#1333314 - 01/19/01 02:14 AM
Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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We were getting ready to do our Pink Floyd Tribute in Carbondale Illinois (in front of 1200 people no less) . About 5 minutes before the show while tuning my Strat , my speaker cab fell over and took out my Hand Made(by my brother) Les Paul with an acoustic piezo pickup and snaped the neck almost clean off. So now, with no acoustic sound we had to re-write the entire set list and play songs we had'nt played in months. Let's see you guys and girls top that one. By the way , my brother was able to fix the neck and once again it plays like BUTTAH!!!
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#1333315 - 01/19/01 05:51 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Tedster
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Registered: 09/21/00
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I'm hesitant to post here, don't want to jinx myself...  .
Can't top your story, but have had a humorous one or two...
I was a youngster, playing in a metalloid band. We were playing the Canterbury in Sarnia, Ontario. The other guitar player was a little guy, and with me being sort of a big dude, we had this schtick where during one of his solos, I'd crouch down, he'd jump on my shoulders, and we'd go stomping around the stage. Well, one night I crouched down to let him jump off, and he fell head over heels into the monitors. Hilarious...no one was hurt.
I remember another gig in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where a tweeter box vibrated off a cab. Good thing no one was close, except me. I think it kinda grazed the side of my head on the way down, but fortunately, no serious injuries.
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#1333316 - 01/19/01 04:55 PM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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michael saulnier
MP Hall of Fame Member
Registered: 12/06/00
Posts: 4070
Loc: San Diego,CA,UNITED STATES
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It was the late 70's, we were a rock cover band playing in and around Madison, WI.
Being kids, and having no money, we made our own "light show" with 4 self-made banks of 6 100 watt spotlights, controled by our sound guy flipping on and off a set of power strips. For most places this worked OK, but in one "hick" bar, we had a little problem.
We would open the first set with all our lights off, then at the first chord, snap them all on. Well this club's circuits couldn't take the surge so... First chord, "wham"... darkness... 20 minutes later, fuses replaced, crowd getting impatient, we try again with only one bank on each side. "Wham", darkness... 5 minutes later, (they didn't have to hunt for the fuses this time)... we try again... we unscrew 5 of the 6 bulbs on the lights... leaving only one light on each side... "wham"... darkness.
No more fuses... the bar owner's pissed, we aren't going to get paid, the crowd's surly... it was the fastest teardown and loadout we ever did... leaving them in the glow of the neon bar lights...
guitplayer
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#1333317 - 01/20/01 02:36 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
Anonymous
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Ever notice in those "DREADED" hick bars that no matter how horrendous the stage power is, they always seem to have plenty of juice for those neon lights. But what I'm looking for are major disasters.
Examples might include :
1. Electrocutions.
2. Demolition of either gear or venue.
3. Your wife catching you with your girlfriend.
4. Lawsuits.
5. Spandex. 
Happy Tunings
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#1333318 - 01/20/01 03:30 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Punchmo
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Registered: 09/23/00
Posts: 282
Loc: PA,
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Ok, these stories are 30 years old.
We were at a club somewhere in eastern New York state. We travelled with a FOH guy and moniter guy who doubled on the light show. We had home made flash pots made out of 6" 2 X 4's with a hole drilled out in the middle, 2 nails and a thin copper wire attached to each nail with 120 volts running thru it on demand. We would pore gun powder in the drilled out area and apply 120 V for the effect.
It was sound check and the power was supposed to have been off on the light rig. The monitor guy was adjusting the flash pots and, one went off in his face as he was kneeled down over it. All his face hair and most of the 12" to 14" of hair he had was gone! Burns on his face and lot's of pain.
I sent him to the hospital and we went on with the show. We had word that he was ok. After the show, we are back at the hotel rooms parting our ass's off and there is a pounding at the door. It was a New York State trooper. Shit went flying and the door was openned for him. We were all under arrest for transporting gunpowder across state lines without a license. We were from PA. We spent the nite in the police station and waited for a judge to show up, next morning, to charge somebody. It turned out that the monitor light guy was fingered becasue it was his job to know better.
