Most Dangerous Band / Concert experiences

[missionguitars1]

But nothing beats Itallians. Show me any other people who will throw bottles of piss at you. Yep, bottles of piss, with the cap off. I've even heard about fecal matter being thrown...

Buttresses nicely into the mention of GG Allin earlier...although *HE* was the one flingin' poo into the crowd...may he rest in peace...or not... :ROTF:

[Rsmacker]

But nothing beats Itallians. Show me any other people who will throw bottles of piss at you. Yep, bottles of piss, with the cap off.

I hit Y&T's bass player with a 2 litre bottle, a minging cocktail of mine and my mate Jon's piss, at Donington 1984. Why? Dunno, I quite like Y&T, but the bass player was begging for it, and it was DONINGTON!!!!! And that's what you do at Donington. I wasn't the only one M'lud. Never witnessed poo being thrown though, that's definitely the realm of those Continental savages.

I saw Slayer in LA some years ago, they played most of the set with the house fluorescents lights on. There was fighting inside the building, and outside where all the people who couldn't get in were moshing in the parking lot. And out into the street. I think someone was stabbed to death that night, but not sure whether they were inside or outside.

The vast majority of gigs I have been to have been totally safe and well-policed, any danger I have been was down to my own stupidity. And the odd drinky-winky.

OK, here's one for you, those who can be bothered to read it all.





I did do the sound for a radio station switching on the Christmas lights ceremony at a local city centre some years back. Firstly the generator never materialised (not booked by me), so, with a crowd gathering and no other option I was left to trail mains cables out of nearby shops. Not far, but far enough! I could just fly them overhead, but only just. Thank fuck for digital switch-mode amplifiers!! The lighting I had brought, just a few Par64s had to be dropped, no way to power them up.

The "highlight" of the evening was a Boyband called 911, who were doing the usual miming to a minidisc track with some live radio mics. Well, apparently they were quite popular, as was demonstrated by the thousands of kids who turned up to see them. I have never seen so many kids, it would have given Michael Jackson a heart attack. They stretched right back up the precinct as far as the eye could see. I looked at the radio station boss, she looked at me, and panic set in.

I had a tasty little rig, certainly good enough for a couple of thousand or so, but it sounded as loud as a grasshopper fart in a hurricane. Worse, there was scant security and just a few nominal crash barriers across the front of the stage.
Certainly no stewards, no trained crowd control, no medics. I did all the station's live shows, they were really a piece of piss, once rigged I could handle them on my own, so had no backup. They were always good-natured affairs, no need for any crowd management, they were just something people would stop and look at whilst passing, then move on. This was different, these kiddies were here to see, and scream at, and try to touch 911.

I rallied the station staff, who had simply lobbed the freebies out, creating a feeding frenzy, before they could flee, and assigned jobs for everyone. They weren't going anywhere anyway, we were besieged.
Think of General Gordon in Khartoum and the Fuzzy-Wuzzies, that's what it was like.

In the end I had to leave the desk to a budgie with a clipboard ("Press this at the start, move this slider up.....etc etc") who was terrified and had no inclination of how a mixing desk etc worked.
Meanwhile I was clinging to the back of a stack of Turbosound trying to stop it toppling, whilst some other random bod I had collared did the same on the other side. The crowd just heaved relentlessly forward, there was no telling them to move back.
There were a couple of chaps lifting kid after kid after kid over the front of the barriers (which of course only protected stage front, not my stacks at the sides, whyever would we need barriers for there? Why indeed!) , all of them squashed, fainted, hurt. And all pre-pubescent girls. Gary Glitter heaven, Rsmacker hell.
I could see the headlines, my face in court for being party to the deaths of hundreds of little girls, some of whom were bound to have been crushed by falling Turbosound Floodlight. I'd spend the next 20years on a segregated wing with the nonces.

The decision was taken to get these 4 homos on to do their little mime and dance routine, it would be safer than pulling the show. Approx 8 minutes of cold sweat, my arsehole going like a trumpeter's lips. Two tracks, that's all they did, but the time crawled past. Finally it was over, the crush turned into a surge again, and I was batting invaders off the stack and the stage, for someone else to pick up and carry away to the St John's Ambulance boys (who were equipped with some plasters and some Extra Strong Mints, as per Little Britain).

Of course, by this time it was dark, and the bitch from the station flounced over and demanded to know where the parcans were I had agreed to throw in on the job. I'm afraid, my friends, that I invited her to fuck right off before I stuck the parcans up her arse, which, to her credit, she did, immediately, leaving me to carry on sticking my finger in the dyke (steady now).

