Submitted by BoostedBonozo202 t3_119wqkp in Music

Like the title says, what are some cool stage stunts bands have done throughout the years you can recall?

I'm thinking along the lines of Tommy Lee playing drums in a spinning metal cage type stuff.

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Wonderful_Ad3017 t1_j9ofx37 wrote

Eddie Vedder’s death defying, rig climbing, high diving, crowd surfing stunt during the bands early days while playing Even Flow come to mind first.

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Practical_Author1063 t1_j9oyhe4 wrote

Metallica And justice for all tour, the statue would crumble, light rigging would appear to collapse and leave the whole stage set-up in ruins. Looked like total chaos! Still the coolest thing I’ve ever seen at a show, and that was way back in the 1900’s.

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PreviousLife7051 t1_j9ovhcf wrote

Alice Cooper being hung, Alice Cooper being guillotined

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Complex-Narwhal-9895 t1_j9oh7oq wrote

Not really a stunt but Slash and Axl Rose smoking on stage in the middle of Rocket Queen in 1988 was pretty fucking cool. The energy and build up to when Axl starts signing again was incredible.

It’s one of the most memorable live moments I’ve seen on YouTube and I don’t even like Guns N Roses that much

https://youtu.be/IMIBdE3rqc8

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CinematicLiterature t1_j9oix37 wrote

Story of the Year had one of their members regularly do a backflip off the drum riser.

Travis Barker from Blink 182 used to have a spinning drum set rig while he did a solo to a Beyoncé song.

As another guy mentioned - Phish! They had an inflatable flying whale last year at MSG. It was incredible.

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Grand-wazoo t1_j9oi96k wrote

Phish had all kinds of hilarious stage antics during their early tours and throughout the 90’s. It started with secret musical signals that were hidden in songs and pulled out at random where they’d suddenly launch into something like the Simpsons theme. Then there was the vacuum solo that Fishman would play throughout their career. Then the whole Gamehendge saga which was a detailed storyline with themes and characters woven through numerous songs that they only played in its entirety a handful of times. Then there were the Halloween traditions of covering famous albums in full as a “musical costume”, and the NYE tradition of 3-4 night runs at Madison Square Garden where some of their most legendary performances occurred. And all through the 90’s each decade’s tour took on an improvisational theme, so 91-93 were the secret signal years with short and fast performances/blistering solos, 94 was the bluegrass tour, 95-96 started seeing some extended improv that took songs to a completely unfamiliar place, 97-98 were porno funk, and 99 was the deep space tour which they capped off with the millennium NYE concert where the last set played continuously from 11 pm - 7 am.

Lots of great stuff to unpack there if you’re interested, if not please disregard.

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BoostedBonozo202 OP t1_j9ojjfs wrote

Ngl that musical costume idea is pretty smart

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Grand-wazoo t1_j9okxg5 wrote

Yeah I’d say their cover of Remain in Light by Talking Heads was my favorite. Really great performance and they kept Crosseyed & Painless as a recurring cover that produced some great jams later on.

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amorningofsleep t1_j9op8xd wrote

Any show The Dillinger Escape Plan had. Diving off balconies. Spitting fire above the crowd. Multiple band members playing while in the crowd. Destroyed equipment. I could go on all day.

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Nizamark t1_j9p5hbn wrote

david yow. the tight and shiny.

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LadyPresidentRomana t1_j9pgyg2 wrote

Keith Emerson’s flying piano! It didn’t last too long in ELP’s shows, as it was extremely complicated to stage and Keith injured himself multiple times (including breaking his nose), but goddamn does it look cool.

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Wintersbone7 t1_j9qfb50 wrote

Pink Floyd live in a Stadium performing dark side of the moon in entirety. Big stadium with surround sound speakers. Cartoon sized round video screen above the stage. And the song was “on the run”. On the screen was a film taken off from a stunt plane, which made the audience feel like they were actually flying. Unbeknownst to the audience, there was a wall cable that stretched from the back of the stadium to just above the screen. The film showed the POV flight going right into a cliff. Just as the plane was about to crash, a huge model plane came from the back of the stadium, flew over the audience right to the top of the screen where it was synchronized with the film. Pyrotechnics were set off right at impact. Scare the living shit out of me. Please note, this was a 1974 long before digital technology found its way into modern music.

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godsinthetv t1_j9qgda9 wrote

Marilyn Manson and rotten guts, bdsm on stage and blood in the early 90s, stilts in the mid 90s.

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Capitolphotoguy t1_j9qo89h wrote

String Cheese Incident brought out Pink Floyd's pig balloon at 2003 ACL Fest and it was epic. They played the Simpsons clip from the Hullabalooza episode on the Jumbotron leading into the second set and then brought the pig out as they started into Another Brick in the Wall and blew everyones mind!

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alanz01 t1_j9r04jq wrote

I have a vague memory of a Jethro Tull concert in the early '80's wherein the stage set was a pirate ship and Ian Anderson swung onto the stage on a rope.

I saw Pink Floyd's original The Wall concert in LA. Plane crash, giant inflatable schoolmaster, a pig, a giant wall that went acrtoss the entire arena in front of the stage.

You know, normal stuff.

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phantalien t1_j9rc1g6 wrote

Gwar. From their costumes to blood splatters to various stage antics and people getting eaten.

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SuckerpunchJazzhands t1_j9rl4uz wrote

Saw this band called the Venentia Fair when I was like 17 and the lead singer wrapped the mic around his neck during the breakdown, threw it over a rafter, and pretend to hang himself and then kept singing. I know that may not be super uncommon, but the level of performance he put into and how intense he was just blew my high-school mind. Literally 11 years later and have never forgotten it.

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gtoz1119 t1_j9s7z14 wrote

Mick Jaggers inflatable penis

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