Concerts Where The Artist Walked Off Stage

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Jerryb, Aug 22, 2006.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. slinkyfarm

    slinkyfarm Forum Resident

    Location:
    Winchester, KY
    I was at a show where Jerry Lee Lewis walked off stage, at Ravinia near Chicago. Unfortunately you can't see the stage from the lawn, but he was upset with his drummer, apparently kicked over the piano bench and then stormed off, not to return.

    Little Richard's set was next, and his patter seemed almost apologetic. He said "Y'all havin' a good time?" more than seemed natural, but put on a great show and made sure we all got more than our money's worth.

    In retrospect, I think it's pretty cool to have witnessed that side of Jerry Lee.
     
  2. slinkyfarm

    slinkyfarm Forum Resident

    Location:
    Winchester, KY
    Now that you mention it, I seem to remember seeing Brian gargle on-mic as well. Perhaps making a couple of jokes on the lyrics? Anyone else seen him do it?
     
  3. cdice

    cdice New Member

    Location:
    U.S.
    I remember seeing Jerry Lee Lewis walk off--or I guess I should say limp off--stage. It was at an outdoor concert in Yuba City/Marysville, CA. He was opening for The Beach Boys. I remember Lewis had his leg in a cast, and didn't appear to be feeling too much pain, if ya know what I mean. People were screaming for The Beach Boys, and I guess he just got fed up. Played two, maybe three, songs and stood up, threw over his piano stool, and left.
     
  4. Jose Jones

    Jose Jones Outstanding Forum Member

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    1981---Iggy Pop opened for the Rolling Stones at the Pontiac Silverdome in suburban Detroit. Iggy maybe got 3 songs in before he left the stage after being insulted and pelted with bottles, cans, rocks, etc. His parting line was great though----"I'm from Detroit, I don't know about you guys......"

    circa 1984 or so, Joe Jackson on his Body & Soul tour, playing an outdoor shed, got mad at the crowd for being too noisy. He would repeatedly shush people and point out his "professional" musicians from New York who were accompanying him. Joe bailed out within an hour.

    circa 1990 or so, Joe Jackson playing a small club in downtown Detroit, got grumpy again for some ridiculous reason and walked off. That was it for me.....I never bought another album of his or will go see him live.
     
  5. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    :rolleyes:
    Who said anything about 10,000 people? It was in a club, Ray Manzarek sang four or five songs and the band left the stage. Another time Morrison was slinging the mike around so much, Robbie Krieger had to play bent over at the waist so it wouldn't hit him in the head. I saw these guys before "Light My Fire", Whiskey A-Go-Go, Matrix and Avalon in SF. No roadies, MAYBE an equipment manager.
    All you do is bop around threads and call people liars. The other day you were on Ed about mastering, he forgot more than you know. Go creep out on someone else, you don't impress me. :thumbsdn: :thumbsdn:
     
  6. Chris M

    Chris M Senior Member In Memoriam

    I apologize for my comments regarding the Doors gig you attended. I had it in my head that you saw them in post fame between '67 - '70. No way the events you described happened during that era but I can see it happening in '66 or so. So, again, please accept my apologies. You're other comments are just downright silly.
     
  7. bresna

    bresna Senior Member

    Location:
    York, Maine
    What?? Chris, you weren't around in 60's and 70's. Getting stoned and passing out was a pretty regular occurance at the rock shows I went to. No one would think twice of stepping over a passed out person in a rock arena.

    I bet the other members of the Doors were fed up with Morrison's overindulgences way before his death from a drug overdose. They probably left him there because they were pretty sick of it already. Quite frankly, many stoned/drunk people who get to the point of passing out, want nothing to do with being "helped". I've had a couple of drunk friends take a swing at me when I tried to help them stand. Many times, it's best just to let them lie where they fell, so long as they're not on their back... for obvious reasons.

    Are second hand stories OK for this thread? I had an older friend in high school who saw the Kinks in the early 60's. Lead singer Ray Davies passed out on stage. The band not only finished a couple of tunes with him lying there, they later picked him up and tossed him into the crowd and continued on. :D

    Later,
    Kevin
     
  8. The Panda

    The Panda Forum Mutant

    Location:
    Marple, PA, USA
    What??? You don't believe the Doors movie???? Everything there was the gospel truth. The 60's were soooooooo groovy.
     
