Crazy Concert Memories

Crazy:  Defined in so may ways...
 

1. mentally deranged; demented; insane.

2. senseless; impractical; totally unsound:

3. intensely enthusiastic; passionately excited:

4. very enamored or infatuated (usually followed by about):

5. intensely anxious or eager; impatient:

6. unusual; bizarre; singular:

7. wonderful; excellent; perfect:

So with those definitions in mind; wow.  Can't just pick one.   

More than a few come to mind, some crazier than others.  Sometimes it’s just stupidity.  Other times it’s being blown away by talent.  I love being entertained. That’s why I’m there in the first place; for that entertaining experience.  And it’s doesn’t always have to be the big production or spectacle. Entertain me the way you see fit.

October 1987: Heart, Bad Animals tour.  Some guy in a wheelchair, was into the concert so much that he forgot he was in the wheelchair, stood up, walked around a bit cheering for the encore.  Oh ya, that was me.  I bought 4 tickets stapled together from a scalper and didn’t check the tickets closely enough.  Come the day of the show, the last ticket actually said “Wheelchair Location”. Not wanting to miss the show, I borrowed my grandfather’s wheelchair and went to the concert with my buddies in that wheelchair.

June 1988: Def Leppard Hysteria Tour.  The crazy thing about this show, was just how blown away me, the two women I was with, and everyone else at the show; at the pure talent of Rick Allen.  This was his first appearance in Toronto after the car crash that took his left arm (and the last Toronto visit for guitarist Steve Clark before he died)   Rick was drumming better with only one arm than many drummers I’ve seen with the use of both arms.  Incredible and inspirational.  That show remains one of the coolest rock experiences I’ve ever had.

July 1988: I saw Whitesnake (and first time seeing my favourite band Great White as they opened up) and as David Coverdale was singing 'Crying In The Rain'. It actually rained.  Only during that song. Coverdale took full advantage of this and said "How's that for special effects Toronto!"

Same concert…. The CNE Grandstand always had long line up for the bathrooms.  This night the lineups were longer than the usually crazy lineups. Maybe more beverages consumed that night?  Maybe.  But the guys line up was so long, the more impatient male concert goers, also lined up at the sinks to pee.  Nasty! 

December 1989: Rolling Stones ‘Steel Wheels’ show in Toronto.  My buddy and I were lined up outside on that cold December night.  Waiting for the doors to open into Skydome.  The guy in front of us was complaining loudly about how cold it was.  He seemed dressed for it, with his long ‘outback’ style coat.  Finally he had enough.  He stepped out of line, walked over the glass doors, and ‘kung-fu-ed’ his way in.  Literally punched through the glass door and walked in.  Security immediately surrounded him, then they saw who it was, and instead of arresting him they all got out their little black books for an autograph.  It was Kung-Fu actor David Carradine.

August 1991:  Judas Priest concert was just beginning.  ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ was the opening track.   The band comes out and starts playing.  K.K. Downing on one side, and Glen Tipton on the other.  Scott Travis on the drum set elevated up at the back of the stage.  A few bars into the song, a drawbridge style door opens underneath the drummer; and vocalist Rob Halford screams out on his motorcycle.  The problem was, he seemed to be going too fast.  On the way out he hit is head off the top of the door.  Knocked him off the bike and out cold.  Tipton and Downing walk in front of him and continue playing a complete instrumental version of ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ while the medics attend to Mr. Halford.  Turns out he’s got a broken nose.  Went on to finish the concert.  Word on the street was that after the concert Halford went to the hospital to get his nose set, and didn’t rejoin the band.  The events that followed…. Halford leaving the band, and being replaced by Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens (who was in a Judas Priest cover band at the time) was the inspiration for the 2001 Mark Wahlberg & Jennifer Aniston movie “Rockstar”.   Rob Halford came back to Judas Priest in 2003.

November 1992:  Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull has to stop the concert at Massey Hall, because some loogan through a bottle of rum onstage and it bounced off his head and stopped the show.  Who throws glass bottles at the performers?  It wasn’t even empty.  Ouch!  If you don’t like the show, leave, don’t ruin it for the rest of us.  Crazy-ass-bottle-throwing-bitch! 

December 1993: Q107 Music Awards Show. There was a long bar separating the concert crowd with the celebrities and musicians taking part.  Sebastian Bach was called up for an award.  He was at the back of the place sitting with Kim Mitchell.  When called up, he jumped on the bar, walked all the way along the bar purposely kicking off everyone’s drinks in the process; then hopped up onto the stage.  So you’ve now got broken glass and assorted beverages sprayed around the crowd.  Love his voice, but the guy can be a dick!  

Sebastian Bach & Kim Mitchell at a Toronto music awards show.

Same show: Watching Junkhouse’s Tom Wilson playing “Going Out Of My Head’ and rocking out to this great tune.  The problem was that his hair was so long and shaggy he couldn’t see.  So, he’s ‘head-banging’ as he’s walking around playing guitar.  The dude walked right off the stage!

July 2003:  A festival concert headlining the Rolling Stones, which guested AC/DC, RUSH, The Guess Who and …Justin Timberlake?  Not a good fit for the rock & roll crowd.  He got booed, which I sort of expected.  Just a bad mix for that crowd.  What I didn’t expect is the water bottles being thrown at him.  Some of them were actually pee from concert goers that didn’t’ want to make the trek to all the way to the bathroom. Throwing bottles of pee. Who does that?  In this YouTube video you can see the bottles flying a few times though his performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W21e9xQyVjg

Twice, I’ve had Myles Goodwyn from April Wine stop a concert because he caught me taking his picture.  Didn’t resume playing until I put my camera way.  Dude, it’s just a photo.

'Dude, I'm not playing another note until you put that camera away'.

 Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers & Chickenfoot).  The guy is just nuts.  Incredibly entertaining, but if any of you have ever seen him live, you know how crazy he is on stage.

Yep, he's drilling the side of his head.

Ya, he's standing on his drums threatening to pee.

 Love the hijinks of some artists and band that truly make the concert a spectacle.  It’s not always necessary, but it can be entertaining.  David Lee Roth comes to mind when he set up the boxing ring set out in the crowd, or his flying surfboard or his gargoyles that peed booze or ice tea (depending on the reports) on the crowd.  I wasn’t close enough to get sprayed so I can’t say exactly what it was.

David Lee Roth with his flying surfboard and boxing ring in the background.

Gil Moore from Triumph driving around the around the stage while playing his car-like drumset back in 1988.  Gene Simmons breathing fire and Paul Stanley Zip-lining over our heads.

Paul Stanley Zip-lining over the crowd.

Good times.  No, amazing times.

I'm sure after I post this, more will come to mind.  The live concert experience has been a part of my life since the 80's.  I don't do it as often as I did then.  Back then, concert tickets were between $25 and $40 and I went all the time.  Not the hundreds of dollars it is now.  Damn the Eagles.  (with their "Hell Freezes Over" tour, they started with the crazy tickets prices.  And if they could do it....most other bands followed suit.)  I've seen more shows then I could ever count.  It's a true passion. And with hundreds of shows seen, there's bound to be some craziness or wackiness along the way.   But I'm ok with that, to paraphrase the late Kurt Cobain... Here I am, now entertain me.