone being a musical legend doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re good company.
It begs the question, who are the great musicians that it would be horrible to go to a gig with?
Five artists it would be awful to go to a gig with:
Noel Gallagher
The main thing you don’t want from someone who you go to a gig with is a person who takes themselves, and the show, too seriously – you want good music, sure, but you also want to have fun and immerse yourself in the moment, and Noel Gallagher, despite being an excellent musician himself, seems like the antithesis of that.
You’ve never seen a musician who appears to hate music as much as Noel Gallagher. Look through his previous interviews, and you’ll find a severe lack of any kind of positivity. If you went to a gig with Gallagher, chances are he’d be over your shoulder the entire time, telling you why the band are shit and why he could do a better job. It’s just not what you want.
John Lydon
John Lydon has a pretty similar attitude to Noel Gallagher. Despite being one of the pioneers of punk, he seemed to grow to detest every single band he inspired. When talking about the origin of the genre, he admitted that a lot of the bands that came after him were “copycat wankers”.
Imagine going to a gig with Lydon and having him tell you all night that the bands playing aren’t coming across as authentic enough? Having him roll his eyes and tut every time a group even alludes to the idea of punk. It would become exhausting being around someone who seems to hate music as much as Lydon does, and so he would be a pretty horrible gig companion.
Björk
This is no slight on Björk. Her innovative approach towards music sets her out as one of the most ambitious musicians of all time, and it’s that innovation which means she probably wouldn’t be the best person to go to a gig with.
Look, I’m all for ambitious music, but if Björk took you to a show, chances are it would be for one of the most outlandish musicians on the planet. While it’s always great watching some artists push the boat out beyond recognition, I fear Björk’s taste would prove to be a little bit too much.
Gene Simmons
When Kiss first rose to fame, it wasn’t just because of how powerful their music was, but because of how forward-thinking they were when it came to set design and pyrotechnics, and with that in mind, you would think Gene Simmons was open to new, cutting-edge music and performance styles, but it’s the exact opposite – when hip hop first rose to prominence, he clicked that strange spikey tongue of his and scorned everything about the genre. You wouldn’t want to go watch a rapper with Gene Simmons.
“I’m looking forward to the death of rap. I’m looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking,” he said. “Those are novelty records… I don’t have the cultural background to appreciate being a gangster.”
Leonard Cohen
There’s no doubt about it, Leonard Cohen was one of the greatest lyricists and poets to ever hum a tune. Getting to spend any time in his presence would have been a real treat, and if he invited you to a gig, you’d say yes, so why is he on this list… Well, it comes down to a comment he made when watching Bob Dylan perform live.
“It was very loud. Fortunately, Raphael, our drummer, had earplugs, and he distributed them,” said Cohen. “Because our music is quite soft and that’s what we’ve been listening to for three or four months.” Ugh, I’ve got no time to go to a gig with someone wincing the entire time at the volume, stick in some Loop’s and crack on, Leonard.
