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The Gig Brawl Stories Thread

#41
Harpenden. It's a leafy, picturesque, middle-class town just a 30 minute train ride from Central London and is therefore in prime commuter territory. Normally, the only trouble you might expect is a repressed, angry muttering from somebody whose Porsche has just been grazed by a Bentley in the golf club car park.

Anyway, the band are booked to play for the engagement party of two junior doctors. The party is stuffed with other doctors, nurses and assorted health care people, all very genteel you might suppose - except that after working with people's lives in the balance day in and day out, the ability of these sorts of guys to let off steam out of hours is legendary...and the party was in fancy dress.

It all went fine for a couple of hours as people were up and dancing in between downing industrial quantities of alcohol, but then something turned sour. I don't know exactly what sparked it, Frankenstein probably started to grope Princess Leah and Chewbacca turned ugly about it or something...anyway, a fight developed into a brawl that spilled over into the car park. The band stopped playing and stood in the doorway as onlookers, somebody called the police and the fight was quickly dispersed. My drummer said later that his abiding memory of the gig was of a policeman chasing a pantomime horse across Harpenden Common.
 
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#45
There was a video of the Rolling Stones, about ten years old, where a fan jumped on stage, and approached Jagger, and security did not get there in time. Richards whacked him off the stage with his tele without missing much, then kept playing.

Turns out it was just a fan, and supposedly Richardsceven later helped bail the guy out of jail. Someone may have the link.
 
#46
Not me playing but the band was epic - two brothers playing covers, one on a kit, one shredding on acoustic and singing at Torquay Hotel. Typical rural, coastal town pub where the local yokels who can't get a root on a Saturday night start a fight instead. The best thing about this gig was they got called for an encore and start playing 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC - with no electric guitar or bass, and the singer was absolutely killing it! Enough to inspire a dancefloor brawl in front of me. Literally some bloke dancing bumps some other bloke and it's on, a rolling ball of five big blokes makes it's way to the door with stools and tables spewing out (of the ball) every so often. Band finishes halfway into second verse. Cops waiting by the time the ball hits the footpath. First and last time I head there on a Saturday night :rollno:
 
#51
buldog5151bass said:
Depends on the place - is the band out of the way on a stage six feet above the floor, or up against the dancefloor with no place to retreat? Heck, I played a place last St. Patrick's day where they had to walk between the keyboardist and the PA stack to get to the women's washroom.
Click to expand...

yeah. A lot of our shows are in people living rooms/dining rooms, the backyard...there is no demarcation between audience and band other than wearing or sitting behind instruments. At many of those shows, the "dancing" ends up with the band. You just back up to your cab and watch your nutz. Most of the clubs we play have a defined stage, but there is one place where I can see into the women's restroom every time someone goes in from where I am on the stage. I spend a lot of time with my back to that part of the stage. (Which makes our guit player always ask "Why are you looking at me the whole show?)
 
#52
Moe Monsarrat said:
The rule is if you don't want to be involved in the fight....keep playing. If you want them to attack you, stop playing and say something stupid like "Stop fighting!" Works every time.
Click to expand...

I was thinking more along the lines of a "sterile cockpit" scenario to enhance communication amongst the security / bouncers, waitstaff, etc. I certainly wouldn't yell "stop fighting" but I would do whatever is necessary to support those who do step in to intervene.

Might hit 'em with my purse, though.

Riis
 
#54
Back in the late 90's, I lived in Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. The US 5th Fleet was headquartered there. We used to do base gigs every 2-3 weeks. It was a great set up. They provided a back line, lights, engineers, PA, monitors. All I had to bring was my bass and tuner. All gigs were outdoors under the palm trees, between 6-8pm.

One evening, there was a massive ship crew change and we were facing about 1,000 lads that had been drinking and blowing off steam all afternoon. We loved these gigs as it was a very appreciative crowd. Our band and two repertoires: a British set list for the large expat Brit community, and an American set list for the base gigs. Being Canadian, that was my music of choice.

So, we got up on stage and Manny, our guitarist, starts off with Hendrix version of Star-Spangled Banner. That was the first mistake. They all started singing and feeling deeply patriotic. Then Manny broke into the very recognizable intro to All Along the Watchtower, again, Hendrix version. Immediately, the audience started jumping. And then pushing. And then pushing harder. And then throwing punches.

The singer never got to start the song. We stopped playing immediately and the MP's appeared out of nowhere to break up an ever expanding brawl. It was like throwing a match into a pool of gasoline.

The rest of the gig was outstanding. Great night, fun crowd. very memorable and I miss those gigs.

After the gig, the guy that hired us told us, "No more Star-Spangled Banner. Got it?"
 
#55
I've seen more of these liquid courage matches than I can count. Started playing in road houses when I was 12, and that was 50 years ago. Played in the evil, and I mean really evil, parts of the eastern Kentucky mountains where it was much more common to see someone be shot and killed than it is in downtown Detroit today. Just to set the table.

