Bands you witnessed get booed off the stage

It surprises younger music fans, who are growing up in a much more polite time when it comes to concert going, but once upon a time, it was quite common for opening bands to get booed off the stage. Sometimes it was justified (they sucked), sometimes it was unjustified (the main band's fans didn't understand what they were seeing or were too close minded) and sometimes, sad to say, it was something bigger and uglier (more on that in a minute)

Here are some bands I witnessed get booed off the stage:

• ESG opening for the Ramones in NYC
• Mikey Dread opening for the Clash in New Jersey
• The Anti-Social Workers opening for Peter Tosh in London

and, in a shameful moment, reggae god Gregory Isaacs opening for the Clash in 1982.

ESG was an example of fans not understanding fully what they were witnessing; Mikey Dread - while good on Clash records - was quite terrible on stage; and the Anti Social Workers were just brutal.

But Gregory Isaacs? That was flat out racism. By the time Combat Rock had come out, the Clash's fans had swelled to include a bunch of knuckleheaded suburban kids who had been listening to Ted Nugent the week before. The stuff they yelled at Brown (and then at Kurtis Blow) still fills me with anger and shame. I'll never forget Joe Strummer's agony when he came out to lecture the crowd. It was heartbreaking.

Anyway, who did you see get booed off, and why?

 

Apologies I have not witnessed such a thing but I am a huge Laura Nyro fan and some say she was booed off a stage in the late 60s which messed her up in terms of self confidence on the stage. I've also heard some claim that is a myth. I'm hoping this thread will shed some light.

Interesting idea for a thread BroJB..

 

Wow. And I'm betting no one who booed will ever admit to it.

 

Split Enz supporting Sherbet and Skyhooks
Split Enz supporting Leo Sayer
Air Supply supporting Split Enz

 

None. Ever.

 

Damn those angry Leo Sayer fans!

 

I think that one is not true

 

Blotto opening for Blue Oyster Cult at The Elliott Hall of Music, Purdue University. Whatever Blotto offered up got drowned out by boos - they were pretty bad, and the boos were earned.

 

It wasn't a band I saw get booed off the stage but a comedian at a Rare Earth concert. The guy wouldn't give up at first but the audience was pretty hostile. The audience was 95% black and they weren't going to put up with some white boy in a white leisure suit trying to be funny when there was music to be enjoyed.

At least Rare Earth were good.

 

That makes absolutely no sense at all. Granted it was before the Basement Tapes were released but surely Dylan fans above all others would have understood how important they were and also in particular the shared history they had with Dylan. Not to mention how good they were live.
Why did this happen?

 

Wow, Blotto. I went to college in central NY and those guys were unavoidable. No matter how hard I tried.

 

Saw the Reverend Horton Heat storm off the stage (as the headliner) after a local band (Lucy's Fur Coat) opened at SOMA in San Diego back in the mid-nineties. The Rev was berating the crowd (most of whom were there to see the opener) to a chorus of boos. By the time somebody threw a shoe at the stage, he had enough.

 

Nobody wanted to be a lifeguard in West Lafayette, IN that night.

 

I saw Pulsallama get booed opening for the Clash on their "Combat Rock" tour at the Cape Cod Colosseum in 1983 (I think that was the year, could have been '82). It was a case similar to what BroJB mentioned in his original post -- the Clash had broken big, and a lot of their new fans were also fans of Ozzy, Nugent, etc. Same thing that happened to Nirvana when they broke big. Anyway, Pulsallama made it through their set, but it wasn't pretty. I tried to cheer as loud as I could to counteract some of the ugliness. They were actually okay, just very percussion heavy with not much if any guitar. Here's their best known song:

 

I never saw an opening band get booed off the stage.

I once saw Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman at the New Ritz (old Studio 54). For some reason, a juggler opened. He got booed and had beer cans thrown at him.........he cut his juggling set short.

 

I saw a band called "King Kobra" get booed harshly when their spandex-clad bass player did a bass solo that included placing his bass on the floor and humping it.

Another time, a terrible performance by Candlebox around 1995. The crowd was into it at first but the singer kept whining like a bunch of spoiled children about the crowd and venue and eventually the crowd turned on these doinks. Not confirmed but I was told that people were throwing beer bottles and other objects at their bus after the show.

 

Only twice. The first time was in March 1974, the Strawbs were booed in a coliseum, which was disheartening to me since I enjoyed their idiosyncratic style, including Dave Cousins' vocals. The middle act, Frampton's Camel, was better received, but the audience was there for the headliner, Foghat.

The second time was in October 1976, the Ramones were booed in a coliseum, third on a bill that included the more mainstream Mother's Finest and headliner Blue Oyster Cult. Simply, punk never succeeded in the southern American heartland.

For the record, I never booed either time, but did once at a concert when Elvin Bishop was replaced at the last minute by another act. I have great respect for every musician on stage.

 

The difference in the fanbase between the first time I saw the Clash (1980) and the second (1982) was shocking and depressing. Rock the Casbah and Should I stay?, apart from being two of my least favorite Clash songs, also flooded the band's fanbase with some truly objectionable elements.

 

ZZ Hill opening for Zappa. Or maybe I hallucinated the whole thing. It was the '70s after all.

 

Outside of a mime, no one is more deserving to be booed off a rock show's stage than a juggler.

 

John Cooper Clarke, not once but twice booed off the stage during the same show.
He was opening for David Johansen and Rockpile at the Palladium in New York City, February 2, 1979.
I still remember the Rolling Stone review which said, in essence, after four songs "Mr. Cooper Clarke would have no more of it and after two more songs the audience would have no more of it."
Nick Lowe chided the audience for booing him.
In the literally thousands of concerts I have seen, it was the only time I have ever seen an artist booed "off the stage." I have seen others booed, and some deserved to be booed off the stage, but Cooper Clarke is the only one I ever saw who actually left the stage in response.

 

I would agree with that. Except that I like "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay"! Not as much as say, "Safe European Home" or "Spanish Bombs", but I still like 'em...

 

The recently deceased Alan Vega was booed off the stage when opening for the Pretenders in 1981 At the University of New Hampshire. I felt sorry for the guy, so I played a song of his on my next UNH radio show.

Apparently, I paid $8.50.

 

Something similar happened here in Fort Collins last year when Smash Mouth played a foodie festival. They were giving out free bags of sliced bread and someone took it upon himself to toss a piece at the lead singer. it was a harmless gesture, I think. I mean, it was a piece of freaking white bread.

Anyway, the singer went ballistic and started cursing the crowd.

Oh look -- it's all on video: