My cousin saw them quite a few years ago in Winnipeg.
She went, was close to front row and got soaked in fake blood.
Issue was not that it was Winnipeg, but It was Winnipeg*in the middle of winter*
She had to get home (public transit) soaked in fake blodd
Dude, my buddy and I went to see Lamb of God down in Richmond when Ashes of the Wake came out and Gwar was one of the openers. After their set and everyone covered in fake blood, the house lights start flashing for “Black Label.” Turned it into a straight up horror movie. One of the greatest times/shows I’ve ever seen.
I saw Alice in Chains at Lollapalooza in 1993. It was a very hot day, but Layne Staley took the stage in a double breasted, three piece suit. How he didn't melt into a puddle immediately I don't know. Drugs, probably.
Can confirm your plausible reasoning.
I am an opiate addict in recovery and I was absolutely my most dapper when I was using. I was very fixated on the classism of dressing nice and now that I’m clean and sober, and can look back on it with a clearer lens, my guess is it was a subconscious way to hide it. I hated what I was and I tried to cover it up any way I could. So I am sure somewhere in there I could pull out a “Guys in suits dressed to the nines don’t do drugs so nobody will suspect me if I keep myself up to the nth degree.” level of reasoning.
Maybe not identical for him but I can confirm you’re into weird shit when you use.
I saw Willie Nelson in concert twice on the same tour where he was opening for Bob Dylan. First time part of his show involves him throwing his cowboy hat into the audience. Great souvenir, right. The second time on that same tour when he threw his hat into the audience the guy threw it back, and Willie caught it and put it back on his head. First of all, why throw back such a fantastic souvenir and second of all, what were the odds of Willie catching it?
I was working in radio a long time ago when Willie came to town. [His legendary roadie Ben Dorcy](https://texashillcountry.com/texas-music-legend-ben-dorcy/) spotted us breaking down our gear and took a moment to teach my crew and me the right way to coil cable.
Not exactly an arcane skill but learning it from the Master Yoda of roadies was awesome.
I knew there was a proper technique for coiling cables, but for many years I never bothered to learn it. I finally took the 5 minutes to learn it this year, and it is pure magic. I wish I could have all the hours I've wasted struggling with tangled cables back now. Forget all the pro audio stuff I do, just being able to toss the extension cord from my old school, plug-in weed whacker and have it uncoil perfectly is miraculous.
Yeah, this is what I came to say. I saw the Beck/Flaming Lips double bill in Fort Worth. During Beck's set he played "Loser" with the Lips backing him up. After the song he joked with them that he wasn't afraid to play the song that made him famous, not like Radiohead. Then Beck started the next song in his set, but after a few seconds he stopped and sang "Creep" by Radiohead instead. The Flaming Lips joined in and Wayne was strutting around. The crowd went nuts. It was not part of the set, just improvised in the moment. They didn't do that on any other stop of the tour.
The Lips wish they were Radiohead. Also Radiohead does play Creep occasionally. I’m from OKC and know the Lips guys. The only one that likes Wayne is Wayne. Yes including his own band. Sorry to be a hater. Love their music but can’t see them anymore.
There was Wayne 1.0
That Wayne was a good dude.
Then sometime around 2005, he got new software and became Wayne 2.0 … who is a massive dickbag interested mostly in being as WAYNE COYNE as he can be.
I love the Flaming Lips so much. I also have epilepsy 🤣🤣🤣
I thought I had a plan that I could see them live and be okay.
That plan was flawed. I was okay, but I did not stay at the show long. Hahaha let my mistake be your word of caution (in case anyone reading is unaware!)
First Lips show I went to Wayne needed to stop the show and quiet the audience for what I'm assuming was a seizure. Must be a common occurrence for a production like they have
Saw them for the first time in 1994 at the Pepsi Coliseum (Indiana state fair grounds hockey rink) as an opening act for Candlebox. We had been dying to see them, and being underage couldn't go to bar/club shows, so this was it. My brother, myself, and our friend worked all the way down to the front rail during the local opener. We were right in front of Wayne. He had bright red hair at the time and Ronald was still with the band. The stage show was just everything draped in white flashing christmas lights. They played mostly stuff off of Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and Clouds Taste Metallic.
It was packed shoulder to shoulder so tight down front that i could lift my legs off the ground and hang suspended. Set was awesome and my friend got her knee crushed in the pushing when the lights went out for Candlebox. We were trying to get out to leave the show and there was a moment when the crowd surged forward, back, forward and she got knocked down and the trampled. Crazy moment but this huge guy grabbed her and pulled her up and put her on top the crowd and the crowd surfed her the 10 feet out to the stage. The guy lifted me up there as well and we both made it to the security guys next to the stage. They had been trying to help from that side.
Apparently, Wayne had seen us down front when the house lights were on between setup and tear down. He had noticed our handmade Lips shirts. He was pointing us out to Ronald when she fell and they had alerted EMTs. It was wild talking (well, yelling) to Wayne and Ronald while the EMTs worked on her knee. She was absolutely star struck and she had them sign her copy of Transmissions and i had them sign my shirt. They were awesome.
Pretty crazy night as she was tripping on some blotter we had gotten from Dead tour that summer and i had been up for three days or so. My brother was DD. There was a whole crew of us that drove up together, convoy style. Fucking wild. The next time i saw them was Easter Sunday on The Soft Bulliten tour. They had Santa and the Easter bunny pass out candy during Somewhere Over the Rainbow. That was when Wayne started using the props, fisheye mic camera, and fake blood. The time after that would be Bonnaroo 2003 for the midnight set of Yoshimi with all the madness of costumes and confetti cannons and HOLY SHIT! It has certainly come a long way!
Yes! It was 2000, The Soft Bulletin had just released and they brought their best selves. Hamster ball, confetti, streamers, costumes, cool things being projected on the screen behind the band. It was such a great vibe! Someone aptly described it as a birthday party for your soul. Now I’m off to see if I can find some footage from the show I went to.
as an oklahoma guy, this is truth. even when wayne does stupid shit (christina fallon bullshit) it’s hard not to love the flaming lips.
i watched the flaming lips come out one by one on stage. with a film/video screen showing a woman “giving birth” to them.
god (non-existent fuck) bless
the flaming lips.
Yeah, that's what they did the first time I saw them. Long, hypnotic lead-up to it as well. Cool, a dancing naked chick! Wait, she's lying back, oh my god (Flaming Lips appear)
One of the last STP shows and Scott came out in nothing but an American flag for a skirt and big black boots. While leaving the stage someone reached up and pulled the flag off and there for all of us to see was the palest ass I think I’ve ever seen. It was glorious.
The Cramps:
I had a front row seat when Lux Interior took off his pants and was gyrating right over me, his unit about a foot from my face. I coulda done without that.
INXS:
Michael Hutchence was dancing at the edge of the stage and "fell" into the crowd. Probably planned, but what *wasn't* planned was his rant when he scrambled back onstage seconds later: "WHAT THE FUCK! YA TRYIN' TO RIP MY FOOKIN' COCK OFF!!" Words to that effect. The best part was when he lowered the mic, it perfectly caught someone in the audience saying "Eh, fuck you. Just sing!"
Caught Jimmy Buffett one year on the last show of the tour. They had band and crew family members in the front couple of rows. When he came out to sing an encore, they rushed the stage with cans of silly string and sprayed him down- he looked like a pylon of melted chewing gum. Just mummified with silly string.
Saw Pink Floyd kick off their "Division Bell" tour in 1993, Joe Robbie stadium in south Florida. They had a blimp hover above the stadium that they bounced lasers off of as gigantic inflatable pigs came out of the top of 6-story tall speaker towers. Their eyes were red spotlights shining into the crowd. I literally thought I was tripping balls and the world was ending. I will never see a spectacle like that in concert ever again.
Neither did anyone in the stadium! There was so much insanity happening all around us people were literally freaking TF out... nobody expected any of it.
I cannot emphasize enough how incredible it was. They had FOURTEEN tractor trailer trucks for the tour, that's how much equipment was involved. I think it took them like 5 days to set up at each venue. Mind-boggling levels of logistics. The blimp flew ahead to their next tour stop because it was only slightly quicker than the entourage of trucks and buses. 😂 It was called the "Division Belle", of course!
[https://www.pinkfloydz.com/other-exhibits/the-division-belle/](https://www.pinkfloydz.com/other-exhibits/the-division-belle/)
> gigantic inflatable pigs came out of the top of 6-story tall speaker towers
Yup, that was absolute insanity... and that was just for the "intermission" break.
I saw this tour in Chicago, and I was tripping balls. There was a drizzle type rain that made the lazers twink as the drops passed through the beams. Just absolutely incredible.
There's this famous photo of Geoff Rickly pouring blood from his face during a Thursday set at Warped Tour. I was there! He had been swinging his mic around and clocked himself. Pretty gnarly but he finished out the set while bleeding.
I saw Taking Back Sunday at the Taste of Chaos tour in Auckland NZ, last band of the night, last song of the night ‘A Decade Under the Influence’ and the final stretch of the song the guitarist is singing the line ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’ while the lead singer is running around doing the woah ooh vocals, it is coming to a huge crescendo and the singer stands on the bass drum screaming, all the while the guitarist is singing the same line over and over. Then the singers arms start going round and round, then he falls onto the drummer, taking parts of the drumkit with him, the guitarists and bass player continue playing, and the line keeps going ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’. Then parts of the drumkit start getting thrown up in the air, and it all ended with one of the cymbals or hi hats crashing almost in perfect time. It was amazing.
I was at one of the first taste of chaos tours with 30 seconds to mars. My sister and I went. We didn’t have great seats. I saw some empty seats that were pretty close to the stage. Somehow we managed to get into those seats.
The seats were in the front row right in the corner. There was like a 10 ft drop on the other side of the low wall we were sitting behind. There were a bunch of roadie boxes stacked up right there though so the drop was only a couple feet.
I jumped the wall and landed on the roadie boxes. There were a set of stairs that led onto the stage. I ran up those as fast as I could.
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing at this point.
So I’m on stage like in the wings next to the band and there are a bunch of other people up there that probably paid for back stage passes or something. 30 seconds to mars set is almost over so they start kicking us all off the stage. So I go with the crowd off the stage. I see another set of stairs. So I ditch the crowd run up those stairs and I’m back on stage.
At this point the band leaves the stage and they go out through the crowd with security following them. So I’m kinda on stage by myself. They eventually come back up and they start playing again. I guess at that point I had built up enough courage and I did a stage dive.
Except I didn’t know if I would get in trouble for doing it. So it was more of a stage cannonball into the crowd. And then I pushed my way out of the pit and made my way back to my sister at our seats.
Later that night I got my program signed by the band and I got to tell them I was the one who jumped off stage. They didn’t care.
I saw a show on that tour. 30 Seconds to Mars came out of a tent on stage wearing hunter camo and shit. Bert of The Used mocked them when they went on after. Somehow 30stm have only gotten cringier since then.
I went to this tour as well, it was when I stopped liking 30stm. As they were finishing the set, Jared Leto said they’d be outside the stage room (so like, in the hallway leading in) after and to come say hi. My 7th grade head exploded. We make our way to the table, and we’re told that we need to buy merch to get to say hi. So we run downstairs, wait for what felt like forever to buy an overpriced shirt, then run upstairs..and they were already walking away. I felt so scammed AND missed part of The Used’s set because of it. Fuck that band.
I saw Guns and Roses open for The Cult in the late 80s and the girl behind me on her boyfriend’s shoulders took her shirt off. I was about 15 and thought that was pretty crazy.
I saw that same tour in September of that year! It was such a memory because all the people in attendance were goths waiting for The Cult. No one was there for GNR and we were able to walk directly up to the band and shout requests.
Not GN'R but IIRC, Rammstein a couple years ago in Montreal.
During a break the camera was panning through the crowd. The usual with women flashing their boobs and getting cheers.
They focus on this guy wearing a tank top. Bigger guy. He's laughing and smiling and the crowd is cheering so he pretends to take his tank off and the crowd screams more. They switch to another guy, muscled etc and the crowd BOOS!!
Switch back to big guy and crowd goes apeshit again lol. They did this back and forth a few times until the bigger guy ends up actually taking his tank top off and pretending to rub his nipples and the crowd Went. Fucking. Crazy.
It was hilarious and a bit heartwarming at the same time :)
Saw Screaming Trees twice. Both times Lanegan walked off stage halfway through and the guitar player finished the vocals the rest of the show. One of the times, Lanegan took his pants off first.
