Shows that went wrong?

ultmetal wrote:

KING'S X, HAMMERFALL and DIO, Albuquerque, NM. I was super hyped to see this show as I love all three bands. Hammerfall and Dio did not disappoint. Great show from both. King's X were having some problems with their stage monitors and being able to hear themselves. By the second song Dug Pinnick was visibly annoyed and was making gestures to the stage crew. By the third song he was so pissed, he threw he knocked over his mic stand and walked off stage leaving his two band mates to finish the song along, which they did. They then walked off stage too, end of show. Really, it sounded fine in the crowd.

I know from playing crappy clubs and dives most of my career with Ultimatum that sometimes stage sound sucks and you just have to keep trudging through it. We've played shows with NO stage sound and you have to rely on each other and playing off each other and those cues that you get use to. It sucks, but you keep pounding because the crowd can't hear the stage sound and they only care about you putting on a killer show.

I saw that show in Seattle, but Hammerfall didn't show up, some reason or another, they were on the bill but didn't play.

And as mentioned went for KX and they did not disappoint, but they never have in the many times I have seen them. I did however REALLY enjoy DIO as well anyone should, he was very gracious all night and was a consummate professional/performer. In hindsight, I wish I would have ponied up the 20 bucks for an autographed copy of the latest release Killing The Dragon.


Some of these stories are great btw. I can think of a few mishaps at shows, but nothing too extreme.

Saw RATT and in the first 20 seconds Pearcy bounced out did a high kick and landed flat on his back....

Saw AC/DC on the Flick Of The Switch tour in Tacoma, WA not for from McChord AFB and a soldier brought a flare gun into the dome.During the title song, Flick of The Switch and specifically the chorus "We'll blow you sky high!" the gent shot the flare into the domes insulation and caught the roof on fire. It sat and smoldered for the remainder of the show and not a single fan thought anything other than it was part of the show. Had to read about it in the following days paper.

Like Klaus and the "piss bomb" when I saw the Scorpions on the Monsters of Rock show, Klaus got hit with a bottle about 3 songs deep and they pulled the pin on the show.

Guess I haven't been to enough concerts to have anything go wrong. Now, I've had some personal mishaps at concerts, but nothing that effected the whole crowd. Like when I saw Galactic Cowboys the same day I had 5 cavities filled. My mouth was in complete agony. Still enjoyed the night, but afterwards I looked and felt like I just got my ass kicked which is probably why I got out of downtown Dallas on my own unscathed (apparently people won't mug you if you look like you've already been mugged ).

mc666 wrote:

80s Metal Lady wrote:

I mentioned it in my review of the concert on this forum, but at a Kreator concert I watched a bouncer hassle a gal standing behind the rail for some reason. He kept trying to push her back. There were other fans hanging over the rail, so I don't know why this bouncer kept giving this gal a hard time, but she kept protesting. The singer of Kreator noticed what was going on and stopped the show briefly. He knelt down and listened to the gal blubber about what was happening. He told the bouncer to back off and gave some sort of anti-violence message to the crowd before continuing the show.  

I would love to see video of that!

I uploaded what I got on video to YouTube. I can't understand what the singer was saying to the crowd. I just remember it being an anti-violence statement. I didn't think to record when the bouncer was hassling the gal. Wish I had. Funny side note, the woman to her left with her boobs sticking out was being photographed by a couple of the bouncers. It was obvious they were taking close-ups of her breasts and she didn't even notice, LOL.

Thanks for the upload. Great to see him taking care of the female fans.

My first concert was in Miami, which used to do the Rock Superbowl or something like that, I was 12 years old and went with my older brother.

The line up was Bryan Adams, Aerosmith ( Jimmy Crespo line up and Journey.

It was raining most of the day, and during Aerosmith's set, Steven Tyler's microphone kept shorting out and three or four songs in, he got angry throw his mic stand at some hapless roadie and walked off stage, end to the Aerosmith set.

In the late 80's I saw a triple bill of Skin Yard, The Melvins, and Nirvana.  Nirvana opened the show and after a few "songs" in their set they went wild destroying their equipment.  Just insane destruction.  For no apparent reason.  Shards of guitar were flying everywhere.  You had to take cover.  I believe they took out one of the P.A.'s as well.  It was quite memorable and a bit scary how uncontrolled it was.  And to think three years on they would become the biggest act in the world.  Always wished I snagged some of the shattered remains once they hit it big.  But at the time it was a true WTF moment.  Even funnier was according to one of the roadies the stuff was borrowed after the show before where they also destroyed everything.

I've never seen a show go totally off the rails but I've had a few weird experiences. The strangest was probably when I saw Prong around '91 or so at a club in Staten Island, NY when I was in college. During Prong's set a couple of guys bulldozed their way into the pit, each carrying one of the little cafe tables from the back of the room, and then started swinging them around and banging them against the floor in time with the music. Needless to say security intervened fairly quickly.

