I have to say this is only bought up by one particular concert I attended in 1970 in Birmingham England. I went to see a German band called Faust. They had a bit of a reputation for being more weird than most, and that's saying something given other bands around at the time and had an underground following along with Henry Pig and Hatfield and the North. So.... I was in row two and eagerly waiting for the show to start. The auditorium was completely dark except for the lights on the amps. At each side of the stage there was a big old 36" colour TV set and a pinball machine.
In due course, everyone assumed that the band came on stage as the light on the amps went off in sequence as if someone was walking past them. Then, eventually, odd sounds started emanating from where we assumed the band was. Still no lights. Then the TV's burst into life and were showing a different channel on either side of the stage. Still no sign of the band. Next a guy walks on stage in just his underpants (1970's Y fronts)and starts playing the pinball machine. Every time he used the flipper the TV channel changed.
This was how the whole one and a half hours were spent until the guy on the pinball either got bored or the band got bored but he just walked off, the music stopped and the lights on the amps flickered again so we assumed that the band had left the stage.
During the course of the "concert", there was all sorts of aromas of illicit substances. To put the icing on the cake, about half way through, a woman in the front row turned round to me and said "would you hold this for me" offering a newly lighted special cigarette. After passing it to me she proceeded to turn back to the front, lean on the stage, have very quick very rough sex doggy fashion with someone I can only assume was her partner and then ask me for her joint back!
My head was really messed up for weeks and I'm still not sure if it was the concert or the side show which was to blame.
Mid 1980s in little Springfield, IL. Aerosmith was the headliner. I was psyched to have seats about the 10th row. Steven Tyler was SO F**ked up, he couldn't sing the first song intelligibly. If you have seen an Aerosmith concert, Steven uses the microphone stand as a visual prop. He kept dropping the mic stand. Steven left the stage, Joe Perry stepped up and sang song #2, and well. Steven came out for song #3, obviously had been showered, hair still wet. Steven starts to sing Back in the Saddle. About 1/3 of the way through the song, Steven sings to the front row, leaning forward.....
And falls into the orchestra pit. Lights come on. Show over. 2.5 songs into the concert.
To make up for it, no money was refunded but we all got a copy of Aerosmiths Greatest Hits. Now, who at the concert didn't already have that album would be beyond me. Of course, Tyler cleaned up his act and I actually went on to see them a few more times. Talented guys.
In 1987 a tornado wiped out Saragosa, a small town in Texas. A benefit concert was held at Manor Downs near Austin. Los Lobos (recently charting with "La Bamba"), Neil Young and Johnny Cash were scheduled.
The show was well advertised, but only 700 people showed up. My theory is that the three fan groups avoided each other.
Another vote for The Tubes; 1974, Roxy Theatre in Northampton, PA. My all time favorite venue (the Mesa Amphitheater, Mesa, AZ second). Still operating today.
ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden. I had floor seats and the bathrooms were a mess. People throwing up in the corners, and pissing in the sinks. There was more alcohol there than in a distillery.
Saw your post above. So, the Beatles reunited in 1975 for a concert at a K-Mart in Iowa. That had to be a "Beatles Tribute" band. Though you didn't say it, I'm sure you realize the Beatles broke up in 1970. Â But you're right, if it really were the Beatles, that would have been weird!
Electrical tape covering her nipples and shaving cream covering her crotch. She had a marvelous stage presence. She used a chainsaw and cut off the head of Boy George (Doppelganger) dummy !