  9. Jim Foy

    Jim Foy Forum Resident

    Ritchie Blackmore and his band Rainbow once played in Denmark on the island Fynen (where Hans Christian Anderson was born). I think it must have been around 1981 or '82. They were very late and the audience became impatient. The band finally came on stage and began to play. They stopped after 40 minutes or so and walked off stage (Donno why). Everybody thought they were taking a break but they didn't come back. Then the roadies began to take the equipment off the stage and the audience became angry. Some people jumped on stage to ask what was going on but they got into a fight with the roadcrew - on stage - and it ended when a light-bridge fell down, injuring at least one person who had to be taken to the nearest hospital.

    And then, the other way around ...
    Funny enough, I saw Rainbow a couple of times AFTER Ritchie had reformed the band after his 27th departure from Deep Purple.
    I saw them in an out door venue in Copenhagen in '96 and the band was great.
    However, it was obvious Ritchie was difficult to work with but nonetheless they did their best.
    However, when it came to the encores THE BAND wouldn't go back on stage with him - but they finally did.
    A friend of mine who worked back stage later told me that the band was so angry with Ritchie that they wanted to beat him up.
    Don't know if they did, though ...

    Anyroad, I'm sure lots of people can tell stories about Ritchie Blackmore walking off stage or not coming back for encores.
    I think it was in Stockholm in '87 he didn't come back for the encores so the band had to do 'Smoke On The Water' without him.
    There's a bootleg recording of it somewhere ...
     
  10. jaydee

    jaydee Member

    And of course he "exited early" at Golden Gate Park in 1995. Good thing Neil Young was hanging around to step in.
     
  11. Mike from NYC

    Mike from NYC Senior Member

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    I saw him at the Capital Theater when he insulted the audience and objects of all sizes were thrown at him and many 'Bronx' cheers. IMHO he is one of the most conceited performers I ever saw and it wasn't just at this show that he insulted the audience, he did it again at another concert.

    Hendrix walked off at the Garden in May 69 - too stoned and a revolving stage

    Who at the Garden in 74 because of continuous equipment problems wherein Pete destroyed everything in his path

    Black Sabbath after Tommy Iommi was hit in the head by an object

    Zeppelin in Hartford when some peabrain lit some roman candles which were caught in the curtains and the curtains burned.

    Springsteen at Avery Fisher when the stage collapsed.

    Arrowsmith in Central Park when they were booed off stage

    Traffic at the Academy when Chris Wood was so screwed up he couldn't play

    Joe Cocker at the Calderone Theater when he was too freakin' drunk and vomitted.

    And the list could go on
     
  12. Mike from NYC

    Mike from NYC Senior Member

    Location:
    Surprise, AZ
    True story but Jim didn't remain on the floor for the whole concert.

    I saw the Doors at the Felt Forum and he was so screwed up he could barely perform. They shoulda given everybody's money back as it was a horrible sight. Morrison was fated to die an early death.
     
  13. jaydee

    jaydee Member

    Similarly in 1981 at the LA Coliseum, Prince opened for the Stones and was showered with garbage, bottles, shoes, taunts etc. He did play for around 30 min, so I'm not sure if he cut it short. The best part was when he had the band drop out and directed "You can J--- Me Off" straight to the audience.
     
  14. jaydee

    jaydee Member

    I saw The Who in June 1980 at the LA Sports Arena and Townshend played the whole show with a giant bandage on his left hand. It seems through some combination of cognac and smack he had decided to punch out a wall backstage on the previous night. It didn't seem to effect the show - if any thing there was a little more whooomph to the windmills. Side Note: The very cool English band The Only Ones ("Another Girl, Another Planet") opened the show, they weren't even booed, just ignored. Too bad.
     
  15. jaydee

    jaydee Member

    As I recall this story, her record company (CBS?) thought it would be a good idea to promote her by having her open some shows with Molly Hatchet - in the South ('natch). Those Dinosaurs had their gear all set up in advance exactly where they wanted it for their set, and would only agree to give Patti Smith and her band a small section near the front of the stage. It was an arena with about a ten foot drop off the front, and she simply walked off the edge without seeing it. I think this was in Miami.
     
  16. jamesc

    jamesc Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    The Pet Shop Boys peformed on the Tonight Show in ~1991. I went to the taping of the show and noticed on the monitors that they weren't showing Chris Lowe, the keyboard player in any of the camera angles. I was thinking at the time that he was going to be ticked off because they always want to be represented as a duo. Not long after, Chris walked off the stage. They had a nice long shot to show him walk all the way across the stage. The performance went on but it turned slightly Stonehenge-ish by the end. Out of camera view, people were running all over the place trying to contain the situation but Chris had literally left the building.