So the band had gone, the countdown had been done and the Christmas lights were switched on, all the free shit had been looted/jettisoned. But would the crowd disperse? Would they fuck, all the savages at the back, all the 14yr old hard lads out to show how rock they are, wanted to get down the front now, now they wouldn't be accused of liking 911. They wanted some free stuff. So all the girlies were starting to get upset because they couldn't get away, and the lads were upset because they wanted a free Eminem CD, because "he is, like, de best, innit".
Failing that they were going to help themselves to anything that wasn't nailed down ie. my PA, radio mics, the stage, my van etc etc.

The Old Bill had arrived by now, way too late, as per usual, but there is nothing 14yr old boys like better than defying a few fat old Bobbies who are telling them to go home. To be arrested would be a badge of honour to these little cunts, so they tried their hardest to get nicked. They were even walking on the roof of my van, though I did fell one with a full can of coke, and that put the others off. I thought I had killed him, and my satisfaction was instantly replaced by the mental image of me in court again, Rsmacker the Child Killer. It would be 30 years away now.

Eventually the police and council workers dispersed the crowd, ambulances got through, the wounded were removed, and I was left to de-rig. In the end, no serious injuries, none of my kit was stolen, though the Rozzers left me there alone, trying to defend my stuff from the handful of persistent yobbos who were absolutely dead-set on grabbing something, anything. I had to have 3 pairs of eyes, and be in 3 places at once, so it meant an hour and a half to de-rig turned into more like 3 hours.
I washed the blood/spit/coke/footprints off the van roof before CSI could came and solve the "Mystery of the Flying Hoodie". I was fucking glad to get home that night.

And I got a bollocking for running the mains cable out of Marks & Spencer without written permission. Simply asking the manager wasn't enough, what would have happened if someone had tripped on the cable? Sheesh!

Things changed in my working relationship with that radio station that day!

Ooh, what an essay, sorry, but once I started to unburden my conscience, I had to carry on typing. It's probably good therapy.

[Bengal]

Rsmacker,
Quite the story. I hate boy bands for that reason alone. Well that and their lame names. I assume yours was pronounced "Nine-One-One" and not "Nine Eleven". You wouldn't believe how many people get those confused now. "I need the police, quick call Nine Eleven"...

Y&T's Bass player probably was asking for it. He's a bit of a poser. Still is. I saw them somewhere in Europe in '06. Talked to Daves tech about his famous Les Paul Deluxe. The headstock has been broken off 13 times...

As for the Itallians. We didn't get any piss thown on us, but I saw a few bottles get hoisted. I asked someone why they did this. The festival is called Gods Of Metal, and if someone gets up there with a song that's not Metal, the crowd lets them know it's not Metal with a shower of piss and a few handfulls of shit thown in for good measure...

I also remember a story about Clown from Slipknot getting a bottle of shit thown at him. How the hell did they get the shit in the bottle in the first place?

Where do they think this stuff up? Me? If I don't like a band I just heckle them or flip them off...

[SouthPlatteDemon]

Skinheads or jocks having anything to do with a pit makes it dangerous. They could make an American Idol concert seem brutal.

Nothing like being shoved in the back by a fascist to work the kinks out of the back.

I hate those fuckers so much, I don't go to many shows now.

[eakinj]

The Omni! Wow - I remember seeing a LOT of bands there in the 80's, including Cacophany (got to hang with Marty for a good hour before the show - my buddy worked with his girlfriend at a law firm at the time - one of the nicest most humble guys you'd meet. Why he EVER agreed to work with an ass like Mustaine is beyond me...but I disgress! :ROTF...

The Omni was an awesome place, i remember when Gwar played there, they litterally had to paint the ceilings black from all the 'blood" they sprayed. I know I saw the guys from
Vio-lence there once or twice (no idea if they were signed or not at the time, just remember the cool baseball caps) I saw a lot of strange bands there like 7 Karma Fish, Nucear Rabbit, Fungo Mungo, Mr Bungle(?) whatever the singer from Faith No More's other band was, Hoodlum Empire, I'm not 100% sure, but I think I saw the singer from Korn's first band there, he's the only singer I know of who plays bagpipes.. that was a weird show. Oh and Skank-N-Pickle.

I think it was the Marinors Hall the last time I saw a real metal show. I can't remember most of the hard metal bands names anymore, the old drummer from Slayer had a band I saw there. There was a lot of Pantara rip offs that went nowhere. Something very off about a place having a mosh pit and selling corn dogs...

oh! I do remember some death metal band did a video at the Omni, think they filmed it on Halloween. I wanted to be there but it was difficult to get my 'friends' at the time to go to shows that weren't just about hippie love fests or led zepplin wanna bees.. so..

(re-reading what i just wrote, so much information, so little of it useful.)

[eakinj]

Wasn't it one of the ladys from L7 who pulled out her tampon and threw it back at the crowd? Wasn't that at one of the big festivals?

now that's metal.

[Jason1212]

There was a Slayer show at the Arcadia in Dallas that Tom had to ask everyone to calm down or the police were going shut it down. I am sure there was not a usable seat left in the joint once the show was over. The pit at Clash of the Titans was pretty crazy especially once they built a fire in the middle of it. Some how I managed to get into a fist fight at a Nirvana show, which I was not expecting. I almost got into a fight at a Ramones show then my drunk buddy stepped in just in time to get sucker punched right in the face. Skinheads at a Social D show were trying to be tough, I had to punch one of em. Spent the rest of the show looking over my shoulder. Now I dont really go to too many shows because I just dont have a tolerance for people being assholes.

[slash-ed]

On Metallica's Justice tour, the Lady Justice statue's head fell off and almost hit Lars... he looked pretty shaken up, too! :ROTF:

Now that would have been Justice for All...

[guitarsjb]

[quote=åron;1061460]
Seriously though, I almost died at an AC/DC show. It was a classic pit situation where the crowd ebbs and flows, crushing toward the stage. Some fell down and the fun began. I remember people underneath me crying for help and people on top of me. Damn scary. Eventually, adrenaline kicked in and I somehow pulled out of the tangle. I had foot prints on my back and chest.
A few days later, a fan died in the same situation in another state, same tour.
quote]

Same here, back in '86, in Kalamazoo, MI, my FIRST concert. My best friend took me for my 18th birthday. We were down front, and AC/DC was about to come out, kids start pushin and chanting AC/DC and doin more pushin. My best friend ended up on the floor, I was trying to get someone to help me get her up, and I almost went down. Finally some HUGE guy just starts "parting the waters" so to speak and gets her up and hands her across the barrier to a security guy. Well, that caused all hell to break loose. About that time I get kicked in the face, thought for sure my nose was broken, felt more pushinc shovingc hitting and kickin.., and finally same guy gets me out too. My shirt was almost ripped off, I had a bloody nose, a 2 inch cut on my head, and a broken right pinky finger. It was YEARS before I would get back on the floor of a show again. And now I still hang on the edges..no more right down front.

[Rsmacker]

Wasn't it one of the ladys from L7 who pulled out her tampon and threw it back at the crowd? Wasn't that at one of the big festivals?

now that's metal.

Yes, a very coppery taste, as I recall.

[Trem]

1st. Slayer, Olympic Auditorium, L.A. 1986 or 7, Reign in Blood tour first L.A. show.
In fucking sano.

never have i seen a more brutal pit, well, pitts, the whole floor was the pit, with multi swirling pits at high velocity, there were a shitload of skins there too.
I can't remember all the bands exactly, but Slayer, DRI, Metal Church, I believe Cro Mags, and possibly Overkill, somehow Overkill was like playing every metal show in L.A. at the time. I saw them more times i can count.
But yeah, nothing really matched that 1st show in terms of just sheer madness.

2nd. Slayer, Reign in Blood tour second L.A. show 87, Hollywood Palladium, the return of Lombardo. I got thrown out of this one, but saw most of the show

3rd. Motorhead Orgasmatron Tour "Deaf Forever" , with Megadeth opening, Killing is my Buisness L.A. Civic, 87.

Motorhead is always a sick show, any one considering themselves metal, should have seen Motorhead once at least! \m/,

Motorhead drew a large variety in it's audience, and not everyone got along always hehe, a lot of punks liked them, and hated Megadeth...
Sick Show, Lemme is the man.

[Cygnus X1]

Why do these stories remind me of the P.A.G.A.N. scene from Dragnet?
(People Against Goodness and Normalcy)

[Flatpicker]

Great White, Providence.

[SEEGERMANY]

I'd have to say Ted Nugent. The fucker will talk you to death!

[shobet]

Yes, a very coppery taste, as I recall.

That was the Reading festival if I recall, some guys I used to know were the roadies. Slim and Andy. I wonder if they had a spare jam rag for her?