Your Least Favorite TD Live Experience

r4man
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Your Least Favorite TD Live Experience

Post by r4man »

Ok, we have a favorite concert topic, how about your worst experience at a TD concert? Here's mine:

Back in 1992, Tangerine Dream had their last major tour of the U. S. The 1986 tour had convinced me that it was a serious mistake to fail to see as many shows as possible when they came to the U. S. This tour was going to hit some smaller venues and it seemed like a good opportunity to see the band in some very intimate settings. I went to 4 shows on the tour, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Juan Capistrano, and Ventura. San Juan Capistrano is a small beach town South of Los Angeles and Ventura is a small beach town just North of Los Angeles. Both of these shows would be at small clubs. The San Juan Capistrano show was going to be the smallest club of the tour, a place called the Coach House. I think it held only a couple of hundred seats. So I really looked forward to this show as a really good chance to view the band up close and personal.

I arrived in Los Angeles by plane the day of the show. I was picked up at the airport by my mom, who was going to the show with me. Yep, my mom, currently 81, is a TD fan and saw them with me in 1977 at the Santa Monica Civic (she couldn’t make the Royce Hall show for health reasons). I had seen the band the prior night in San Francisco and they were great. The tickets I had purchased for the show included dinner. I did this because it was indicated that people who bought the seats that included dinner got the best seats. As we waited outside the club we could hear the band doing their sound check. Then the door opened and out came the band, Edgar at the front looking quite buoyant, and they quickly loaded into a van to go to dinner.

After a while the crowd was let in the club and seated by the staff. This was where things started to go wrong. Seating was at long tables and our seats were close to the stage but kind of off to the side so the view was a bit obstructed. During the show we would be able to see Jerome and Zlatko very well, but we would not be able to see Edgar very well at all (except when he played guitar). Back in those days it was ok to smoke at clubs like the Coach House. Two of our table mates were heavy smokers and smoked all through dinner. At one point they started chatting with a waitress who also smoked. Perhaps because they were also drinking, during the course of the meal these guys must have smoked at least a pack of cigarettes each. I was having trouble breathing and my mom was choking. Another guy and his date arrived and she was really intoxicated and talking to him in a very loud voice. I don’t remember much about the meal, but really I wasn’t expecting much and I wasn’t disappointed. Anyway who could enjoy food with all that smoking? Finally, the show started. Our smoking “friends” ran out of cigs so that was good news. The bad news was our intoxicated female “friend” decided that she wanted to “talk” to her boyfriend throughout the show. Did I say “talk”? In order to be heard she screamed in his ear, no kidding, nearly the entire show. No amount of “hard” looks could get her to stop. Her boyfriend was kind of a big guy and I was afraid that if I told her to shut up he would feel compelled to defend her honor. About 3/4 of the way through the show I could stand it no longer. I said we came a long way to hear the band play and could she please stop “talking” so we could enjoy the concert. She gave me this shocked ‘how could you offend me so” look and her boyfriend tensed up and kind of clenched his fist. “Uh, oh”, I thought, But then he relaxed his body and just kind of shrugged. I could almost hear him thinking, “yeah, I get what you're saying. I wish she would shut up too”. At the end of the show the band played Purple Haze, and some people went to an open corner of the club and danced to it. The woman dragged her boyfriend and danced with him. As she danced she stared at me, giving me a really hard look the entire time. It was like she was silently saying in a haughty voice “look at me, I know how to have a good time”.

The only good memory I have of the show was when Edgar played his solo. He was quite close, our female “friend" had finally stopped shouting, and it was very exciting to see and hear him playing guitar at such a close view. He had that white guitar with a beautiful guitar strap with a Southwest Indian design. Just so cool.