I attended a Smith and Myers concert last fall in Norfolk Va. I went to the show expecting to hear their 2 volumes of acoustic music. The first two songs Myers guitar was out of tune. I play so I know what right sounds like on an amplified acoustic guitar. After about the fourth song Smith left the stage and never returned. If they were I’ll fine man up and refund our money. They sucked. Myers just played a bunch of garbage band music. It was very unprofessional.Â
@jeff4598Â - interesting you mention Jeff Buckley - one of the weirdest concerts I was ever at was Jeff Buckley at the Brainwash in San Francisco. The Brainwash was a laundromat that had a small room upstairs where they would sometimes put on music for 40 or 50 people sitting in folding metal chairs. This was well before his album came out; I wasn't even familiar with him; the girl I went with was a big fan. Great gig!Â
Hailstorm and crazy winds in the afternoon so concert suspended for awhile due to safety. Got some acid when we went to the parking lot to ride things out. After that everything was fine! Saw Frank Soda and the Imps for the first time. What a show. Here’s a video of Frank Soda:
Deep Purple was crap and were booed heavily. Concert was stopped in the wee hours of the morning, after a stabbing. Near the end, there were many piles of beer cans as high as your head, clothing, garbage and people littering the ground. We didn’t need to buy beer because we brought in a watermelon filled with liquor.
Saw the Doors after Jim died but I was too young to know that was a big deal. They were really good anyway and Flourescent Leech and Eddie were great but kind of a strange opening act.
Easy! Double bill at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island.Â
Frank Zappa/Sha Na Na double bill. You read that correctly.Â
This ihappened around the time of "Apostrophe", long before his audience would expand due to the inexplicably popular "Valley Girl".Â
Suffice it to say that Sha Na Na was awful, the Coliseum was empty and cold, and Zappa played for about 45 minutes. Â Maybe. Or an eternity - take your pick.Â
Easy! Double bill at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island.Â
Frank Zappa/Sha Na Na double bill. You read that correctly.Â
This ihappened around the time of "Apostrophe", long before his audience would expand due to the inexplicably popular "Valley Girl".Â
Suffice it to say that Sha Na Na was awful, the Coliseum was empty and cold, and Zappa played for about 45 minutes. Â Maybe. Or an eternity - take your pick.Â
Hey Taters, I saw them either that same year as well (or perhaps the year before?) not far from you at the Windors Ice Arena. Iggy wore nothing but a silver glittered G-string. What a wild and crazy show it was!
Frank Zappa had very strict policy in his band -- ZERO tolerance to alcohol or recreational drugs during rehearsals AND of course stage. His music was SCORED by Steve Vai before each rehearsal while he wasn't familiar on reading sheet music. Listening to his music you would really think that it's pure improvisation, but....
Being weird in unique and interesting way is art and talent. It's clearly different from being disrespectful to the crowd especially due to the excessive amount of alcohol or recreational drugs present on stage.
Your Kinks story reminded me that I once saw Ray Davies punch Dave Davies on-stage. It was at the Capitol Theater In Passaic NJ during (I believe) the Schoolboys in Disgrace tour. The Kinks were at a low point and there were a few hundred folks in a room that sat a few thousand (IIRC). The band wasn't happy (I assume) about the sparse crowd and you could hear the brothers woofing at each other between songs. After the first encore, as they were walking off, Dave elbowed Ray in the ribs and Ray clocked him.
They didn't come back out.
Philo,
The crowd was definitely a bit out of control at that one.
Martykl, your drunken Chris Wood tale reminded me off a couple alcohol fueled shows I saw in the early 70's. The Kinks, I believe it was in the Tampa Armory, were really into partying that night. Ray Davies got so drunk he could barely stand up past the half way point of the show. Later, I saw Rod Stewart in Orlando and he was in a very generous mood. At the start of the show, he brought out a couple cases of German wine and started passing bottles of liquid happiness to the audience members up front.
A few come to mind. Seeing an act booed off the stage is always memorable. Especially when beer bottles have been hurled at the artists. So maybe it wasn't a great idea to have a reggae band (Toots and the Maytals) open for the Who in Detroit back when no one in Detroit had heard much (if any reggae). Mike Quattro opened for ELP in Jersey City and got the same treatment.
I also recall seeing a Traffic concert at which Chris Wood was so drunk/stoned that he lost hold of his sax mid solo and sent it flying across the stage.
At a Shirts show at CBGB some drunk up front got shoved and started a brawl that moved in slo-mo from the stage toward the back, where I was standing. I escaped seconds before some guy got slammed into the rear wall.