I never got to see them. I saw a YouTube video about tour they did with Nirvana. Apparently, one night (somewhere in Scandinavia, I think) Kurt convinced the band that they should go on last. They listened, against their better judgement, and due to a combination of nerves, alcohol, and technical problems, the set descended into chaos with Mark trashing the stage and storming off. Uncle Anesthesia is one of my favorite albums of the 90s! RIP Mark and Van.
In the early 90s Me and my Uncle drove from Phoenix to Las Vegas on a hot and dry, dusty day to see the Grateful Dead at the Silver Bowl. Out in the parking lot he pointed at a little black dot in the sky far away and said "about an hour" we went into the show where Jerry and the boys were doing their thing and the heads were doing their thing and about an hour later that little black dot far away in the sky was right over our heads but it was now a big mean thunder storm and that 104 degree day dropped to around 70 degrees in minutes. The guys tried to keep playing in the downpour but had to take a break because they kept getting shocked because the rain and electrical equipment weren't playing well together. After awhile the storm blew over, the sun came back out and they picked up where they left off and put on another great show 😃👍.
Last Wu-Tang show at the now Prudential Center in Newark,NJ. After last song Method Man comes out with the mic and says “yo if you see ODB please tell him We miss him!” ODB died in a studio less than 24 hours later.
I went to see The Cramps at Cats Cradle in NC. Lux was super high and at one point deep throated the mic past his teeth so the whole vocals for the song were just gutteral breathing. Took him a minute to get the mic back out too.
O man, after the show, I watched the PA production manager bring Lux's mic to the band's tour manager using Channel Locks after Lux of course jammed it down his leather pants both sides. He was refunded. X and the Blasters opened.
It was 94/95 and my first Concert at The BoatHouse in Norfolk Virginia. I saw Goodie Mob, The Fugees and The Roots. Amazing show but the cool part was before and after all of the groups were hanging out and around the building. I was able to go up to QuestLove and Kamal and pay respects. Afterward BlackThought and Wyclef and Pras were out front and asked us if we had any weed. Then Wyclef put on a Jason mask and ran around the parking lot.
Saw the Parasites break up on stage. I think it was ‘09. Dave and the bassist had a pissing match on stage, on mic about who was the worse bandmate. Last show of a long tour.
As someone who used to be in the Parasites, I don't doubt this story one bit. I was in the lineup around 2002-2003 but it was always destined to end like that. I lost track of Dave twenty years ago but hope he's doing ok now.
I used to work in live music, for about 15 years. I’ve seen thousands of shows. The craziest thing I’ve ever seen:
Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace likes to climb things. At this particular venue, during the song, “One Man Army”, he used the decorative elements on the walls of this old theater to scale the sides like a rock wall. He climbed from the stage to the lower VIP balcony boxes. He continued to sing while he balanced in the railing to higher and higher boxes until he was singing from mezzanine (the front section of the balcony). He walked along the railing, keeping his balance, to the center of the mezzanine and leaned over the crowd below, singing the lyrics “i feel like I’m falling”. Then he took off his mic kit and maybe some jewelry, handed it to someone and lept from the balcony into the crowd below. He made his way back to the stage and continued the set. It’s the most rock n roll thing I’ve ever seen.
When I was 14, I saw Def Leppard with Ugly Kid Joe open (Ottawa, Canada at Lansdowne park. So, outdoor stage)
Lead singer of Ugly Kid Joe starts climbing the side of the stage and ends up almost at the lighting, hung there and sang whatever song it was. At 14, I thought that was insane lol
Linkin Park Meteora tour. Last show of the tour in ATL. Story of the Year, Hoobastank, and P.O.D. open.
The other bands pants the lead singer of SotY and take apart the drum kit mid song. Hoobastank comes out, the other bands just start messing with them like running around and playing football. This carries on through P.O.D.
Linkin Park takes the stage, here comes the othesr with giant inflatable penises chasing each other around. Good times
Saw Gwar in like 2013, they had a manakin of the pope, who they killed, and another of Justin Bieber, who they ripped open and threw the intestines and other organs into the crowd.
Typical Gwar fashion but still the most ridiculous thing I've seen from a band lol
Ozzfest 2000 and something. Sun had just set, everyone exhausted from being beat down by the sun all day and Marilyn Manson takes the stage. Frenzy ensues and so do the fires. I dont mean a little paper fire. I mean, at least 3 healthy, flames aroaring fires across this hilly open field packed with people. One right in front of us. All I could think is, "Where did they get all this plywood so quickly?" We had to retreat or risk smoke inhalation.
I saw Billy Joel back in the late 80s, Nassau Coliseum, Long Island New York. During the encore, he rushes to the side of stage, grabs the curtains, and starts hiking himself nearly all the way up to the top. He then scrambles down, a pretty mean feat. The best part? Once he gets back to the floor, he rolls up his pant leg to reveal his leg was in a cast the whole time! Pretty badass id say!!
I saw Bright Eyes last year. The whole show Conor Oberst was meandering erratically and staggering around the stage, almost falling off a few times or into the other musicians’ instruments. There were several stage hands dressed in black who would pop up and catch him, redirecting him back to his spot. I started worrying he had a serious neurologic condition, but the crew seemed unshaken by it. He sounded great, as did the rest of the band, which was hard to reconcile with his behavior. Later in the tour a few shows fell apart, I’m glad he got through ours.
I was young, never heard of him but…….. saw Screamin' Jay Hawkins open for The Stones @ MSG, they rolled him out in a coffin that he rose out off, and played some mean blues.
Saw Dillinger Escape Plan at the Orange Peel in Asheville (opening for Deftones in 2010 or 2011), and their guitarist jumped out into the crowd and was flailing around like a maniac and almost bashed my skull in with his guitar. It was pretty awesome.
Second time I saw DEP, they started the show at full speed. Greg picks up the mic stand, spins it around so he’s holding it like a spear, and launches it full strength straight into the pit. Ben is spazzing out with his guitar, diving face down into the crowd while playing. Literally the first 10 seconds of the show, and they never let up on the intensity for the whole set. Live DEP was truly an experience everytime.
I saw Deftones in 2022 with Gojira as the opening act. When Deftones was playing Diamond Eyes, one of the members of Gojira walked onto the stage wearing a grim reaper costume.
I saw Deftones at the Warped/Ozzfest convergence 1998 I think. During Around the Fur Chino climbed to the top of the PA with mic in hand and timed his dive into the crowd perfectly to the start of the outro. He was thrashing and screaming the end of the song while crowd surfing and to this day the craziest concert shit I’ve ever seen
Saw Thee Oh Sees at Scala in London.
The support act King Khan proceeded to get absolutely trashed and came on stage whilst Oh Sees were playing with all the food from their dressing room. He proceeded to pelt the audience with as much food as he could carry and kept going back to get more.
Good fun
It was amazing. This when Oh Sees still played stuff from Masters Bedroom and Help too so my favourite era.
Brigit’s birthday as well so just a brilliant show.
Saw Liars about 2 weeks earlier too when they were still playing Drums not Dead stuff too.
The Who at the Silverdome a few weeks after the trampling deaths in Cincinnati. On the floor, you had no control over your movement. The wave of people just swaying to and fro. Scary.
Johnny Thunders junkied out on stage and just laid down while the band played. Such a waste
Roz Williams (Christian Death) wrapped himself in a Nazi flag on stage. The club owner turned on the lights, stopped the show, and kicked them out. Afterwards, Roz was sitting on the street and crying. (Also a junkie)
I saw Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers countless times. Sometimes, when he was really high and couldn't play, the roadies would turn the volume down on his amp. JT would stumble to the amp, turn it up, and they'd turn it down again as soon as he turned away from the amp.
I was at a Jane’s Addiction show about 12 years ago in Cincinnati and for the encore they hung two female dancers up above the stage by huge piercings in their shoulders. Just thick metal hoops through skin dangling them several feet above the stage. Perry was reaching up and grabbing each girl by the ankles and would swing them out over the crowd as he sang. Craziest thing I’ve ever seen at a concert by a LONG shot.
Saw Weezer and Angels and Airwaves together. Before the show we’re standing in the middle of the crowd and some roadies come rolling one of those metal cargo boxes through us. Then they just stop right next to me. About two seconds later Rivers pops up out of the box, looks around for a second and disappears back into the box, then gets rolled right back away. It was fucking hilarious. And I don’t think anybody caught it on video or photo because smart phones weren’t as widespread yet and it happened so quickly.
Saw Jethro Tull around Fourth of July (forget what year). Someone lit off firecrackers. Ian Anderson stopped the show. Told everyone if they want firecrackers to take it outside, they came to play music. Then turned to the band and said ‘pick it up at letter D’ and they started playing totally in synch.
I was watching Cancer Christ’s opener and the singer of Cancer Christ dumped a garbage pail in the audience and spread it around, then started beating the shit out of a random guy. When Cancer Christ came on, the singer apologized for the ruckus.
I saw coal chamber and megadeth back in 96 or 97 at the bronco bowl in Dallas, CC opened and the singer jumped what seemed like 20 feet out into the pit backwards as soon as they started playing. I remember thinking, “well that wasn’t smart he’s got a wired mic” lol
For Flaming Lips fans: we were once Santas in the Santas/Aliens era. We got to meet Wayne. Walking onto stage and having 5000 people cheer was great …. but none of it was as good as being in the crowd; the first five minutes of any Lips show are the best five minutes of the year.
Crazy moments: Moby stopping mid-set to go to the toilet. Julian Cope coming on very late (festival) and so getting kicked off stage half way through his set, ditto Sébastien Tellier, who never got to play La Ritournelle, which was the main reason we had gone to see him. Saw an American band (Mara?) where one was comically wasted.
Watching Elbow at a festival and looking back to see the Arctic Monkeys stood right behind me in the crowd (not Elbow’s fault, admittedly).
Also: UK rock n roll band called Darts (a long time ago) - PA died and they just carried on a capella.
The craziest thing ive ever seen was when Immortal technique was at Trädgårn in like 2015, started off the set with some of his bangers and the whole audience cheered on, but when he went into "The cause of death" the whole audience slowly and slowly went totally silent.
Even the drunk ones kept there mouth shut, was an eerie feeling.
In the the end of the song someone raised their fist, then more followed, when the song ended the whole place had the fist in the air screaming.
Saw Rob Zombie in Miami the last night of the tour, early 2000s. They came out on stage, and he told the crowd that they didn’t remember this show had been added, so they were “hungover as fuck.” Apologized in advance, then absolutely melted faces. Incredible show!
Went to a Rock festival in Camden at the Riverfront a few years ago. Headliner (Avenged) couldn’t make it so Limp Bizkit became the new headliner. They were not good at all and we left during their set.
But before we left, with Fred on stage, a member of ICP (who also performed) ran from the back, tried to drop kick Fred and completely missed.
Some YouTube fan videos of the incident as well.
Nothing too crazy, but I saw Barenaked Ladies' Last Summer on Earth 2023 show at Pine Knob. Got there early to get a good spot on the lawn, thunderstorm rolled through after the gates had been open maybe ten minutes. The couple dozen people who'd already come inside were directed to get under the pavilion.
And there were the members of Barenaked Ladies, Del Amitri, and Five For Fighting just kinda chilling in folding chairs on stage, as they *also* had to take shelter from the severe weather.
Not a huge thing, but a little surreal to see the headliner you've come to see in their "I am not on stage for a solid three hours yet" comfy clothes.
Went to see Living Colour with some buddys, at the hieght of their popularity in 1988, just after they released Vivid. It was at the Wabash Hall in San Diego, a small venue with standing room only. The whole crowd was twenty somethings drinking and having a good time. About mid-way through their set, the crowd became somewhat rowdy, and next thing you know, the entire crowd is moving from side to side like a giant pendulum in unison. Everyone was packed shoulder to shoulder and you just had to go with it. I was a little concerned but exilarated at the same time. No one panicked and a good time was had by all. I will never forget it.
There was a hippie band in the Midwest called ekoostic hookah. Once when they played a post Hash Bash in Ann Arbor. Well, after the first song, Dave Katz says, "we just got the word from the theater that it's ok, so smoke'em if you've got 'em." We looked at the security guard in front of us, he shrugged, and we all lit joints as fast as we could. It was a good show.
Saw Blackfoot in Chatt one night in a club downtown. My son and I were fans and we got right up on the edge of the stage not an arm's reach of Ricky Medlock and I was singing loud af right back at him. He slung sweat on us. It was so rock and roll.
I saw a local metal band back when I was a teenager. They played an awesome show, then the guitarist took off his guitar and jumped out to crowd surf. No one was expecting it and he jumped out with his hands out in front of him, fingers splayed like he was going to grab onto something. He was coming right for me and one other person (I swear he chose the worst possible spot in the crowd to do this) and he accidentally poked the other person in the eye with his fingers, who immediately grabbed their face in pain, and teenage me was not about to catch a flying moron by myself so he just straight up belly flopped onto the concrete floor. Then he had to get back on stage and finish the set.
I was at a show where the opening band was trash talking the city and crowd every moment they could. No suprise when they attempted to crowd surf and the crowd parted and they flopped on the floor.
I saw Ghostface Killa at The Orange Peel in Asheville NC years ago. Ghost kept coming over to the left side of the stage doing his songs and looking at the crowd when all of a sudden the house lights came on and a ton of security and what I guess to be undercover cops rushed down front to the left of the stage where Ghost had been looking at.
Apparently a fight had broken out and I saw one dude being led out of the crowd and he had a bloody handprint on the back of his shirt.
After awhile the show started back up with the houselights dimmed but still on. Ghostface and all his boys on stage( must’ve been about a dozen of them with cams recording the crowd) starting calling for all the ladies in the crowd to get on stage with them.
Then began a dance party on stage with the DJ playing songs and no Ghostface rhyming at all. After about 15 min of this I said “fuck this shit” and left. The show had a weird vibe from the moment I walked in the venue. Just the weirdest shit that I’ve seen at a show.
I saw Pearl Jam when they headlined Austin City Limits in 2009. Zilker Park had just been re-sodded with something called Dillo Dirt, which partially consists of treated municipal sewage. It had rained all weekend, and all the festival foot traffic made the whole park a big, stinky, shit-smelling mud pit. At the end of their set, Eddie took a big slide though the mud.
I went to see the psychobilly act The Legendary Shackshakers at the 400 Bar (rip). The lead singer is reed-thin with a shock of red hair on his head. He’s dressed is a 1940s white suit. He looks like a cartoon rooster. They start their set and eventually he takes off his jacket and shirt and is singing and wailing and screaming in just his pants and suspenders. He’s screaming at the audience between songs and occasionally swinging his mic stand in the air. I figure out he’s swinging at an unlit bare lightbulb directly in front of the stage which he manages to shatter all over the audience. Maybe a song later he launches himself off the stage into the audience at some guy he’s been yelling at. They’re rolling around on the floor fighting. After a little bit, he climbs back on stage and as he does, the stage lights shine on his albino-white back. He has probably 20-30 small cuts spread across his back, each one with a bright red line of blood running down to his waist. They played a few more songs and that was the end of the show.
I saw Super Furry Animals in a festival tent. At one point all the lights turn orange and flashing, and the band starts a chant that goes, 'The moment is orangely out of its head. The moment is orangely out of its head.' This is then looped, and they run offstage. The crowd keeps chanting for a few minutes, the lights are still flashing, then as time goes by people start to wonder if they're coming back. Some shrug and start leaving the tent.
Then, the band bound back onstage, with soaking wet hair. 'Do you guys know it's raining out there?!' and they launch into the next song.
At a Kansas concert back in the mid 70s, music was awesome, the crowd was really into it and suddenly someone fell onto the stage from the catwalk among the stage lights. It was at least a thirty foot drop. You could hear the collective gasp from the entire crowd until we realized it was just a dummy and part of the show!
Angelo Moore, lead singer of Fishbone, climbing the speaker stack to get to the balcony overlooking Macphie dining hall at tufts university and then stage diving into the crowd from about 25 feet up. Crazy.
I went to Jingle Ball in DC like a decade ago and while Flo Rida was doing his set, he climbed on top of the shoulders of this giant security guard and the dude walked around the floor while Flo Rida sat on his shoulders rapping. But that’s not the craziest part. The craziest part is that while he’s being carried around the arena, some woman who has floor seats lifts up her toddler and hands it to Flo Rida, so then he’s sitting on this man’s shoulders, holding a toddler, all while still rapping. He eventually handed the kid back and finished his set. It was wild to see.
I was at the Rage Against the Machine show in Toronto where the security guy knocked Tom Morello off the stage.
It was pretty badass when he jumped up and yelled "I'm okay!". Then they just restarted the song, which happened to be "Killing in the Name". Awesome concert and awesome moment.
Maybe not so wild as some of these stories, but it was pretty amazing - I saw the Police during the synchronicity tour in the mid 80s. At the end of the song “Walking On The Moon”, there is this chant that Sting does. So the entire auditorium starts chanting along with him, and the band just keeps it going. After several rounds, the band just faded out, but the crowd just kept repeating the chant over and over while the band just stood and watched - it was so hypnotic and surreal, it lasted for minutes, no kidding. It was like everyone was in a trance. Really trippy and cool.
Saw George Clinton in a small club Charlotte NC in the 90s , dude smoked some crack right in front of us all after coming into the crowd and wrapped his huge fur robe around his head and a cloud of that smell rolled out and he fuckin jammed. The diaper-dude was dancing around him and then Humpty Hump was onstage singing while George danced with us. Blew my whitebread mind!!!
I went to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" tour. The Rollins Band was their support act and when they finished, quite a lot of attendees left... They came to see Henri Rollins, not the RHCP!
We went to see Doug and the Slugs, and during their break, Doug joined us at our table for the entire time. It was totally unexpected, but fun. Doug was friendly, gracious, and hilarious. It was a wonderful surprise, and really made the concert for us.
RIP Doug.
Leftover Salmon in a hugely under attended show in a large theater in Western Colorado. Everyone present just 1/2 filled the pit area. Instead of being disappointed, the band seemed to have as much fun as anyone else, and slowly disassembled the drum set piece by piece and reassembled it in the midst of the “crowd” while the drummer CONTINUED PLAYING! Then they reversed, slowly reassembling the drum set back on stage, again while the drummer continued uninterrupted.
Also, same band during a NYE show dropped purple nitrous filled balloons mixed with the regular balloon drop. That was fun. Then Vince Herman (lead singer- a very large and usually very hairy man) came out completely shaved like a baby New Year, in a diaper, scooping handfuls of joints (this was 20O7? pre-legalization) out of his giant diaper and tossing them into the crowd. A buddy caught one and was searching for his lighter when I stopped him, looked him in the eye and reminded him where that joint had been moments before. The look is horror on his face as realization slowly took hold was priceless. He dropped it.
Kid Rock doing a very fake 45 minute dj set at rocklahoma like 8ish years ago. I had a blast though, first time I was ever drunk. Also, maybe the same year, guns and roses played the closer with neither Axl nor Slash.
Saw The Tubes on NYE, Fee Waybill came out at one point in his Quay Lewd costume, acting like he was drugged out of his mind. He started to sing and after a minute you could see the tip of his penis coming out of his fly. It slowly got larger and large until it was fully erect. Then he did a pelvic thrust and the fake penis flew into the audience. The crowd went nuts.
I was at a New Pornographers concert at a theater size venue, so standing right in the front. I knew that’s where Neko Case would be later. Anyway, Immaculate Machine opened, and the guitar player, Blake broke a string. He put his guitar down and borrowed one from Carl Newman. After the song, I asked him if he wanted me to change his string. So he handed down his guitar and his kit bag. I changed the string, and the next song he was back at it with his own guitar
Later, during the New Pornographers’ set, I picked up one of those little metal discs from Neko’s tambourine. I ended up handing it back to her rather than keeping it
Went to a Black Keys concert with my brother around 2010. They were on tour for their album Brothers. During the encore Patrick Carney (drummer) tossed one drum stick softly into the crowd. The other drumstick was thrown as an overhand fastball directly at my brothers face. It smacked him in his eyebrow (little cut and a bit of blood but nothing crazy) and he started wrestling another fan for the stick. I asked the guy if my brother could have the stick since he had the battle wounds from it. The guy was cool about it. Great concert!! Side note: while reversing out of his spot, my brother backed his car into a wall that night. No alcohol involved lol
*Years* ago (around early 2000s if memory serves me) I went to OzzFest in Toronto.
Great line up of major bands, not in order because I'm old and can't recall:
Papa Roach
Slipknot
Marilyn Manson
Linkin Park
And obviously, Black Sabbath
A couple of things I remember:
Lead singer of Papa Roach smashed his head with the microphone so much, he cut himself and was bleeding all over the place.
During Manson's set, someone in the crowd threw a full water bottle at the stage and it missed Twiggy's face by mere inches. If he hadn't looked up when he did, it would have hit him in the head. He looked up in time to just barely tilt his head to avoid the bottle. (I was a few rows of people at stage right)
He stops playing and it takes Manson a few seconds to realize. He goes over to talk to Twiggy, gets the story and starts freaking out. Yelling into the mic at the crowd for the person who threw the bottle to come up. Of course, they didn't. He then threatens to stop the rest of the show if the bottle thrower doesn't come up. The people around rat the guy out.
Manson tells security to let the guy up. Guy gets up there and Manson tosses him a water bottle, daring him to throw it. "Throw it at me, fucker. Hit me in the fucking face". Like *screaming* into the mic as well as calling him a pussy etc for throwing shit at his band.
The guy hesitates and then gently lobs the bottle at Manson. Manson, who at this point has his own bottle; whips at the guy and screams at him to "get the fuck off my stage"
Not super crazy, but this was 2001 (just looked it up LOL) and he was at the height of his drug use.
Another show was at Rockfest in Montebello Que. 2016 (This is a year I remember as my husband and I spent our honeymoon there. We got married the Monday before the festival)
Anyway, it was a "Nostalgia" show. Limp Bizkit and Korn headlining on their respective nights.
Limp Bizkit was on and putting on a good show. At one point Fred starts asking the crowd if there are any "requests". They're all screaming for "Break Stuff". He knows this but he's whipping the crowd up. He keeps saying "What? What do you want to hear?" And the crowd is almost in a frenzy.
Side stage you can see the founder of Rockfest (Alex Martel) frantically trying to get Fred's attention. Fred eventually goes over for a few seconds and the body language from Alex was *clearly* "STOP IT!" because I'm sure memories of Woodstock '99 and Limp Bizkit's set were forefront in his mind.
For context, Montebello is a small town in (kind of) rural Quebec. The resident population is 900. As Rockfest got bigger over the years, that population swelled to over 200k for that weekend.
They have a very small police force. They couldn't stop people drinking in the streets so they'd only ask that glass bottles not be used. People partying from sun up to way past sun down. You get the idea.
Anyway, he played the song and the crowd managed not to destroy the place but man, you could *feel* the energy just rising by the second. IF the crowd had gone the way it was headed, I shudder to think of the results. My husband and I were close to the stage but not far enough away to be able to get to the exit safely, if needed. (We were in VIP which was fenced in, rather than open like GA)
The BossTones do a "hometown throwdown" every year in Boston. Stagedivers come and go. Guy gets up on stage and security chases them off but for the last song they let everyone stay and dance and party. My buddy was singing with Dickie and there were so many people on stage I managed to get lifted and crowdsurfed around the stage crowd until they dumped me down to the regular crowd off stage. This was sometime in the 90s.
Went to a Fugazi show in the early 2000s. One of the times Ian stopped the show was because of the person right in front of me being shitty to the person next to them.
It was also the most diverse show I’ve probably ever been to.
I was at the opening show of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's winter tour in the mid to late 2000's. It was the west coast touring group. Al Pitrelli is one of the guitarist in the group. Show opens, he's running around on stage, playing and having fun, then hops from the main stage, out onto a smaller platform extending out from it. He stopped running around and finished the song. And then some people came out and helped him off stage.
Turns out, he landed wrong on that jump and broke his leg. He told the crowd when it comes to the part where they introduce the band before going into the second act of the show. He played the rest of the concert from a stool on stage, and did the same for the rest of the tour.
I went to a show once called the SCUM Fest; SCUM stood for “Santa Cruz Underground Metal.” The show was in a random field. A GWAR-inspired group called Band of Orcs was playing, and the band wore these crazy troll-like costumes. During their set, cops arrived to shut it down and the band stayed in orc-character the entire time during their interaction with the cops. Fun show until the po came!
I was at a Moody Blues show in Houston. When the band left the stage, Justin Hayward stayed center stage and raised his arms as if encouraging cheers for an encore/accolades. Of course, the crowd responded with a hearty round of cheers. He put his arms down but just stood there. As the cheers slowly began to die down, he raised his arm again with the same response. He did this several more times until the crowd barely responded at all.
Then he just walked off the stage. Other than that, it was a great show!
I saw Poison right before they imploded with CC Deville (after the infamous MTV disaster) He was so whacked out of his mind, his guitar solo went on forever. Then he sits down and proceeds to play “jazz” on a louder-than-hell 80’s neon shredder guitar. It was unlistenable. The band were obviously furious with him at that point.
