Nah, not really when it comes to GbV. It's kinda how they play with expectations at this point. They've been around for many years and Bob is over 60 now, so AFAIK he's naturally and understandably cut back on the drinking, but it was such a thing with their 90s shows that they still nod to it. I mean, for their "farewell" show on NYE 2004 they had a bar and a bartender on stage.
As mentioned upthread, David Lee Roth was pretty drunk at the US Festival, but I think the drunkest big-time performer I've seen was Joe Walsh playing at Great America in Santa Clara. I was in the second row. He was so plastered that Rick Rosas had to take control. It was still a great show. I saw him a few years later and he acted drunk, but I think he was faking it that time.
I find it rather weird that some here have posted about their own stage drunkenness. Pretty unprofessional and a letdown for local level fans . I’m not saying that never happened to ME, however, lol! But it was when I was in my late teens when I did that. I realized that I’m much better onstage not drunk and have made sure that didn't/doesn’t happen again....
Joe Walsh 1985 Red Rocks, Rickie Lee Jones 40 years ago, Warren Zevon a few times. Ron Wood gab show NYC years ago. Dickie Betts a few times.
Graham Brazier and Dave McCartney of local legends Hello Sailor played on the bill of a benefit gig I saw with friends in 2004. Brazier was so drunk he could barely stop shaking in his seat..I found out later that he was always like this in his later years. In saying that, he was pretty good given the state he was in!
Saw Chan Marshall (Cat Power) play pretty plastered at Lounge Ax back in the early 90's. Lisa Germano fairly out of it, same general time period @ Schubas
I saw Gregg allman 13 times and Dickey Betts 6 times. No issues. Shane McGowan at a 3 song commitment type of show. An embarrassment.
I can tell by your name you must be a fan, so I won't slag them off too bad, but I just meant pretending to be drunk is surely more pathetic than actually being drunk.
The two that spring to mind are a pre-sobriety Warren Zevon and, sadly, Sarah Vaughan filling in for an ailing Ella Fitzgerald at the Hollywood Bowl.
John Cale at Jarlateatern, Stockholm 1975. Could hardly stand on his feet but what a show One of the best
While many of the most infamous drunks of all time have been mentioned, most of these tales read like they were way MORE than drunk!
1975 stephen stills at kent state university under the (heavy) influence of something. not a very good show at all, couldn't get the acoustic mike to work and tried playing a couple of acoustic songs on his electric, disaster personified.
This. John was no stranger to pharmaceuticals (or plant-based) but it was the booze that got him. I’ve seen him (2000 or so) tell the sound guy to turn his lead guitar DOWN because he knew he was playing like c**p....I’ve seen him when his asides to the audience were completely incomprehensible.....from IMHO his mid-thirties until his death at 60 he was an alcoholic. Sad but true.
Me and my best friend went to see Ron Wood when he appeared in San Francisco on tour to support his SLIDE ON THIS album. I'd actually won a pair of tickets on the radio (although I absolutely would have bought a ticket if I hadn't scored the freebies). I'm a huge Ron Wood fan, and my best friend likes him a lot, but he's an even bigger Van Morrison fan, so when Wood announces during the show that he has a friend who's going to join them, and Van steps up to the mike, I look at my friend and he's got this look of total astonishment on his face. High five time! Except Van had obviously had a bit too much to drink while hanging out with Woody, Mac, and the other reprobates backstage, and so the great Van The Man had quite a bit of difficulty getting through Little Red Rooster. Could have been brilliant, but it wasn't. I saw Gregg Allman watching from the side of the stage (he was living in the Bay Area at the time). He might have been a better choice for a surprise guest, if he was sober. Clearly Van wasn't! Actually, it was a very good gig, but the failure by Van cast a pall over the night in retrospect.
Yup. Evan Dando has been plastered nearly every time I've seen him. There was one night a few years back in which he was evidently so far gone that he just didn't show at all. I drove myself and my buddies well over an hour in virtual gridlock traffic to get down to the show only to see a hand scribbled note on a chalk board indicating the show had been canceled (no reason was provided). That was the last straw for me. I've now written him off now as too much of a gamble.
Here’s a mention for The Replacements. Something happened to the sound system during the opening act so, in addition to the drunken performance, there was horrible sound. I really wanted to see a legendary great performance but I never got to see them again. But these performances are part of their legend so there’s that. Having said that, saw Paul solo a few times and he was always good.
Aerosmith in '83. They couldn't even stand up straight. Steven Tyler was falling down, flashing his cock, etc... The guitarists (Crespo?) were spitting huge goobers into the audience, falling down and not even bothering to get up. It was a trainwreck. I loved it!
There's stories (and pictures) of him playing San Diego. He was a mess. Crapped all over himself. After the show he was in the middle of the street yelling at traffic.
Goober spewing guitarist? Sounds like Rick Dufay, going by the Aerosmith oral biography, Walk This Way. He was quite a loony, apparently. Later released a solo record entitled "Tender Loving Abuse."
He was certainly the drunkest person I ever heard on the radio, surpassing Joe Walsh in that regard, which is no mean feat. I heard Martyn interviewed on a NYC area radio station a couple of years before his death. The interviewer asked a question, and Martyn replied with explosive quasi-verbal noises mixed with hideous, really crazy sounding laughter. He sounded exactly like a mad drunk on the steet. It went on and on. Sixty seconds on the radio can seem like an hour, depending upon what's going on, and after about one minute of this situation I was very alarmed. Martyn simply could not articulate, or, apparently, control himself, and I was praying for someone to call a halt. At this point Martyn gradually managed to pull himself together enough to respond verbally, and the interview miraculously proceeded, but it was a truly disturbing minute, and something one would wish not to have heard. And what makes it more disconcerting is that when interviewed in a sober state, or at least not utterly wasted, Martyn was an intelligent, pleasant, and insightful speaker. Some of his interviews are very worthwhile.
On a few different occasions, Lucinda Williams doing guest shots at clubs in Hollywood. Always about 3000 sheets to the wind, always somehow still great. Todd Rundgren, totally bombed, an unforgivably bad performance.