My band had a gig in a weenie cafe in the center of Rotterdam. There wasn't a stage of any kind and our stuff took up almost 1/3 of available space. As we started to get grooving, suddenly a man burst in, cussing and yelling. He unplugged the guitarist's instrument and threatened to beat us up. He even almost hit a man who was dancing on what little space there was. I was ready to jump the guy if he really would have started a fight.

It appeared that the cafe had no clearance whatsoever to play loud music. The man was from an appartment nearby and clearly under the influence of some funky drugs. After that incident, we decided to pack our stuff and go. Luckily we still got paid :D

Does anyone else have this kind of experience? I thought it was pretty eerie, yet also funny somehow.

i've been threatened physically by a few lovely ladies a time or two...

Originally posted by neptoon
i've been threatened physically by a few lovely ladies a time or two...
Remember, NO means NO!

yeah, tell them that

yeah, many times, that's why i carry a gun with me :eek:

Yep maybe about ten times in 27 years of playin! It's not a good thing if I'm straight and there drunk, I have tried to walk away from them all but a few times I just couldn't and it ended up beeing ugly, For them not me... :D

I had a drunk uncle threaten me at a wedding gig once. It was funnier than it was dangerous.

"Play 'Free Bird' or we'll kick your ass."

Yes a few times but only twice did it ever come to blows or close anyways..Actually we had a singer come up to sing from another band and little did we know that the sound man didnt like the guy. Soooo he cominced to turning him on and off and we thought the equipment was f**kin up.But the singer thought our singer was doin it???:eek: So he Charged the stage on the next song and tried kickin our singers ass.Needless to say we kicked his ass out the door.. And the other story... Drunk took over, We were tearing down and a guy that worked the bar got all mouthy and tried to throw a hand dolly thru our sound mans windsheid.. I had to open up a can of "Whoop Ass" on that one lol. But really we have had no problems, Your usual mouthing cause ya dont play the song they want to hear at the time ya know.....

P.S. Believe it or not the singer that started **** now sings in my band LMAO :eek: See Things have a way of workin theirselves out lol... ALCOHOL Causes Most Of The Problems!!!!!!

New years eve - We had a drunk bloke come onto the stage once and begin to do that stupid dance they with total disregard for our equipment. So I grabbed him by the colar thd threw him off the stage, but I deliberately threw him towards a security guard who I knew would catch him. The stage was about 5' high and I didn't want to hurt him. I just wanted him away from my gear.

Anyway he stood right in front of me for 2 hours, calling out, "you suck, you're dead" non stop. I tried to ignor him but it got rediculous, so I asked the security guy to remove him from the club.

He left without a struggle but guess what happened at the end of the night in the car park. That's right, he was waiting for me. By then he was so drunk his swings were slower than my grandma, but he wouldn't let up. I dodged his punches for a few minutes before security turned up. They had him on the ground, face down in a full nelson, with 4 big blokes on him - and he somehow managed to get up.

The police arrived. At one point, they had 4 security guys and 5 police trying to pin him to the ground but he kept overpowering them and getting to his feet.

One of the younger cops decided enough was enough and pulled a gun on him. No shots fired, situation now under control.......

That's the only incident in 15 years of playing. I look meaner than I am and I know how to use that to my advantage to avoid this sort of thing.

Originally posted by Petebass
I look meaner than I am and I know how to use that to my advantage to avoid this sort of thing.
Hey Pete That works;) I can fight dont get me wrong and I have had my share of whippin ass and gettin ass whipped lol, but I try to use antimadation as long as I can. I am getting to old to beat every idiot up that comes along.
"Rock On Dude":bassist:

One time, I was in a band called RELAPSE... and we were playing at a bar out in the country. We played a few sets, and everyone hated us. They were booing and not clapping at all. I had played there many times before playing the same stuff, but they hating me this time. I was playing 3-piece with a punk looking guitar player this time, and even though the music was much better, the audience judged on appearance and not quality.

Well anyway, during one break the guitar player and myself were approached by two disgruntled patrons. One guy told me "You're going to want to play some good music, if you know whats good for you" the other guy told the guitar player "Do you know whats its like to be buried deep?" Meanwhile, the owner of the joint comes up and takes my song list and starts calling off songs that we should play....

It was an interesting night, and we ended up getting paid, but it was a struggle. We closed with Swwet Home, and that seemed to satisfy the rednecks

Originally posted by Arrrrrgh
We closed with Swwet Home, and that seemed to satisfy the rednecks

Rule of thumb: When rednecks are present, play some skynyrd.

Well not me but I was helping my bass teacher set up for a bar gig and I got to watch him the rest of the night. Anyway this REALLY drunk guy kept poking and grabbing the legs the band members. The "stage" was just a foot of the ground so all he had to do was reach over. The place was set up funny since the stage was in the middle of the room so the drunk went around the back and starting rubbing the drummers back in mid song. The band finally got tired and ask to have someone escort him out.