Another...we were the headliners at an outdoor concert and we were to use our sound system. The maintenance crew of the grounds where the stage was setup wired 220 v to a 110 outlet. Our sound guy plugged in and everything got fried, the board, the power amps, crossovers and speakers. We put together a make-shift system from the other 6 groups but the show was delayed 2 hours. Insurance from the the venue did cover our gear.
And then there was the time that we were coming across the Canadian border and had a vehicle confiscated...
sp
This message has been edited by skp@cvns.net on 01-20-2001 at 12:32 AM
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#1333319 - 01/20/01 03:45 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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Now we're cookin'....Pun intended!!! 
This message has been edited by Khan Noonian Singh on 01-20-2001 at 01:40 AM
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#1333320 - 01/20/01 04:30 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Tedster
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Registered: 09/21/00
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Don't know, this doesn't really count as a "live performance" disaster. A friend's band was playing a "nice" club (or so he thought) called "The Reef" in Michigan. Apparently they were doing some renovations in a part of the restaurant. They had left their equipment there. Little did they know a workman would leave an open can of solvents sitting too close to an open flame. Everything was toasted. Completely. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt (I think one of the workmen suffered minor burns). I think the insurance even screwed up and dropped the ball.
_________________________
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine...(WAH WAH WAH WAHHH!)"
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#1333321 - 01/20/01 05:02 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Chip McDonald
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Registered: 01/19/00
Posts: 4792
Loc: Augusta, Ga. USA
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Originally posted by Khan Noonian Singh:
We were getting ready to do our Pink Floyd Tribute in Carbondale Illinois (in front of 1200 people no less) . About 5 minutes before the show while tuning my Strat , my speaker cab fell over and took out my Hand Made(by my brother) Les Paul
Once in the middle of playing "Comfortably Numb" at a gig I looked down at my guitar between the lines "when I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse"
... I look up and I see that this buxom blonde who had been standing in front of me was pulling up her top...
"...out of the corner of my eye; I turned to look but it was gone, I can not put my finger on it now..."
FRICK! I'm flashed and I MISS IT! Everyone up front knew it too, almost had to stop playing because of the laughter...
I used to play in a Floyd tribute band as well (different band than above); having learned essentially their entire catalog, every solo Gilmour's done, the biggest disaster I had in that band was someone endlessly requesting a song off of one of the Syd Barrett solo records over and over... That or maybe trying to remember the words to "Astronomy Domine".. ahg.
http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald
_________________________
www.chipmcdonald.com (tagline inlieu of having a representational page of downloadable music for the moment...) / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien
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#1333322 - 01/20/01 05:05 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Punchmo
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Registered: 09/23/00
Posts: 282
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Geeze Tedster,
That reminds me of another one...There was a club in Hagerstown, Md that was situated just by a stream. One of the bands that we competed with in the area had their shit setup on the stage for a weekend gig. We had rain like you would not believe and the stream swelled and overflowed and the stage sectiion of the club dropped into the stream. All their gear was lost. We ended up playing several benefit gigs for them so they could replace their gear.
Damn, this business can suck...
sp
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#1333323 - 01/20/01 05:13 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Punchmo
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Now Chip, There is no excuse for losing track of a buxom blonde, lifting her top at you while you are playing. Shame on you
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#1333324 - 01/20/01 03:32 PM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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Wow Chip, De'ja Vu. We get the Syd Barret thing all the time. My only question to you is : Why would you ever have to look at your guitar while playing Comfortably Numb?
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#1333325 - 01/20/01 04:18 PM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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Worst live disaster...... hmmm
I do recall doing a gig in Japan some years ago whilst guesting for a pretty heavy kinda rock band. i must say at this point I have never been one for running madcap round the stage, but this one night the bands' management had been making noises about movement on the stage so being anxious not to piss them off I decided that I would do exactly that. The one thing I hadn't taken into account was the fact that my eyesight, without glasses, really isn't that cool. So anyway it came to the point where I was supposed to do this mega solo at the end of which me and the other guitar player did a duet. So i hightailed it off to the other side of the stage to indulge in a bit of serious headbanging/posing. Half way accross the stage I tripped over a mic lead that had parted itself miraculously from its gaffa and plummeted myself and guitar into a somewhat phased looking bass player. I went straight thru him and came to rest in a rather undignified way underneath the keyboard player. The rest of the band and i suspect a large proportion of the audience were pissing themselves at my expense. Needless to say I broke my then much loved Strat ( I haven't played one since ) and decided from that point onward that short of wearing some pretty heavy protective gear it would probably be better if I stayed on my own side of the stage. Even the band started to look very nervous if I moved quickly in any direction.
Ah well!!
Simon
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#1333326 - 01/21/01 05:13 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Chip McDonald
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Registered: 01/19/00
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Loc: Augusta, Ga. USA
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Originally posted by skp@cvns.net: Now Chip, There is no excuse for losing track of a buxom blonde, lifting her top at you while you are playing. Shame on you
I agree fully and whole heartedly concur...
Hmm.
There once was this outdoor festival gig where the stage was a 18 wheeler-flatbed trailer. It was about (literally) 110 degrees that day - sweat was *pouring* into my eyes, couldn't see anything (including the edge of the bed; nothing like the fear of possibly falling face first off a truck to encourage one to play well), the glare made it impossible to see what patch my pedal board's led display said....
The *worst* thing though, was.... (wait for it...)
The flatbed trailer had been hauling manure the day before. Combined with a 110 degree Georgia sun - I can literally smell it now just thinking about it! The smell soaked into my plastic cable/tool box, I had to wiped all my cables down multiple times to get the odor out... Man, that was a miserable gig.
http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald
_________________________
www.chipmcdonald.com (tagline inlieu of having a representational page of downloadable music for the moment...) / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien
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#1333327 - 01/21/01 05:28 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Chip McDonald
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Registered: 01/19/00
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Loc: Augusta, Ga. USA
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Originally posted by Khan Noonian Singh: Wow Chip, De'ja Vu. We get the Syd Barret thing all the time. My only question to you is : Why would you ever have to look at your guitar while playing Comfortably Numb?
Man, that's true, I agree: force of habit, after singing anything I look over at my hand. Great, thanks, now I'm really mad at myself!
I have a question for you, though: does your group do "Echoes"? Do you use a sampler for the ping or do you do it manually with a patch ala Wright? The timing coming out of the middle section was always "interesting" as well...
I always wanted to do a Floyd band with a guy playing just real Hammond, someone who really knew how to play one. The full-on Pompei period....
Do you do any of the Gilmour solo stuff? We used to slide in "Cry from the Street" to great effect; had some requests for "Blue Light" but never worked it up. Man... put a lot of energy into that band ("sure, I already know half the Pink Floyd catalog, what's the big deal learning the other half? )and it self-destructed in no time. Ahg...
http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald
_________________________
www.chipmcdonald.com (tagline inlieu of having a representational page of downloadable music for the moment...) / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien
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#1333328 - 01/21/01 05:57 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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Chip. My bad! Sorry about the Comfortably Numb shot, but you left it wide open.
As for Gilmour solo stuff, no we don't. We do a section of Echoes in our Medley. We call it : "Eclipsed by Echoes of Brain Damaged Animals." My favorite part of the show is definately "Dogs" , for me the best song they ever did. I must say I've spent alot of time on some of the other forums(aspiring to be an engineer), but I feel so much more at home here with my own kind. (no I don't mean drunks or pervs). LONG LIVE ROCK!!!!!!!!!
KHAN
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#1333329 - 01/23/01 04:57 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Curve Dominant
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Registered: 10/29/00
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I missed last-call after a late set at a club once. Does that count?
I've been racking my brain since Khan started this thread, and that's the best I can come up with, other than having truly terrible bands open for us. That sucks when your peeps have to sit through that sh*t.
I did a very important gig where the drummer got so stoned before the set that he could not stand up - but we sat him down on his drum stool, and he nailed the entire set like a champ. That was stressful. At one point he tried to stand up to take a bow or some sh*t, and he lost his balance and started to lean into his drumset and almost knocked the entire thang out onto the stage, but me and the bassist caught him and his set at the last second. It was actually pretty f*cking funny, now that I think back on it.
