Hairiest concert situation you've ever found yourself in?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by markbrow, May 28, 2015.

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  1. Yoinks, I would've been just a few feet behind this guy.
     
  2. David Johnson

    David Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta Georgia
    Mid 70's at the Omni in Atlanta, Ted Nugent concert. Decimal level at least 10X. Crowded in shoulder to shoulder on the floor in front of the stage. People in the top seats throwing cherry bombs and M80's into the crowd. When one fell next to you before it exploded, there was no room to move. I attribute some of my hearing loss to that night!
     
  3. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    I combined a mosh pit, having my shirt set ablaze and a thunderstorm into my singular Lollapalooza experience. It was the one with Rage, The Ramones, Rancid, Metallica and Soundgarden.
     
  4. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    I was keeping an eye on one of those dumbasses to make sure he didn't throw himself over the railing he was leaning over (with both feet off the ground) and onto the stage at one of the Warren Haynes X-mas Jams.
     
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  5. LandHorses

    LandHorses I contain multitudes

    Location:
    New Joisey
    Weather...........

    Grateful Dead - Giants Stadium - 7/10/89
    Huge thunder & lightning storm, field evacuated at set break, and found out afterwards a small tornado passed a few miles north.

    Mosh pit/crowd..............

    The Pogues - Fillmore San Francisco - 10/9/06
    It was Columbus Day, so people got a headstart on drinking. I still went to the front rail. Got beat up black & blue. The people on each side of me got thrown up on.......luckily I didn't.

    The Pogues - Terminal 5 New York - 3/17/11
    Their last ever New York and US show......and St. Patrick's Day. I (stupidly) was 1st in line and got front rail center in front of Shane MacGowan. I got crushed....it was suffocating and nobody could move. I was inadvertently kicked in the back of the head by an over-passing crowd surfer and had dizzy spells for the next 2 weeks.

    X - Maxwell's Hoboken - 9/29/11
    I was front stage in front of John Doe. After the 3 songs where some people with passes were aloud to take photographs, one of them wants off the stage and decides to stand in front of me pushing me 1 row back. I and some friends argued that I lined up a long time to get front row and that he should get lost....he wouldn't move and did the whole "I need pictures....we're all here to see the show and have fun." After arguing 1 full song, he left. Right after, I had a sharp blow to the back of my head that knocked me out for about a minute (while X was still playing)......I regained focus and stayed up front the rest of the show.......but had another few weeks of dizzy spells. I can't say the camera guy got pissed off at me and hit me in the back of the head with a object.....as I didn't see it......but I suspect something related happened.
     
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  6. AZRunner

    AZRunner Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW FL
    Late 70's International Amphitheater in Chicago. Blackmore's Rainbow and Cheap Trick were co-headlining. They opened a side door instead of the main entrance, which was in the middle of the line. All hell broke loose and I saw many people getting trampled next to me. I was literally grabbing people on the other side of me around the neck to keep from getting sucked into the abyss. Once inside, people in the balcony were throwing m80's into the crowd. What a nightmare.
     
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  7. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    That was me...:cry:
     
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  8. TheDailyBuzzherd

    TheDailyBuzzherd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Save your life, go see a jazz show instead.
     
  9. ranasakawa

    ranasakawa Forum Resident

    Dire Straits concert in 1985/86? In Melbourne where there was a fight in the row in front of me
     
  10. Blender

    Blender Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oakland
    Went to see a general admission Radiohead show with my then girlfriend (now wife). We were about forty yards from the stage and the crowd was jammed packed. As soon as the band hit the stage, the already packed crowd just packed in even more. We were literally being picked up off of our feet and moved around by the motion of the crowd, like bobbing in the ocean's wave movement. I remember having some sweaty dude's back pressed into my chest. Just gross and miserable. Eventually, my girlfriend lost consciousness. Luckily we were with a few friends, one of whom is a giant. We were able to pick my girlfriend up and force our way through to the front, where we passed her over the barricade to the security guards. I followed and we were escorted backstage, where she finally came to. The experience scared the living hell out of me.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2015
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  11. Scott S.

    Scott S. lead singer for the best indie band on earth

    Location:
    Walmartville PA
    Almost got crushed at the gate at a Dead concert in a college gymnasium.
     
  12. supersquonk

    supersquonk Forum Resident

    Two come to mind.

    One was a Rush/Marillion concert at the Springfield Civic Center (Mass) in maybe 1985. General Admission, which at the time was rare in the Boston area. I thought they had banned it after The Who tragedy in Cincinnati. On the floor everyone was just pushing forward. A couple points I remember the crowd just falling, as one, to one side or another. My feet left the ground and I was just sandwiched in between bodies suspended in air. Then the crowd would sway the other way and you'd be saved from completely toppling. Not sure if that description makes sense... I think the guy two posts above me at Radiohead describes it well - like an ocean wave. It was really scary because it felt like at any moment we'd be crushed or trampled to death. (And because my friends and I were just high schoolers.) After Marillion opened we moved back to the seats, even though we wanted to see Rush up close.

