Rock and pop stars blundering on stage.

[Blazer]

Here's James Hetfield failing to get his distortion going.

 

[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.

 

[Dave W]

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

I did not

 

[droo46]

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]

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.

 

[MJ_Sotti]

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]

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.