    The poor EMI rep I went with was new to the job and she brought me back stage where we could hear the Tonight Show people screaming at the PSB people "NOBODY walks off the stage at the Tonight Show!" Of course they aired the show as is because they tape in real time. The band didn't perform a second song and Neil Tennant looked a little shaken during the interview. It was pretty funny to see the whole thing unfold.
     
  17. npc145

    npc145 music junkie

    I was at that show. Wasn't it at the Felt Forum? Al was really pissed.
     
  18. R. Cat Conrad

    R. Cat Conrad Almost Famous

    Location:
    D/FW Metroplex
    Hmmm, I've never actually been to a concert where the Artist(s) walked off stage, but then again, I live in the South, formerly Oklahoma, now Texas; if I'm not mistaken they lynch musicians for that in this part of the country! :winkgrin:

    :cheers:
    Cat
     
  19. JWB

    JWB New Member

    I think the story was that someone threw a soaking wet towel at him and it stuck to his face or his guitar and it really pissed him off, so he threw his guitar down and left. I believe it was during the climax of "Rearviewmirror" which he really gets into sometimes. He was all smiles though when he came back for the encore. (It's not like those guys to leave a crowd hanging.)
     
  20. GV1967

    GV1967 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northeastern US
    Not exactly a walk off. In November, 1988 my brother and I went to see a solo Peter Tork show at the Speakeasy in NYC. He came out between shows. I asked if I could get a photo with him. He ignored me and kept walking but then my brother snapped a photo of him as he passed by. Apparently, Tork didn't like the flash so he turns around, grabs my brother, throws him against the bar and screams : "You f---ing put the f---ing flash right in my f---ing face!!!" He pummelled on him for a moment until one of his entourage pulled him away and he stormed out. My brother and I were very upset. However, that was the night we had "that" rude awakening to the fact that these people are just as human as we are. In 1999, I caught up with Tork in L.A. He was putting his guitar into a car and I approached him. I mentioned that fiasco. He took a few steps back stating "That wasn't you was it?" (I am much larger than he is....LOL!). I said no but that we felt horrible about it. He apologized and said how terrible he felt as well. I put out my hand, he shook it and said "Whew! I am glad that's out of the way".


    So am I.
     
  21. Studio_Two

    Studio_Two Forum Resident

    As most people on here will know, The Who recently played a show at Leeds University. The searin heat inside the hall (refectory) was almost unebearable.

    After about an hour, Pete announced that he was "taking a break". Before leaving that stage, he ranted: "some f***er is going to have a heart attack in this heat, and it won't be me!"

    The band did come back on a bit later and completed a fantastic set.

    Not sure is this counts, but didn't David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) sit out the encore at Montreal (1977) following the incident where Roger Waters spat in the face of someone in the audience?
     
  22. jsayers

    jsayers Just Drifting....

    Location:
    Horse Shoe, NC
    :laugh: That's priceless!!!
     
  23. Uncle Harley

    Uncle Harley Active Member

    She worked in Vancouver for BCTV, but I heard she got fired when during a live broadcast at the Pacific National Exhibition she was on a ride with a 12 year old boy and when he said something like "This is fun or are we still on the air?" she responded with somewhat angrily using the word ****ing are!"
    Maybe someone in Vancouver could enlighten me.:)
     
  24. wavelength

    wavelength Forum Resident

    Alice Cooper, Northlands Coliseum (now Rexall Place), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. circa 1975. It was the Welcome to my Nightmare tour. Alice came on stage with bandages around his torso. He said he had fallen off stage the previous night in Vancouver and had broken some ribs. He played for 45 minutes before announcing that he could not continue. Apparently this was just enough time to make the concert official so that no refund was offered.
     
  25. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Eddie's departure wasn't as sudden as you say. His anger built, and he tossed something at someone in the pit. From what I heard on PJ boards right after the fact, there was a photographer who wouldn't leave, and that pissed him off. I wouldn't say he was "all smiles" when he returned - he was there, but he was still stressed.

    I was at the show - fourth row - so I saw this happen. I didn't know the cause until later - I thought he was pissed at a front row fan. It was pretty startling to see Eddie's anger build, though - wouldn't want him pissed off at me! :help:
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine