interesting shows
So the Charlatans gig last night was an event to remember.
I will never forget it for good and bad stuff going on.
5 songs into the set the drummer stops, stares at the bead curtain backdrop for a while and then collapses into a seizure.
Pretty scary stuff, especially, as he stopped breathing and some medical guy in the crowd had to resuscitate him.
Also I have a hand made CD, with a hand made cover from the support band – Sherlocks Daughter. They were awesome . kind of a Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs with a bit of Arcade Fire changing of instruments and a sound like a super charged 4AD band.
It is a shame that, most likely, they are now going to miss out on getting heard. I as not sure The Charlatans are going to continue this tour.
I guess this counts as memorable.
Anyone with other interesting gig tales?
Comments
Wow. That sounds crazy. I don’t have anything unique as far as show going experiences happen, except for the constant, ever-present violence at 80’s hardcore shows and seeing people get crippled or beaten to within an inch of their life. Some of those I’ll never forget.
i went to beulah’s last show in nyc at battery park. it started raining and storming pretty violently and the band had to run offstage, thus causing everyone else to run under the awning.
i, for one, and my friend, didn’t run. as soon as the people in the first few rows ran under the awning, we ran to their seats (it was first come-first serve). when the band resumed about 20 minutes later, we were right up front for the rest of the show.
to top it all off, before the show, we were in line and danny, beulah’s drummer was walking around outside on his phone. i was on my phone too talking to harry colas no less (sam and jay’s friend from NJ). danny walks up to me and was like “christina right? i remember you.” i talked to him for about 20 minutes at the last couple of philly shows. i felt REALLY cool.
just a really memorable experience with one of my favorite bands of all time.
Christina – I now have visions of Travis going very, very green with envy.
Yeah, that is cool. having a band member saying hello to you, hell yeah.
I bought tickets to The Zombies 2008 reunion tour more than a year in advance. I then planned a week-long vacation to London around the concert.
They played Odessey & Oracle from start to finish (plus a few encore songs) at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It was fucking pitch perfect, and made for a drunkenly grand culmination to my first trip outside of the states.
I talked about number theory with the singer from Apples In Stereo after a show at North Star Bar once.
I recall a very small yet intense Coheed & Cambria show in Vorhees, too.
My best show story involves a band that most of you probably hate: MxPx.
I was a HUGE fan in 1997:
1. I was 16, so fuck you.
2. Life in General is the best pop-punk album ever made, so fuck you.
Anyway, towards the end of their set they paused for a bit and started talking to the crowd. Then Mike Herrera (bassist/singer) said something about having someone from the crowd come up to play bass for the next song and Harry (yes, the same one mentioned in Christina’s post) starts screaming “this guy” and pointing at me. Then, Mike says “Is his name Jay?”, and the next thing I know I am being pushed up on stage and Mike’s blue Musicman bass (an unobtainable dream guitar in my eyes at the time) is being strapped over my shoulders and I’m rocking out with the band.
It turns out that a couple of my friends saw one of the band members outside the venue before the show and told them that I was really into the band and knew all of their songs. They were more than happy to make an adolescent boy’s dream come true. Unfortunately none of my friends had a camera that night, but someone I sort of knew from a message board happened to get a great shot and ended up mailing it to me. I’ll always have that picture nearby and that will always be a great memory.
Man I hate MXPX but: was that show at the Electric Factory and also involve Reel Big Fish? If so: I was there. Commence laughter pointed in my direction.
Jay, that is fucking awesome.
I definitely saw Better Than Ezra pull a dude out of the crowd to play the guitar part for a song. Whatever their deal is, they’re a super fun live band.
I have had a number of memorable show experiences involving meeting people and shit because my friend and I were ruthless stage-door-hanger-outers when we were teenagers, but meh.
maggie said:Man I hate MXPX but: was that show at the Electric Factory and also involve Reel Big Fish? If so: I was there. Commence laughter pointed in my direction.
Maggie, that show was at the Bordentown Firehouse and involved Home Grown (also a band that I loved at the time but look back on with disgust now), and Humble Beginnings, who were the NJ scene rock stars of the day. That band went on to spawn the much more popular acts Midtown and Cobra Starship (bleh).
The Manc said:Christina – I now have visions of Travis going very, very green with envy.
Yeah, that is cool. having a band member saying hello to you, hell yeah.
Ha. Actually, I was there too. It was me and Tricia’s first (real) date.
Jay said:Ahhhh, no. It must’ve been around the same time, though!maggie said:Man I hate MXPX but: was that show at the Electric Factory and also involve Reel Big Fish? If so: I was there. Commence laughter pointed in my direction.
Maggie, that show was at the Bordentown Firehouse and involved Home Grown (also a band that I loved at the time but look back on with disgust now), and Humble Beginnings, who were the NJ scene rock stars of the day. That band went on to spawn the much more popular acts Midtown and Cobra Starship (bleh).
the TLA on south street was the best place to meet bands after shows.
back before EITHER of these acts got big, i met rufus wainwright and tegan and sara out back. rufus had done that christmas commercial for the gap and i fell absolutely in love with him. i told him so. t&s were his opening act and i thought they were so great. they blew up several years later.
i remember meeting so many people out in that alley – notably supergrass and was personally given a full heineken keg can from danny goffey. i still have it.
oh and jay – what an amazing story.
Wow! Cool story. When I was in college my friend johntu and I heard that green day was known to pull kids up on stage and then give them the guitar after autographing it. We always thought it would be funny if someone had a guitar from that and told the story but no one ever believed them. Thanks for reminding me of that. Lucky you got that picture!
Once I smoked a blunt with a real black guy in the audience at a nas show in dc! When the dead milkman played a two night benefit show a couple years ago I caught a cheap toy flute he threw into the crowd. And my crowning achievement was meeting a hammered dr roxo at a dethklok mastodon show last year. And I totally saw murder face outside drinkin a beer.
Chuck said:Once I smoked a blunt with a real black guy in the audience at a nas show in dc!
Wow, I haven’t had an occasion to add something to the quotes database for a while. Thanks for this! Dying over here.
True story.