What are your favorite anecdotes from concerts you’ve been to?

[IknowthatIdontKnow09]

[FunkyMonkee]

How many hours you got? Part one.
1. I went to see Starz. Their opening act was Rush. I'd never heard of them before. I fell asleep during the Rush half of the concert and I was standing up the whole time.
2. I went to see magician, Doug Henning and, during one of his tricks, he would fly a Nerf plane into the audience to get random people to participate in a mind reading trick and I was the first one that caught the plane.
3. They were having a 25th anniversary Woodstock reunion concert at a local venue that had a huge dome that could open most of the way. While the show was going on, the crowd chanted to open the dome so, they did and, it was just in time to see a lunar eclipse!
4. In the same venue, I went to see Kansas and Cheap Trick. Rick was sort of a friend of mine and I recently bought an odd guitar and took it to show him and ask if he had one in his collection. While wandering "backstage" looking for Rick, a group of 5 or 6 guys walked toward me in the opposite direction, and it was Kansas. Robby walked up to me and shook my hand like we were good friends!
5. After seeing Blondie, since I knew where bands usually stayed, I went over to the hotel to meet the band. I got to the hotel and hung out out front talking with their keyboardist (or was he the bassist?), Nigel Harrison, and the two of us just hung out for at least an hour talking with Teddy Predergrast's drummer. This was right after Teddy got into that terrible car crash.
6. At the same hotel, I waited to meet up with Cheap Trick after their show. I went into the bar on the first floor and met all 4 of them (I'd already known Rick for a few years) and Bun invited me to sit with him and we started talking records, because we both collect them and are both drummers. He gave me the address for his office in New York so that we might trade records at some point. Tom & Robin were too busy chasing girls.
7. It might've been after that same concert but, I waited for them at the back stage door and eventually found a window to the dressing room and saw Rick without his baseball cap!
8. At the same venue, I went to see AC/DC. This was right before Bon Scott died. I was up in the balcony, a few rows back where the first walkway was across that level. Angus was on stage doing a solo and then, suddenly, vanished. Next thing I knew, there were 3 or 4 guys coming at me across that walkway with Angus on their shoulders as he continued to do his solo and they nearly knocked me over! I think it was the same concert where a huge chunk of the domed ceiling broke loose and hit me on the right shoulder! If it wasn't that show, it was the Angel concert.
9. I went to see The Moody Blues and my ticket was about 3 rows from the stage. It was an outdoor event under a huge white circus tent. They were using folding chairs for us to sit on. I accidently walked into the wrong row over to where my seat was and decided to just step over the seats to get into the next row. I'm 6' 9" so, I CAN do that! But, I'd just come straight from work at the print shop and had a few bags of stuff I brought with me that day. I missed my footing and slightly tripped over the seat but caught myself with no problem. As I sat down, Justin Heyward stood on stage watching me.
10. Todd Rundgren seems to have a bug up his ass about me but, I have no idea why except that it's possible that I kinda look like him. I wore one of his t-shirts to work one day and my boss asked me if that was me. I never noticed the similarity until then.
Well, at one of his shows (Kasim Sultan had a cast on his leg), I was about 15' away from the stage and kept noticing that, every time I looked at Todd, he'd quickly turn his head away and pretend that he hadn't been looking at he.
At a Ringo Starr show several years later, I was 3 rows from the stage and caught Todd doing the same thing! During his guitar solo, he ran to the right end of the stage and came down in front of the stage and dashed across to the other side holding his guitar over his head, kinda like we were supposed to touch it as he ran by. He seemed to act like he was trying to avoid me touching it. (More on this show, later.)
At another of Todd's shows where I was helping run sound, I also did a little roadie work for him. He decided to bring his own sound boards and it took at least 6 of us to carry that one main board up that LONG flight of stairs going 3 stories up and then into the balcony!! As the venue's sound man and I had next to nothing to do, and as I was so tall, they had me help change the stage set-up between shows. The first half was his lounge lizard set and the second half was his standard rock set.
Before the show, his guitarist, Jesse Gress, was on stage tuning up. As far as I'm concerned, he could be Todd's twin brother!! When I first saw him on stage that night, I thought he WAS Todd until Todd sat down beside me!! I sat a few feet away from the stage on the side and Todd came over and sat right next to me but never acknowledged that I was even there! It was a 2-night affair so, I was there for both shows and met this sweet girl, Kristin from Canada and she ended up being part of the guests on stage during the lounge lizard part of the show. Someone shot video of the show from the balcony and I was standing right next to the camera on the 2nd night and she spotted me and started waving at me! A few months later, I saw copies of that video for sale in a record collecting magazine but never got around to buying one. Turns out, she was also a chiropractor and had a portable table where she set it up in the alley after the show and gave me and a few of the crew adjustments. Sadly, one of them got quite rude and perverse with her.
Also at the first of these gigs, one of the waitresses there thought I was part of the crew and asked what I wanted for dinner, of her choices, I said, chicken so, she brought me a chicken meal, nothing vey elaborate. The promoter of the show saw me eating the chicken and got irate over this and was so upset that I got a free $5.00 chicken dinner on him!! Had I known I wasn't supposed to get it, I would've had no problem paying the $5.00!! Well, the guy I was there to help out got really pissed at the promoter for not allowing me the $5.00 meal after I nearly broke my back helping with that huge fucking sound board, like he couldn't afford that fucking $5.00!! And he told the owner of the venue that he quit!!
11. One night, I went to see Tony Levin's World Diary. On guitar with him that night was Jesse Gress!! After the show, I went up to him while he was wrapping up his guitar cables, and he was quite happy to see me again and we chatted like old friends for a bit.
12. The night I saw The Fixx, I was waiting in line to get autographs and met this girl standing next to me and we hit it off nicely. Adam, the drummer, used my very long pen as a drumstick before signing my autograph. After we did that, she and I went to a local bar for an hour or two and then I walked her back home about 2 miles away. It was on my way home, anyway and I had another 3 to 5 more miles to go after dropping her off at her place. By the time we got there, she and I hugged goodnight and the hug turned into a sweet kissing session for about half an hour and it was a very slight rain. We decided to meet up around noon the next day and hang out together so, I went to her place and she wasn't home. I waited several hours for her to come back and, just before I was about to leave, she showed up and said that she went to a huge mall about 45:00 away and has decided to move and had to start getting packed right then and there.
13. I went to see comedian, Steven Wright one evening. After the show, I was making my way to the bus stop to go home when I spotted Steve and his opening act just inside a huge window at a bar a few doors away from where they just played. I went inside to meet Steve and they both invited me to sit with them for a while. I guess I stayed for about half an hour and I asked them what they thought of Rick Rockwell. They both laughed and made a few snide remarks about him. Then I mentioned that I went to high school with him and he was just as bad a comedian in high school!!

