Concert tickets aren’t cheap, so there’s nothing worse than finally seeing your favorite artist only for the show to be a complete letdown. A great album definitely doesn’t guarantee a great concert, and even some of the biggest names in music have earned less-than-stellar live reputations. From artists showing up hours late to barely singing their own songs, plenty can go wrong once the lights come up. These artists have all given concertgoers a reason to think twice before buying tickets.
Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey’s dreamy music doesn’t always translate well to a huge live setting. Her shows have been criticized for late starts, low energy, and long stretches where she lets the audience handle the singing. Her quiet vocal style can also easily get swallowed up in a massive crowd.
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj’s concerts have developed a reputation for making fans wait. Some shows have started extremely late, only for the performance itself to then face accusations of heavy lip-syncing. Waiting until around midnight for the headliner isn’t exactly ideal when the payoff feels underwhelming.
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg’s live shows can occasionally get a little too crowded for their own good. Bringing a large entourage onstage means multiple people can end up talking and rapping over one another, making the actual songs difficult to hear. At its worst, all those microphones can turn recognizable tracks into a wall of noise.
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne has had enough concert cancellations and no-shows to make buying a ticket feel like a gamble. A great performance doesn’t mean much when the headliner never makes it onto the stage. For anyone traveling or spending serious money to see him, that unpredictability can be a dealbreaker.
Bob Dylan
Don’t go into a Bob Dylan concert expecting faithful versions of all the songs you know. He frequently changes arrangements, keeps audience interaction to a minimum, and can make familiar tracks difficult to recognize. That might be interesting for devoted fans, but it can be disappointing for anyone hoping for a straightforward greatest-hits show.
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe’s legendary reputation doesn’t guarantee an equally legendary concert. Their live performances have been criticized for sounding rough, particularly as the band has gotten older. Nostalgia can only carry a show so far when the performance itself isn’t clicking.
Puddle of Mudd
Puddle of Mudd has had shows where keeping the singer onstage was a challenge in itself. Wes Scantlin repeatedly walked off during one set because people in the seated sections weren’t standing, returning to play before getting angry and leaving again. After enough rounds of that, it’s hard to care what song comes next.
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas can put on a huge production, but bigger doesn’t always mean better. Their live performances have been criticized for weak vocals and sets that don’t have nearly as much energy as their hit songs. Their Super Bowl halftime show is still remembered as a particularly rough example.
Guns N’ Roses
Guns N’ Roses can either give you an incredible night or make you wonder why you bought the ticket. Axl Rose has a long history of late starts, unpredictable behavior, and vocals that can vary pretty dramatically from show to show. There’s always been a bit of a gamble involved in seeing them live.
Everclear
Everclear’s albums may bring back plenty of nostalgia, but their concerts haven’t always done the same. Some of their more recent performances have sounded rough, particularly when it comes to Art Alexakis’ vocals. Even people who still love the band’s music have walked away deciding they wouldn’t see them again.
Playboi Carti
Don’t expect a Playboi Carti show to sound much like putting on one of his records. His performances can involve plenty of mumbling, shouting, and backing music without much clear rapping. At one opening set for The Weeknd, even getting him to actually sing seemed like a struggle.
Weezer
Weezer isn’t necessarily going to give you the wild rock show their catalog might make you expect. Their live performances have been called low-energy and unenthusiastic, with the band sometimes looking like they’d rather be anywhere else. Even great songs can feel flat when nobody onstage seems particularly excited to play them.
Counting Crows
Knowing every Counting Crows song won’t necessarily help you recognize them in concert. The band has a habit of changing up its hits so much that some live versions barely resemble the originals. A new arrangement can be fun, but it’s a little different when you’re halfway through the song before realizing which one they’re playing.
JoJo Siwa
JoJo Siwa’s recent shift into a more adult pop career hasn’t convinced everyone when it comes to her live performances. Her singing and stage show have both drawn plenty of criticism as she’s tried to establish this new version of herself. The huge costumes and choreography certainly get attention, but the music doesn’t always come out on top.
Modest Mouse
A Modest Mouse concert can get messy when things aren’t going well within the band. They’ve had performances where the playing sounded rough while band members were visibly fighting with each other onstage. Watching everyone argue makes an already shaky set even more uncomfortable.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry puts a huge amount into the visual side of her performances, but her live vocals haven’t always been as reliable. Several major performances have drawn criticism for shaky singing once the polished production was stripped away. The costumes and staging can be huge, but sometimes the actual vocals struggle to match them.
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez’s softer voice doesn’t always hold up as well onstage as it does in the studio. Higher notes have caused problems during some live performances, making certain songs sound noticeably shakier. Her music generally doesn’t demand huge vocals, but the moments that do can expose the difference between the studio and the stage.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus has the voice for a great concert, but sometimes everything happening around her can take over the show. Forgotten lyrics, awkward pauses, and unrehearsed-sounding moments have all been issues during past performances. Add in some truly bizarre staging and costumes, and the music can end up feeling like an afterthought.
Madonna
Madonna has a long-standing habit of making audiences wait before she takes the stage. Some Celebration Tour concerts started more than two hours after the time printed on the ticket, with shows running well past midnight. The delays got so frustrating that multiple concertgoers actually filed lawsuits over them.
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean’s long-awaited Coachella comeback didn’t exactly go according to plan. He arrived nearly an hour late, spent portions of the set away from the microphone while prerecorded vocals played, and completely reworked several familiar songs. Then the festival hit its curfew and the show abruptly ended before he could finish the planned set.
Jane’s Addiction
Jane’s Addiction managed to end a concert before the encore for a reason nobody in the audience expected. During a Boston show, Perry Farrell confronted guitarist Dave Navarro in the middle of the performance, and the situation escalated into an onstage fight. Crew members separated them and the concert abruptly ended with several songs still left on the setlist.
Grimes
Grimes had one of those performances where basically everything that could go wrong did. Technical problems at Coachella caused tracks to play at the wrong speeds, forcing her to repeatedly stop and restart the music while becoming increasingly frustrated onstage. She apologized afterward and returned the following weekend with the problems largely fixed.
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy has had at least one concert completely derail after things started flying onto the stage. After an audience member threw a disposable camera at him, he smashed it and abruptly left the stage before finishing the planned set. Fans who had nothing to do with the incident were suddenly left with a concert that was over much earlier than expected.
Morrissey
Buying tickets to Morrissey can feel like a gamble because there’s always a chance the concert won’t happen. He has developed a reputation for canceling shows, and that hasn’t exactly stopped in recent years. Even when he does take the stage, some concerts have ended unexpectedly early.
Rema
Rema’s Coachella set got off to a rough start when he didn’t appear until nearly 30 minutes into his scheduled 45-minute slot. When he finally came out, the first few songs leaned heavily on prerecorded vocals before he eventually started singing more of the set live. By the time things started coming together, there wasn’t much time left to turn the show around.
