Who were the drunkest performers you saw on stage?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by spencer1, Sep 26, 2019.

  1. TonyG

    TonyG Forum Resident

    Drive By Truckers - Memphis in May festival. 5 years ago? Embarrassing.
     
  2. Jazzmonkie

    Jazzmonkie Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tempe, AZ
    Maria Muldaur in 1974 on the "Waitress in a Donut Shop" tour. Lots of drinking onstage including her great band with Amos Garret and the legendary Earl Palmer. She was a happy, chatty drunk and sang great.
     
  3. Dave Rotz

    Dave Rotz Forum Resident

    Joe Cocker - Waterloo Ontario 1973
     
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  4. Paul P.

    Paul P. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA, USA
    Okay - I have two shows - shouldn't be a surprise to anyone following this thread:

    The Replacements with the Young Fresh Fellows, Moore Theater, Seattle:

    This was with Slim Dunlap, during the Pleased To Meet Me era - 1987 or so.

    The Young Fresh Fellows did their normal tight set - they've been a fixture in Seattle and the Northwest for years. The Replacements came out beyond drunk - and proceed to jump into the orchestra pit. This made everyone jump out of their seats and rush the stage. They actually played pretty well - but security was pissed off and made them go back on-stage. At that point - their drunk momentum was lost. It was a train-wreck after that - they couldn't remember their songs and kept asking for requests. It barely qualified as a show - it was more like watching a slow motion car crash.

    I found a link - it lists some of the covers they tried: "Born In The USA", "Folsom Prison Blues", etc.: The Replacements Live Archive Project: July 5, 1987, Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA

    That wasn't the end of the story though. A few months later, they announced the exact same double bill. Me, curious to see what would happen, bought tickets. The Young Fresh Fellows came out and played... oddly. Disjointed and weird. At the end of the set, their bass player said "Yes - our lead singer has no eyebrows" - and he didn't!

    Apparently it was a bet with the Replacements, because they came out - also sans eyebrows - wearing garage mechanics overalls and makeup, and proceeded to tear the roof off the joint. I don't know if they were drunk - based on the eyebrow shaving, I have my suspicions - but it was a truly amazing show!

    I found this link which confirms it was the "eyebrow" show: The Replacements Live Archive Project: December 2, 1987, Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA (JEMS)

    Guided By Voices (aka Guided By Beers), Showbox Theater, Seattle:

    This would have been right around the Mag Earwhig! album - 1997.

    They had the usual GbV trappings on stage - "The Club Is Open" neon sign, the cooler full of beer, etc. But - this time - there was a difference. Somebody brought out one of those big Jack Daniels bottles and they kept passing it around, taking swigs between drinking multiple cans of beer. They proceeded to get legless, from what I remember - although it didn't really affect the songs too much. I still enjoyed the show.

    Apparently - the real shenanigans happened backstage. :p

    This link is the one: GBVDB - Guided By Voices Database

    The next time I saw them - this must have been around 2000 - they started out much more sober. The rumor going around the crowd was that the Showbox folks had said "The beer can stay - but no more hard alcohol please" :)

    This was a different kind of drunk show - they definitely got plastered - and near the end - they'd start playing weird covers like "Highway To Hell", "Wild Horses" or "Ziggy Stardust". And - those covers would be terrible - just as bad as you'd imagine after drinking beer for a couple of hours and seemingly never having played the song before. Then - they'd play one of theirs - and it would be note perfect.

    This link seems about right: GBVDB - Guided By Voices Database

    I'm pretty sure I saw them one more time at the Showbox, because Subspace Biographies is one of my favorite songs from Robert's solo albums - and I remember hearing Guided By Voices play it live. I don't remember any excessive alcohol shenanigans at this one.

    Their database indicates it's this 2001 show: GBVDB - Guided By Voices Database

    Cheers,
    Paul
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2019
  5. boe

    boe Forum Resident

    Location:
    western New York
    I’ve never seen Ryan Adams but a friend saw him when Adams was so out it he tried to take off his sweater without first taking off his guitar. He got all tangled up and eventually a roadie had to come out, untangle him, and help him get the sweater off. Pure alt. rock Spinal Tap.
     
  6. Achn2b

    Achn2b Forum Resident

    Location:
    N. Conway, NH
    Never saw Ryan really wasted, at least that I could tell, but I saw him right after Gold came out, and he had Adam Durwitz join him for Answering Bell, and Durwitz was pretty much falling down wasted. This was at The Paradise in Boston.
     
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  7. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    Dan Stuart - Green on Red - Stache’s, Cols OH many, many years ago...Anyway he was so messed up it was incredible. He did multiple face plants like totally unconscious into the monitor wedges. A couple guys would stand him up and he would get thru another tune and a half and face plant again, landing on top of his gibbo 335 every time. But when he was vertical he never missed a lyric or a chord. Craziest thing ever.

    Oh and Plan 9 was the opener...

    And yeah it was a pretty great night out.

    Of course after seeing multiple ‘Mats shows at the same venue... maybe it was something in the water?
     
  8. Vinyl Socks

    Vinyl Socks The Buzz Driver

    Location:
    DuBois, PA
    Neil Young, Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater, June 1992.
    Great show...sponsored by Budweiser...who clearly provided Neil with plenty of their flagship product. Neil was half past gonzo, swilling brown Bud bottles tipped high into the air. Including stopping "Such A Woman" about a minute in, due to many loud dudes yelling for "Heart Of Gold".
    He then said, "Sorry. Sometimes you're doing something that means a lot to you and you forget what you're doing".
    Boom - straight into "Heart Of Gold".
     