Then there was the time when we started to play the first song of our set as the headliner at a packed club, and the drummer and bass player were playing the wrong song. I just turned around and signalled "time-out" to the band, we stopped playing, and then I turned back to the audience and explained that we had f*cked up and were starting over. They all thought it was a gag, and cheered.
Then there was the time when I got offstage and went to the bar and got a beer and a shot of vodka. I was two years under-age for PA (19), and I had the vodka in one hand and the beer in the other when a cop ran up to me and yelled "CLEAR THE BUILDING!!!" My f*cking heart stopped - but it wasn't a raid. A fire alarm had gone off. I walked out to the rear-entrance loading area, with vodka and beer still in hand. No way I'm gonna waste $8 worth of liquor at that age.
Now that I look back, the disasters seem like the the most enjoyable memories. Those perfect nights when ya just glide in and out seem forgettable in comparison. There's some Zen in that realization.
Time for another beer. Peace, ya'll. It's been a nice stroll down Memory Lane.
This message has been edited by Curve Dominant on 01-23-2001 at 02:30 AM
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#1333330 - 01/23/01 05:57 PM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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Wow! The horrendous opening band syndrome was one that never crossed my mind. But man oh man it sure feels like a live performance disaster when you have to endure the pain while waiting to go on. Like Nigel Tufnel said : " They were still booing him while we did our set." (I had to get an obscure "TAP" reference in here somewhere, didn't I )
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#1333331 - 01/23/01 10:23 PM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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Every time I've ever played in public.
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#1333332 - 01/23/01 11:05 PM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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BK_dup2
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Registered: 03/19/01
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I just had to share this little jem of a night with all of you. I was playing with a trio in Fort Worth Texas. We were running through a bunch of covers (Hendrix, SRV, etc.). Its would have been great if the club (Mad Hatters) was a blues bar like we were told. It was an underage punk bar. NOT GOOD!!!!!!. Its sex pistols, black flag or die.
We get about 3 songs in and the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. I just new we were nano seconds away from a fist fight with a bunch of teenagers.
I was right. This kid, he couldn't have been more that 15, came up to the stage stuck his finger down his throat and puked all over my boots and pedal board.
I freaked and thought about how much time I would spend in the big house if I kicked this kid in the head - (I didn't). My drummer saw what the kid did and threw a drum stick that hit him square in the head giving him a nice fat bump and put him on his ass. Needless to say that was our last tune.
It took hours cleaning up my pedal board and brand new Tony Lamas. So don't think there are just Red Necks and Hicks in Texas - Especially Fort Worth. I saw the shadow of the vampire that night man.
------------------
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#1333333 - 01/24/01 01:39 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Anonymous
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My band had to do this gig. As luck would have it I came down with tendonitius in my wrist. I asked a buddy of mine to sit in for me and told him I would by him drinks as payment. So much for havin any cash at the end of the night.
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#1333334 - 01/24/01 04:14 AM
Re: Worst Live Performance Disasters!!!
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Lee Flier
10k Club
Registered: 09/13/00
Posts: 15398
Loc: Atlanta,GA,UNITED STATES
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Tedster had a "scariest gig" thread going over on Craig's forum... you can read my story there:
http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000652.html
Probably the other "disaster" story that I really care to remember (and I really do try to have selective memory about these things  ) was when the band broke up in the middle of a gig. The bass player had turned up late (which was not really his fault) and the lead singer was pissed. And there were these two guys from a different band, a bassist and a drummer, who used to follow our band around like a couple of groupies. They would have given anything to be in this band, I really don't know why. Well these guys were in the audience, the singer was mad at our bass player for being late and he was mad at the drummer on general principle (the drummer did have an attitude), so he fired them both on the spot and told these other two guys they could be our new rhythm section.
Well of course the "new rhythm section" were delighted, and they were really nice guys, but the problem was that they were terrible musicians. And the singer was too inexperienced and too prone to flattery to recognize it. Sad to say, his manager didn't recognize it either. After less than a set I got really disgusted with the whole turn of events and I quit the band by the end of the night. It was a good band, too, or had been before this "executive decision" was made.
C'est la vie.
--Lee
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