Have you ever been at a band's video shoot?

Either on purpose or inadvertently. Here's one I witnessed totally by accident (I swear)

Walking through Washington Square Park one day and there was a stage set up by the arch, cameras and big crowd..etc.

I said to myself what's going on here...got a little closer and holy hell it's Nitro!

 

I froze off my tookas at the video shoot for REM’s “Drive”.

 

Not exactly what the OP was thinking, but in 1999 I attended a Vanilla Ice concert, and during the concert they shot a promotional video for IIRC an ESPN show, I believe it was for the X Games or something like that.

 

I was in Biloxi for Ratt’s filming of their “I’m In Love” video. They lip-synched the song twice at the opening after telling everyone what they were doing.

 

I am surprised they were able to get a crowd that size for the performance segment! They were on a tiny label. Is that Ron Jeremy driving the tour bus lol?

 

There are tons of people going through that park all the time. A lot of those people are probably random bystanders like I was.

And yeah that's Ron Jeremy. Also the blonde girl is Julie McCullough who was in Playboy and also on the show Growing Pains.

What really cracks me up about this video is how it's still a couple of years before grunge but they're already trying to tone down their look, like "Hey we're just regular rock guys now."

 

Not to a video shoot but in 1993 I brought tickets for Madonna's Girlie Show and got to the arena early that day and got to see her rehearse. Was cool !! (Melbourne, Australia)

 

I'm in there somewhere. It was a long day...

 

Lol yes I thought the same thing when I first saw this video I think in the summer of 1990. I remember thinking “is this the same band from the Freight Train Runnin video?”. I confess I own this CD....It’s pretty terrible...and one of the worst sounding cd’s I own.

 

i have not but my sister was not at but in one of sonic youth's videos

 

I have. Found my way onto the set of Fleetwood Mac's session for "Little Lies" from the Tango in the Night Album.

I heard from a friend whose company was catering the event that Fleetwood Mac was in town (Santa Cruz, Ca.) for the video shoot. She wasn't working the event so I called the catering company and pretended I was a photographer and told them I had lost the directions to where the shoot was taking place. I told them where I was "staying" and they promptly provided the directions to the location. I drove out to Wilder Ranch off of Highway 1, pulled into the parking lot, and began my search for the set.

I walked down a trail for a bit and when I rounded the corner I encountered the artists and the entire crew sitting down for lunch. There must have been 50-60 people seated at various tables enjoying their food and conversation. I froze momentarily as I took in the scene and realized I had made it in. I continued walking as if I belonged and ended up standing off to the side of one of the barns being used for the video shoot.

At one point Lindsay got up from his table and began the walk over to his trailer. I took the opportunity to approach him and say hi. He was very gracious and we talked for a couple of minutes. After we parted, I walked back towards the barn. To my surprise, no one paid me any mind.

After a few minutes Stevie and Christine walked over to the barn and went inside. I got to watch the crew set up the scene and for the next 20-30 minutes watched them perform parts of the song. It was awesome. While watching through one of the barn windows a member of the crew came up to me and said "you shouldn't be here, right?" I told him that he was correct and awaited his next step, which I was sure was a justified removal from the set. Nope. He said that he noticed when I came in, had been watching me, and could appreciate my interest in what was going on. He told me I could stay and promptly left me alone.

I stayed another 20 minutes and then happily went back home. A few years ago, I bought the deluxe edition of Tango in the Night. Looking through the book that is part of the set I saw a very familiar scene. Multiple pictures of the location at Wilder Ranch, including one of Lindsay alone in the suit he was wearing when I spoke to him. What I saw that day had captured by the real photographer, not the one I was pretending to be.

 

Many, but one of my favorites was the Bangles' Be With You.

 

I was an extra in this Mick Jagger video. But I only remember him on stage, not dancing amongst us.

 

I may have witnessed part of the shoot for Marky Mark's "Wildside", a scene of cheerleaders in bleachers. I've been seeking confirmation of this since 1991 but the location and time make sense. Please contain your jealousy.

 

So was I , still have the promo Hat they gave away. I had a chance to talk to them in between takes and got the Lyric sheet signed by Mike and Peter saying they were sorry that they were not going out on tour for the album.

 

I was at a video shoot for David Bowie’s “Hallo Spaceboy”, filmed after a gig at the Birmingham NEC, 13 December 1995. They ended up not using the footage, as they went with the Pet Shop Boys’ reimagining of the song instead.

Also, a couple of video clips from Paris 1999, which were used on a Bowie CD single, if that counts.

Also been present at a fair number of television recordings (Later ... with Jools Holland, TFI Friday, etc.), but that’s a slightly different question.