Submitted by flatpickerz7 t3_11abe4e in Music
I've seen Cory Wong live a few times I love the jokes/creative non-musical pieces of entertainment he does between songs and was curious what other artists have done to make that talking or breaks more interesting.
Reverend Horton Heat show, my friend tosses a joint over the Revs shoulder. He stops the show and picks up the joint, then proceeds to give the crowd a lecture on drugs. Every other sentence he would turn around and take a hit, turn back to the crowd and blow it out. It was priceless.
So glad I made it out to his show when he came to Anchorage a few months back.
Wayne Coyne from Flaming lips blowing up into a giant hamster ball and rolling across the top of me.
Buckethead doing a nunchuck routine in the middle of a show and throwing toys to the kids in the crowd.
Buckethead is a huge Star Wars fan.
He will exchange gifts w people, if he likes what you have.
Bit sombre but I saw Iron Maiden in London 2017, a few days after the bombing of Ariana Grande's concert in Manchester, and Bruce said a couple words and dedicated Blood Brothers to the victims/peace and humanity, which was pretty moving. It was my first gig and the bombing almost scared me out of going, so it was a powerful moment on a personal level too
The Happy Mondays concert at Elland Road 1990..
The Farm had just gone off stage and while they were playing a guy had been climbing the floodlights. .
During the change of bands, 90,000 of us watched this guy climb higher. .
The DJ started a chant.. which we all joined in with.. "Come on down man you cannot fly, if you jump your gunna die!!"
He carried on climbing... The police circling the bottom not knowing wtf to do about it..
The bloke then disappeared behind the lights. He got to the top.. and with 90,000 mad pill heads stood beneath him He stood on top of the lights (which were turned off btw or he would cooked) and then raised his arms and you could hear a pin drop....
And out of nowhere... Boom!!! THE MONDAYS!!! Burst onto the stage..
Dunno what happened to that nutter but as long as I live... me and 90,000 others will never forget that moment..
Saw Iron Maiden. Bruce dueled with their mascot, Eddie, during a song where it really fit. He showed that guy who's boss!
Ben Folds standing on his piano to take a picture of 000s of people all flipping him off.
Maybe not best but definitely most memorable. Kanye concert in Melbourne Australia, probably 2011. He kept stopping after the line "mj gone, our n!@@a dead" and making us all repeat it louder. A crowd that wouldve been 95% white. No I didn't say it.
Barenaked Ladies. At one of their concerts they had a "Salute To Bald Men," and had all the bald guys come up on stage.
They used to do some really random shit in between songs. It was great.
I saw Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) at a folk festival back in 2014. The local high school chorus was there to sing backup on "Light One Candle." They'd rehearsed the song, knew the words, and were ready to go...standing behind a curtain so he could introduce them when he started the song.
Right before the curtain went up, he said "but what they don't know, is that they're going to come down here and join us all to sing Puff." As in Puff the Magic Dragon, perhaps his best known song. Before the show, I was talking to the kids backstage, and they really didn't know who he was. So I said "you know the song Puff the Magic Dragon?" They all nodded. "That's the guy."
So the curtain goes up, they sing Light One Candle, and the kids gather around Pete to sing Puff. Just after the first chorus, he stops and points to a student at the back...
"She's reading the lyrics from her iPad!" Because she was.
He summoned her down to the mic and said "we're going to sing the next verse together." So this girl (with her iPad) got to sing a verse of one of the most famous songs in the world with the original artist. She did great.
Saw Steve Earle a few years ago. There was a kid, maybe 13, there with his dad, loving the whole show. After the main set, the lead guitarist chucked a pick into the crowd and I snagged it. But I figured this kid would like it more so I gave it to him. He was really thankful.
Then, after the encore, Steve removed his arm band and pointed to this same kid. A handful of adults stood poised to grab it, but Steve stared them all down and said, “Don’t you dare.” He gave the kid the arm band and the kid gave me back the pick. It was nice.
Pink Floyd Momentary Lapse of Reason tour when I was 16 in Toronto. Stadium was packed, cops were everywhere doing security. They play the album, go off, return to play the classics, then leave. We’re all shouting for an encore, but they don’t return. So the cops open the exits and people start filing out. My friend and I are up in the stands so it takes us a while to get down to the floor. Just as we’re in the middle of the floor, lasers shoot out over our heads and Gilmour starts into Run Like Hell. Cops freak and close all the exits so people can’t get back in. It’s total chaos. We run to the first seats we can grab and end up seeing a three song encore from way better seats in a half filled stadium. Truly epic.
I saw Tool at Bonnaroo last year, and I was pretty close to someone who made a whole-ass painting during their show.
Very common at jam band and electronic festivals/shoes as well.
One time when I went to a Breaking Benjamin concert, they were just playing a song normally when the lead singer goes up to one of the guitars and gives him a hug. It's been a few years, and even though I don't remember what song was playing I still remember that moment.
A UK band called Little Man Tate were playing a farewell gig at Blackpool Empress Ballroom as the last date of a tour where they’d already said they were splitting up after the tour.
At the end of the gig the lead singer took his guitar off and just lobbed it into the crowd.
Saw Queen a few days before Xmas at the L.A. Forum. Last show of the tour. For the encore Santa came out struggling with a sack. Freddie jumped out in a glitter suit.
Also at the forum, saw Peter Gabriel fall backwards into the first row and got passed all the way to the back of the floor and back up to the stage.
