Ever been afraid for your life at a gig?

[juancaminos]

In the 70's we managed to become a favorite band at a huge biker bar in South West Phoenix AZ. It was well known for the rowdy crowd that it attracted so friends, family and coworkers were afraid to go there. We always had a great time because the locals there liked us. The bar tender was as big and bad as it gets and one regular known as "Arizona" always sat at the bar with his back to the bar facing the crowd, he was also huge and never smiled.

Anyway...we had to have a guy at the door for half of our pay (sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't). One night our drummers' brother was covering the door and this guy was refusing to pay the dollar or two to get in. It started getting louded and more animated by the second. So we stop to help out the drummers brother but Mr. Arizona gets up walks to the door grabs the guy and his friend, pulls them in and started beating the poopie out of them, these guys were'nt exactly little either. Then the bar tender comes over and starts on then with a pool stick. These four went at it all over the bar, it was like a movie.

In the end the two fools who didn't want to pay got rolled out in a bloody heap. The police and ambulance came but the police would not come in the bar. Arizona calmly went back to his spot at the bar as did the bar tender, like nothing happened. Meanwhile the the guys out front were screeming and yelling that they were coming back to shoot up the place. The bar tender told us to get back to work and not worry about it. We were terrified the rest of the night but nothing else happened. All for $15 each, all the beer we could drink and what ever we could get at the door.

 

[Matthardy]

Yep. Walked around a corner at a bar in between sets to get immediately thrown up against a wall, my feet 6 in off the ground (I'm 6', he was 6'7"?) And a hand around my throat. I played lead guitar and sang at the time (before I found god) and apparently he thought I was making eye contact with his GF, but she was the one who was clearly interested. I had never seen her.

 

[Rojd]

Ever play The Chance in Poughkeepsie during the late 90’s/early 00’s?

I used to go to big metal shows at The Chance back in the late 1980's/early 90's. Always big crowds and tons of pit violence. I remember Testament in '89 and Slayer in '90 were particularly rough. No surprise there.

 

[Rojd]

I lived in Phoenix for several years and used to go to metal shows at The Mason Jar. I remember many a rough show there.

 

[Stumbo]

Way Back in the day I played a So. Cal flyer party with a new band one Saturday night. I don't remember exactly what city it was in. Probably Paramount or somewhere around there.

We set up in the garage which was along side the house but set back about 20 feet. We had guitar, bass, keys, drums, girl singer. Our PA was a silver tuck and roll Kustom with 2x15s and a horn in each column. Probably 200 watts or so. Moved a lot of air so it got pretty loud. I used a Sunn 2000s with 2x15 JBLs. Guitar player used a 6x10 150w Acoustic 150. Keys were a miked Hammond with Leslie.

We started about 9 pm but as we were setting up the place got jam packed. We tied a rope across the front of the garage to keep from being overrun. Must have been near 50 to 100 cars on the block.

As we started to play(Stones Gimme Shelter), the whole place started jumping. I mean heads were bobbing, bodies shaking as far as I could see. Wall to wall peeps. I think we got one set in and then...

Too soon the Sheriffs arrive and start yelling to shut it down. Flashlights were all over the place. They looked like they were going to come into the garage so we told them we packing up as fast as we could and there would be no trouble. We move fast that night.

Nobody died or anything like that but still, it was pretty intense when the Sheriffs were wading into the crowd to clear them out.

We all packed up and made it out safely. It was cool to see everyone movin' and a groovin' up close and personal since there was no stage.

 

[red_rhino]

Only one time, really. Playing a biker bar (of course). The gig went pretty smooth, most everyone was well-behaved. But during the load-out, I came outside to find my car surrounded by choppers. This was way pre-neodymium, and I'm lifting 15" speaker cabs and amps over motorcycles like I'm the Bionic Man cuz I'm scared to death I'm gonna knock over someone's bike.

Finally, all loaded up, I start to back my car out and hit something metal, which falls over with a crash. For a brief moment I thought "just keep going, don't stop", until one of the biker chicks walks over and picks up the mic stand that I had left behind the car. She looked at me, laughing, and said "You should see the look on your face."

Trust me, it's a lot funnier now than it was at the time.

 

[Jokei]

I wasn't necessarily in fear... but once in an old band had a crackhead show up and kick off...
I got bitten (passed all the relevant tests after), but he got his jaw broken and lost an eye - no charges for me though.

 

[Son of Wobble]

I wasn't necessarily in fear... but once in an old band hand a crackhead show up and kick off...
I got bitten (passed all the relevant tests after), but he got his jaw broken and lost an eye - no charges for me though.

Blimey. I think you win the thread!

 

[biguglyman]

As a concealed carry permit holder I only used to pack when we played this one biker dive. Always lowlifes hanging outside.