  9. Jerry James

    Jerry James Rorum Fesident

    The Strokes; specifically singer Julian Casablancas. This was probably around 2002 or so, for the first album. Small, packed, intimate venue which was awesome. While walking through the crowd to get on stage, he fell down. Twice. And with that, they launched into an absolutely killer show.
     
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  10. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    Anyone see Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart live?

    On their live album, Davy is CLEARLY drunk as a skunk.
     
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  11. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    Jerry Lee Lewis
    Jerry Jeff Walker
    John Mayall
    Doug Sahm (the only time I saw him drunk in the 50+ times I saw him play live...still a great show)
    Alex Harvey (the guy who wrote "Delta Dawn"...not the U.K. bloke)
    Alex Chilton (in the late 70s)
    Rory Gallagher (still a really great show)
    The Kinks (in the early 70s)
     
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  12. Monsterzero

    Monsterzero Down at Dino's Bar & Grill

    Location:
    Sea of Tranquility
    I was there. I walked. First and last time I ever had to endure Van Headache.
     
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  13. Maranatha5585

    Maranatha5585 BELLA + RIP In Memoriam

    Location:
    Down South
    Leon Russell - early 70's Pgh, PA. Civic Arena
     
  14. Vaughan

    Vaughan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Essex, UK
    Sham 69 in Texas. The lead vocalist was drinking from a bottle of Vodka during the show. Puke drink, puke-drink sing. Puke. Sad really.

    Then, also in Texas - The Vibrators. Knox had to leave the stage for 15 minutes, and the band jammed an instrumental for a good chunk of that (!) Finally he came back on stage and said, "I think I've puked it out now.", and then carried on like nothing had happened.
     
  15. Jim Walker

    Jim Walker Senior Member

    Location:
    southeast porttown
    Yep, ol' Dickie Betts in '95, pretty much dittos on the above, I think
    Gregg was alright, but yes, Warren was getting obviously pissed
    that his guitar partner was being ornery and difficult. Despite it
    all the show was a good one, because the rest of the band were
    so good.
     
  16. g.z.

    g.z. Senior Member

    Oh, man! :cheers:

    Especially since they followed the Scorpions who threw down one of the best rock
    shows that I've ever seen. Big let down.
     
  17. Hell on Reels

    Hell on Reels Forum Resident

    Rick Danko. In the early or mid 1980's, at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, Santa Barbara, Ca.
    The "band" list was rather odd. Rick Danko - Jeff Beck

    So Danko comes onstage, drunk as a skunk. He babbles mostly incoherently and diddles with the tuning of his acoustic guitar.
    After a few short minutes of this, I saw two stage personnel grab a lawn chair and sneak up behind Rick. Another (guitar tech?)
    takes the left flank position. With a nod from one of these guys to the others, the left flank guy grabs the guitar and clears its output cable, and a split second later the chair is placed behind Danko, who is assisted in taking a seated position. With that the chair dudes lift Danko up and away to backstage. Very smooth and kind, in contrast with the noise he'd been assailing the audience with.
    This was fairly early in the day, so he must have been on a good one, maybe an all-nighter.
    Almost every person in the vicinity of and on the stage was doing heavy eye rolling. Not to mention most likely the majority of the audience.

     
  18. Albiegator

    Albiegator Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I last saw The Rolling Stones at Wembley Stadium in 1999 and while Mick was no doubt towelling himself down, Keith took his turn on vocals. With no disrespect to Keith, he's an absolute National Treasure, but while I pride myself on my knowledge of the Stones, I couldn't make out what the hell he was singing through his slurred vocals. Maybe he was just having an off night but I suspect he had a few JD's.
     
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  19. kiff

    kiff Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    1993 Pete Townshend solo gig in Chicago supporting Psychoderelict. The worst bit I remember was him flat on his back strumming his guitar for an agonizingly long cover of Save It For Later.
    Not the lovable drunk of 1979 London, or the wasted drunk of 1980 LA, or the strung out mess of 1981. Just drunk.
    He apparently felt bad and promised to make it up to Chicago but that didn't help me since I came in from out of town.
     
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  20. Hell on Reels

    Hell on Reels Forum Resident

    Nice upgrade. I'll bet JW really cooked. Was Richard Zeringer oops, I meant Rick Derringer in the band? That was a great lineup.
     
  21. Monsterzero

    Monsterzero Down at Dino's Bar & Grill

    Location:
    Sea of Tranquility
    Dont forget Priest in full leather in 110 degree weather kicking rear and taking names.
    I wasnt a huge VH fan heading in anyways,but that 'performance' cemented them as one of the more overrated bands IMO.

    The trials to actually get into the venue,(multiple mile walk thru the desert),the torrid heat,and then at night the bitter cold,then the multiple hour wait to get on the bus after the fact.
    For them to take the stage in that condition,and DLR to brag about just how wasted he was,left me forever a VH hater.
     
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  22. Finch Platte

    Finch Platte Lettme Rundatt Bayou

    Location:
    NorCal
    Who are the people who didn't care, Petty's audience?
     
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  23. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night

    Yeah. They were basically ignored.
     
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  24. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    From what I remember, they only applauded for "Achin' To Be", and that just pissed the band off. So they started throwing the shows and playing jokey cover sets until they got kicked off, I believe after stealing the Heartbreakers' wives' dresses.

    [​IMG]
    Image and caption from The Skyway, December 2013 issue.
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2019
  25. kaztor

    kaztor Music is the Best

    Wow.

    If there ever would be a video to portray the dangers of alcoholism, this would be it!
     

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