Live Performances Gone Awry

Isochronism - I saw Motorhead in 1983 ( I listen to a huge variety of music). The lead singer 'Lemmy' was playing their popular 'Ace of Spades' song at ear bleeding levels. We were third row side stage and I watched Lemmy flick his burning cigarette butt into the crowd. I couldn't believe it. At the same show, someone jumped off the balcony into the crowd below and they lived without a scratch. I think Merciful Fate was playing when that happened.

I'm glad I lived though the heavy metal days. Not that I did anything out of control, but the fans could get scary.

Went to a Dixie Dregs concert around 1990 at a downtown NYC venue that is long since closed down. We waited more than an hour past the posted start time for the warm-up band to start, which was a quasi-Kansas progressive fiddle-rock band as I recall. They weren't terrible but they were not the Dregs and the crowd rapidly grew hostile. After being steadily pummeled with beer and assorted projectiles the front man stepped up to the mic and said, "You know, you guys stink like smelly feet", at which point a barrage of footwear of every possible description was thrown onstage. The warm up band beat a hasty retreat and the Dregs came on and played a killer show.

Jerry Jeff Walker in show in Mississippi was so drunk he could not remember the words to his songs. Fell over after the third song and was carried off. Back up band did one more song and it was over since he was the headliner. No refunds for a this 25 minute embarassment.

Roy Buchanan in a small venue in Norfolk, Virginia. Showed up an hour and 15 minutes late. Played for 35 minutes and left. That was it - done. Very angry crowd but the club took the position that he came and he played as promised but we never said for how long the show would be. No refunds.

in December 1975 I saw the Who at the Pontiac Silverdome and the opening band was the Reggae band Toots and the Maytals.

There were 76,000 there and several people threw dozens of bottles at the bandmembers until they left the stage.

Pete Townsend even asked them to quit throwing bottles but they did not listen.

Afterwards the Who played the best concert I ever saw.

Philo,

I was there, too. But The Who left me cold that night (pun intended as it was well below zero outside). Lots of recorded accompaniement to Quadraphenia. Different strokes, I guess.

Other Michigan disasters:

Patti Smith's band gets snowed in and she does a solo acapella poetry reading instead of a concert.

Sly Stone shows up 4 hours late for a concert and sleepwalks thru it.

I brought a date to a Talking Heads show one Friday night only to find that it had taken place the night before. (I guess that one's on me.)

In New York:

Van Morrison played a pissed-off, 35 minute set at Jones Beach.

Chris Wood (Traffic) was so stoned at a NY Academy of Music show that he lost his sax mid-solo. He was swaying left to right and it just flew from his hands.

A fist fight in the crowd at a new wave/punk show at CBGB (The Shirst, maybe)spilled onto the stage and took out the drum kit.

Beer bottles were also hurled at opening act Michael Quattro at an ELP concert in Jersey City. He tried to catch them in the top he was wearing.

Those come to mind quickly, so I guess that I've had my share of bad moments.

Marty