80s Metal Lady's story reminded me of something that happened when I saw Fight (w/Rob Halford) in Asbury Park, NJ in 1993 - the place was dangerously over packed, and the dance floor in front of the stage was like being in a sardine can. A girl up at the front was apparently being crushed against the stage by the crowd so Halford actually stopped what he was doing and helped her up out of the crush onto the stage. He kissed her hand and handed her off to a security guy at the side of the stage (where she sat and watched the rest of the show) and Halford told the crowd "Now, that's how you're supposed to treat a lady - not like some piece of sh*t."

At the VH Monsters of Rock gig at Giants Stadium in NJ in 1988, around halfway through the day the fans in the upper tier started throwing all their garbage down onto the people in the lower tier seats - I'm talking cups, wrappers, cans, bottles, everything. Fortunately I was in the upper tier so I didn't get any crap rained down on me but I can only imagine what it must've been like down below, haha. I have to admit, from my vantage point it was kind of impressive seeing this "tidal wave" of refuse coming down like a waterfall all around the stadium.

Fat Freddy wrote:

80s Metal Lady's story reminded me of something that happened when I saw Fight (w/Rob Halford) in Asbury Park, NJ in 1993 - the place was dangerously over packed, and the dance floor in front of the stage was like being in a sardine can. A girl up at the front was apparently being crushed against the stage by the crowd so Halford actually stopped what he was doing and helped her up out of the crush onto the stage. He kissed her hand and handed her off to a security guy at the side of the stage (where she sat and watched the rest of the show) and Halford told the crowd "Now, that's how you're supposed to treat a lady - not like some piece of sh*t."

That was very sweet of him.

80s Metal Lady wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

80s Metal Lady's story reminded me of something that happened when I saw Fight (w/Rob Halford) in Asbury Park, NJ in 1993 - the place was dangerously over packed, and the dance floor in front of the stage was like being in a sardine can. A girl up at the front was apparently being crushed against the stage by the crowd so Halford actually stopped what he was doing and helped her up out of the crush onto the stage. He kissed her hand and handed her off to a security guy at the side of the stage (where she sat and watched the rest of the show) and Halford told the crowd "Now, that's how you're supposed to treat a lady - not like some piece of sh*t."

That was very sweet of him.

Wow! That is very cool.   

Yup, Rob was a proper British gentleman that evening.

Witchfinder wrote:

Motorhead/Wasp show in '98 at Bogarts in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Motorhead came on first and played a blistering set.  They really kicked ass.  W.A.S.P. then came out and burned through an excellent medley of songs.  Unfortunately, Blackie had some ridiculous apparatus on stage that he was going to use to stab/dismember/mutilate - a nun/baby/teddy bear or something.  The damn thing didn't work and Blackie went nuts and left the stage.  That was the end of the show.  I also believe W.A.S.P. got kicked off that tour that night.  Thanks for nothing Blackie.

I had tickets for that tour. So pumped as it would have been the first time seeing WASP live and because, well, Motorhead. They ended up cancelling the whole tour. I think the official reason was Lemmy hurt his foot or something, but I think behind-the-scenes, things soured between Blackie and the Motorhead crew.

I was at the "Guns n Roses Experience featuring Axl Rose" show back in the early 2000's when Axl pulled a no-show and the fans rioted. That was a hoot. I watched from up above as the fans overturned the mixing board, ripped out seats and threw them at the road crew trying to clear the stage.

I read an interview w/Lemmy after that W.A.S.P./Motorhead tour fiasco and he pinned the whole thing on Blackie Lawless being a prima donna. W.A.S.P. were touring with all kinds of props/junk that took forever to set up, and of course since they were playing in clubs/small venues, all that stuff took up tons of space on the stage...so while Motorhead (who went on first each night) were on they had to follow all of these "rules" about where they could stand on the stage, they couldn't touch anything, they had to be careful not to knock any of the props over, etc. Lemmy got sick of it, almost came to blows with Blackie about it after one particularly rough night and he decided "I don't need this crap, we're outta here"

Got a new one - went and saw the KISS/Def Leppard tour last night. KISS rode the "Spider" light down for the opening song and it didn't retract..... after the second song, Paul mentioned that it was stuck..... after the 4th or 5th song, Paul says 'We gotta leave the stage for a safety issue - stay there, we'll be right back" and after they lighting rig has raised, they did come back to finish the show....

Later they didn't leave the stage prior to encore so they could make cut off time (11PM)

Fun show, I'm sure he was pissed about the problems....