The last one and the most weird was with Gretchen Parlato(voice, marakas, hand-claps and beat-boxing) and Alan Hampton all instruments. Normally Alan Hampton would play string double-bass, but he expanded himself to play other instruments: guitars and keyboards. Apparently, while Alan is descent bassist, he wasn't able to keep up with other instruments and made this concert truly messy. He wasn't able to catch the loop on the right key and on the right time and was often off the key in guitar and piano YAK!. Also I noticed he was sweating heavy and pale. This happens if dope was used. When you're on dope and trying to be useful, you need to 'catch' the moment when you're not in withdrawal pain, but not too high to be able to function. I guess Alan just got the dose right before performance and probably too big... Dealing with dope consumers is complicated indeed.
- One Lou Reed concert I attended years ago, not outwardly bizarre, but this weird combination of 'eclectic' happenings between the perfomers and the crowd.... - Todd Rundgren's Utopia tour roudabout 1980, one particular concert in Western New York where I swear they were definitely in their own 'Private Idaho'.... - All time winner: Genitorturers during their "Alice Cooper meets Marquis de Sade phase...'
Tubegroover, I saw Alice around 1970 or so (in Tampa) and while he wasn't the weirdest I've seen, it ranks near the top for sure. It sure was the LOUDEST concert I've ever been to, my ears rang for a day after that show. Glad I haven't subjected my ears to too many aural assaults that loud.
I would say Alice Cooper. I didn't even know who Alice Cooper was before going to the concert, could have been a chick for all I knew. In any case, a friend of a friend had an extra ticket and I went. Pretty bizarre show but the band was surprisingly quite good.
One more. About 5 years ago The Flaming Lips opened their show with huge balloons and giant balls rolling atop the audience. Followed by an animated image of nude dancing woman eventually reclining into birthing position...legs bent and spread. A stairway was strategically placed to allow the band to enter through the appropriate opening.
A few stand-outs for various reasons. I ushered at a Milwaukee theater called Uptown back in the early to mid-seventies. The tubes put on a very bazaar show. Much stage activity, which was well above my intellect. Springsteen's Bomb Scare concert. The theater emptied of audience had police, dogs and bomb specialists rummage through for nearly 2 hours. Amazingly, Springsteen came back on played well into the wee hours...appearing far more inebriated. I saw the Who at Tempe University for Who-loween. I believe it was 1981, with Mellencamp as one of the opening acts. A number of audience members expressed their impatience with the openers, some carrying placards requesting The Who are the best, forget the rest. Somewhere in Mellencamp's set he got nailed in the head by a thrown bottle. He went down, the band barreled off stage. What seemed like lapse of an hour, they reappeared, Mellencamp's head bandaged, wearing a hard-hat. The Who finally came on, they said no hello's, played their music, and left. My wife and I recently saw Peter Noone, as Herman Hermit at Wisconsin State Fair. Her comment watching an audience of nearly 400, mostly 50-70 year olds bobbing their heads to 60's pop music was as strange as it gets.
Frank Zappa at the Filmore East in 1976. He played a couple of songs we knew, we were all big fans, and then he launched into some complex difficult and interminable orchestrated piece . He had a fairly large orchestra working with him that night. So after a couple of what seemed hours he finished this "song" and said that the concert was being recorded for an album He then turned back and scolded the big band to play it again but with fewer mistakes. No amount of any substance could compensate for his commitment!
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, Feb 4, 1972, Irvine Auditorium Philadelphia.
Little Feat with Lowell George was the opener.
Rockette Morton came on stage with a toaster on his head, halfway through the first song, toast popped up. His way of saying 'a toast from Rockette Morton.
Kind of along the same line; mid 70's Pink Floyd in Los Angeles at I believe was the Sports Arena. I had bought 6 tickets and sold two of then to the catering truck driver. Ed Davis was the police chief at the time. He wasn't about to let any dope smoking hippies in his jurisdiction. The cops were searching cars at random, frisking everyone and down right spooky. So to compensate we chain toked rag weed all the way down there. Didn't see the catering truck driver & his gal till we sat down. They compensated by dropping acid. I don't think they blinked for 2-1/2 hours. Good show as it was right after Dark Side of the Moon. What a bunch of crazies we were. But no regrets. -John
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