Freddie's Ay-yoh thing at live Aid
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Grateful Dead Mardi Gras, I think it was 1991 at Oakland.
Bill Graham had just died, and Ken Kesey came up on stage during a long Dark Star jam and told a story about Graham putting up a sign on an Oregon trail where Kesey's son died, that Bill was the crossing guard and babysitter for the Psychedelic Revolution, and then recited this poem from memory. (I was tripping and it hit me like a ton of bricks...)
[Buffalo Bill 's]
BY E. E. CUMMINGS
Buffalo Bill ’s
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blue-eyed boy
Mister Death
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I'm se JPEGMAFIA spit in a guys mouth.
AJR went into how they wrote a song and took inspiration from their environment, with all the little pieces coming together until they segued into the full song (sort of musical but they talked a lot and it was really interesting)
Parkway Drive stopping a song to see a kid stage dive off the third floor balcony.
Same venue I got to see Limp Bizkit on Halloween where they all dressed as Gun N Roses. Guitar tech spent most the night replacing the smoke in Wes' mouth
Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger sessions at the New Orleans jazz fest in 2006 7 months after Katrina. The whole crowd singing We shall overcome together and my city in ruins was incredibly moving.
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Saw Tool a few years ago and there was a little break between songs. Everyone in the crowd was whooping and applauding, but not super loud. Then my friend barbarically yelled “YEEEAAAAH!!!” This kind of kick started stuff and it seemed like the whole crowd started roaring after that. It started in our section and picked up in other parts of the arena. It was an awesome moment.
Corey Taylor said he was sick and nearly shitting himself while performing in Atlanta last year.
lollapalooza, about a year after kurt cobain died. i was way up front during hole. a guy next to me was wearing a t-shirt that said something rude about kurt. i never saw what it was, but courtney love noticed it from the stage. she started screaming at the guy to take the shirt off. she was really heated.... and then all of a sudden she dove head first into the crowd. she tried rip the shirt off the guy. security had to pull her away. i was never the biggest courtney fan but that was one of the most punk rock things i've seen
I saw the Muse/Foo Fighters/Red Hot Chili Peppers in early 2000. Crowd was awesome but really pushing hard to get as close to the front of the stage as possible. I know because I was on the arena floor about 150ft back from the stage. The arena closed access to the floor and would not let anyone back on if they left to get drinks or go to the bathroom in an attempt to settle things down a bit. To be clear, there was no violence, just crazy hot and nuts tight. An announcement was made by the arena over the sound system that if the floor did not settle down, they wouldhave to cancel rest of the show. Crowd settle down a tiny, tiny bit.
The Muse came out and played and they were fine. Lights came back up and the crowd had somehow swelled on the arena floor. We were packed like sardines and the pushing was getting worse. Security and arena employees were having to pull people out of the area by the front of the stage because they were being crushed. After the Muse played, the lights came up and Chad and Taylor came out to speak to the crowd. Crowd when nuts, Chad and Taylor stepped up to the mic and asked in a very friendly, casual manner for everyone to just step back a bit so the people in the front could get some air. This didn't work. The crowd just got more excited. Few minutes later, Dave Grohl comes out with his mom. I kid you not. His mom. She apparently lived in the town up the road and had come down with the rest of the family to see her son play. They had set up a small bleacher area right on the side of the stage for them to watch. Dave introduces her to the crowd. crowd does the requisite "Hi Mom!" and cheers like crazy. Momma Grohl steps up to the mic and says "You kids settle down now before someone gets hurt." Crowd loves it, cheers like crazy, Dave and his mom leave the stage. A few minutes pass and Dave comes out with the band and, house lights still up, ride of the valkyries going on the sound system, tears into Monkey Wrench. They do their set, like 10-12 bangers in a row, few minutes later RHCP comes out and do their set.
One of my all time, favorite shows ever.
There’s many but Ted Nugent swinging across the stage on a rope wearing a loin cloth with a guitar on his back on the Scream Dream tour. There was that much dry ice you could barely see him then the clouds opened and Ted appeared in mid air !
Another good one was Roy Harper in Manchester many years ago . The gig was near the curry mile aka Rushhome . His PA acted as an aerial for incoming curry orders which came thick and fast. Roy just laughed and laughed.
Another infamous one was when the pigs head got thrown on the stage at Castle Donnington. I did not realise what had happened I think in 1985? It raises the question of what for, how did they sneak it in and where did they get it ? Frankly best not to ask !
Last one I promise . There was a guy called Frank Sidebottom who used to wear a paper mache head and had a hand puppet called little Frank. He was as much performance art as anything but his rendition of the Sex Pistols Anarchy in the UK with all the punks dancing to it was the most surreal thing I have ever seen .
Last one from me this as I love this post ! Krokus on their One Vice At A Time tour. Again far too much dry Iso you could barely see anything . It sounded as though a fog horn was going off. The clouds cleared then one of the band members was blowing a Swiss alpine horn which are about 20 foot long and took the whole stage up. I loved heavy metal deeply but Spinal Tap it was !
Jackattack736 t1_j9r02e2 wrote
When I saw Florence + The Machine a few years ago there was a break between songs where Florence asked the audience to put their phones away for a few songs to be present in the moment. Most of the audience complies but not everyone.
She has a pretty quiet speaking voice normally.
With still some phones still out she says "I've asked you once, so now I'm going to use the correct Queen's English........PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE AWAY!"