Rock and pop stars blundering on stage.

[Blazer]

Here's James Hetfield failing to get his distortion going.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1nWqEACfdg

Now, it doesn't matter who you are, it's still funny to see a blunder like that happening, proving once again that even rock stars and pop idols are normal human beings who occasionally screw up. And with that in mind I figured it to be fun to start a thread about just that, slip ups, screw ups, frustrations and fun at their expense.

First up, here's Gene Simmons, proving that you need SOME practice at breathing fire if you want to do it right.
gene simmons hair on fire - YouTube

And here he is a little distracted by a VERY busty girl to see where he is going...
Gene Simmons falling during a concert - YouTube

Here's Simmons' former bandmate Ace Frehley performing his calling card of the smoking guitar where he uses a modified guitar with a built in smoke bomb to make it appear as if he's playing so fast that his guitar has caught fire, in this case however, it DID.
Ace Frehley- Smoking Guitar Solo live at download festival 2008 - YouTube

Here's the Red Hot Chili Peppers on one of the first dates of their reunion tour with John Frusciante. It's the opening song and Flea's bass for some reason just doesn't sound right, so he goes to extreme measures to make sure that that particular bass will NEVER have issues again.
Red Hot Chili Peppers I Like Dirt

I always take two guitars with me when I play a show: one as my main instrument, the other as a spare for when for example a string breaks. But as this next clip shows carrying a spare could still turn out badly, here the guitarist has a bad day that just keeps getting worse and worse, look closely at the 1:20 mark as he nods towards his roadcrew as his guitar begins to get problems, his crew quickly hands him his back up to which the Bass player goed "Hey guitar!" when the staccato rythm suddenly comes back but when the solo comes, a string breaks making the whole instrument go out of tune and so he's handed back his other guitar which just dies completely, leaving the saxophone player to play the solo for him.
Doe Maar Live. 12 Smoorverliefd (Afscheidsconcert) - YouTube

Well I guess we all knew that Justin Bieber broke his foot onstage but here's another pop act going through something similar but a lot more painful, the tonedeaf Irish twin brother act JedWard performed at the T4 in 2010 for an absolutely MASSIVE crowd when one of them made a wrong move and tore the ligaments of his left leg, go to 2;05 to see it happen.
JedWard breaks leg LIVE (FULL VIDEO WITH FALL!!!) - YouTube
He finished that performance as if nothing had happened but...
Jedward At T4 On The Beach Being Strechered In To An Awaiting Ambulance - YouTube

And to close it off here's Krist Novoselic finding out that Gibson Ripper basses put up a fight if you want to toss 'em up.
Nirvana - Sensational Bass Toss - YouTube

[Fassa Albrecht]

A personal favourite of mine is a live version of Level 42's Are You Hearing What I Hear? where Mark King starts singing the wrong words (starting in the third verse!) and then has to stop, ask Mike Lindup the actual lyrics and start again.

Here it is- Level 42 "Are You Hearing What I Hear" Live at the Hexagon Reading 1985 - YouTube

There's also another one where the drummer, Phil Gould, messes up by playing the wrong intro: Level 42 Funny Mistake+Kansas City Milkman Rockpalast 1984 - YouTube

There's also a couple of others where Geddy Lee forgets the words to Tom Sawyer, but my YT is running slow.

Nice to know that even the biggest stars mess up!

[Kink Rimson]

That Hetfield clip is hilarious! Fair play to him for just ploughing on though.

[bassgod0dmw]

Originally Posted by Blazer

Well I guess we all knew that Justin Bieber broke his foot onstage

I did not

[droo46]

Originally Posted by bassgod0dmw

I did not

Lawls!

[bound'n'blocked]

In that Jedward clip, I couldn't even tell he was in pain, the singing still sounded like crap.

I saw Cinderella open for Bon Jovi way back when. The lead player for Cinderella came out for the first song, and was having troubles with his guitar. He switched about 30 sec or so in, and had trouble again, so he switched a third time. Then the tech hands him back the guitar he started out with to begin with and he had trouble AGAIN. He had finally had enough and took the thing off and just pancaked it on the stage and walked off. He came back out sometime during the second or third song.

Somewhere on YT I've seen Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick doing a guitar solo where he comes out with three or four guitars hanging on him. He plays each one a bit and then takes it off and does something with it (like, drops one off the front of the stage, on purpose). He goes to take one off and toss it to the tech, but the guy drops it and it comes apart. Nielsen doesn't look to happy about it. I'll see if I can find that clip.

BnB

[MNAirHead]

there's a stellar one of Jason Mraz forgetting the chords to Rainbow Connection at a European Jazz Festival....

He handles it like a star...

-----

[bound'n'blocked]

found the Cheap Trick link that I referenced above....

go to about 4:10 if you wanna skip all the guitar solo stuff. Oh and a bonus! Pete Comita on bass for the roughly five minutes he was in the band...

anyway, the link.

Cheap Trick - Dream Police - YouTube

BnB

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by bound'n'blocked

found the Cheap Trick link that I referenced above....

go to about 4:10 if you wanna skip all the guitar solo stuff. Oh and a bonus! Pete Comita on bass for the roughly five minutes he was in the band...

anyway, the link.

Cheap Trick - Dream Police - YouTube

BnB

Man I can only begin to imagine how soiled the pants of that roadie were at the end of that night.

In his book, Nielsen said that it was those performances with several guitars around his neck that gave him the inspiration to have Paul Hamer and Jol Dantzig create something that has since become his trademark.

[erigod23]

I just watched Duran Duran perform "A View to a kill" at Live Aid '85. Simon Lebon's voice cracks and goes falsetto for one note. He calls it "the most embarrassing moment in my career." I don't think it's that bad, but I can see where he's coming from.

[hdracer]

Motor City Madhouse, Ted Nugent 1977 - YouTube


I love this one of Uncle Ted. He recovered real well, missed about 1/2 bar

[Duckwater]

I remember this live Iron Maiden video where a fire ignites on the stage and Bruce Dickinson proceeds to stomp out the fire while holding a long, high note, all while wearing an elaborate Egyptian themed outfit. Not a blunder, but hilarious nonetheless.

[Mike in Chicago]

Early on...we went and saw Queen the "Queen II" tour at the old Chicago Stadium. They were backed up by Thin Lizzy Phil (who played with a pick, arf!) was still alive. Queen came on to headline, and I forget what song they were doing... they got egged, badly. Brian may was doing a solo while walking around in that white flowing caftan thing he wore and WHAP! He face planted got back up and finished. After that song Freddie M yelled over the mic "f--k you...f--k all of you, we don't need your f-- k--g omelettes"

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by erigod23

I just watched Duran Duran perform "A View to a kill" at Live Aid '85. Simon Lebon's voice cracks and goes falsetto for one note. He calls it "the most embarrassing moment in my career." I don't think it's that bad, but I can see where he's coming from.

Look up their performance of "the union of the snake" from live aid, John Taylor's bass goes out for a few moments during the second verse.

[BklynKen]

Not really a blunder, but at an Iron Maiden show in 2008 at Madison Square Garden, they lost power during one of the songs. While waiting for power to be restored, the band hung out on stage and kicked around a soccer ball.

[dougjwray]

How about Jimi Hendrix playing "Like a Rolling Stone" at the Monterey Pop Festival? ("I know I missed a verse-- don't worry!")

[ksandvik]

I rather prefer artists doing mistakes on-stage than lip-syncing and fake playing from recordings.

[jmac]

Here is Pink. Thank goodness she wasn't hurt worse. It could have been bad.
Pink Accident Stage Fall - Fell Right in Front of Me - Best Angle!! - YouTube

[dougjwray]

When I saw McCartney in 2003, he forgot the words to "Carry That Weight." He was in the presence of about 17,000 people who could sing them for him, though.

[Obe]

Digging way back for this one...Yes in 1984, 90125 tour, Springfield MA or possibly Hartford CT? Lost all of my concert tix from back then. They are playing Owner of a Lonely Heart, and during the middle break after the solo where Chris plays that riff way up high, his finger slipped off the string. I remember he looked around at the rest of the band and laughed from what I could tell that far away.