The lucky part for me was that I was 12 years old playing with 30-40 year old men. So it was like they were almost baby sitting me. Back then I could have walked up and kicked a drunk in the balls and no one would have touched me. I didn't push my luck though and that's why I'm still here to write this post.

One night at a club such as a VFW or American Legion, etc when I was around 13 or 14, a drunk patron noticed I had nothing to drink so he gave me the keys to his car and told me to help myself from his inventory. Everyone had an inventory in their trunk because the area was dry. No legal drinks could be had. Since I'd already had a few drinks of Old Crow, I decided to get adventurous and drive his early 60's Ford sedan for a while. Also took a case of Schlitz malt liquor from the stash and had several before I left. I gave the keys back to the trusting soul and went back to playing the next set.

In a very few minutes the crowd encircles a couple of guys beating each other senseless. This was no big deal to me by this time, it was a regular occurrence. Problem was, my benefactor was on the wrong end of a few 38 slugs which ended the fight, of course. Cops came, no one saw a thing happen. Heck, he may have just been eyeing someone's wife.

All I know is, there was a boatload of Schlitz malt liquor that went untouched after that. This sort of scenario was not uncommon for me to see back then. Everything else since those days pales in comparison.

I definitely grew up at an early age because of this. If my parents had the slightest idea of what I was experiencing at that time, I would have been banished to church choir.
 
#56
xUptheIronsx said:
isn't it security's job to handle this? And not the band. Most of the places I have played where fights occur, the band and audience stops the fight cause thee is no hired security. At a club or venue, it is supposed to be the venues job
Click to expand...

That's assuming the venue bothers to have security. A lot of the bars we play are more "mom and pop" type corner bars. Security guy? Fuhgedaboutit!

It's been years since we've seen a fight break out at a gig...but a while ago some drunk chick kept coming up and trying to interact with us while we were playing. Literally standing between me and the guitarist, almost falling over on the drum kit, etc. I was so worried she was going to trip on a cable and hurt herself or something...the owners were too busy to be bothered to remove her. Eventually she stumbled away.
 
#57
Lindsey Burke said:
I've seen more of these liquid courage matches than I can count. Started playing in road houses when I was 12, and that was 50 years ago. Played in the evil, and I mean really evil, parts of the eastern Kentucky mountains where it was much more common to see someone be shot and killed than it is in downtown Detroit today. Just to set the table.

The lucky part for me was that I was 12 years old playing with 30-40 year old men. So it was like they were almost baby sitting me. Back then I could have walked up and kicked a drunk in the balls and no one would have touched me. I didn't push my luck though and that's why I'm still here to write this post.

One night at a club such as a VFW or American Legion, etc when I was around 13 or 14, a drunk patron noticed I had nothing to drink so he gave me the keys to his car and told me to help myself from his inventory. Everyone had an inventory in their trunk because the area was dry. No legal drinks could be had. Since I'd already had a few drinks of Old Crow, I decided to get adventurous and drive his early 60's Ford sedan for a while. Also took a case of Schlitz malt liquor from the stash and had several before I left. I gave the keys back to the trusting soul and went back to playing the next set.

In a very few minutes the crowd encircles a couple of guys beating each other senseless. This was no big deal to me by this time, it was a regular occurrence. Problem was, my benefactor was on the wrong end of a few 38 slugs which ended the fight, of course. Cops came, no one saw a thing happen. Heck, he may have just been eyeing someone's wife.

All I know is, there was a boatload of Schlitz malt liquor that went untouched after that. This sort of scenario was not uncommon for me to see back then. Everything else since those days pales in comparison.

I definitely grew up at an early age because of this. If my parents had the slightest idea of what I was experiencing at that time, I would have been banished to church choir.
Click to expand...

Ever play around Bowling Green Ky?
 
#58
Back somewhere in the early 80's we were playing at a saloon. The gig was going great! Everyone seems to really like our fusion style of southern rock/classic rock/beginnings of "alternative" rock we were playing. We had a female vocalist whose skin was a different color than the rest of the people in the bar and man could she wail the rock n roll!
IN came about 25 bikers. This was the South and racial tensions were not yet over with fringe groups like these particular bikers.
They demanded we throw our singer the "************************" out of the bar or they would throw us out. Naturally the band was of one mind with this.
Result? Said band hauled out one at a time with 6 guys holding flailing limbs and dumped in the parking lot with many bruises on our bodies - I think the drummer and me had the most.
We had to go back the next day and get our equipment which to our amazement was not trashed.

Another one:
We were playing for a private keg party. Everyone got really bombed and were were playing high energy rock and really had them going! The crowd got more excited and by the 3rd set were pressing in towards us. They got more and more exited, pressing closer and closer and finally were pushed by the people in the back that were tying to get closer to the band. closer and closer, more exited by the second. Closer, more packed, more shoving from the rear - then - our PA cabs toppled over and we looked at each other, unplugged our guitars and ran out the back door.
 

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