Ever see a live show where...

RAM · #1 09-18-2009, 10:33 PM

Ever see a live show where you noticed, quite obviously, a musician was "battling" with his/her gear? For example, I'm listening to a live version of a Who tune right now where Entwistle was cussing out his amplifier. I've seen him live a few times where he did the same.

Also, what thoughts go through your mind when you see a musician having such problems, then bringing their thoughts to light during the performance?

ggunn · #2 09-19-2009, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAM

Ever see a live show where you noticed, quite obviously, a musician was "battling" with his/her gear? For example, I'm listening to a live version of a Who tune right now where Entwistle was cussing out his amplifier. I've seen him live a few times where he did the same.

I once saw the Houston group Really Red play a show where the guitarist kept trying to get his SG in tune on the fly during the last few tunes of their set (they didn't stop between songs). Every tweak he applied just made it worse, and at the end of the set he threw his guitar into the audience in frustration. Everybody ducked. Concrete floor. Not a happy ending.

Getaway Driver · #3 09-19-2009, 07:33 AM

Just saw buckethead last weekend and he had a couple of patch cables go bad on him mid-show. He'd have to turn the volume on his guitar completely down after every song because the feedback he'd get when not playing was painful. I've heard lots of feedback in my day and I've come to tolerate it, but this was awful. He made some interesting hand gestures to show his anguish.

robd · #4 09-19-2009, 08:32 AM

Went to see Johnny Winter one time and when he came out on stage and started playing his amp was making some weird noises.

He turned around a few times to mess with it and then he hit it once or twice and then it started smoking. so he stood up, kicked it over and walked off stage.

Drummer and bass player (Jon Paris) just went into an impromptu 20 minute jam until Johnny's amp tech replaced his amp and he returned to the stage.

Jon Paris kicked..he was playing barre chords and singing blues...he did a great job when thrust into a poor situation

Geddyfleaharris · #5 09-19-2009, 09:43 AM

Saw Death Cab for Cutie open for Neil Young last fall. They aren't my cup of tea but the guitarist/singer was having major issues with his effects pedals. When he hit a pedal his guitar would cut out. He finally threw the pedal board off stage and you could see him giving the stage hands hell. Threw his guitar at one point too.

Thought to myself that I guess even bigger touring bands have equipment malfunctions from time to time. we are all human lol.

I am sure it had to take away from his performance and from the songs. Not being a follower of the band I couldn't tell what might have been missing from the songs without his guitar parts.

nortonrider · #6 09-19-2009, 09:54 AM

The last time I saw the Flecktones, it seemed like Vic walked back to his amp and messed with it 2 or 3 times per song - and was constantly switching basses between songs.
It was pretty distracting (at least to me) and he didn't really sound good that night.

I learned later that he had been trying out different rigs on the road before he signed with Hartke, so maybe thats what he was doing. Anyways - not the best show I have ever seen.

xgator4u · #7 09-19-2009, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAM

I'm listening to a live version of a Who tune right now where Entwistle was cussing out his amplifier.

^ you got a link to that ?

Equipment failure happens. Irrespective of who the equipment belongs to.How the failure is handled, and to what extent it is allowed to disrupt things, marks the true professional. Just ask Steven Tyler.

MooseLumps · #8 09-19-2009, 05:38 PM

I was at Claypool in Spokane. Les' tech tuned his basses as the show progressed, and les grabbed the banjo bass and started playing Iowan gal. It was the last bass his tech tuned. Well, right away it was pretty far out. not half step far, but definitely out there. So Les finishes the first verse and stops the song cold and tunes his bass. He then plays a verse DOUBLETIME and the drums come right in with him. Well Les had the luck of breaking a string right then. so, he starts a loop on his boomerang so he can switch basses and do a new song. his cellist and drummer are going at it, jamming, with the vibes player backing them up, and the loop goes silent.
Now, les is wearing his spectacles, but you can tell he is shooting eye lasers at his pedalboard. His tech literally dives to the board and fiddles with it, trying to fix it. After a good three minutes, he gets up and leaves, giving Les the thumbs up. Les pops in and the rest of the show goes off without a hitch.

Pretty epic chain of failures, in my opinion.

RAM · #9 09-19-2009, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xgator4u

^ you got a link to that ?

No link, but if I did, I couldn't post it, as it violates several of the TB rules (regarding profanity). But, check out his Left For Live Deluxe recording of Summertime Blues. It's the same language he used when cussing out his rig when I saw him in West Chicago in (about) 1996. His sound that night was awful and he was clearly pissed...this recording reminded me of that night.

T-Bird · #10 09-20-2009, 02:31 AM

Hi.

I have several stories, but one comes to mind.

