There was no one there to bang the drum during Ian Brown’s Leeds gig on Sunday night (25 September), and people weren’t happy.
Brown performed a 23-song set at O2 Academy Leeds to backing tracks, and had no band playing with him on stage, prompting many to slag off the show on Twitter.
The Stone Roses rocker wasn’t best pleased with the response, calling one person a ‘jealous p***k’, but his Glasgow show last night (26 September) was better received, and Brown took to Twitter to show the Scottish city some love.
A Twitter user called Aidan shared a snippet of Brown’s performance, writing: “I take back everything I say. Unbelievable gig @ianbrown #IanBrown.”
Brown himself was quick to respond, retweeting the footage and adding: “Glasgow. Haters hate and lovers love!”
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Whether or not Leeds is the ‘hater’ in this scenario is anyone’s guess, but we wouldn’t be surprised considering how poorly Brown took criticism of his show in the city.
Plenty of gig goers moaned about Brown’s performance at the end of the weekend, with one person telling the BBC that he and a mate had almost left after just one song.
Bradford-based Paul Griffiths, who forked out £47.50 for a ticket, confessed he ‘couldn’t believe it’ when Brown strolled onto stage without any other musicians.
Griffiths has been a fan of Brown for 20 years and said: "We did stay until the end but my mate wanted to leave after the first song.
"You had the drunk people that weren't too bothered but most were pretty cheesed off."
He added: “We expected a band, it's just a given really".
Steven Latham from Leeds paid £45 for a ticket and echoed: "I've seen him live as a solo act before and while there's an acceptance that his voice won't be great, the live performance aspect is where the energy comes from.
"Sadly there wasn't a band, so there was no energetic drummer, no masterful guitarist, just him singing along badly to a backing track - it just left me cold and disinterested."
He added: "Very little effort was put in planning these gigs and for that sort of ticket price it's scandalous and disrespectful."
Not everyone was bummed out by Brown not having a band, though.
Following Brown’s Glasgow performance, one person tweeted: “Far more honest to play to a backing track on your own, than be in a band pretending to be 100% live yet playing along to a backing track.”
Another person added: “This was an amazing show. Cool and surprising concept for Ian Brown to just present himself, the man and king on stage. He sounded great. Fans had a great time.”
LADbible has approached Brown for comment.
Aisha Nozari