I thought it was funny that the bouncer as soon as he got there starting heckling me about being a minor in a bar and how I needed to move to the restraunt but it took him 2 hours to even notice a man that keeping poking the band members. Oh well

Thankfully, I've only ever played for disinterested undergraduates and Mormons. No threats to my person at those gigs... :D

I was once threatened when I was working at Wal-Mart, however.

I don't get physicaly threatened too often because I'm fairly intimidating looking (only 5'10" but I'm naturally muscular and got even more so from heavy weightlifting).

I did have one guy (years ago, I was about 20 or 21) pull a gun on me after the gig. He thought I was with his girl the night before (it was actually my pig guitar player). Before I even had a chance to say/do anything the bartendress (who apparently knew the guy) started yelling at him that it wasn't me. He turned to talk to her and security was on him. Turns out he had done this before and they knew how to handle him.

I had a guitar player (different one) who used to cut his strings, on his Strat, with the sharp little ends sticking up. One night, mid-song, some guy who was giving him the evil eye came running at him from the dance floor. Without missing a note my guitar player hits the guy on his right cheek with the headstock of his guitar. The guy recoils and I see blood starting to form on his face. He had 6 little holes punched in his cheek from those sharp little guitar strings. Once he realized it he started to charge again and security nabbed him. My guitarist (I don't think this was his first experience with this...) just looked at me and grinned. :D
Coolest thing I ever saw. :)

my rock trio was playing for a record store opening(about 1972) I borrowed a friends ampeg SVT. We were set up outside,and I see the drummer's cymbal stand fall over,the a pa speaker hit the ground.Some old guy with a little pen knife was standing there,very upset.He was red in the face and yelled "I'm gonna cut your heart out" I knew we need practice,but man... I asked "what's the problem ? " "You're too loud'' he yelled and I told him it was 7pm on a Saturday in a shopping center.He told me the bass was shaking all the glasses off his kitchen shelf,a half of a block away.I guess the cement carried the bass down the street.The record shop owner told us to keep playing and called the police on this guy. I won't tell you the time my guitar player was attacked by a guy,drunk,with a pool cue....

Originally posted by PhatBasstard
I don't get physicaly threatened too often because I'm fairly intimidating looking (only 5'10" but I'm naturally muscular and got even more so from heavy weightlifting).

I did have one guy (years ago, I was about 20 or 21) pull a gun on me after the gig. He thought I was with his girl the night before (it was actually my pig guitar player). Before I even had a chance to say/do anything the bartendress (who apparently knew the guy) started yelling at him that it wasn't me. He turned to talk to her and security was on him. Turns out he had done this before and they knew how to handle him.

I had a guitar player (different one) who used to cut his strings, on his Strat, with the sharp little ends sticking up. One night, mid-song, some guy who was giving him the evil eye came running at him from the dance floor. Without missing a note my guitar player hits the guy on his right cheek with the headstock of his guitar. The guy recoils and I see blood starting to form on his face. He had 6 little holes punched in his cheek from those sharp little guitar strings. Once he realized it he started to charge again and security nabbed him. My guitarist (I don't think this was his first experience with this...) just looked at me and grinned. :D
Coolest thing I ever saw. :)

that was soooo classic!!!! :D

Yeah, those little poking-out-guitar-string-when-you-dont-cut-them-enough after re-stringing are b___s. I hit myself in the tounge after cutting a particularly short one, when it popped up.

I haven't been threatened at a gig (mostly cause I havevn't gigged in almost a year:bawl: ) but I have been at work. One time I was covering the drum department (where I have no knowledge) when this rather large person walks in, obviously in a bad mood. He had been sold a drum kit the previous day, and a wing nut was missing from the kit. I politley told him that was okay, this kind of thing happens, here, let me get you one. No charge. I hand it to him. His response? "This better fit or I'm gonna come back and whip your @$$."

My response?

"Better bring a big whip, sir."

Let all the air right outta his sails.:D

We also had a guy punch our door person. Seems he tought he was being singled out to have his receipt checked. (This happens with EVERY transaction at EVERY Guitar Center) So he decked our door guy in the mouth. Fortunatley, our General Manager was right there. He took the guys bag away from him, returned everything, gave him his money, and told him to "get the **** out of my store, and never come back." Sometimes Roberto can be a real nice guy.

Rock on
Eric:bassist:

Originally posted by Eric Cameron


We also had a guy punch our door person. Seems he tought he was being singled out to have his receipt checked. (This happens with EVERY transaction at EVERY Guitar Center) So he decked our door guy in the mouth. Fortunatley, our General Manager was right there. He took the guys bag away from him, returned everything, gave him his money, and told him to "get the **** out of my store, and never come back." Sometimes Roberto can be a real nice guy.



