According to Benji LeFevre, Page didn't quit heroin permanently until mid-way through The Firm's second U.S. tour in spring 1986... he had tried repeatedly to do so prior but always fell back into bad habits. Glad he made it out and is still with us today... now how about that new Zeppelin live album you mentioned back in 2017, Jimmy? Still waiting on it... That was the now-infamous Belgrade gig... the Hindenburg of live shows ... Apparently, she was supposed to sing the planned theme tune to the Bond film Quantum of Solace - and if anyone was born to sing for a 007 movie, it was her! - but they couldn't get her to stand up straight in the studio for long enough to even get pieces of takes to stitch together... sad... In the UK, the press dubbed her Amy Crackhouse, for obvious and lamentable reasons...
I didn’t see it but I have a recording of Townes Van Zandt falling off his stool during a gig at a coffeehouse in Texas.
Leo Kottke. I wouldnt' say he was sloshed, but a friend of mine went to another one of his concerts and said at the one he attended, ol' Leo was, indeed, sloshed. Still a great show.
I saw GbV open for Cheap Trick once, and if there was any chance of me getting into that band, it went out the window that night. Lordy it was bad.
Obviously drunk and angry yelling at people from stage...Page Hamilton. This is just a clip of 'Meantime,' and I think I was actually watching from outside the venue like these guys.
Does it circulate? I'd love to hear any Townes I haven't listened to, even falling off his stool drunk.
If in fact Townes took a spill; it wasn't necessarily due to alcohol... there were any number of other possible reasons for the tumble; god rest his soul. He certainly didn't have much rest as the traveling troubadour of our times while transversing our highways and byways; bars and 2 bit dimly lit stages.
One of my favourite musicians ever. I never saw him live as I didn't want to be disappointed (I had a girlfriend who saw him on his last tour and apparently he was quite straight - so maybe I should have gone). Bless him.
I have no idea. It was probably between 1986-1989. The rest of the band had "stay away from me, you idiot" looks on their faces whenever he came close, that I remember.
Jaco Pastorius with Mike Stern back in the early 80s. I think it was a combo of smack and booze. Being the amazing musician he was, he still pulled off the gig.
Famous for being the first place The Clash ever played. Saw some greats there; Steve Harley, SAHB, Ian Hunter, Fish... I’m told it’s going to be turned into city-centre accommodation. Gutted...
iirc it was Phil Carlo, who was his right hand man in the Firm days, who said that. We're lucky he's still with us as he flew very close to the sun by all accounts. One of the funniest YouTube comments I ever saw was on the Live Aid vid where (between WLL & Stairway) Page nearly overbalances while trying to flick ash off his cigarette "Jimmy trying to bat away the mischievous fairies he's convinced are detuning his guitar" I suspect the live album got held up by the zombie-like Stairway legal case. Which might prove it's a post 1971 show i.e. suggesting that Stairway would certainly be in the setlist.... Maybe it was the Far East shows, which got leaked but I always thought his "a completely different view of the band compared to previous live records" meant a continental European show, possibly Montreux. Hopefully we'll find out soon. A bit of positive Zep news wouldn't half lighten the load of coronalockdown!
I guess I consider myself lucky, but I can't remember anyone being obviously plastered. I did see Hootie and the Blowfish several years ago at one of those many artists street festivals in Charlotte. Darius seemed to have had a few and made some rather suggestive gestures when they covered Kool and the Gang's "Get Down On It". It was a little surprising (I has seen them previously), but harmless.
I thought this might be a funny thread to peruse but found it rather sad really. I mean, not a comment on the OP or on the excellent posters throughout the thread, but Jeebus, there are some sadly messed up people in the world. Shame, really. I felt worse by the end of each page!
Unfortunately, it was Randy Brecker, in a small jazz club in France in the 90s, or in the early 2000s (not sure). The music was fantastic, but he was so drunk... At the end of the performance I approached him with my "Zappa in NY" Lp in hand and a pen. He said "What's that ? I can't see a thing I'm too drunk.... Oh ! It's Zappa ! A very famous record, that one." When I left the venue, walking down a corridor to the exit I saw him again, he was alone, three meters in front of me, trying pathetically to reach the loo, bumping on the walls left and right. A very sad seeing. He's an immense world-class musician. A giant. He shouldn't be abandoned alone, walking erratically in a remote lost club in France, right ?
Jerry Jeff Walker. He was supposed to open for Willie Nelson. He showed up late, staggered onto the stage, and Willie had his crew take Jerry Jeff off of the stage.
Jason and the Scorchers, opening for REM at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, 1986 I believe. Jason Ringenberg was drunk as a skunk and could not move from where he was planted on the stage. Couldn't hear a word come out of his mouth. It didn't help that the band sounded nothing like the splendid roots-rock of their records, they sounded like a heavy metal garage band.
Ray Davies, Kinks in NYC, ca. 1973. Quite something. I have to say, it added to the performance, though I think Dave looked a bit disgusted.