After the show we made the long drive home reeking of cigarette smoke. The other 3 shows I saw were excellent., and I’m sorry I didn’t see them in Portland and Seattle.
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GlynRichards
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Post by GlynRichards »

All mine have been good. :?
sparrow
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Post by sparrow »

All two of mine have been great too.. :?
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billythefish
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Post by billythefish »

My worst show had nothing to do with the band's performance. It was the Astoria in 2003.
I had been on a skiing holiday the previous week and my plane landed at Gatwick only a few hours before the concert was due to start. I arrived at Victoria to find the underground closed, buses gridlocked and no cabs: the anti-war protest was dispersing.
I had to carry a heavy rucksack, snowboard and hand luggage nearly a mile towards Vauxhall before I found a spare cab that took me back home. I dumped my baggage and then sprinted back to the underground to get to the Astoria.
Not only had I missed the pre-concert fan meet at the Jack Horner, but I had missed the first track and all the spare seats. Having not eaten or drunk anything for nearly twelve hours, I stood for the entire gig nearly passing out several times.
Of course, the music spun its spell on me and my mood slowly perked up. After the show I finally met up with the legendary CJ, Heiko Herssen and others, so the evening ended on a much higher note.
He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!
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Mars
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Post by Mars »

Haven`t had any bad experiences with TD yet :-)
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jacob
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Post by jacob »

The worst for me was the upstairs seats at the forum, but basically peanuts to that first post in this thread! Great write-up by the way. I'm glad smoking isn't tyrannising non-smokers at gigs anymore (at least in Denmark).
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24db
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Post by 24db »

I've mentioned several times what's my least favourite TD gig. So I'll skip this thanks, otherwise I'll end up like a broken record...again ;)
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Post by cantosis »

I don`t have one luckily but then I have only been to a handfull of live gigs.
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Laserdisc Dream
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Post by Laserdisc Dream »

Sweet!





:!: :arrow:
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Chris Monk
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Post by Chris Monk »

For me it was probably Croydon 1986. The band played manfully on with sound problems, sounded pretty bad where I was sat. Saw them play the same set a few days later in Bristol and they were totally awesome. Croydon definitely suffered by comparison.
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wayfarer
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Post by wayfarer »

I try and look for the positives in life including gigs.Even though I didn't fully enjoy the recent Forum gig, there was still enough for me to look back on with a smile. :D
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Jollyhawker
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Post by Jollyhawker »

I say Quit Griping! Every TD gig is AWESOME! Ok some are better than others but for me each gig is special because you know that infront of you is pure genius and history in the making! The only gripe I have is you can't have a nice big fat spliff watching them anymore...bloody politically correct assholes put the mockers on that! 8) :evil:
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billythefish
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Post by billythefish »

Jollyhawker wrote:I say Quit Griping! Every TD gig is AWESOME! Ok some are better than others but for me each gig is special because you know that infront of you is pure genius and history in the making! The only gripe I have is you can't have a nice big fat spliff watching them anymore...bloody politically correct assholes put the mockers on that! 8) :evil:
Bring back some open air concerts!!!
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timer
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Post by timer »

billythefish wrote:
Jollyhawker wrote:I say Quit Griping! Every TD gig is AWESOME! Ok some are better than others but for me each gig is special because you know that infront of you is pure genius and history in the making! The only gripe I have is you can't have a nice big fat spliff watching them anymore...bloody politically correct assholes put the mockers on that! 8) :evil:
Bring back some open air concerts!!!
Were you up a hill when they announced Loreley Stephen ? :shock: :wink: :lol:
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jacob
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Post by jacob »

timer wrote:
billythefish wrote:
Jollyhawker wrote:I say Quit Griping! Every TD gig is AWESOME! Ok some are better than others but for me each gig is special because you know that infront of you is pure genius and history in the making! The only gripe I have is you can't have a nice big fat spliff watching them anymore...bloody politically correct assholes put the mockers on that! 8) :evil:
Bring back some open air concerts!!!
Were you up a hill when they announced Loreley Stephen ? :shock: :wink: :lol:
To be honest, I think TD is much better at in-door concerts, where all have come to see them. The Loreley gig was one of the more mediocre gigs I've seen with them them.
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