I would have had the guy arrested for assault.

On a gig with my first band, when I was still in high school in the mid 70's...

This was before people started shooting each other on a regular basis. Anyway, we were playing in a neighboring town and were drawing pretty nice crowds at the time. Word got back to us that some guys said they were going to kick our butts because the girls in this town liked the band.

We do the first set and sure enough a group of guys eyed us through the entire set, from the center of the room. They leave right at the end of the set. We hadn't noticed that our perscussionist had walked out after them.

When we got outside, we found the entrance and most of the parking lot clear...

and our percussionist, nonchalantly tossing a grenade up and down while standing at the front door.

All we are trying to do is just play music.I tell someone I'm a musician,they never say-"that's a dangerous line of work you're in " They have no idea-people think it was non realistic to see the "Blues Brothers" play behind a wire screen.I've dodged a few shot glasses and beer bottles over the years.(sometimes we deserved it).
I remeber hearing from a friend that a guy came into a biker bar where his band was playing and discharged a few clips on a M14,taking out booze and mirrors behind the bar.They hid behind the Hammond CV.

jaco got killed in a bar fight, didnt he?

Originally posted by bentem
jaco got killed in a bar fight, didnt he?

Well, he got killed by the bouncer. It was a little more complicated than your garden-variety bar fight.

Most experienced pro musicians I've talked to have told me, "Make friends with the bouncer."

Fortunately, I retired from live playing when I got a real job. The incident I remember best was a show
in Providence at the Ocean State Theater, now known as the P-PAC. The lineup was Mott the Hoople and Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin.

Sure enough, about halfway thru the first set some nitwit hums an empty whiskey bottle [ fifth,
no less ] onto the stage from about the fourth row,
hitting the guitar player. Ian Hunter and the guitar player jump off stage, dive into the fourth row and commence beating the c#@* out of this toad. Unfortunately, they left the stage at this point.
About a half hour later, Mahavishnu John comes out and does a spiel about peace. love and bad vibes that evening, but finally go on for a pretty good set. Never had a chance to see MTH after that, they broke up and Ian went on to his solo career. The toad really messed it up for the rest of us, I was hoping to see Sweet Jane and All the Young Dudes live, but they never got that far.
Too bad.

I guess you could call it a physical assault.
My current band had a gig where there were a bunch of lovely young ladies who had a little too much to drink. Anyway, we were grooving on a tune and had a bunch of people dancing. Then from the crowd of dancers, a gal came up on stage and got behind me. She proceeded to spank me in rhythm for about a good couple of minutes. Of course this would only happen when my wife is in the audience. Fortunately, the guitar player was more jealous than my wife.

Originally posted by jive1
Fortunately, the guitar player was more jealous than my wife.

LOL, my guitar player would have been spanking along in time, but my wife would have killed me slowly later .....
-------
But does it go to ELEVEN!

Originally posted by Brad Johnson
On a gig with my first band, when I was still in high school in the mid 70's...

This was before people started shooting each other on a regular basis. Anyway, we were playing in a neighboring town and were drawing pretty nice crowds at the time. Word got back to us that some guys said they were going to kick our butts because the girls in this town liked the band.

We do the first set and sure enough a group of guys eyed us through the entire set, from the center of the room. They leave right at the end of the set. We hadn't noticed that our perscussionist had walked out after them.

When we got outside, we found the entrance and most of the parking lot clear...

and our percussionist, nonchalantly tossing a grenade up and down while standing at the front door.

Christ, that's funny. :D

This ones not as funny as the grenade episode but it was a heck of a more unsettling experience.

About 3 years ago I was in a seriously mixed race band. A Thai on guitar, a Canadian on lead, me(Russian) on vocals, a dreaded swede on bass and an American on drums. See it'd be okay in a civilised region but not in a Moscow ****hole gig-hall. We were playing 3rd and after was some skinhead band (great booking). There were about 20/25 skins in the 200 strong crowd and there were about 70 of 'our' people in there. We were finishing up with a long funky reggae song with some ragga from the bassist when I got the evilest stares I ever got. They were showing me the slit-neck and in my city, hardcore violence is rare but brutal when it happens. So anyway, they were doing that and I couldn't take it anymore. Told them all to **** straight off. They just got more pissed of course. Just when I was thinking that a big fight gonna ensue the skinhead band's leader walks on stage (after we're done) and tells those boneheads to enjoy the music (?!!!??), colour, get this, is not of any importance. Those assholes came up to apologize(again!!?!?).
This might not sound so bad but that was my first concert ever and when we made our album we planted the live reggae song from that night with all the stuff I said to them right in the beggining. It'll take something real bad-ass to freak me out onstage now. I think I'll make an emotional chick-flick out of this.