Elvin? Not surprised at all. I have heard some Philly Joe with Bill Evans that wasn't good. As messed up as Bill was, he always played very, very well.
The Replacements opened for Lou Reed at the Ritz in NYC, don't remember the exact year, but poor Lou didn't have a chance. 'Mats were drunk, but had so much energy and so many good songs. Lou was actually pretty good, but he couldn't compete with that. And, like others in this thread, Van Halen in 1981. Plastered, but still so energetic that it almost didn't matter.
I saw a bunch of shows there. Aside from this one, the dead, the band, csny, yes and probably more I can't recall.
I saw the Pogues in about 1990 with Spider on lead vocals, they were awesome. Shane was Sat on the drum riser.
1.Janis Joplin & Johnny Winter 1969 Texas International Pop Festival... Probably smack & liquor 2.Joe Cocker 1972 Dallas Convention Center... Went behind drummer & vomited, then passed out, like everyone else we left disgusted 3.Sam Myers of Anson & The Rockets @ Lakewood Bar in Dallas TX... They played there frequently & no matter how liquored up Sam got he never failed to be a hell of a entertainer
Easy, Aerosmith in the fall of 1977 Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati. You could barely tell what they were playing. Can't absolutely say they were drunk, but I saw them again in the 90's and it was a pretty tight show. Judging by what I've read about them over the years, they were probably ****faced.
I think it depends on the band or artist. My band used to rehearse drunk and stoned, so playing live drunk and stoned was a natural extension of that. If you can still play then not a problem. If we were sober it wouldn't have been what we were used to. If there were problems it was usually when there was no reefer around, then we'd just get more drunk. I've done the falling into the drumkit thing and the tripping over the monitor and falling offstage thing. But I could always play my guitar and sing ok. In my experience most of the punters at local pub and club gigs are pretty bevvied up themselves and actually enjoy a bit of rock'n'roll mayhem. It worked for the type of band we were anyway.
Cast my vote for Gary Stewart, who was largely relegated to smaller venues during the 80s, 90s and into the early 2000s. Although his condition varied each night, I don't recall seeing him perform entirely sober and if he was that was a rare treat. RIP Gary, we miss you.
If the story’s about him that I’ve read are true, it was probably Alex Van Halen. Apparently he drank so much beer during the VH shows, he had a hidden vat under his drum kit to piss in.
Beastie Boys on their first big tour for Licensed to Ill went through a STAGGERING amount of beer—from the angle I was seated at I could see at least 6 flats (so a double case, 48 beers each) on either side of the stage that they would all grab one after another. Now most of that wound up sprayed all over the place, on each other, on the crowd, on the go-go dancers, you name it. But that was a LOT of beer for 3 guys, even though they probably didn’t drink all that much of it. Hard to say really. Mark E Smith. I saw The Fall twice on the tour for The Infotainment Scam, in Cleveland and DC. Much, much drunker at the DC show but pretty belligerent at both. God bless him. But the topper was when I saw the Pogues here in Cleveland on the tour for Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, 1986. Shane McGowan was plenty blitzed of course but the drunkest guy in that room was Elvis Costello, who was neck deep into his infatuation with his future wife, Pogues bassist Cait O’Riordan. EC got so hammered at the club bar before the show, the bouncers actually threw him out, despite his “don’t you know who I am?!?” protests. They might actually have known who he was but he was so drunk it didn’t matter, he had to go. At least he got the girl in the end.
VooDoo Fest 2008 Shane shows up late It is 2 pm He is so loaded The band drags him offstage twice He still keeps coming out They are beyond pissed and cut his mike as well Real horror show Chris Squire about 5 years ago at a Yes Casino show on the Mississippi Gulf Coast The opening portion of the set is The Yes Album Chris obviously have taken advantage of the free drinks before the show He can't sync up with Steve Howe on Your's is No Disgrace Steve keeps having to comp a repeated line in the intro Finally after two sloppy numbers Chris settles down to autopilot The crowd - those aware - cut this legend a little slack, RIP Lucinda Williams several times - don't sit too close Same day Peter Grant, Richard Cole and Bonzo took on some of Bill Graham's roadies backstage for messing with Grant's son. Lawsuits/press/settlement As for Robert - Nurses do it better
I never saw him but Joe Cocker was definitely the king of the drunks in the 1970s. When he played in Toronto in 1974, he was vomiting behind the amps. I'm glad he got himself together later in life.
Robert Pollard in the mid-90s. It really didn't hamper his performance -- rather, it was kind of an inseparable element of it -- but, man, he put down a lot of beers. Pretty much a constant ritual throughout.