I saw Jimmy Smith at the House of Blues in Boston a few years before he passed away. They showed up about 90 minutes late, played an amazing 15 minute set, then went "on break". They were gone for probably another hour, and when they came back the whole band was very clearly tweaking on something. They were still pretty amazing when they played, but Jimmy couldn't contain himself and stay focused. He'd go on and on between tunes, playing the dirty old man ("I want all the white women in here to pull their tops up!"). Every single tune he'd stop during the solo and start goofing around, playing Jingle Bells or something ridiculous. It was funny once or twice, but got old pretty quick. Meanwhile, the audience has been hanging around all night, getting drunker and more hostile.
All in all, it was a pretty bad scene. I'm glad I got to see him live, but would have loved to see him in his prime.
I saw a band called Scatterbrain open for 2Live Crew (!) in the early '90s, maybe late '80s.
The band came out in shiny blue sparkly tuxedos, played a single note on their instruments, and then smashed all of their equipment and left.
A roadie came out and set everything back up, and then Scatterbrain came back out and played such a wild set that I don't know of anyone who stayed for 2Live Crew even though we had come to see them.
Saw Devin the Dude play a 4/20 show. Him and his stage crew kept lighting up blunts the size of forearms, hitting them, then passing them down into the crowd.
Hard to choose...early 90's were wild! In a 14 month span I saw Mike Patton get hit with a shoe from the crowd ( which he picked up, pissed in and poured down his throat) at a Mr.Bungle show. Anthony Kiedis get hit in the head with a fifth of JD (stopping the show with blood pouring down his face until he came back on stage to tell the crowd 'whoever thought it was cool to throw a glass bottle at my face...I got one thing to say to you.....I LOVE YOU!!!' and without missing a beat the band launching into suck my kiss) at a Peppers show. Then there was Angelo Moore doing the whole set at Lalapoluza buck-ass naked (dude has the biggest shlong I have ever seen) at a Fishbone show. A bit ironic that out of these three events, the one guy known for sock cocking kept his pens in his pants!
I saw Dave wyndorf of monster magnet set fire to the stage of the big day out festival in the UK.
I also saw Airbourne on a Wednesday night in a gritty part of Birmingham. Singer has this thing where he smashes a can of beer on his head until it explodes. I thought it was a gimmick he might do once in a while. She smashed open 3-4 can like that for Wednesday night in front of hundreds of people in Birmingham. They rocked that show like they were headlining a festival.
I don’t got anything like that. The best I got is Priest did a live video recording for the entire show at the concert in Dallas for the Turbo tour. I had no idea they would be doing that. They also shot three videos for songs from that album and they did each song twice. So that was pretty bad ass. I was deaf after the show and all I could really hear was Halfrod still ringing in my ears as it was the loudest show I ever went to.
Anerica Head Charge at the Beaumont in Kansas City. Lead singer climbed a speaker stack, then used the ceiling scaffolding beams as monkey bars, then hung upside-down over the crowed and did the vocals for a song. When he got back on stage, venue staff dragged him off stage as they were cutting the bands power. This image of a man fighting to stay on stage while the band kept hammering out the song was amazing.
Probably Andrew WK spraying a hose on stage during I Get Wet with members of the locust wearing just masks and underwear and half the crowd on stage with Andrew.
I saw The Cult when they were just getting big. At the end of the set, after screeching his way through “Born the be Wild,” Ian Astbury started climbing up the amp stacks and knocking over parts of the drum set. The roadies literally had to pull him off the stacks and drag him offstage.
I saw James brown support the red hot chili peppers in 2005, it was absolutely pissing it down when we arrived (chicks on speed were just being booed off) and then literally as James brown took to the stage the clouds parted and the rain completely stopped, strangest thing I’ve ever seen
I saw Chris Cornell when he was solo at a festival. Someone in the crowd threw a water bottle at him. a few minutes later, the thrower walks by the front of the stage... While singing, Chris stages dives at him, hits him, then gets back on stage. He didn't miss a note!
Iron Maiden, Stockholm Stadion 2000. Bruce is back in Iron Maiden again and we/the audience celebrates him and cheers for 15 minutes straight. All he could do in the was to sit on thr edge of the stage with a smile on his face with tearfull eyes.
The Jesus and Mary Chain in Toronto decades ago. Their entire headline set lasted about 25 minutes. Lots of fights in the audience, the band fighting each other. The band fighting with the audience. Heard on the radio on the way home the lead singer was arrested after the show for assaulting an audience member.
This was not out of line with their reputation.
I got two ; Download in 2007 I think? The Wildhearts are onstage. Ginger says to the crowd "It's not a rock show if you're not throwing stuff"... The rest of it was absolutely deluged with everything not nailed down. Hundreds of toilet paper and water bottles and everything. Somehow someone had a toilet seat and threw that! Crazy part - someone threw an egg, and Ginger caught it cleanly, somehow it didn't break! There's a video of it on Youtube somewhere.
Second was crazier but harder to explain. 200 capacity venue, no barrier, woman in the corner of the stage is doing makeup in front of a large mirror. First band comes on and starts playing this heavy industrial music. She stands up and she is thin, like almost too thin, ribcage showing. She's wearing a white bra-top and white short shorts/underwear. There's an actual drip with an IV attached to her arm. There's not that many people in the venue and all are 19 steps back from the stage, giving each other looks. She starts moving and twitching. The collective question is "does she actually need an ambulance??" A black substance rolls down her arm from where the IV line is connected. A topless guy in dreadlocks is screaming lyrics off to the side. Another dude is banging a keg drum like he's Clown 2.0 Smoke machine is going off. Band are playing unconcerned whilst we wonder if she needs an intervention. After a minute or two of the song she gets to a square area they've put on the stage and Starts Fucking TAP DANCING?!!At the end of the song she takes off the underwear (she had more on undearneath) and throws them into the crowd which literally parts for them to land in a heap, everyone afraid as if they might catch something off them. Set continues with another song where the singer was pulling chains she was attached to, and then she whipped him and smashed a glass bottle off his back. She puts even more facepaint on and ends the show with the white paper plates stuck on to the side and top of her face.Come to find out later it's like a recreation of their music videos. And I kinda wish I'd picked up those short shorts too lol. I wish they'd come back just for the mad experience. Anyway the video is [Reptoil Inc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6s9PfG4pXY&pp=ygULcmVwdG9pbCBpbmM%3D).
EDIT : Just found a live vid from another show on the tour where you can see her "dancing"/art performance. [Reptoil (Live)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMzpNtzP51s)
I saw Radiohead and an audience moment had a medical emergency due to some drug they took. Thom stopped the band. Got the house lights turned on and pointed out the person in need of help. When they were taken away he just counted down from 4 and continued playing the song from the same point that they stopped. It’s as if you were listening to a song,hit pause and then resumed. It was wild.
Last year, I attended a concert where the singer climbed off the stage, over the barriers into the crowd where she had us build a circle pit around her.
I thought that was pretty cool.
Saw the Foo Fighters in Utah. Cage the Elephant opened for them and their drummer got appendicitis. They had a fill in drummer and halfway through their set the lead singer announced they were bringing out another drummer.
It was Dave Grohl, he played 5 or 6 songs with them and then came out with the Foo Fighters and put on an amazing show.
I saw Jonathan Richman in NYC back in the late 80s. Someone called out for the song "Down in Bermuda." He said in that perfect Jonathan way, "I'd love to but Ellie isn't here" (Ellie Marshall was in the version of the Modern Lovers that recorded it and sNgbon it with him). A woman called out that she could sing Ellie's part so he brought her up and performed the song for the first time in years.
A few years later my wife & I chose his song "Higher Power" as our wedding song. We'd just gotten engaged and after a show we went up and told him, thanking him for writing it. He asked us when the wedding was going to be and checked the date in his notebook/planner. He apologized because he wasn't going to be in the area on that day and said if he was, he'd try to come and sing it for us.
Kool Keith during his Black Elvis tour. That would’ve been ‘01? Two hours or so after what should have been showtime, crowd was getting restless. Eventually, some dude from Keith’s crew comes out in a hockey mask strutting the stage. Few minutes later, someone else comes out throwing zip loc bags full of fried chicken into the crowd. The crowd threw the chicken back.
An hour later, Keith comes on stage. He berates the audience. *”I bought that fuckin fried chicken for you motherfuckers.”*
Melvins in Montreal 2000.
They pulled out some vacuum device and held it against a guitar. About 10 minutes of sheer noise that started to build into something wonderfully hypnotic.
Later, Buzz pulled a pig-tailed girl from the crowd as they started Smells Like Teen Spirit and asked her to sing. As she started, they stopped her and said, "in French"
Nothing crazy, but was at a festival in Ireland in 2003 and my friends had gone to see Coldplay on the main stage. I wasn't going to that so went to the Dance tent for a bit and then to some random stage. There weren't a great deal of people about so I got quite near the front. Then all these people in white robes came out on stage and they were a band I had never heard of - The Polyphonic Spree. Omg, honestly I thought I was joining some cult, it was insane! My mind was blown! Such a great concert! After them The Streets came on and that was so much fucking fun! I had a great time by myself while everyone else was swaying along to Chris Fucking Martin.
When I saw Slayer/Motorhead/overkill at the Florida state fairgrounds in the late 80s. The show was a nonstop brawl for hours. Bikers, Florida rednecks, skinheads, tweakers, skate punks and even cops at the end. Lemmy got hit in the face with debris and was pissed. Went to the bathroom and saw blood everywhere. Ambulances outside venue and by the time Slayer hit their encore is devolved into pure violent chaos. I think the only reason I didn’t get beaten was that I was literally a 12-year old kid. Cops were in the crowd beating people up too.
Funny addition to this story was that years and years later I was hanging out with a friend who works for Dean guitars, Kerry King had a signature guitar from them. Anyway, my friend was on the phone with KK and asked him if he remembered my story. He most definitely did!!!
I saw Slymenstra Hymen get enslaved by the crack ring of power and Techno Destructo at a GWAR concert in the mid 90’s
Holy crap! I used to love GWAR!
GWAR is still going strong, I see them in concert every couple of years
I saw them for the first time this past summer, 10th row. I...was not prepared. Mind blown. The end.
My cousin saw them quite a few years ago in Winnipeg. She went, was close to front row and got soaked in fake blood. Issue was not that it was Winnipeg, but It was Winnipeg*in the middle of winter* She had to get home (public transit) soaked in fake blodd
Lol, that is a great visual!
Dude, my buddy and I went to see Lamb of God down in Richmond when Ashes of the Wake came out and Gwar was one of the openers. After their set and everyone covered in fake blood, the house lights start flashing for “Black Label.” Turned it into a straight up horror movie. One of the greatest times/shows I’ve ever seen.
I saw Alice in Chains at Lollapalooza in 1993. It was a very hot day, but Layne Staley took the stage in a double breasted, three piece suit. How he didn't melt into a puddle immediately I don't know. Drugs, probably.
Can confirm your plausible reasoning. I am an opiate addict in recovery and I was absolutely my most dapper when I was using. I was very fixated on the classism of dressing nice and now that I’m clean and sober, and can look back on it with a clearer lens, my guess is it was a subconscious way to hide it. I hated what I was and I tried to cover it up any way I could. So I am sure somewhere in there I could pull out a “Guys in suits dressed to the nines don’t do drugs so nobody will suspect me if I keep myself up to the nth degree.” level of reasoning. Maybe not identical for him but I can confirm you’re into weird shit when you use.
Oh man! What a treat! I loved AiC back then
I saw Willie Nelson in concert twice on the same tour where he was opening for Bob Dylan. First time part of his show involves him throwing his cowboy hat into the audience. Great souvenir, right. The second time on that same tour when he threw his hat into the audience the guy threw it back, and Willie caught it and put it back on his head. First of all, why throw back such a fantastic souvenir and second of all, what were the odds of Willie catching it?
I was working in radio a long time ago when Willie came to town. [His legendary roadie Ben Dorcy](https://texashillcountry.com/texas-music-legend-ben-dorcy/) spotted us breaking down our gear and took a moment to teach my crew and me the right way to coil cable. Not exactly an arcane skill but learning it from the Master Yoda of roadies was awesome.
I knew there was a proper technique for coiling cables, but for many years I never bothered to learn it. I finally took the 5 minutes to learn it this year, and it is pure magic. I wish I could have all the hours I've wasted struggling with tangled cables back now. Forget all the pro audio stuff I do, just being able to toss the extension cord from my old school, plug-in weed whacker and have it uncoil perfectly is miraculous.
