Concerts Where The Artist Walked Off Stage

I saw General Public at a U of P auditorium where the sound was so bad they walked off after 2 or 3 songs and eventually came back after 15-20 minutes. The sound was better, but just barely.

A friend drove to Asbury Park (I think) to see the Mats in the early 80's (1.5-2 hrs). As the band came on the darkened stage, someone said into the mike "yes, we are VERY drunk". 3 songs in, Tommy collapses. He is completely unconscious. Roadies carried him off, bass and all, his hands hanging down like a battlefield casualty. According to my friedn, the promoter got on stage and said, "you know the drill, form a line at the door."

I saw Wreckless Eric open for Rigby/Jones. He was getting abuse, so instead of walking off, he more or less said (minus the obscenities) since you hate me, I'm going to torture you by playing more. And he did--20 minutes over his alloted time.

 

Not quite the same thing, but I was at a Robert Gordon show in the late 70s (Chris Spedding was playing lead guitar with him at the time).

Robert was doing the full rockabilly thing with the slicked back hair, etc., and had a big cool guy smile on his face. But I'll never forget him dancing into the wings while Spedding was taking a solo, and then (this was completely visible from where I was stationed near the front of the stage) furiously berating some poor schlub back there...I'm guessing because of a sound issue of some sort.

Man, he really let this guy have it! Then, he danced right back to the microphone with that same wide smile on his face and resumed singing.

It was kinda creepy...

 

Didn't Joni Mitchell hurriedly leave the stage during the Amnesty International show (broadcast on MTV) at the Meadowlands in 1986?

 

Jeff Beck did that at The Cage at the University of Massachusetts.... somewhere around 1977/78. He was hours late, the drinking age was still 18 and the audience was already in a foul mood. Well they came out and were ludicrously loud...I mean totally distorted purposely. The crowd was NOT happy and he left the stage, complaining about the hall...the unruly crowd and security. The loudest show I ever heard...and one of the worst. Ron

 

In 1977, Genesis played two nights in my home town. On the second night, halfway through the set, they announced a break but never came back. It seems Michael Rutherford felt sick. I had gone to the first show the night before and it was fine, but my friends who went to the second were understandably mad.

 

In 80 or 81 - Kansas City, Judy Tzuke opened for Elton John, and I was totally psyched for the show. I had her debut album "Stay With Me Till Dawn" and loved it. After two songs, Judy stopped singing and waved to the crowd and said something like "I love you but I've got to go". Not long after that, Elton comes out on stage alone and said that Judy had just gotten over a throat infection and would not be able to continue. Elton apologized, and vowed to play an extra long set, which made the SRO crowd very happy. Elton played for over 2 and a half hours that night and was spectacular.

Also in Kansas City, during a Genesis show, the power went dead - there was a huge electrical storm brewing and the power got knocked out. This was right in the middle of "Illegal Alien". The emergency generators kicked in and the house lights came on to a dimly lit and empty stage. After the power was fully restored, the band came back and the show continued. Phil said something cute like "You'd think with the money they charge for tickets, they'd be able to pay the electric".

Mississippi Nights, St. Louis, late 80's - During the time when slam dancing was all the rage, School of Fish stopped their show in the middle of a song and threatened to walk off if the "a--holes on the floor" wouldn't stop it. Evidently, somebody got slammed a little too hard and a fight was breaking out. The crowd settled down and the show continued.

 

yep I have a tape of it somewhere. I played it once and slowed it down as a beer comes flying across the piano and skids off the other side. I think she says c'mon guys, I'm not that bad. Quit throwing shib up here.

For the record, I had the sound off she was so bad.

 

I'm surprized that nobody has mentioned the obvious, Axl Rose. As to which time he walked off the stage take your pick but I think the most famous was the show in Canada which in turn caused a riot ( IIRC it's also the same show in which Metallica's Hetfield was burned).

 

Morrissey did it at a show I saw a few years ago. I think he was irritated by the bouncers but in any event, he played a short set and then did not return for any encore. I'm not sure what point he was trying to make, but as a paying customer that felt short changed, I've never been quite as much of a fan of his since then.

 

a couple of summers ago.....the joint at the hard rock hotel in las vegas.

lucinda williams, after making us wait over an hour after the opening act finished, played 3 1/2 songs, dropped her guitar on the stage, grabbed the microphone, and said> "i can't do this anymore, go and get your money back" and walked off the stage.

we were given full refunds.

i never did find out what happened.

renny

 

Grateful Dead in Long Beach. Bobby and everyone else wanted to play Spoonful, Jerry did not. So, when they launched into Spoonful anyway Jerry left the stage.

