Most Unprofessional Thing You've Done at a Show

[nukes_da_bass]

I was in a 50s/60s cover band about 13 years ago and early on we were transitioning out most of the more stale material but one tune the new frontman seemed to dig was "runaway" by Del Shannon.
OK...I didnt hate it, but id been in the band over 3 years and played it hundreds of times- I had taken to slappng and popping over one particular figure towards the end of the B part of the song in order to add maybe some sarcasm (and keep myself awake).

We had a drummer with issues who was conservatory trained, who had told me more than once in practice "I dont want you slapping over that figure!". Yeah but yer just a drummer right?

So one night we are halfway through our house gig at the local Ramada Inn and I figure "what the hell?" and do my little slap-pop routine where I had arranged it....

All of a sudden Little Drummer Boy jumped up from behind his kit the second the song ended, screamed "I TOLD YOU NOT TO SLAP ON THAT FIGURE!" and proceeded to shove me across the stage.
We squared off for about 10 seconds waiting for the other to throw punches when the frontman yelled "*** are you two doing?"
We became really close friends after that, everyone should fistfight the uptight drummer!

 

[David Jayne]

in a punk band but the guitarist was a metalhead, and he would play pinch harmonics all the time during practices, but none of the songs used them ever, so got fed up after like the 1000th time reminding him(not an exageration) so during a show when he played one i was already annoyed with him so this sent me into a rage and i whipped it out and told him that if he's wants to play pinch harmonics he has to play them on my c__k or on his own time or else he is out of the band. luckily this was a very short notice show at a small venue so only like 5 people actually showed up and they were friends so they had already seen my unit before anyways. oh and he left the band after this too

I was SO hoping you were going to say you were playing at the mall.

 

[richtea]

unprofessional , or unfortunate ...

this gig was so hot , over 100 degrees on stage ,
that i literally puked on stage , during a song .

i did manage to finish the set , and the gig ...

To the ausies, yeah, we also get decent high temps here in Cape Town often similar to those in Aus. The club we played in last week was in the 38-40 range on the dance floor. My office right now is 37. I sweat but it dosnt knock me down. But 30 in london will put down a elephant. I am told somthing to do with air movment and humidity. Just knowing the temp dosnt tell the whole story. Feeling like c**p and finishing the gig very pro. IMHO.

 

[JamSpotHospital]

Smoking reefer, drinking,and swearing usually in between songs on paid and unpaid gigs. Depends on the atmosphere and occasion.

 

[tonesponge]

As a teen about 13 yrs old, I tried to play and dance at the same time. Kicked over my little combo amp.

 

[redlikejazz]

I guess this counts even though it was at a party, but I kinda beat up an audience member.
We were third to play a huge out of control BBQ/house party. I don't know how we ended up there, I loved party gigs but it was not our kind of crowd, all drunken frat boys. We played punky blusey stuff, think Mudhoney meets Kyuss. It was a super hot humid day with fights breaking out and the first two bands were terrible. Stopping several songs cause they kept getting lost, 15 minute out of tune renditions of the Beastie Boys "Fight for Your Right", AC/DC covers that somehow had only one riff and no chorus, really bad stuff. We'd been doin our thing for a few years with a small following and had 45 originals, which all this is to say most of us weren't into this party anymore before we even started playing.
We start playing and its going well enough...then I got pelted with raw ground beef. I saw the dude rear back with another handful, I took off my bass and dropped it face first against the cab, walked down the steps into the crowd and got in his face. Words were briefly exchanged, there was some shoving, and...I lost it. I kicked him in the nuts and double fist sledgehammered in the back, asked if any one else wants to throw stuff and stomped back up the stairs. To their credit the band never missed a beat even with my amp squealing feedback. I got back on stage, shut off my rig and waited for the song to end. I told them what happened and my brother (the drummer) got on the mic and I cant repeat what he said according to forum rules governing cursing. That was the last song of the night, we just started packing up with or without the rest of the band. We did 25 minutes out of 2+ hours.
I'm not proud, its kinda embarrassing in hindsight, but I'm not completely ashamed. I never would've done that at a club gig, but this was different. Granted 4 out of the 6 of us in the band were kinda wimpy stoner nerds and looked like easy targets, but my brother and I, however, were not. We grew up cutting our teeth in the pits of the thrash metal and hardcore/skinhead scenes for years in Boston and Providence, so when some dumb kid from the 'burbs pelted me, my bass, and my speakers with raw ground beef...well... Honestly, they're lucky they didn't get my brother with the raw meat, he's the one with the temper and was rockin his newly acquired '77 rosewood Sonor kit that night, the dude woulda ended up with something broken.