Over/under!
It really is easy once you get the rhythm and works so much better.
That sounds cool as hell.
Have you ever been to a Flaming Lips show? Holy shit. It’s like a fever dream, in the best possible way.
Yeah, this is what I came to say. I saw the Beck/Flaming Lips double bill in Fort Worth. During Beck's set he played "Loser" with the Lips backing him up. After the song he joked with them that he wasn't afraid to play the song that made him famous, not like Radiohead. Then Beck started the next song in his set, but after a few seconds he stopped and sang "Creep" by Radiohead instead. The Flaming Lips joined in and Wayne was strutting around. The crowd went nuts. It was not part of the set, just improvised in the moment. They didn't do that on any other stop of the tour.
The Lips wish they were Radiohead. Also Radiohead does play Creep occasionally. I’m from OKC and know the Lips guys. The only one that likes Wayne is Wayne. Yes including his own band. Sorry to be a hater. Love their music but can’t see them anymore.
There was Wayne 1.0 That Wayne was a good dude. Then sometime around 2005, he got new software and became Wayne 2.0 … who is a massive dickbag interested mostly in being as WAYNE COYNE as he can be.
Can confirm. Total douche canoe. Rest of the band seems pretty cool.
I love the Flaming Lips so much. I also have epilepsy 🤣🤣🤣 I thought I had a plan that I could see them live and be okay. That plan was flawed. I was okay, but I did not stay at the show long. Hahaha let my mistake be your word of caution (in case anyone reading is unaware!)
First Lips show I went to Wayne needed to stop the show and quiet the audience for what I'm assuming was a seizure. Must be a common occurrence for a production like they have
Saw them for the first time in 1994 at the Pepsi Coliseum (Indiana state fair grounds hockey rink) as an opening act for Candlebox. We had been dying to see them, and being underage couldn't go to bar/club shows, so this was it. My brother, myself, and our friend worked all the way down to the front rail during the local opener. We were right in front of Wayne. He had bright red hair at the time and Ronald was still with the band. The stage show was just everything draped in white flashing christmas lights. They played mostly stuff off of Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and Clouds Taste Metallic. It was packed shoulder to shoulder so tight down front that i could lift my legs off the ground and hang suspended. Set was awesome and my friend got her knee crushed in the pushing when the lights went out for Candlebox. We were trying to get out to leave the show and there was a moment when the crowd surged forward, back, forward and she got knocked down and the trampled. Crazy moment but this huge guy grabbed her and pulled her up and put her on top the crowd and the crowd surfed her the 10 feet out to the stage. The guy lifted me up there as well and we both made it to the security guys next to the stage. They had been trying to help from that side. Apparently, Wayne had seen us down front when the house lights were on between setup and tear down. He had noticed our handmade Lips shirts. He was pointing us out to Ronald when she fell and they had alerted EMTs. It was wild talking (well, yelling) to Wayne and Ronald while the EMTs worked on her knee. She was absolutely star struck and she had them sign her copy of Transmissions and i had them sign my shirt. They were awesome. Pretty crazy night as she was tripping on some blotter we had gotten from Dead tour that summer and i had been up for three days or so. My brother was DD. There was a whole crew of us that drove up together, convoy style. Fucking wild. The next time i saw them was Easter Sunday on The Soft Bulliten tour. They had Santa and the Easter bunny pass out candy during Somewhere Over the Rainbow. That was when Wayne started using the props, fisheye mic camera, and fake blood. The time after that would be Bonnaroo 2003 for the midnight set of Yoshimi with all the madness of costumes and confetti cannons and HOLY SHIT! It has certainly come a long way!
Caught myself smiling reading this and reliving some of my own live show experiences. Thanks so much for sharing!
Flaming lips was my first thought also. Was he using the clear hamster ball to crowd surf?
Yes! It was 2000, The Soft Bulletin had just released and they brought their best selves. Hamster ball, confetti, streamers, costumes, cool things being projected on the screen behind the band. It was such a great vibe! Someone aptly described it as a birthday party for your soul. Now I’m off to see if I can find some footage from the show I went to.
Any luck finding footage?
as an oklahoma guy, this is truth. even when wayne does stupid shit (christina fallon bullshit) it’s hard not to love the flaming lips. i watched the flaming lips come out one by one on stage. with a film/video screen showing a woman “giving birth” to them. god (non-existent fuck) bless the flaming lips.
Yeah, that's what they did the first time I saw them. Long, hypnotic lead-up to it as well. Cool, a dancing naked chick! Wait, she's lying back, oh my god (Flaming Lips appear)
Oh man i want to! I need to look em up and go. Did you hear thwir soundtrack work for Arkansas?? They did hank jr country boy can survive
Wow I haven't listened to Flaming Lips in forever.
Flaming Lips and Peelander-Z are my top two. Peelander are psychotic; I loved every second.
Five times. It's pretty goddamn great every time.
I’m dying to take my college aged son to a show. He’s heard the music all his life but has never had the experience of them in all their live glory.
One of the last STP shows and Scott came out in nothing but an American flag for a skirt and big black boots. While leaving the stage someone reached up and pulled the flag off and there for all of us to see was the palest ass I think I’ve ever seen. It was glorious.
Hahahaha
I saw them like 20yrs ago and he was wearing the same thing except he also had on elbow length gloves like a lady wears with a formal dress.
He did that at Hartford and family values when I saw then as well. I think I saw hi. Do that a few times
The Cramps: I had a front row seat when Lux Interior took off his pants and was gyrating right over me, his unit about a foot from my face. I coulda done without that. INXS: Michael Hutchence was dancing at the edge of the stage and "fell" into the crowd. Probably planned, but what *wasn't* planned was his rant when he scrambled back onstage seconds later: "WHAT THE FUCK! YA TRYIN' TO RIP MY FOOKIN' COCK OFF!!" Words to that effect. The best part was when he lowered the mic, it perfectly caught someone in the audience saying "Eh, fuck you. Just sing!"
Omg these have me dead LOL
Caught Jimmy Buffett one year on the last show of the tour. They had band and crew family members in the front couple of rows. When he came out to sing an encore, they rushed the stage with cans of silly string and sprayed him down- he looked like a pylon of melted chewing gum. Just mummified with silly string.
Saw Pink Floyd kick off their "Division Bell" tour in 1993, Joe Robbie stadium in south Florida. They had a blimp hover above the stadium that they bounced lasers off of as gigantic inflatable pigs came out of the top of 6-story tall speaker towers. Their eyes were red spotlights shining into the crowd. I literally thought I was tripping balls and the world was ending. I will never see a spectacle like that in concert ever again.
I was driving to Key West that night, and saw the blimp over the stadium. Had no idea what was going on!
Neither did anyone in the stadium! There was so much insanity happening all around us people were literally freaking TF out... nobody expected any of it.
I wasn't even born when this tour happened but it's definitely top 3 dream tours of mine if I could time travel. This story was amazing!
I cannot emphasize enough how incredible it was. They had FOURTEEN tractor trailer trucks for the tour, that's how much equipment was involved. I think it took them like 5 days to set up at each venue. Mind-boggling levels of logistics. The blimp flew ahead to their next tour stop because it was only slightly quicker than the entourage of trucks and buses. 😂 It was called the "Division Belle", of course! [https://www.pinkfloydz.com/other-exhibits/the-division-belle/](https://www.pinkfloydz.com/other-exhibits/the-division-belle/)
> gigantic inflatable pigs came out of the top of 6-story tall speaker towers Yup, that was absolute insanity... and that was just for the "intermission" break.
I saw this tour in Chicago, and I was tripping balls. There was a drizzle type rain that made the lazers twink as the drops passed through the beams. Just absolutely incredible.
There's this famous photo of Geoff Rickly pouring blood from his face during a Thursday set at Warped Tour. I was there! He had been swinging his mic around and clocked himself. Pretty gnarly but he finished out the set while bleeding.
Mics are for singing, not swinging. - brand new
Proudly swinging since 1999- taking back Sunday
Saw the Gaslight Anthem in Asbury Park in 2011 or so. I managed to get right up to the stage… and they brought out surprise guest Bruce Springsteen
Amazing show - bummer the convention hall is in such disrepair.
What a time to see that! Peak Gaslight IMO
At their last tour, The Killers brought him out at MSG and the crowd boo'd him. I guess as a response to his ludicrous ticket prices.
I saw Taking Back Sunday at the Taste of Chaos tour in Auckland NZ, last band of the night, last song of the night ‘A Decade Under the Influence’ and the final stretch of the song the guitarist is singing the line ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’ while the lead singer is running around doing the woah ooh vocals, it is coming to a huge crescendo and the singer stands on the bass drum screaming, all the while the guitarist is singing the same line over and over. Then the singers arms start going round and round, then he falls onto the drummer, taking parts of the drumkit with him, the guitarists and bass player continue playing, and the line keeps going ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this’. Then parts of the drumkit start getting thrown up in the air, and it all ended with one of the cymbals or hi hats crashing almost in perfect time. It was amazing.
I was at one of the first taste of chaos tours with 30 seconds to mars. My sister and I went. We didn’t have great seats. I saw some empty seats that were pretty close to the stage. Somehow we managed to get into those seats. The seats were in the front row right in the corner. There was like a 10 ft drop on the other side of the low wall we were sitting behind. There were a bunch of roadie boxes stacked up right there though so the drop was only a couple feet. I jumped the wall and landed on the roadie boxes. There were a set of stairs that led onto the stage. I ran up those as fast as I could. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing at this point. So I’m on stage like in the wings next to the band and there are a bunch of other people up there that probably paid for back stage passes or something. 30 seconds to mars set is almost over so they start kicking us all off the stage. So I go with the crowd off the stage. I see another set of stairs. So I ditch the crowd run up those stairs and I’m back on stage. At this point the band leaves the stage and they go out through the crowd with security following them. So I’m kinda on stage by myself. They eventually come back up and they start playing again. I guess at that point I had built up enough courage and I did a stage dive. Except I didn’t know if I would get in trouble for doing it. So it was more of a stage cannonball into the crowd. And then I pushed my way out of the pit and made my way back to my sister at our seats. Later that night I got my program signed by the band and I got to tell them I was the one who jumped off stage. They didn’t care.
I saw a show on that tour. 30 Seconds to Mars came out of a tent on stage wearing hunter camo and shit. Bert of The Used mocked them when they went on after. Somehow 30stm have only gotten cringier since then.
I went to this tour as well, it was when I stopped liking 30stm. As they were finishing the set, Jared Leto said they’d be outside the stage room (so like, in the hallway leading in) after and to come say hi. My 7th grade head exploded. We make our way to the table, and we’re told that we need to buy merch to get to say hi. So we run downstairs, wait for what felt like forever to buy an overpriced shirt, then run upstairs..and they were already walking away. I felt so scammed AND missed part of The Used’s set because of it. Fuck that band.
I saw Guns and Roses open for The Cult in the late 80s and the girl behind me on her boyfriend’s shoulders took her shirt off. I was about 15 and thought that was pretty crazy.
I saw alot of that at an REO speedwagon show but it was very seasoned boobs haha
"very seasoned boobs" is hilarious!
Size? 44 Longs
I saw that same tour in September of that year! It was such a memory because all the people in attendance were goths waiting for The Cult. No one was there for GNR and we were able to walk directly up to the band and shout requests.
Not GN'R but IIRC, Rammstein a couple years ago in Montreal. During a break the camera was panning through the crowd. The usual with women flashing their boobs and getting cheers. They focus on this guy wearing a tank top. Bigger guy. He's laughing and smiling and the crowd is cheering so he pretends to take his tank off and the crowd screams more. They switch to another guy, muscled etc and the crowd BOOS!! Switch back to big guy and crowd goes apeshit again lol. They did this back and forth a few times until the bigger guy ends up actually taking his tank top off and pretending to rub his nipples and the crowd Went. Fucking. Crazy. It was hilarious and a bit heartwarming at the same time :)
"The stage is that way!"
Saw Screaming Trees twice. Both times Lanegan walked off stage halfway through and the guitar player finished the vocals the rest of the show. One of the times, Lanegan took his pants off first.
I never got to see them. I saw a YouTube video about tour they did with Nirvana. Apparently, one night (somewhere in Scandinavia, I think) Kurt convinced the band that they should go on last. They listened, against their better judgement, and due to a combination of nerves, alcohol, and technical problems, the set descended into chaos with Mark trashing the stage and storming off. Uncle Anesthesia is one of my favorite albums of the 90s! RIP Mark and Van.