The lead prim... eh singer of The Commitments was "performing" over here. It was all about HIM of course, it was HIM after all who made it all happen. The band was great, the sound was great, the singer was: PLAIN AWFUL.

For the life of him, he couldn't play the acoustic he was supposed to. The remedy, cuss at the tech, cuss at the band and for the final straw, cuss at the audience. The poor tech must've tuned the guitar 3 times before they decided to skip the song IIRC, but the vibe was lost and the rest of the gig was a sloppy one. IIRC the tech had enough and left the production after that incident (not the first one AFAIK) and either the bass player or the guitarist did the same.

If there's a problem, deal with it, do not take it on others immediately, and NOT on the audience in any case. If they're dissatisfied, there may well be a good reason for that

Regards
Sam

ggunn · #11 09-20-2009, 08:46 AM

I watched the Doors break up on stage in New Orleans. Jim Morrisson was so drunk that he could not perform, and when Dinsmore threw his drumsticks out onto the stage in disgust and walked off (there was no encore), that was the last time he and Morrisson ever saw each other.

Getaway Driver · #12 09-20-2009, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggunn

I watched the Doors break up on stage in New Orleans. Jim Morrisson was so drunk that he could not perform, and when Dinsmore threw his drumsticks out onto the stage in disgust and walked off (there was no encore), that was the last time he and Morrisson ever saw each other.

wow, that would have been a bummer at the time and a total waste of money for the tickets... but after history unfolds and you realize the significance of that event, kinda makes up for it.

ggunn · #13 09-20-2009, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Getaway Driver

wow, that would have been a bummer at the time and a total waste of money for the tickets... but after history unfolds and you realize the significance of that event, kinda makes up for it.

It was one of the most disappointing concerts I've ever attended, right up there with the fake Fleetwood Mac. I didn't know the full significance of the event I had witnessed until some 25-30 years later, when I saw a special on VH-1 documenting the rise and fall of the Doors which told the behind the scenes part of what I had seen.

Here's some of what I saw:

Morrison was sloppy, staggering drunk. He stumbled off the stage during an instrumental break and didn't return, so after a bit of vamping, Mansarek improvised an ending to the song. After a bit of awkward silence, a couple of stage hands shoved a vigorously resisting Morrison back out onto the stage, and the band started up with another song. Morrisson staggered up to the mic and began trying to sing the lyrics to the previous song, the one during which he had deserted the stage. He kept looking back at the rest of the band like it was they who were screwing up. It was a colossal trainwreck.

I didn't even recognize Morrisson when he came out on stage; he had let his hair and beard grow out and he was very disheveled. He looked more like Charles Manson than Jim Morrisson.

Mansarek was frequently and unsubtly looking at his wristwatch the whole time he was on stage, and at the end of a very short set (I don't think it was planned to be the end of it), Dinsmore stood up, yelled something I couldn't make out, hurled his drumsticks out onto the middle of the stage, and stalked off. There was no encore.

I found out in that VH-1 special that the rest of the tour was canceled, and Dinsmore, Mansarek, and Morrisson were never again in the same room together. Morrisson flew to Paris a few days later and died not too long after that.

Fetzu · #14 09-20-2009, 04:12 PM

NIN in Tampa back in May, Robin's guitar went kaput at the beginning of the song. The bass isn't supposed to kick in til right after Trent starts singing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Gebi6gfU0

Still was an AWESOME concert!!!

RED5 · #15 09-20-2009, 04:54 PM

Westbury Music fair, no promos I happened to notice a single radio spot and got 6 tix at clothing store in Queens. Went to the show maybe 75-100 seats filled in a 750 or more seat room. we're scattered all over the theater too it's in the Round. Steve comes out with the band Walter Johnson on bass, amazing player,Greg Rollie Norton Buffalo,good line up ....2 songs in? then the PA goes on vacation crackling buzzing and just pitching a bitch.Steve drops his guitar kicks over the mic stand and storms off stage cursing a streak. We're very sympathetic with him,no one could blame him at that point. We wait about 5 minutes and out he comes with a twelve string acoustic, apologizes profusely for being such a jerk in front of people who came out to see him,call the entirs audience to come down in front of the band,(we were back 3 rows and leaped up to the front) and then proceeds to play every song he had written to date. He fiinishes the acoustic set and gets the band back up and they smoked the place

ByF · #16 09-20-2009, 05:31 PM

A very long time ago I saw T Rex at an auditorium in Glasgow, Scotland. Several times during the set, the circuit breakers for the amps on stage and the PA cut out. It went from being very loud to. . . nothing but very quiet drums. After the second time, the crowd started getting angry--standing on their seats and yelling. . . I was afraid it was going to turn into a riot.

After several tries, they managed to re-route some of the power cords and got things running again. I don't remember the band acting upset or anything; I think they just stood there while the stage techs worked it out.

Ed