Hell yeah!!

 

[Jim Miller]

In the mid-eighties I was a wet-behind-the-ears 20 year old in a 60s cover band full of experienced players. The singer was confident guy who fancied himself to be Roger Daltrey; he’d be running in place next to me during a guitar solo, screaming “Look! Daltrey!” Somehow I got the juvenile idea to mess with him a bit, so between sets I would covertly slip back to the stage and duct tape things to his mic cord. Oh, sure, it started off small with maybe winding his cord around a guitar stand but as with anything it got ridiculous, with me duct taping his cord to anything I found backstage—basketballs, mops, chairs, etc. My favorite was a hand truck I wheeled onstage, through which I wound the cord and then taped the mess righteously with absolutely no slack at all. I experienced perverse juvenile joy when we’d come out to start a set; he’d make his dramatic entrance at the first verse and suddenly he’d be dragging around a guitar stand or have to stand next to a hand truck the entire song. I got him time and again with this. The looks of rage and disgust on this face were gold, Jerry, gold.

 

[BassPenguin22]

In the mid-eighties I was a wet-behind-the-ears 20 year old in a 60s cover band full of experienced players. The singer was confident guy who fancied himself to be Roger Daltrey; he’d be running in place next to me during a guitar solo, screaming “Look! Daltrey!” Somehow I got the juvenile idea to mess with him a bit, so between sets I would covertly slip back to the stage and duct tape things to his mic cord. Oh, sure, it started off small with maybe winding his cord around a guitar stand but as with anything it got ridiculous, with me duct taping his cord to anything I found backstage—basketballs, mops, chairs, etc. My favorite was a hand truck I wheeled onstage, through which I wound the cord and then taped the mess righteously with absolutely no slack at all. I experienced perverse juvenile joy when we’d come out to start a set; he’d make his dramatic entrance at the first verse and suddenly he’d be dragging around a guitar stand or have to stand next to a hand truck the entire song. I got him time and again with this. The looks of rage and disgust on this face were gold, Jerry, gold.

Thats....PURE GENIUS!!!!

 

[Texan]

In the late 90's I was playing in a Prog rock band that had great music, but a mediocre singer who thought he was Bruce Dickinson. The tension between us had built for over a year before finally exploding on stage. He was 1-1/2 hr's late to a show that we were headlining to a packed house. Before we went on stage I told him that he need to start acting like the less than average singer that he is. As the guitar solo in the first song started, he charged at me full speed, I'm still not sure what his intentions were as he is 5'7"ish and maybe 150lbs to my 6'2" 250lbs. Anyway, I crouch a bit and lean toward him to brace myself, he hits me an bounces like a rubber ball off of my shoulder. I throw down my bass, pick him up by his hair and throw him off stage. I was so mad that I was shaking. The guitarist approached the mic an announced that we were now an instrumental band. I pride myself in a good show, I'm still not sure if this elevated to show or killed it.

In 2008, I had quit a band and was called by them a few weeks later to run sound at the Rodeo as a favor because the usual guy was out of town. I was happy to help and got to the gig, met the new bassist who was a very nice older guy, got everything set up and during the soundcheck, the new guy was horrible. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he needed to warm up and went ahead and set the levels on the board. As the first set progressed, he did not improve. To save face for my former band mates, I killed the bass signal from the mix for the rest of the night. When he asked how he sounded, I did not have the heart to tell him how bad it was and just told him that he sounded great. Thank god there was a keyboard to cover the lows.

 

[MatticusMania]

In 2008, I had quit a band and was called by them a few weeks later to run sound at the Rodeo as a favor because the usual guy was out of town. I was happy to help and got to the gig, met the new bassist who was a very nice older guy, got everything set up and during the soundcheck, the new guy was horrible. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he needed to warm up and went ahead and set the levels on the board. As the first set progressed, he did not improve. To save face for my former band mates, I killed the bass signal from the mix for the rest of the night. When he asked how he sounded, I did not have the heart to tell him how bad it was and just told him that he sounded great. Thank god there was a keyboard to cover the lows.