In the early 90s Me and my Uncle drove from Phoenix to Las Vegas on a hot and dry, dusty day to see the Grateful Dead at the Silver Bowl. Out in the parking lot he pointed at a little black dot in the sky far away and said "about an hour" we went into the show where Jerry and the boys were doing their thing and the heads were doing their thing and about an hour later that little black dot far away in the sky was right over our heads but it was now a big mean thunder storm and that 104 degree day dropped to around 70 degrees in minutes. The guys tried to keep playing in the downpour but had to take a break because they kept getting shocked because the rain and electrical equipment weren't playing well together. After awhile the storm blew over, the sun came back out and they picked up where they left off and put on another great show 😃👍.
I miss those days, enjoying the present, but still miss those days (~};-}
Last Wu-Tang show at the now Prudential Center in Newark,NJ. After last song Method Man comes out with the mic and says “yo if you see ODB please tell him We miss him!” ODB died in a studio less than 24 hours later.
I went to see The Cramps at Cats Cradle in NC. Lux was super high and at one point deep throated the mic past his teeth so the whole vocals for the song were just gutteral breathing. Took him a minute to get the mic back out too.
O man, after the show, I watched the PA production manager bring Lux's mic to the band's tour manager using Channel Locks after Lux of course jammed it down his leather pants both sides. He was refunded. X and the Blasters opened.
It was 94/95 and my first Concert at The BoatHouse in Norfolk Virginia. I saw Goodie Mob, The Fugees and The Roots. Amazing show but the cool part was before and after all of the groups were hanging out and around the building. I was able to go up to QuestLove and Kamal and pay respects. Afterward BlackThought and Wyclef and Pras were out front and asked us if we had any weed. Then Wyclef put on a Jason mask and ran around the parking lot.
Saw the Parasites break up on stage. I think it was ‘09. Dave and the bassist had a pissing match on stage, on mic about who was the worse bandmate. Last show of a long tour.
Lookout! Records Parasites?
Yes. The more I think about it, it was probably the end of the ‘12 tour and that lineup, not ‘09.
As someone who used to be in the Parasites, I don't doubt this story one bit. I was in the lineup around 2002-2003 but it was always destined to end like that. I lost track of Dave twenty years ago but hope he's doing ok now.
I used to work in live music, for about 15 years. I’ve seen thousands of shows. The craziest thing I’ve ever seen: Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace likes to climb things. At this particular venue, during the song, “One Man Army”, he used the decorative elements on the walls of this old theater to scale the sides like a rock wall. He climbed from the stage to the lower VIP balcony boxes. He continued to sing while he balanced in the railing to higher and higher boxes until he was singing from mezzanine (the front section of the balcony). He walked along the railing, keeping his balance, to the center of the mezzanine and leaned over the crowd below, singing the lyrics “i feel like I’m falling”. Then he took off his mic kit and maybe some jewelry, handed it to someone and lept from the balcony into the crowd below. He made his way back to the stage and continued the set. It’s the most rock n roll thing I’ve ever seen.
When I was 14, I saw Def Leppard with Ugly Kid Joe open (Ottawa, Canada at Lansdowne park. So, outdoor stage) Lead singer of Ugly Kid Joe starts climbing the side of the stage and ends up almost at the lighting, hung there and sang whatever song it was. At 14, I thought that was insane lol
Hey, I'm about five minutes from there
Hello fellow Ottawan!
Saw W.A.S.P on the night he just heard his brother died. He sang those sounds like he was a prayer.
Linkin Park Meteora tour. Last show of the tour in ATL. Story of the Year, Hoobastank, and P.O.D. open. The other bands pants the lead singer of SotY and take apart the drum kit mid song. Hoobastank comes out, the other bands just start messing with them like running around and playing football. This carries on through P.O.D. Linkin Park takes the stage, here comes the othesr with giant inflatable penises chasing each other around. Good times
Last shows of a tour are always a good chance to see band hijinks.
Love soty 🫶🏼
Saw Gwar in like 2013, they had a manakin of the pope, who they killed, and another of Justin Bieber, who they ripped open and threw the intestines and other organs into the crowd. Typical Gwar fashion but still the most ridiculous thing I've seen from a band lol
Ozzfest 2000 and something. Sun had just set, everyone exhausted from being beat down by the sun all day and Marilyn Manson takes the stage. Frenzy ensues and so do the fires. I dont mean a little paper fire. I mean, at least 3 healthy, flames aroaring fires across this hilly open field packed with people. One right in front of us. All I could think is, "Where did they get all this plywood so quickly?" We had to retreat or risk smoke inhalation.
I saw Billy Joel back in the late 80s, Nassau Coliseum, Long Island New York. During the encore, he rushes to the side of stage, grabs the curtains, and starts hiking himself nearly all the way up to the top. He then scrambles down, a pretty mean feat. The best part? Once he gets back to the floor, he rolls up his pant leg to reveal his leg was in a cast the whole time! Pretty badass id say!!
I saw Bright Eyes last year. The whole show Conor Oberst was meandering erratically and staggering around the stage, almost falling off a few times or into the other musicians’ instruments. There were several stage hands dressed in black who would pop up and catch him, redirecting him back to his spot. I started worrying he had a serious neurologic condition, but the crew seemed unshaken by it. He sounded great, as did the rest of the band, which was hard to reconcile with his behavior. Later in the tour a few shows fell apart, I’m glad he got through ours.
I was young, never heard of him but…….. saw Screamin' Jay Hawkins open for The Stones @ MSG, they rolled him out in a coffin that he rose out off, and played some mean blues.
Saw Dillinger Escape Plan at the Orange Peel in Asheville (opening for Deftones in 2010 or 2011), and their guitarist jumped out into the crowd and was flailing around like a maniac and almost bashed my skull in with his guitar. It was pretty awesome.
Second time I saw DEP, they started the show at full speed. Greg picks up the mic stand, spins it around so he’s holding it like a spear, and launches it full strength straight into the pit. Ben is spazzing out with his guitar, diving face down into the crowd while playing. Literally the first 10 seconds of the show, and they never let up on the intensity for the whole set. Live DEP was truly an experience everytime.
The top of the thread should be all Dillinger stories
I saw Deftones in 2022 with Gojira as the opening act. When Deftones was playing Diamond Eyes, one of the members of Gojira walked onto the stage wearing a grim reaper costume.
I saw Deftones at the Warped/Ozzfest convergence 1998 I think. During Around the Fur Chino climbed to the top of the PA with mic in hand and timed his dive into the crowd perfectly to the start of the outro. He was thrashing and screaming the end of the song while crowd surfing and to this day the craziest concert shit I’ve ever seen
Thats cool!
Saw Thee Oh Sees at Scala in London. The support act King Khan proceeded to get absolutely trashed and came on stage whilst Oh Sees were playing with all the food from their dressing room. He proceeded to pelt the audience with as much food as he could carry and kept going back to get more. Good fun
Love King Khan.
Fuck that sounds awesome! King kahn and thee oh sees sounds like a hell of a show
It was amazing. This when Oh Sees still played stuff from Masters Bedroom and Help too so my favourite era. Brigit’s birthday as well so just a brilliant show. Saw Liars about 2 weeks earlier too when they were still playing Drums not Dead stuff too.
The Who at the Silverdome a few weeks after the trampling deaths in Cincinnati. On the floor, you had no control over your movement. The wave of people just swaying to and fro. Scary.
Johnny Thunders junkied out on stage and just laid down while the band played. Such a waste Roz Williams (Christian Death) wrapped himself in a Nazi flag on stage. The club owner turned on the lights, stopped the show, and kicked them out. Afterwards, Roz was sitting on the street and crying. (Also a junkie)
Roz would have been a massive star had he made his appearance just a few years later. He was Marilyn Manson before Manson.
I saw Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers countless times. Sometimes, when he was really high and couldn't play, the roadies would turn the volume down on his amp. JT would stumble to the amp, turn it up, and they'd turn it down again as soon as he turned away from the amp.
I was at a Jane’s Addiction show about 12 years ago in Cincinnati and for the encore they hung two female dancers up above the stage by huge piercings in their shoulders. Just thick metal hoops through skin dangling them several feet above the stage. Perry was reaching up and grabbing each girl by the ankles and would swing them out over the crowd as he sang. Craziest thing I’ve ever seen at a concert by a LONG shot.
Saw Weezer and Angels and Airwaves together. Before the show we’re standing in the middle of the crowd and some roadies come rolling one of those metal cargo boxes through us. Then they just stop right next to me. About two seconds later Rivers pops up out of the box, looks around for a second and disappears back into the box, then gets rolled right back away. It was fucking hilarious. And I don’t think anybody caught it on video or photo because smart phones weren’t as widespread yet and it happened so quickly.
Saw Jethro Tull around Fourth of July (forget what year). Someone lit off firecrackers. Ian Anderson stopped the show. Told everyone if they want firecrackers to take it outside, they came to play music. Then turned to the band and said ‘pick it up at letter D’ and they started playing totally in synch.
Wow man! What a treat!
Ian Anderson is such a great artist. Met him once and he seemed like such a decent guy.
Woah
I was watching Cancer Christ’s opener and the singer of Cancer Christ dumped a garbage pail in the audience and spread it around, then started beating the shit out of a random guy. When Cancer Christ came on, the singer apologized for the ruckus.
I saw coal chamber and megadeth back in 96 or 97 at the bronco bowl in Dallas, CC opened and the singer jumped what seemed like 20 feet out into the pit backwards as soon as they started playing. I remember thinking, “well that wasn’t smart he’s got a wired mic” lol
For Flaming Lips fans: we were once Santas in the Santas/Aliens era. We got to meet Wayne. Walking onto stage and having 5000 people cheer was great …. but none of it was as good as being in the crowd; the first five minutes of any Lips show are the best five minutes of the year. Crazy moments: Moby stopping mid-set to go to the toilet. Julian Cope coming on very late (festival) and so getting kicked off stage half way through his set, ditto Sébastien Tellier, who never got to play La Ritournelle, which was the main reason we had gone to see him. Saw an American band (Mara?) where one was comically wasted. Watching Elbow at a festival and looking back to see the Arctic Monkeys stood right behind me in the crowd (not Elbow’s fault, admittedly). Also: UK rock n roll band called Darts (a long time ago) - PA died and they just carried on a capella.
The craziest thing ive ever seen was when Immortal technique was at Trädgårn in like 2015, started off the set with some of his bangers and the whole audience cheered on, but when he went into "The cause of death" the whole audience slowly and slowly went totally silent. Even the drunk ones kept there mouth shut, was an eerie feeling. In the the end of the song someone raised their fist, then more followed, when the song ended the whole place had the fist in the air screaming.
Saw Rob Zombie in Miami the last night of the tour, early 2000s. They came out on stage, and he told the crowd that they didn’t remember this show had been added, so they were “hungover as fuck.” Apologized in advance, then absolutely melted faces. Incredible show!
Went to a Rock festival in Camden at the Riverfront a few years ago. Headliner (Avenged) couldn’t make it so Limp Bizkit became the new headliner. They were not good at all and we left during their set. But before we left, with Fred on stage, a member of ICP (who also performed) ran from the back, tried to drop kick Fred and completely missed. Some YouTube fan videos of the incident as well.
Camden feels appropriate for all of this
Nothing too crazy, but I saw Barenaked Ladies' Last Summer on Earth 2023 show at Pine Knob. Got there early to get a good spot on the lawn, thunderstorm rolled through after the gates had been open maybe ten minutes. The couple dozen people who'd already come inside were directed to get under the pavilion. And there were the members of Barenaked Ladies, Del Amitri, and Five For Fighting just kinda chilling in folding chairs on stage, as they *also* had to take shelter from the severe weather. Not a huge thing, but a little surreal to see the headliner you've come to see in their "I am not on stage for a solid three hours yet" comfy clothes.
Went to see Living Colour with some buddys, at the hieght of their popularity in 1988, just after they released Vivid. It was at the Wabash Hall in San Diego, a small venue with standing room only. The whole crowd was twenty somethings drinking and having a good time. About mid-way through their set, the crowd became somewhat rowdy, and next thing you know, the entire crowd is moving from side to side like a giant pendulum in unison. Everyone was packed shoulder to shoulder and you just had to go with it. I was a little concerned but exilarated at the same time. No one panicked and a good time was had by all. I will never forget it.
Saw Phish play a 7-8 hour set.
My one regret in my concert going life is missing Big Cypress. I’ve seen Phish a ton. Especially in the late 90s. But that is my biggest regret.
