What gig were you most disappointed by?

So there's your topic - right there in the heading. But - to qualify - I'm talking about gigs you wanted to like; gigs you figured you would love; gigs you assumed would be awesome.

We all, presumably, have been to gigs we didn't really want to be at. Maybe because our partner or a friend or family member wanted to go...maybe - as in my case - because you have to go, as was the case with Basshunter.

Just this weekend I went to Elaine Paige - it wasn't so much an awful gig, but wasn't really my thing. I was not surprised by this. Maybe you are not surprised to hear that. I'm not sure that songs from musicals are meant to mean much 30 years later, sung outside and away from the context of the musical they were taken from. But some people clearly still like to hear that material. That's fine. My point is I was not disappointed by the Paige show. It was pretty much how I imagined it would be.

I wasn't even disappointed by Donny Osmond. I was more amused that people can take shows like that seriously. Yes, I've seen some stinkers. But...it's a job...

So how about the gigs you pay money for - maybe you even lined up to get tickets (back in the day) or (these days) paid extra for the privilege of waiting and having to use Trade Me.

Well one way to feel ripped off is when the artist doesn't give you a full show.

I thought about this because I saw this clip of Morrissey. Watch it. He leans in to the crowd to shake hands, to get in touch with the audience - so to speak - and a plastic cup hits him in the head. He wipes at his hair, turns to signal to the band that he's done and announces "goodnight" - cutting the concert short. You can read here how angry some of the fans are.

It must be hard now for musicians - fans can send messages while at the gig, using Twitter and Facebook, they can take sneaky videos and upload them to YouTube. It doesn't take long for the message to get out if the musician is under-delivering.

Now poor old Moz got thrown off his game there; a cup being thrown at your head, even if plastic, must be unnerving. And it must make you think do I really need to put up with this crap?

But, at the same time, he earns good money and has an obligation to deliver his product, his brand. Right?

Well - I'm sure we'll all have differing views on that. It's a bit like the argument for and against talking during gigs when performers prefer a bit of shhh! One version of logic says you should zip it; one version suggests you paid to be there so you can do what you want.

Anyway, outside of those arguments, do any of you have horror stories of gigs that really disappointed? Or people that walked off stage too early, didn't deliver the encore you wanted, didn't last an hour, didn't deliver the goods?

I'm sure some of you will mention Guns N' Roses - Axl might have made us wait, back in 1993, but I don't think that was much of a short-changing.

What about Oasis? Same goes - sure the brothers behaved like goons and stormed off after a couple of numbers...but they came back...and when they were on stage they rocked out the hits.

People in Hawke's Bay are still talking about the time Ray Charles only played for 25 minutes (it was about 70 by my watch). Brother Ray didn't have the decency (if you ask the locals) to perform an encore. So rather than focus on the superb version of Eleanor Rigby that he did, or how special it was to hear the man sing Georgia, an angry mob started to boo and yell and make jokes about how he probably couldn't find his way back to the stage.

You stay classy Hawke's Bay!

So, for my money (and it actually was with my money) I reckon Presidents of the United States of America was a ripoff gig. But then that's my fault for going and seeing them - for paying the money - especially when the band only had one album out at the time. I could justify it and say that I went because I just loved going to gigs, I was building up my knowledge and experience - and though that all is true, it was still a poor choice, a waste of money. They played for about an hour, maybe less. But I did rather like their version of Kick Out the Jams. They just needed to kick out a few more to make it worth it...

So who let the side down on your dime?

And have you been to any shows where it was cut short due to injury, illness, rioting, madness or something else altogether that no one could have predicted?

Share your gig horrors below.

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