Concerts Where The Artist Walked Off Stage

Around 1975 I saw Al Stewart and Renaissance at Madison Square Garden In New York City.Al stared to play and had some trouble with the sound.The problems continued and Al stopped playing and said something to the effect that he loved New York but he couldn't play under these conditions.I don't think he even got through the first song!

 

Van Morrison (Too drunk)
Dickey Betts (Too wasted - take your pick as to which drug)

Saw a semi-famous female performer run off the stage in the middle of a song asking people backstage for a feminie napkin. She resumed her performance soon after.

 

I saw a clip of trent reznor preforming 'Hurt', and someone threw something, and it hit Trent in the head. he immidieatly stopped singing, slamed the keybord so hard that it collapsed, and walked off stage.

 

Robyn Hitchcock (with the Egyptians) at The Continental Club
in Austin, Texas circa 1991. Claimed he got a shock from an
ungrounded vocal microphone. I was standing right in front of the
stage and he barely flinched if he got shocked. Seemed more like
cold feet or a 'prima donna' attack to us. I was a BIG Hitch and
Soft Boys fan up to that point, but that show soured me (and
many other people) on this artist. At least we got our money back...

 

Ozzy (Sabbath) literally slammed the mic. to the floor and walked off stage last summer at the White River Amphitheatre near Seattle, WA.

His voice was horrible and he couldn't hit a single note. He finally got fed up with it and left in a huff. Iommi played about a 30 minute guitar solo before Ozzy finally came back, appologized, said he had throat problems and offered to continue if we would be patient.

Funniest thing I've ever seen. Dude had a minor breakdown right on stage!

 

Hendrix and Band of Gypsis. Nobody knows for sure, maybe bad acid, maybe too much pressure.

In the late years, Elvis frequently had to go to the bathroom in the middle of a set. He would come back though.

 

ryan adams, like every other concert, but he seems to have improved his temperment (?sp) in the past two years.

i saw rem at duke in '84 and stipe was so messed up he wandered offstage in midsong and had to be pushed back on stage when he wouldn't return to finish the song. does that count?

 

Are you referring to the benefit concert in NYC? Where Hendrix muttered "I've been dead a long time" and wandered off stage?

According to David Henderson, author of 'Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky, someone slipped Hendrix some bad acid.

 

Ashlee Simpson... nuff said.

 

10,000 Maniacs in the early 90's. Natalie Merchant walked off because she was uncomfortable with people jumping up onstage and dancing.

The crowd were a bunch of idiots. They did it spontaneously at the end of a song, then Natalie said something like, "Thanks, but that's not cool", only to have it repeated during the next tune. Then, she said "Look, that seriously is not cool, next time I'm out of here". You guessed it, some ***** chick got up stage right, and she exited stage left mid-song, leaving the band to end the song instrumentally, and the show was over.

I was disappointed, but she was right.


Dan

 

I did a show with George Carlin once where he walked off the stage. First he announced he was going to take a break. He sat on the floor for about 5 minutes. He announced that most of us take breaks at work so why shouldn't he. About 20 minutes later he said he was not very funny and was leaving and he did. He never did come back.

 

Jeff Beck did it too, IIRC, during the Yardbird days....

 

Stevie Nicks at Radio City in 83, she was shaking hands with the people in the front and someone stole the necklace right off of her. She was pissed and walked off. I honestly don't remember if she came back or not.

 

Actually Stephen Stills seemed to get pissed off and walk off the stage at Irvine last month but he came back. I didn't actually catch this but my GF Lynne did. It must have happened because Neil made a comment that the chill on stage could help combat global warming. I kind of got the idea that CSN&Y didn't get along so well but put up with each other for the good of the tour.

I'm glad they did. It was a great show.

 

Zappa did a show somewhere in Italy in the 80's where, for some mystifying reason, people in the audience felt it appropriate to throw things: things like glass and syringes.

It got to the point where he warned them once, then something was thrown, he stops playing, and says, "House lights; show's over". I'm too lazy to look up which live disc it's on, but it closes out the disc and leaves a particularly cold taste in your mouth (face it, what other artist is bold enough to end a live album like that?).

Admittedly, Zappa's reputation for outrageousness and audience participation made for a kind of Rocky Horror atmosphere...but who expects a band to be an audience's dartboard.

 

There is a good quality recording of that aborted Band of Gypsys MSG performance and Jimi doesn't say that. Before the first song an audience member shouted out a request for Foxy Lady and Jimi replied with "Foxy Lady sitting over there in the yellow underwear, stained and dirtied with blood". After Earth Blues he said "that's what happens when Earth phucks with space, never forget that".

BTW, that Henderson book is riddled with errors. Probably the worst Jimi bio out there…

 

At one of the Pearl Jam shows in Camden NJ a few months ago, Eddie was clearly pissed off about something and split a little early for one of the encores. He did return, though, and seemed calmer at that time...

 

"Geneva Farewell" on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 5.

 

Somewhere I have a video of a Johnny Winter show from a festival in Europe probably in the '80s where about 15 minutes in someone throws a bottle and Johnny stops mid song, scolds the crowd with some harsh words and then storms off. Like the Zappa incident it leaves a bad taste to see it. While Johnny comes off looking like a jerk can you blame him?

 

PiL did a show at the Ritz in NYC where they played behind a screen, which upset audience members. There was nearly a riot, after which the band left the stage. There's a bootleg 7" that documented this "show".

 

Tell me about it. He walked off the stage after two songs with Great Southern back in the late 70's at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ. To make it up to the audience, he came back and played a free concert in the Eagle Rock Reservation. Instead of having 5th row seats, I had to hang with what seemed like 30,000 other people to even get a view of the stage.

 

David Cassidy - Last Year

David was unhappy with the sound mix and other conditions at the Wisconsin State Fair. It had been raining and things were not great.

He barked at the sound people. He chewed out people off-stage. He told the audience we deserved better than this. He stormed off stage, but did come back.

I had only planned on staying for two songs, but I stuck around so I could say that I was there the night David Cassidy lost his mind and killed three people. (It didn't end up happening, but I didn't want to miss it in case it did.)

 

Sinead O'Connor walked off after performing only a couple of songs at a concert on Harriet Island in St. Paul -- I think it was summer of 1990 -- she said something about not feeling well.

 

I saw the Chili Peppers in Cleveland around summer of 91. Anthony Kedis jumped during the second song and landed funny. He said he'd hurt himself and the show was over.

 

July 14th, 1973. The Everly Brothers break up on stage at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, after Phil smashes his guitar and walks off, and Don announces "The Everly Brothers died ten years ago".