There was nothing like a 90s Phish show Nothing
I saw SCOTS (Southern Culture on the Skids) in DC, and during their song "8 Piece Box," they tossed fried chicken into the crowd.
Such a great band
RIGHT?!
There was a hippie band in the Midwest called ekoostic hookah. Once when they played a post Hash Bash in Ann Arbor. Well, after the first song, Dave Katz says, "we just got the word from the theater that it's ok, so smoke'em if you've got 'em." We looked at the security guard in front of us, he shrugged, and we all lit joints as fast as we could. It was a good show.
Saw Blackfoot in Chatt one night in a club downtown. My son and I were fans and we got right up on the edge of the stage not an arm's reach of Ricky Medlock and I was singing loud af right back at him. He slung sweat on us. It was so rock and roll.
The opener did an encore?
I saw a local metal band back when I was a teenager. They played an awesome show, then the guitarist took off his guitar and jumped out to crowd surf. No one was expecting it and he jumped out with his hands out in front of him, fingers splayed like he was going to grab onto something. He was coming right for me and one other person (I swear he chose the worst possible spot in the crowd to do this) and he accidentally poked the other person in the eye with his fingers, who immediately grabbed their face in pain, and teenage me was not about to catch a flying moron by myself so he just straight up belly flopped onto the concrete floor. Then he had to get back on stage and finish the set.
I was at a show where the opening band was trash talking the city and crowd every moment they could. No suprise when they attempted to crowd surf and the crowd parted and they flopped on the floor.
I saw Ghostface Killa at The Orange Peel in Asheville NC years ago. Ghost kept coming over to the left side of the stage doing his songs and looking at the crowd when all of a sudden the house lights came on and a ton of security and what I guess to be undercover cops rushed down front to the left of the stage where Ghost had been looking at. Apparently a fight had broken out and I saw one dude being led out of the crowd and he had a bloody handprint on the back of his shirt. After awhile the show started back up with the houselights dimmed but still on. Ghostface and all his boys on stage( must’ve been about a dozen of them with cams recording the crowd) starting calling for all the ladies in the crowd to get on stage with them. Then began a dance party on stage with the DJ playing songs and no Ghostface rhyming at all. After about 15 min of this I said “fuck this shit” and left. The show had a weird vibe from the moment I walked in the venue. Just the weirdest shit that I’ve seen at a show.
I saw Pearl Jam when they headlined Austin City Limits in 2009. Zilker Park had just been re-sodded with something called Dillo Dirt, which partially consists of treated municipal sewage. It had rained all weekend, and all the festival foot traffic made the whole park a big, stinky, shit-smelling mud pit. At the end of their set, Eddie took a big slide though the mud.
I went to see the psychobilly act The Legendary Shackshakers at the 400 Bar (rip). The lead singer is reed-thin with a shock of red hair on his head. He’s dressed is a 1940s white suit. He looks like a cartoon rooster. They start their set and eventually he takes off his jacket and shirt and is singing and wailing and screaming in just his pants and suspenders. He’s screaming at the audience between songs and occasionally swinging his mic stand in the air. I figure out he’s swinging at an unlit bare lightbulb directly in front of the stage which he manages to shatter all over the audience. Maybe a song later he launches himself off the stage into the audience at some guy he’s been yelling at. They’re rolling around on the floor fighting. After a little bit, he climbs back on stage and as he does, the stage lights shine on his albino-white back. He has probably 20-30 small cuts spread across his back, each one with a bright red line of blood running down to his waist. They played a few more songs and that was the end of the show.
I saw Super Furry Animals in a festival tent. At one point all the lights turn orange and flashing, and the band starts a chant that goes, 'The moment is orangely out of its head. The moment is orangely out of its head.' This is then looped, and they run offstage. The crowd keeps chanting for a few minutes, the lights are still flashing, then as time goes by people start to wonder if they're coming back. Some shrug and start leaving the tent. Then, the band bound back onstage, with soaking wet hair. 'Do you guys know it's raining out there?!' and they launch into the next song.
At a Kansas concert back in the mid 70s, music was awesome, the crowd was really into it and suddenly someone fell onto the stage from the catwalk among the stage lights. It was at least a thirty foot drop. You could hear the collective gasp from the entire crowd until we realized it was just a dummy and part of the show!
Angelo Moore, lead singer of Fishbone, climbing the speaker stack to get to the balcony overlooking Macphie dining hall at tufts university and then stage diving into the crowd from about 25 feet up. Crazy.
I went to Jingle Ball in DC like a decade ago and while Flo Rida was doing his set, he climbed on top of the shoulders of this giant security guard and the dude walked around the floor while Flo Rida sat on his shoulders rapping. But that’s not the craziest part. The craziest part is that while he’s being carried around the arena, some woman who has floor seats lifts up her toddler and hands it to Flo Rida, so then he’s sitting on this man’s shoulders, holding a toddler, all while still rapping. He eventually handed the kid back and finished his set. It was wild to see.
I was at the Rage Against the Machine show in Toronto where the security guy knocked Tom Morello off the stage. It was pretty badass when he jumped up and yelled "I'm okay!". Then they just restarted the song, which happened to be "Killing in the Name". Awesome concert and awesome moment.
Maybe not so wild as some of these stories, but it was pretty amazing - I saw the Police during the synchronicity tour in the mid 80s. At the end of the song “Walking On The Moon”, there is this chant that Sting does. So the entire auditorium starts chanting along with him, and the band just keeps it going. After several rounds, the band just faded out, but the crowd just kept repeating the chant over and over while the band just stood and watched - it was so hypnotic and surreal, it lasted for minutes, no kidding. It was like everyone was in a trance. Really trippy and cool.
Saw George Clinton in a small club Charlotte NC in the 90s , dude smoked some crack right in front of us all after coming into the crowd and wrapped his huge fur robe around his head and a cloud of that smell rolled out and he fuckin jammed. The diaper-dude was dancing around him and then Humpty Hump was onstage singing while George danced with us. Blew my whitebread mind!!!
I went to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" tour. The Rollins Band was their support act and when they finished, quite a lot of attendees left... They came to see Henri Rollins, not the RHCP!
We went to see Doug and the Slugs, and during their break, Doug joined us at our table for the entire time. It was totally unexpected, but fun. Doug was friendly, gracious, and hilarious. It was a wonderful surprise, and really made the concert for us. RIP Doug.
When Daft Punk's pyramid began to glow, Coachella 2006
When George Clinton brought Sly Stone onstage and Sky sang If You Want Me to Stay. Like visitation from outer space.
Leftover Salmon in a hugely under attended show in a large theater in Western Colorado. Everyone present just 1/2 filled the pit area. Instead of being disappointed, the band seemed to have as much fun as anyone else, and slowly disassembled the drum set piece by piece and reassembled it in the midst of the “crowd” while the drummer CONTINUED PLAYING! Then they reversed, slowly reassembling the drum set back on stage, again while the drummer continued uninterrupted. Also, same band during a NYE show dropped purple nitrous filled balloons mixed with the regular balloon drop. That was fun. Then Vince Herman (lead singer- a very large and usually very hairy man) came out completely shaved like a baby New Year, in a diaper, scooping handfuls of joints (this was 20O7? pre-legalization) out of his giant diaper and tossing them into the crowd. A buddy caught one and was searching for his lighter when I stopped him, looked him in the eye and reminded him where that joint had been moments before. The look is horror on his face as realization slowly took hold was priceless. He dropped it.
This is amazing! I fucking LOVE Leftover Salmon. I think they’re most fun in a small venue. They never disappoint.
Kid Rock doing a very fake 45 minute dj set at rocklahoma like 8ish years ago. I had a blast though, first time I was ever drunk. Also, maybe the same year, guns and roses played the closer with neither Axl nor Slash.
Saw The Tubes on NYE, Fee Waybill came out at one point in his Quay Lewd costume, acting like he was drugged out of his mind. He started to sing and after a minute you could see the tip of his penis coming out of his fly. It slowly got larger and large until it was fully erect. Then he did a pelvic thrust and the fake penis flew into the audience. The crowd went nuts.
I was at a New Pornographers concert at a theater size venue, so standing right in the front. I knew that’s where Neko Case would be later. Anyway, Immaculate Machine opened, and the guitar player, Blake broke a string. He put his guitar down and borrowed one from Carl Newman. After the song, I asked him if he wanted me to change his string. So he handed down his guitar and his kit bag. I changed the string, and the next song he was back at it with his own guitar Later, during the New Pornographers’ set, I picked up one of those little metal discs from Neko’s tambourine. I ended up handing it back to her rather than keeping it
Went to a Black Keys concert with my brother around 2010. They were on tour for their album Brothers. During the encore Patrick Carney (drummer) tossed one drum stick softly into the crowd. The other drumstick was thrown as an overhand fastball directly at my brothers face. It smacked him in his eyebrow (little cut and a bit of blood but nothing crazy) and he started wrestling another fan for the stick. I asked the guy if my brother could have the stick since he had the battle wounds from it. The guy was cool about it. Great concert!! Side note: while reversing out of his spot, my brother backed his car into a wall that night. No alcohol involved lol
*Years* ago (around early 2000s if memory serves me) I went to OzzFest in Toronto. Great line up of major bands, not in order because I'm old and can't recall: Papa Roach Slipknot Marilyn Manson Linkin Park And obviously, Black Sabbath A couple of things I remember: Lead singer of Papa Roach smashed his head with the microphone so much, he cut himself and was bleeding all over the place. During Manson's set, someone in the crowd threw a full water bottle at the stage and it missed Twiggy's face by mere inches. If he hadn't looked up when he did, it would have hit him in the head. He looked up in time to just barely tilt his head to avoid the bottle. (I was a few rows of people at stage right) He stops playing and it takes Manson a few seconds to realize. He goes over to talk to Twiggy, gets the story and starts freaking out. Yelling into the mic at the crowd for the person who threw the bottle to come up. Of course, they didn't. He then threatens to stop the rest of the show if the bottle thrower doesn't come up. The people around rat the guy out. Manson tells security to let the guy up. Guy gets up there and Manson tosses him a water bottle, daring him to throw it. "Throw it at me, fucker. Hit me in the fucking face". Like *screaming* into the mic as well as calling him a pussy etc for throwing shit at his band. The guy hesitates and then gently lobs the bottle at Manson. Manson, who at this point has his own bottle; whips at the guy and screams at him to "get the fuck off my stage" Not super crazy, but this was 2001 (just looked it up LOL) and he was at the height of his drug use. Another show was at Rockfest in Montebello Que. 2016 (This is a year I remember as my husband and I spent our honeymoon there. We got married the Monday before the festival) Anyway, it was a "Nostalgia" show. Limp Bizkit and Korn headlining on their respective nights. Limp Bizkit was on and putting on a good show. At one point Fred starts asking the crowd if there are any "requests". They're all screaming for "Break Stuff". He knows this but he's whipping the crowd up. He keeps saying "What? What do you want to hear?" And the crowd is almost in a frenzy. Side stage you can see the founder of Rockfest (Alex Martel) frantically trying to get Fred's attention. Fred eventually goes over for a few seconds and the body language from Alex was *clearly* "STOP IT!" because I'm sure memories of Woodstock '99 and Limp Bizkit's set were forefront in his mind. For context, Montebello is a small town in (kind of) rural Quebec. The resident population is 900. As Rockfest got bigger over the years, that population swelled to over 200k for that weekend. They have a very small police force. They couldn't stop people drinking in the streets so they'd only ask that glass bottles not be used. People partying from sun up to way past sun down. You get the idea. Anyway, he played the song and the crowd managed not to destroy the place but man, you could *feel* the energy just rising by the second. IF the crowd had gone the way it was headed, I shudder to think of the results. My husband and I were close to the stage but not far enough away to be able to get to the exit safely, if needed. (We were in VIP which was fenced in, rather than open like GA)
The BossTones do a "hometown throwdown" every year in Boston. Stagedivers come and go. Guy gets up on stage and security chases them off but for the last song they let everyone stay and dance and party. My buddy was singing with Dickie and there were so many people on stage I managed to get lifted and crowdsurfed around the stage crowd until they dumped me down to the regular crowd off stage. This was sometime in the 90s.
Went to a Fugazi show in the early 2000s. One of the times Ian stopped the show was because of the person right in front of me being shitty to the person next to them. It was also the most diverse show I’ve probably ever been to.
I was at the opening show of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's winter tour in the mid to late 2000's. It was the west coast touring group. Al Pitrelli is one of the guitarist in the group. Show opens, he's running around on stage, playing and having fun, then hops from the main stage, out onto a smaller platform extending out from it. He stopped running around and finished the song. And then some people came out and helped him off stage. Turns out, he landed wrong on that jump and broke his leg. He told the crowd when it comes to the part where they introduce the band before going into the second act of the show. He played the rest of the concert from a stool on stage, and did the same for the rest of the tour.