[FunkyMonkee]

Part two.
14. At the Ringo Starr concert, there weren't very many people there because they decided to have it way out in the sticks which not a lot of people could get to so, they invited everyone to move down front. So, my future ex-fiance and I went down to the third row and could practically count the hairs in Ringo's nose! When he started singing, "Photograph", I turned to my girl and sang the first line to her and then I kissed her. We turned to look at the stage and there was Ringo pointing right at us with a big smile on his face.
I had a copy of my band's E. P. with me to give to him but never got the chance and tossed it up onto the stage for him but he never saw it and stepped on it as he left the stage. I asked one of the security people to reach for it and get it back for me so, now, I have a copy of my record with Ringo's physical stamp of approval.
At another his shows years earlier, I went to get autographs and met John Entwhistle and he shook my hand.
15. The night I helped run sound for Julian Lennon, he left a huge water bottle on the stage so, I grabbed it and hung onto it for years but, sadly, it got thrown away when I lost my house 6 years ago. I met his drum tech and helped him tear down after the show and he was a pretty nice guy.
16. I went to help run sound for Adrian Belew, of King Crimson but, he was completely solo, there was nothing for me to do so, his sound guy, Dean, showed me how to run lights! I'd never run lights before in my entire life but, after the show, I asked him how he liked the lights and he said they were pretty good.

[FunkyMonkee]

Part three
17. At one of the King Crimson ProjeKct shows (ProjeKct Two) during one of the encores, Adrian brought out an acoustic guitar and started playing, "Dinosaur" (or, was it, "Three Of A Perfect Pair"?) but, just as he got to the solo section, as it was an outdoor show, the same place The Moody Blues played, a train went speeding by right next to the stage and, Adrian turned to the train and played as if he was telling the train that he's more sonically powerful than that train and the whole audience applauded!! There's a recording of that concert for sale online and, if you can get a copy, you can hear the cheering but not the train.
18. Just before going to my first Fishbone concert, I saw their singer, Angelo Moore, standing near the tour bus. I went over to meet him and wish him a great show and shook his hand. After the show, I mentioned to him that I was trying to put a benefit album together for breast cancer research and asked him if they'd be interested in contributing a song to the project. He told me to talk to their bass player, Norwood Fisher. Norwood gave me his pager number. The one time I called it up, as soon as it picked up, I heard a toilet flush!! Lol.
A couple years later, I saw them for at least my third time in the same place I chatted with Jesse Gress. After the show, I hung out for a bit with Angelo. I had one of those huge Symphony chocolate bars with me and shared some of it with him while we talked.
19. Another night I was running sound, I met the band, Joydrop and we all got to be friends. I saw them at the same venue a few months later, also running sound, and we all shared hugs. A couple months later, they were playing on one of our famous river boats Halloween night and their drummer invited me back stage to eat some chicken with him but, I already had chicken for dinner that night and, for some reason, my stomach wasn't doing so hot.

[FunkyMonkee]

Part four
20. Around `97 or `98, I went to see The Bevis Frond playing at one of our major universities. After the show, I hung out with the band and even helped them pack up. The bass player was Adrian Shaw, who used to play bass for Hawkwind. I'd very recently just finished watching every episode of the t. v. show, "The Prisoner" for the very first time and kept whistling the theme song. Adrian recognized it and was amazed that I'd be whistling the theme of a t. v. show 30 years old.
While helping them out, Nick Solomon, the leader, was talking to someone backstage about how they just picked up this drummer a night or two before in New York because, the drummer they had, the drummer from Marillion, I think, was found backstage one night trying to cut off his hands with a hacksaw and was nearly half way through one when they found him and stopped him!
I asked them if they wanted to submit a tune for the benefit album and Adrian gave me his e-mail addy. We chatted online a bit after that for a few months. They sent me two songs for the project.
21. About 20 years ago, my friend, Carla Beck (nee Carl) wanted to go see The Monkees at the local stadium parking lot. It was a pretty small crowd, about 60 to 100 people. She and I were the tallest people there and when they sang, "I'm A Believer" and Davy got to the part where he sang, "And then I saw her face." he pointed right at Carla!! She went nuts!! "Did you see that? He pointed right at me!!"
After the show, I tried to get autographs but was met by my own guitarist, Pete!! He was coming from backstage and was all sweaty! I asked what he was doing back there? He said, "We opened for The Monkees!" We? "Mike and I!" His drummer, Mike, from one of his many other bands, BS came out from backstage and started chatting with us!
Now that I think of it, Mike, Pete, Davy and Carla are all dead, now! Micky and I, the drummers, are still alive and kicking!!

[FunkyMonkee]

Part five
22. At one of my bands local shows, Henry Rollins opened up for us doing an all-ages show. My good friend, Jennifer Smith, was mad about him and wanted so badly to go but she had to work. After he was done, I asked him for an autograph for Jennifer and he gave me one. A week or so later, she and I were walking along one night, just chatting away when I reached into my pocket and gave her a piece of paper. She opened it, saw what it was and collapsed on the street with a guttural scream that was almost orgasmic!! I swear I can tell right where that was by the stain on the sidewalk!!
23. At one of my band's concerts at a small bar in Erie called, Norb's, the stage is not much bigger than a postage stamp and is only about an inch higher than the floor. The door to the back room of the bar, where they keep the kegs, was right next to the stage. We were doing a song called, "Another Day In The Compound". For the last half a minute or so, I tend to have my eyes closed to play that last bit. Bob, my singer, is standing right beside me on the edge of the stage. At the end of the song, I opened my eyes and Bob was standing there with no pants on!! I asked him what happened to his pants and he said two girls game up to him, knelt down beside him, each one grabbed one half at the waist band and they both yanked down at the same time and tore his pants right off of him!!
24. At one of my earliest gigs with them in Aug. 1980, it was a very hot night and Bob kept stripping off an article of clothing as the show went on. During the last half of the last song, he took off his underwear and sang the rest naked with that 12" long black dick bouncing between his knees and then walked off the stage like that!

[FunkyMonkee]

Part six
25. At another of our gigs in late June of 1989, mom forced me to let her cut my hair short for my sister's wedding and I told her, if you cut it short, I'll cut it off!! She didn't believe me!! She cut it short, I shaved it all off!! The next day, we had an afternoon gig and a friend of mine had a really wild black wig so, I asked her if I could borrow it. I wore it to the show and played the whole gig with it on and, as soon as we finished the last song, I stood up and whipped off the wig and everyone went nuts!! When Bob saw it, he said, "Whachoo do to yo haid?".
26. In the early `80's, I had no idea that King Crimson was still an active band at that time until my brother came home from the Air Force with about 150 albums and an expensive stereo. He was in one room on the third floor and I was in the other. One night, he was playing the King Crimson album, "Red", in the next room while I was in my room doing things with my records, I guess. I only had about 32,000, by then. And, I wasn't paying any attention at all to what he was playing and had no clue it was King Crimson. A few weeks or so later, we got a gig at a sleazy little dive and, at that time, we had a guitarist who thought the Sun shown from Robert Fripp's ass!! Every time we'd stop between songs, he'd start noodling his Fripp stuff until we were ready to start our next song. During one of these breaks, he started playing, "Red"!! SOMEHOW, I recognized this, having only ever heard it once before without paying any attention to what it was, and I started playing the drum parts for it right along with Tim!! Matt, our bassist, also recognized what we were doing and he started playing along with us!! We played the entire song flawlessly!!!

[FunkyMonkee]

Part seven
27. At our last real show in Nov. or Dec. `04, before we broke up in Feb. `05, I hadn't been able to get to rehearsals for several months because they were too far away from me but, the band came up with a brand new song, "Superfluous America" and they wanted to play it at that gig in Youngstown, The Cedars. They played a cassette of them playing it in the car on the way to the gig and I heard it 3 or 4 times and wrote my drum parts in my head but never told anyone what I had in mind. Comes time to play the song at the show and Bob is relating this story about how we've never played the song as a full band before so, we have no idea how it's gonna turn out. Well, I expected him to count-in the song and I didn't want him to do that because it'd just make the song sound a bit cheesy so, just as he finished up his speech, I started a fairly short drum solo, the very first time I ever took one with the band, and then fell into one of the beats I had in my head, played a few bars of that and then nodded to Dana to start playing her bass part. After another 8 bars, I nodded to Pete to come in on guitar. Another few bars later, I nodded to Bob to start singing and, as soon as he did, I changed to a completely different beat and we played the whole song FLAWLESSLY!!! At the end of the song, we got a massive applause and Bob dropped to his knees on the floor in front of the stage, whipped off his sweaty t-shirt and started beating the floor with it going, THAT'S how you do that!!! THAT'S how you do that!!!
Sadly, there's no recordings of that and we never played the song again.

[Anonymous]

Nothing special at all... just me and a few of my friends. It wasn't even some great concert.

[Opinion Owner]

Thanks for the MHO

[AI Opinion]

One of my favorites was at a Radiohead concert in Italy. During “Karma Police,” the sound cut out, but the entire crowd kept singing perfectly in sync. Thom Yorke just stood there smiling and conducting us with his hands. 🎤

Another was at a small indie gig in Seoul where the guitarist broke a string mid-song and casually finished the solo on one string. The crowd went wild, and it felt like this raw, magical, unfiltered moment. 🎶