 

[PaulCISSA]

I had 2 gigs where I seriously feared for my life, and 1 where I was certain someone else was going to die.

I'm not a hockey fan. But we had a gig for the Islanders, at a pre game party in this outdoor party space they had on the day of the big Islander/Rangers game. It was a great gig that a guitarist I know got as a last minute thing, and he just scrambled to get whoever he could that knew a few sets of the same music. The singer was a guy we didn't know too well.

Anyhoo... There were a few super sexy girls in Ranger jerseys that wanted to come up on the stage and sing with the singer, and he let them.

They started screaming into the mic, "GO RANGERS, GO RANGERS, GO RANGERS!!!!" and all I can say is, holy crap.

Hockey fans take that kind of thing seriously, and well... considering the Islanders paid for the party, the fans were FUMING mad. They were screaming at us... We somehow managed to squeeze out a few more songs, but we were done. We got paid, but the bookers weren't happy at all and that was the end of what could have been a great ongoing gig.

Don't feel like telling the others now. That was longer than I thought it would be .

In hockey circles, that’s considered sacrilegious. Lucky no one ended up spittin’ Chiclets. You could have had quite a riot for the pre-game ceremony. BTW, NY Rangers suck. Just sayin’.

 

[caligula]

Never feared for my life ever, not privately not on a gig.
Never witnessed any stabbings or shootings (guns, esp. real guns, are extremely rare in my neck of the woods).
A couple of fist fights every now and then, but that was years ago. Most of the time, the band stops, calls security and the troublemaker(s) is/are kicked out then. Everything pretty civilized which, of course, means you ain't got any stories to tell.
I like it that way nonetheless.

 

[40Hz]

Only been in a few situations with bands over the years where things got seriously tense or an evening went completely sideways.

No good stories to tell about any of it.

tl:dr - Been there. It happens.

 

[Bassique]

Never really feared at any of our gigs, but on few occasions there was that annoying drunk person who wanted to rock out with the band a bit too closely.

 

[Jokei]

Blimey. I think you win the thread!

I was very lucky, I could have got hepatitis, HIV or any other number of things... but realising that, I did lose my temper due to "point 1".

It would have been much more sensible to try and stay out of it.

 

[interp]

I’ve had a couple experiences like that, the most memorable one was playing an outdoor party at someone’s house. The dance floor was packed and there was some guy tripping on acid bothering the dancers. Some of the unofficial bouncers threw him out. Later, as we were packing out the guy shows up brandishing a hunting rifle. People are freaking out. The guy then locked himself into a restroom adjoining the patio dance area and the “bouncers” decided it was a good idea to pound on the door to get him to come out.

By this time we were packed and quickly got out of there. Don’t know how it all ended.

 

[fourstr00]

I had 2 gigs where I seriously feared for my life, and 1 where I was certain someone else was going to die.

Anyhoo... There were a few super sexy girls in Ranger jerseys that wanted to come up on the stage and sing with the singer, and he let them.

They started screaming into the mic, "GO RANGERS, GO RANGERS, GO RANGERS!!!!" and all I can say is, holy crap.

Don't feel like telling the others now. That was longer than I thought it would be .

I had a similar thing happen with Go Cubs Go in Miller Park, playing a Brewers game. The fracas made it to CNN.

 

[lfmn16]

I've never feared for my life, but one time I was playing a club and the bouncers threw some guy out. He came back with some friends with baseball bats. The bouncers were all really big guys and they grabbed nightsticks/baseball bats and ran out into the parking lot. I think there was probably more swinging than hitting and the cops came, but I don't think anyone really got hurt. This was in the 70's; today there probably would have been automatic weapons involved.

 

[baileyboy]

Did play a couple gigs where some Hell's Angels members were present, but nothing came of it. Only one gig ever with an altercation of some sort and the bouncers ushered this guy out of the bar pretty quickly.

 

[DirtDog]

Not while in a band. I was a bouncer for a couple of summers in the last 80s and had a couple of tense situations there. And some sketchy situations in combat zone. Nothing of note as a musician. Except for that big blonde who wanted to take me home one night.

 

[lsabina]

I played some fantastic gigs way back when I played full time. But we spent one week playing at a particular bar that I was ever so glad to leave. It was back in '79 in Detroit at a biker bar somewhere around 6 Mile and Gratiot. We played biker bars before and always got along with them. But the gang in this bar was bad news. You could feel it in the air.

Gratiot and 6 Mile, eh? I used to take sax lessons at a store at Gratiot and 7 Mile, back when it was still a decent neighborhood...But never had a problem in Detroit.
Anyways...did a pretty scary recording session (as part of a horn section for hire) in a home basement studio in Flint. We were dealing with unreasonable people and I felt trapped there. Never again.