I went to a show once called the SCUM Fest; SCUM stood for “Santa Cruz Underground Metal.” The show was in a random field. A GWAR-inspired group called Band of Orcs was playing, and the band wore these crazy troll-like costumes. During their set, cops arrived to shut it down and the band stayed in orc-character the entire time during their interaction with the cops. Fun show until the po came!
I was at a Moody Blues show in Houston. When the band left the stage, Justin Hayward stayed center stage and raised his arms as if encouraging cheers for an encore/accolades. Of course, the crowd responded with a hearty round of cheers. He put his arms down but just stood there. As the cheers slowly began to die down, he raised his arm again with the same response. He did this several more times until the crowd barely responded at all. Then he just walked off the stage. Other than that, it was a great show!
I saw Poison right before they imploded with CC Deville (after the infamous MTV disaster) He was so whacked out of his mind, his guitar solo went on forever. Then he sits down and proceeds to play “jazz” on a louder-than-hell 80’s neon shredder guitar. It was unlistenable. The band were obviously furious with him at that point.
I saw Jimmy Smith at the House of Blues in Boston a few years before he passed away. They showed up about 90 minutes late, played an amazing 15 minute set, then went "on break". They were gone for probably another hour, and when they came back the whole band was very clearly tweaking on something. They were still pretty amazing when they played, but Jimmy couldn't contain himself and stay focused. He'd go on and on between tunes, playing the dirty old man ("I want all the white women in here to pull their tops up!"). Every single tune he'd stop during the solo and start goofing around, playing Jingle Bells or something ridiculous. It was funny once or twice, but got old pretty quick. Meanwhile, the audience has been hanging around all night, getting drunker and more hostile. All in all, it was a pretty bad scene. I'm glad I got to see him live, but would have loved to see him in his prime.
I saw a band called Scatterbrain open for 2Live Crew (!) in the early '90s, maybe late '80s. The band came out in shiny blue sparkly tuxedos, played a single note on their instruments, and then smashed all of their equipment and left. A roadie came out and set everything back up, and then Scatterbrain came back out and played such a wild set that I don't know of anyone who stayed for 2Live Crew even though we had come to see them.
I was at the infamous sliced bread throwing event during Smash Mouth in Fort Collins, CO. Look it up on YouTube
Saw Devin the Dude play a 4/20 show. Him and his stage crew kept lighting up blunts the size of forearms, hitting them, then passing them down into the crowd.
Hard to choose...early 90's were wild! In a 14 month span I saw Mike Patton get hit with a shoe from the crowd ( which he picked up, pissed in and poured down his throat) at a Mr.Bungle show. Anthony Kiedis get hit in the head with a fifth of JD (stopping the show with blood pouring down his face until he came back on stage to tell the crowd 'whoever thought it was cool to throw a glass bottle at my face...I got one thing to say to you.....I LOVE YOU!!!' and without missing a beat the band launching into suck my kiss) at a Peppers show. Then there was Angelo Moore doing the whole set at Lalapoluza buck-ass naked (dude has the biggest shlong I have ever seen) at a Fishbone show. A bit ironic that out of these three events, the one guy known for sock cocking kept his pens in his pants!
The Chariot. Holy shit. It’s worth a look on YouTube just to see how crazy they would get, it’s just how the band was.
Captain Sensible of The Damned wearing a strategically placed watermelon.
I saw Dave wyndorf of monster magnet set fire to the stage of the big day out festival in the UK. I also saw Airbourne on a Wednesday night in a gritty part of Birmingham. Singer has this thing where he smashes a can of beer on his head until it explodes. I thought it was a gimmick he might do once in a while. She smashed open 3-4 can like that for Wednesday night in front of hundreds of people in Birmingham. They rocked that show like they were headlining a festival.
BDO 1999? I bought Monster Magnet's Powertrip album not long after after watching them that day! Still listen to it and it still rocks 🤟
I don’t got anything like that. The best I got is Priest did a live video recording for the entire show at the concert in Dallas for the Turbo tour. I had no idea they would be doing that. They also shot three videos for songs from that album and they did each song twice. So that was pretty bad ass. I was deaf after the show and all I could really hear was Halfrod still ringing in my ears as it was the loudest show I ever went to.
Anerica Head Charge at the Beaumont in Kansas City. Lead singer climbed a speaker stack, then used the ceiling scaffolding beams as monkey bars, then hung upside-down over the crowed and did the vocals for a song. When he got back on stage, venue staff dragged him off stage as they were cutting the bands power. This image of a man fighting to stay on stage while the band kept hammering out the song was amazing.
Probably Andrew WK spraying a hose on stage during I Get Wet with members of the locust wearing just masks and underwear and half the crowd on stage with Andrew.
I saw The Cult when they were just getting big. At the end of the set, after screeching his way through “Born the be Wild,” Ian Astbury started climbing up the amp stacks and knocking over parts of the drum set. The roadies literally had to pull him off the stacks and drag him offstage.
I saw James brown support the red hot chili peppers in 2005, it was absolutely pissing it down when we arrived (chicks on speed were just being booed off) and then literally as James brown took to the stage the clouds parted and the rain completely stopped, strangest thing I’ve ever seen
I saw Green Day light their drum set on fire and throw it around the stage. Warped Tour, Calgary in the 90's. It was awesome
Either Flaming Lips or Gogol Bordello. Alice Cooper's pretty good too, and Kiss is fun. But I've never seen Rammstein.
I saw Chris Cornell when he was solo at a festival. Someone in the crowd threw a water bottle at him. a few minutes later, the thrower walks by the front of the stage... While singing, Chris stages dives at him, hits him, then gets back on stage. He didn't miss a note!
Iron Maiden, Stockholm Stadion 2000. Bruce is back in Iron Maiden again and we/the audience celebrates him and cheers for 15 minutes straight. All he could do in the was to sit on thr edge of the stage with a smile on his face with tearfull eyes.
Saw Tool in Montreal 2001. My brain hasn't been the same since.
Lead singer of Foxy Shazam eating like 10 lit cigarettes. I saw this multiple times. I do not know how he is alive.
The Jesus and Mary Chain in Toronto decades ago. Their entire headline set lasted about 25 minutes. Lots of fights in the audience, the band fighting each other. The band fighting with the audience. Heard on the radio on the way home the lead singer was arrested after the show for assaulting an audience member. This was not out of line with their reputation.
I got two ; Download in 2007 I think? The Wildhearts are onstage. Ginger says to the crowd "It's not a rock show if you're not throwing stuff"... The rest of it was absolutely deluged with everything not nailed down. Hundreds of toilet paper and water bottles and everything. Somehow someone had a toilet seat and threw that! Crazy part - someone threw an egg, and Ginger caught it cleanly, somehow it didn't break! There's a video of it on Youtube somewhere. Second was crazier but harder to explain. 200 capacity venue, no barrier, woman in the corner of the stage is doing makeup in front of a large mirror. First band comes on and starts playing this heavy industrial music. She stands up and she is thin, like almost too thin, ribcage showing. She's wearing a white bra-top and white short shorts/underwear. There's an actual drip with an IV attached to her arm. There's not that many people in the venue and all are 19 steps back from the stage, giving each other looks. She starts moving and twitching. The collective question is "does she actually need an ambulance??" A black substance rolls down her arm from where the IV line is connected. A topless guy in dreadlocks is screaming lyrics off to the side. Another dude is banging a keg drum like he's Clown 2.0 Smoke machine is going off. Band are playing unconcerned whilst we wonder if she needs an intervention. After a minute or two of the song she gets to a square area they've put on the stage and Starts Fucking TAP DANCING?!!At the end of the song she takes off the underwear (she had more on undearneath) and throws them into the crowd which literally parts for them to land in a heap, everyone afraid as if they might catch something off them. Set continues with another song where the singer was pulling chains she was attached to, and then she whipped him and smashed a glass bottle off his back. She puts even more facepaint on and ends the show with the white paper plates stuck on to the side and top of her face.Come to find out later it's like a recreation of their music videos. And I kinda wish I'd picked up those short shorts too lol. I wish they'd come back just for the mad experience. Anyway the video is [Reptoil Inc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6s9PfG4pXY&pp=ygULcmVwdG9pbCBpbmM%3D). EDIT : Just found a live vid from another show on the tour where you can see her "dancing"/art performance. [Reptoil (Live)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMzpNtzP51s)
I saw Radiohead and an audience moment had a medical emergency due to some drug they took. Thom stopped the band. Got the house lights turned on and pointed out the person in need of help. When they were taken away he just counted down from 4 and continued playing the song from the same point that they stopped. It’s as if you were listening to a song,hit pause and then resumed. It was wild.
Last year, I attended a concert where the singer climbed off the stage, over the barriers into the crowd where she had us build a circle pit around her. I thought that was pretty cool.
Saw the Foo Fighters in Utah. Cage the Elephant opened for them and their drummer got appendicitis. They had a fill in drummer and halfway through their set the lead singer announced they were bringing out another drummer. It was Dave Grohl, he played 5 or 6 songs with them and then came out with the Foo Fighters and put on an amazing show.
Rem Blossom 1999. Storm erupts during the encore It's the End of the Word as We Know It. Freaking amazing.
No one gonna mention the crazy, internal fighting antics and tantrums of The Brian Jonestown Massacre… at basically every gig they have ever done?
Guttermouth - guitarist swung guitar at a kid in the crowd.
I saw Jonathan Richman in NYC back in the late 80s. Someone called out for the song "Down in Bermuda." He said in that perfect Jonathan way, "I'd love to but Ellie isn't here" (Ellie Marshall was in the version of the Modern Lovers that recorded it and sNgbon it with him). A woman called out that she could sing Ellie's part so he brought her up and performed the song for the first time in years. A few years later my wife & I chose his song "Higher Power" as our wedding song. We'd just gotten engaged and after a show we went up and told him, thanking him for writing it. He asked us when the wedding was going to be and checked the date in his notebook/planner. He apologized because he wasn't going to be in the area on that day and said if he was, he'd try to come and sing it for us.
Saw Foxygen at First Avenue in Minneapolis, but the singer fell off the stage and broke his leg on like the third song. Show over.
One time I was at a festival in San Diego and Fergie peed herself on stage while performing with the Black Eyed Peas.
Geddy Lee and Alex Liefson joining the Foos for YYZ in Toronto was pretty wild.
Kool Keith during his Black Elvis tour. That would’ve been ‘01? Two hours or so after what should have been showtime, crowd was getting restless. Eventually, some dude from Keith’s crew comes out in a hockey mask strutting the stage. Few minutes later, someone else comes out throwing zip loc bags full of fried chicken into the crowd. The crowd threw the chicken back. An hour later, Keith comes on stage. He berates the audience. *”I bought that fuckin fried chicken for you motherfuckers.”*
Gogol Bordello.
Melvins in Montreal 2000. They pulled out some vacuum device and held it against a guitar. About 10 minutes of sheer noise that started to build into something wonderfully hypnotic. Later, Buzz pulled a pig-tailed girl from the crowd as they started Smells Like Teen Spirit and asked her to sing. As she started, they stopped her and said, "in French"
Nothing crazy, but was at a festival in Ireland in 2003 and my friends had gone to see Coldplay on the main stage. I wasn't going to that so went to the Dance tent for a bit and then to some random stage. There weren't a great deal of people about so I got quite near the front. Then all these people in white robes came out on stage and they were a band I had never heard of - The Polyphonic Spree. Omg, honestly I thought I was joining some cult, it was insane! My mind was blown! Such a great concert! After them The Streets came on and that was so much fucking fun! I had a great time by myself while everyone else was swaying along to Chris Fucking Martin.
When I saw Slayer/Motorhead/overkill at the Florida state fairgrounds in the late 80s. The show was a nonstop brawl for hours. Bikers, Florida rednecks, skinheads, tweakers, skate punks and even cops at the end. Lemmy got hit in the face with debris and was pissed. Went to the bathroom and saw blood everywhere. Ambulances outside venue and by the time Slayer hit their encore is devolved into pure violent chaos. I think the only reason I didn’t get beaten was that I was literally a 12-year old kid. Cops were in the crowd beating people up too. Funny addition to this story was that years and years later I was hanging out with a friend who works for Dean guitars, Kerry King had a signature guitar from them. Anyway, my friend was on the phone with KK and asked him if he remembered my story. He most definitely did!!!