I kind of didn't want to mention this as it goes against the light hearted nature of the thread but I was at one show that went very, very wrong. Donington 1988. This was a huge gig! If I remember correctly there were 107,000 to see what was a stellar line up Iron Maiden, David Lee Roth, Kiss, Guns & Roses, Megadeth and Helloween. I was at that point only there to see Helloween, Megadeth and had a passing interest in G&R. During G&R's set, things started getting really crowded  in front of the stage, so we stayed near to the front but moved to the side, we saw the guys in the crowd, lifting girls and younger guys towards the security because they had passed out, this was not unusual, this was my third Donington and it happened every year. G&R at one point had to stop the set and appeal to the crowd to step back and give those at the front some space. In fact Axl did this several times before continuing the set with a series of mellower songs (Sweet Child of Mine, Patience etc.)



We didn't think that much of it and I spend the rest of the gig getting really drunk (It was my 17th birthday) and not paying too much attention to the bands, the only drama being that my friend had been hit on the head by a support beam for one of the giant screens that had come loose from idiots climbing all over it and temporarily blinded (they actually took him backstage, where all of the bands were but as he was blind, he didn't know who was there)

Getting out of the gig was a nightmare as my friend's car broke down so we had to push it to the side of the car park (field) and wait for the place to empty which took hours (Donington is a small village) but eventually we got home and after going for a cheeky  post gig smoke I eventually got home at 7 in the morning to find my mum & sister sitting in the living room white with worry as it had been on the news all night that two teenage boys had been crushed to death at the gig but no names had been announced, so when I wobbled in six hours later than I had said I would be back, it was an understandable mixture  of joy and utter fury from both of them.

It seems weird now because these days a quick text to say 'R U OK?' would have saved them all of that worry, but in '88 there was no way to be in contact and No-one that i had spoken to at the gig had any idea of what had happened. It was two years before they did another MOR gig there and then only with a greatly reduced capacity of 75,000.

seen Stevie Ray Vaughn once..he came out.. hit the first chord and the whole system blew...he yelled something at the tech and walked off stage...they fixed it...he came back out started playing and after about 2 minutes of playing he apologized to the crowd and walked off stage...a few minutes later a tech came out and messed with Stevie's amp and then his pedals and finally Stevie came back out and played a couple of songs and again got agitated and started messing with his amps himself and finally seemed pleased and then finished the show...
................
Seen queensryche back on the Operation Mind crime tour in Amarillo Texas...They were jamming along and the PA failed...they kept playing and it took about 5 minutes for the pa to come back up..then the lighting system failed..again they kept playing and finally the lights started working..then the pa died again and they finally walked off the stage...The next year when the empire tour started They started the tour in Amarillo with a free show to make up for the problems on their last tour..very cool...

Hey Boris. I was't going to write about Donnington 88, but since you did then I'll share my experience from that day too. It was my first festival experience and I was stoked. I spent most of the morning hanging out in the middle just about 30 yards/meters from stage. I don't remember much about the Helloween set but I was psyched to have a good spot for GnR.

Up-thread - Someone mentioned (Klaus Meine getting bottled at Donnington 86) about the disgusting habit of throwing the bottles of piss at the bands. In 88: at the start of the GnR set there were so many bottles flying about that it was only inevitable that one landed on me. I don't think I've ever been able to explain the experience but it was absolute chaos - bottles of piss raining down - no solid footing because the ground was damp - and a massive surge in the direction of the stage. In my dazed and confused state I still had enough sense to go against the grain and head back toward the sound mixing tower to some kind of safety. I do remember from my new perspective hearing Axl tell everyone to take a couple of steps back to help the situation. And I'm not sure but I don't think they were planning to play Patience when they did but felt it was necessary to play it then under the circumstances. Also - I'm not entirely sure but I think the black and white scenes in the Paradise City video are from Donnington 88.

Something else I remember from later on that day: at the end of the Kiss set there were a couple of tiny fireworks/ or lame explosions (there was still daylight) and someone in the band smashed their guitar (or bass - it might have been Gene). I only mention that because at the end of the Maiden set there was possibly the most amazing fireworks show I had ever seen.

My first big arena concert was at the Cow Palace (technically Daly City) but in reality the big indoor venue for the Bay area. Headliners were Black Sabbath - promoting Mob Rules. Support band for this show were ---- the Outlaws.

On any other day I would have been pleased to see the Outlaws. C'mon, who doesn't like Green Grass and High Tides..? Unfortunately (for the Outlaws) one person in the audience wasn't particularly interested and launched a perfectly thrown spiral roll of toilet paper, that had an almost elegant trail glowing behind it as the remainder of the roll bulls-eyed on the lead singer. Lead-singer promptly slams his guitar (or bass, I don't really know the band that well) onto the floor and iexits (stage left). The remainder of the Outlaws jam for another ten minutes before they decide to call it a night.