The question I have is, Did you let your former band know, after the gig, how bad your replacement was?

 

[Tonegasm]

Got drunk and played sloppily. I realized how foolish that was the next day. Haven't been drunk on stage since, and this was years ago.

I am, however, a viking drunk off stage.

 

[yougotbrizzled]

this didnt happen to me, rather our guitarist. Ill make it as concise as possible.

we opened for my chemical romance and gaslight anthem at roseland ballroon with this song


right before the guitar solo, his power supply fails. if you listen to the song, you can imagine how empty that sounds. he recovered in time for the next song but we all looked at him like "oh my god you have to be kidding me"

we ended up having a very good set other than that but it was so.. ugh lol

as for me, with my old band i got blackout drunk and played keaning against the wall, missing more than half of the notes. in a reggae band. never made that mistake again

 

[Bassmanhopkins]

Fell off the stage

 

[QORC]

Apparently I was told that once, during a 3 hour set in front of NOBODY at 1:30 in the morning, I took a seat on the ledge next to the drummer...and I was told that I wasn't "professional"

yeah, whatever...carry my bass for 3 hours and see how it feels

 

[Texan]

The question I have is, Did you let your former band know, after the gig, how bad your replacement was?

I did, and even gave the guy a few free lessons. He has more heart than anyone, but no talent or ear for music. He did not improve much. I still see him at small bars around town and he is still pretty bad, but the nicest, most generous guy you will ever meet. I think thats why he still gets gigs, or possibly because a good bassist is hard to find.

 

[Killerfridge]

I can't speak for myself, but I can speak for the rest of the band.

Picture this - large(ish) bespoke music venue, but notoriously difficult to EQ (massive props to any sound guy that manages to get a band to sound good in there). We were the support act for a hard rock group who were gaining popularity in the area, and as we were complete unknowns, this was sort of a big thing for us. We played rock, and have the sort of image to match!

Anyway, after a rather painful soundcheck, and after realising that we weren't going to be able to hear ourselves too good (not a problem, the vocalist doesn't listen to us anyway!), we plough ahead with our first couple of songs.

Then the vocalist happens.

He starts bad mouthing the soundguy (who was working frantically to try and make us sound vaugely ok) and acting like a massive diva. By the third song, so was the drummer (mouthing off the sound man instead of singing BVs).

Me and guitarist - :/

4th song, both vocalist and drummer get up and walk off, throwing mics/micstands as they go.

Leaving me and the guitarist standing there like lemons, not really knowing what to do. So we apologised, unplugged, and spent the rest of the night making certain not to be seen to be with the two who stormed off!

Lets just say I don't really play with those two anymore.

Oh, and the soundguy was the friend of my housemate, so guess who was in my kitchen when I got home!!

 

[mooreon131]

Between this and The "Weirdest Gig" threads, I wanna get out and gig so bad. Unfortunately, being an 18 year old with no car, and a string of bands that haven't been able to make it more than 6 months complicates things...:scowl:

 

[electracoyote]

I think puking is always a bit unprofessional.

I once puked behind the stage and didn't tell anyone. No one saw me do it, and it was hidden from view.

The smell was overpowering the next day. I heard about it from one of the staff who had to clean it up, though she had no idea it was me who'd done it.

I always felt bad about that.

 

[kmqu601]

In the mid-eighties I was a wet-behind-the-ears 20 year old in a 60s cover band full of experienced players. The singer was confident guy who fancied himself to be Roger Daltrey; he’d be running in place next to me during a guitar solo, screaming “Look! Daltrey!” Somehow I got the juvenile idea to mess with him a bit, so between sets I would covertly slip back to the stage and duct tape things to his mic cord. Oh, sure, it started off small with maybe winding his cord around a guitar stand but as with anything it got ridiculous, with me duct taping his cord to anything I found backstage—basketballs, mops, chairs, etc. My favorite was a hand truck I wheeled onstage, through which I wound the cord and then taped the mess righteously with absolutely no slack at all. I experienced perverse juvenile joy when we’d come out to start a set; he’d make his dramatic entrance at the first verse and suddenly he’d be dragging around a guitar stand or have to stand next to a hand truck the entire song. I got him time and again with this. The looks of rage and disgust on this face were gold, Jerry, gold.

So awesome. I laughed out loud at this one

 

[joshwilkesbooth]

I've thrown up off many a stage when I was younger.