 

Perhaps she finally collapsed under the weight of her peers' hype.

 

Robert Fripp has prematurely ended a number of shows with King Crimson and various ProjeKcts, almost always due to someone taking a flash photo during the show. Granted, the audience is usually warned before the show that this could happen, but someone just has to take a flash photo anyway.

Want to make Robert Fripp really happy? Ask him to autograph a King Crimson bootleg while taking his picture ; ).

J. D.

 

I can't go along with that "peers' hype" thing, I think she really is that good. However, I spoke with her briefly after seeing her a few years ago in Cleveland. I have done quite a bit in my lifetime, but I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone that high.

 

Janes Addiction at the Tower in Philly. Perry didn't like what was going on in front of the stage so after a few songs, Perry says "this town needs a bag of hot water up its ***" and the band walks off. After the crowd filed outside, they did their damndest to tip the tour bus.

 

The Beastie Boys - Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool - May 30, 1987

The infamous riot concert! This one did conclude in a riot with the Beasties playing less than 10 minutes. Missiles were hurled throughout the support act, but things were ratcheted up a notch when the Beasties took the stage. The bikini-clad caged dancers quickly left the stage to avoid the flying cans of beer. The show was stopped, everyone went off, an appeal was made, they came back on, and all hell broke loose. This time they fled the stage in a hurry, and when it became clear that they were not coming back, the crowd decided to take it out on the mixing desk and lighting rig. With everything being trashed, members of Liverpool's answer to the notorious Special Patrol Group arrived to restore order. Deciding that we had had all the excitement this show was going to offer, my friend Tim and I left before the street sticks came into action. Still one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to! It had the most electric of atmospheres, but in an entirely ugly, dangerous way.

Here's what the band had to say about it: “After all the dates on that British tour had been sold out, they added a Liverpool date that attracted all these people who just wanted to riot,” Yauch says. “Beer bottles were flying off the balcony before we came on.” Horovitz: “They were singing football chants that were louder than our songs!”

Here's a short report about the show and subsequent arrest of Adam Horovitz for allegedly using a baseball bat to hit a thrown can of beer back in to the face of a girl in the crowd: http://www.beastiemania.com/gigog/show.php?g=19870530. I can confirm that the chant mentioned at the end of the article did happen.

 

Trey Anastasio walked off very abruptly during the third set of Phish's Halloween 98 show in Vegas. They were about 40 minutes into a very spacey, drawn-out set. Nobody knows why exactly he ended it, but a few theories/stories float around:
1. He was frustrated or disappointed in the way the set was going, and decided to stop
2. He took a hit of acid before the set and it was coming on too strong
3. He was upset at the crowd's reaction to the experimental nature of the set

 

Neil Young at the old Baltimore Civic Center in like '74
He did 45 minutes then stormed offstage after scolding some fans.
Took me longer than that to get my car out of the parking lot.

Peace-
Norm

 

saw Neil do the same thing with the Stills-Young Band. eventually Steve played Old Man on the guitar and the audience sang along and Neil came back

 

Just curious as to what year this happened?

 

I saw her stop a song dead when an idiot kept screaming her name through a solo piece on the piano. She resumed after the pregnant pause, but the tension was in the room. I had a hard time enjoying the rest of the show, waiting for that idiot to take the challenge and scream out her name again.

But my favorite Natalie Merchant moment was when she frosted pre-DAILY SHOW John Stewart on some long-forgotten MTV talk show. She performed one of her songs solo on piano, sat down for her interview, and proceeded to give Stewart the silent treatment. I don't remember what might have annoyed her but she wouldn't say a word. Eventually Stewart had to fill the dead air with jibes at his own discomfort.

 

i was not at this concert but my mother told me all about it.
led zeppelin was playing at the old tampa stadium (the big sombrero for you nfl fans) back in 1977. it had started to rain heavilly and after only a couple of tunes, the boys walked off stage saying they would be back.... a few minutes later, a helicopter could be seen taking off from the stadium and needless to say, the show did not go on.. a huge riot ensued and the tampa city council banned concerts at the stadium for a few years after this incident.

 

This probably doesn't count, since I think it may have been "normal".
Daniel Johnston was the headliner, and after the two opening bands played 45 minute to 1 hour sets, he came on - played about four or 5 songs and was gone after about 20 minutes. Seemed very happy. Everybody just stood around with sheepish grins on their faces for a few minutes, then went home.

Jerry