One more, which really isn't a show that went wrong, rather, a festival line-up that defines eclectic.

Roskilde Festival - in Denmark. I think - summer of 2002...?

The main reason why I'm there is Iron Maiden. I go early - again, I'm fairly open minded and prepared to give respect to any band getting on stage before Maiden. This afternoon it was Los Lobos. Nothing bad happened to them - no botttles, no piss, no rolls of tp, but between every song they could hear the Maiden fans, and they hurried through there set as best they could and finally jammed their version of La Bamba as fast as they could and politely and hastily wished everyone well and hoped they enjoyed Iron Maiden.

Maiden - of course - were awesome, but the night was not done, as there was another band preparing to come on stage. Coldplay.... I suppose 'if' you were a Coldplay fan then this would be an ideal way to see them because as soon as Maiden were done then there was plenty of room for the Coldplay faithful to get all the way up to the stage and really get the Coldplay festival experience.

Nomadic Drifter wrote:

Hey Boris.  I was't going to write about Donnington 88, but since you did then I'll share my experience from that day too.  It was my first festival experience and I was stoked.  I spent most of the morning hanging out in the middle just about 30 yards/meters from stage.   I don't remember much about the Helloween set but I was psyched to have a good spot for GnR.  

Up-thread - Someone mentioned (Klaus Meine getting bottled at Donnington 86) about the disgusting habit of throwing the bottles of piss at the bands.  In 88: at the start of the GnR set there were so many bottles flying about that it was only inevitable that one landed on me.  I don't think I've ever been able to explain the experience but it was absolute chaos - bottles of piss raining down - no solid footing because the ground was damp - and a massive surge in the direction of the stage.  In my dazed and confused state I still had enough sense to go against the grain and head back toward the sound mixing tower to some kind of safety.  I do remember from my new perspective hearing Axl tell everyone to take a couple of steps back to help the situation.  And I'm not sure but I don't think they were planning to play Patience when they did but felt it was necessary to play it then under the circumstances. Also - I'm not entirely sure but I think the black and white scenes in the Paradise City video are from Donnington 88.  

Something else I remember from later on that day: at the end of the Kiss set there were a couple of tiny fireworks/ or lame explosions (there was still daylight) and someone in the band smashed their guitar (or bass - it might have been Gene).  I only mention that because at the end of the Maiden set there was possibly the most amazing fireworks show I had ever seen.  

The Iron maiden fireworks were incredible. I barely remember Kiss & DLR but was starting to sober up a bit for the headliners. The other thing about that day that stuck in my head was Lars Ulrich standing side stage for the Megadeth set, right in the middle of the so-called 'big feud'.

To be fair, i've seen some bands get a really bad reception at MOR but nothing compares to the time that some bright spark thought that putting Daphne & Celeste in front of a Reading crowd was a good idea!



Even I draw the line at hurling piss at children!   

I heard Def Leppard got a bunch of stuff thrown at them at the Reading Festival in 1980(paper missiles, tomatoes, etc) because the UK fans thought they had "sold out" with "On Through the Night", the song "Another Hit and Run" is based on those experiences.

Over in the U.S., the "Gathering of the Juggalos"(I.E. Insane Clown Posse fans) usually has some crazy fans throwing stuff at artists they don't like, Tila Tequila being one of them, I can understand people not liking her, but throwing rocks at her is going WAY too far.

Boris2008 wrote:

Even I draw the line at hurling piss at children!   

I do believe the line should be drawn at hurling piss at anyone.  

007 wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

Even I draw the line at hurling piss at children!   

I do believe the line should be drawn at hurling piss at anyone.  

I heard about a Faith No More concert where a piss bottle that was thrown was picked up by vocalist Mike Patton and he poured it over his head. I like FNM, but I'm glad I never saw them live.

Whitecross in DFW in the early 90's. The power went out about half way through the set. Mike Feghein put on a 20 minute drum clinic till it came back on.
Pantera/Type O here in town also early 90's. The local fire marshal insisted they put chairs on the floor. At a Pantera show? They got pissed & called off the show. We were waiting in the parking lot, things were getting pretty rowdy & the cops come riding through on horseback. Some dude hauled off & punched a horse! all hell broke loose after that so we all left & went to a club. About 20 minutes later Type O shows up, kicked the band off stage & put on a show!

Vexer6 wrote:

I heard Def Leppard got a bunch of stuff thrown at them at the Reading Festival in 1980(paper missiles, tomatoes, etc) because the UK fans thought they had "sold out" with "On Through the Night", the song "Another Hit and Run" is based on those experiences.

Yep, this is true and part of Reading legend. The song that brought on the sell out allegations was this one.



It's just a good job they hadn't heard Armageddon It at that point   

Imagine what would have been thrown at them if they had performed a song that would eventuate be on "X"!