    Other time was like the OP's situation. Genesis in Poland 2007 during a Europe vacation. Insane thunderstorm during the concert. Right before the band took the stage, they played "Say A Little Prayer for You" by Aretha over the intercom, which I think was intentional. If it had been the US, they would have for sure cancelled the concert, but not here. I think Phil mentioned something about praying for the band. There were some very dramatic lightning bolts during the show, one that seemed strategically timed for the end of Land of Confusion - it literally struck on the final chord. The entire show it poured nonstop, the most intense rain I've ever been in. To this day if I hear "Say A Little Prayer" I think of that show.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2015
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  13. Dubmart

    Dubmart Senior Member

    Location:
    Bristol, England
    I've thought of several more, but they're all along similar lines of potential violence, here's a slightly leftfield one, '97 or '98 Glastonbury, I was based backstage at the Dance stage, I went off and I think I had spent the afternoon back stage at the Jazz stage, maybe watching Dr. John, anyway I return to Dance and pretty much everybody stinks, it's not nice. It turns out that to clear the mud inside the huge marquee used for the Dance stage they'd brought in one of the tankers used to clean out the numerous portable toilets, the driver had pressed blow not suck and sprayed the area with s**t, everyone backstage had been pressganged into helping clear the s**t up, I bet a lot of them still have nightmares about that.:yikes:
     
  14. bt1098

    bt1098 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Was at the Rage show Lollapalooza 2008. The crowd was packed tight so I left and my son stayed. Saw dozens lifted over the front fence to safety. The look of terror on their faces and relief is something I will never forget. Went to Wilco on the other side. Heaven vs Hell. My son lived and still says how awesome it was.
     
  15. CCrider92

    CCrider92 Senior Member

    Location:
    Cape Cod, MA
    When the doors opened at a Jerry Garcia Band show the crowd outside surged forward pushing us into the large plates of glass on the outside of the lobby. I thought a of of us were going to be badly hurt or worse. A ticket-taker had only opened one of several adjacent doors causing a massive funnel of people into a very small channel.
     
  16. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    I was at The Clash concert in Glasgow where someone threw an axe at Alan Vega of Suicide
     
  17. ODShowtime

    ODShowtime jaded faded

    Location:
    Tampa
    I went to an Ol' Dirty Bastard concert in downtown Harrisburg once. It wasn't too bad but I wouldn't do that nowadays...
     
  18. MONOLOVER

    MONOLOVER Forum Resident

    Location:
    UPPSALA, SWEDEN
    I may have posted this in another thread before, but worth mentioning again...

    At Bath Festival outside London 1970 the porta potties was placed so we had to walk through the entire Hells Angels camp to reach them. I was young and afraid so I only did it once. The rest of the time (two days) I gave back directly to nature.

    Got a hearing impairment after sitting below stage at a Led Zepplin concert in Stockholm 1973. So loud I thought my inner organs would unfasten. Never recovered my hearing entirely, but still worth it :)
     
  19. ODShowtime

    ODShowtime jaded faded

    Location:
    Tampa
    Man I would stand in a porta-potty to be able to watch Zep at the Bath Festival! Or a Euro '73 show for that matter. My heart cries out for you! :)
     
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  20. October Man

    October Man Extraordinary tunes from the hard drive

    I was in the front row at a Killing Joke gig in The Forum in London (I think in 1987) The band bought on a couple of Fire breathers who were blowing flames over our heads!!!
     
  21. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    In a small hall with 100 right wing skinheads Sieg heiling, I'm about the only person there with hair, one of them 'borrows' my pint glass to throw at the support band. At any time it looked like it was going to turn into a riot. Quite scared.
     
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  22. The Proclaimers in Birmingham 1987 (?). A very attractive and sexy young lass in front of me kept turning around to confront me as someone was pinching her a**e. No, it wasn't me, honestly! The problem was she was with this heavy guy, built like a battleship with arms like tree-trunks. I thought at any moment she was going to tell him what she thought I was doing to her and he was going to rip my head off! It was hot and sweaty in the place and vastly over-crowded and at any moment something could have kicked off. :hide:
     
  23. MONOLOVER

    MONOLOVER Forum Resident

    Location:
    UPPSALA, SWEDEN

    Thank You...that means a lot :)
     
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  24. Rupe33

    Rupe33 Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Dire Straits at the Meadlowlands, 1986 I think, upper decks of the arena. You wouldn't think theirs would be too wild a crowd, but someone up high took their tour program - the LP jacket-sized tour program - lit it on fire, and threw it into the floor crowd from on high. Am hoping nobody got hurt, but we could not see where it landed nor who threw it in the first place.

    Am pretty glad most venues don't allow smoking any more - far fewer fire hazards at shows now.
     
  25. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    Regarding crushes at gigs - I would never be interested in seeing the type of bands that play big gigs, I went to a lot of small punk gigs that could be a bit packed but luckily the venues were small so you'd never get the build up of people that would cause serious harm.

    Much more terrifying was the many football matches I went to in the 80's, especially the away games when they would pack the away supporters in a tiny part of the ground. Many times it was scary but you thought it would be ok, until Hillsborough happened and then you thought maybe how close you had come to being in the middle of something like that.
     
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