Audience member stepping in to save the show

Cafe Society
1

This article describes a recent opera performance in which the lead male singer began the performance but got too sick to finish it, but a member of the audience was drafted to sing for him. Somewhat disappointingly, the audience member was an understudy and member of the same opera company.

In another episode, Aretha Franklin was drawn from the audience to substitute for Pavarotti, singing Nessun Dorma at the 1998 Grammys.

Are there any great examples of a “‘doctor’ in the house” saving a performance?

2

There are 2 famous incidents involved Keith Moon of The Who:

  • I don’t know if this is fact or an embellished bit of storytelling, but as I recall, The Who - at the time either the Detours or the High Numbers - were playing a gig, when a drunk young lout got on stage (if there even was one) and kicked the drummer off the kit saying “I can play better.” He could - it was Moonie. He was drafted into the band pretty much on the spot.

  • At the Cow Palace in San Francisco, he was too bombed to go on and Pete called out to the audience to see if anyone could play drums. I can’t even remember if anyone came up - but it wasn’t like they could really save the day…

I’ll let this OP bounce around my brain and see what else I can come up with - I mean, Faith Hill sang for Whitney Houston at the Oscars, but that doesn’t really count in my mind…

3

From the world of sports:

In Super Bowl XXV, at the end of the fourth quarter, placekicker Scott Norwood suffered a massive groin pull and was replaced by a rabid Bills fan, who had done a little kicking in High School, and who propelled the Bills to the first of their four consecutive Super Bowl victories.

4

I remember one from an aviation magazine - commercial flight was grounded due to a mechanical problem, and the passengers were informed that the reason for the long delay was that an appropriately certified mechanic was traveling to the airport. One of the passengers was a manufacture-certified tech of the correct flavor, presented his credentials and resolved the problem (IIRC the letter said it was an issue with the landing gear), plane got off the ground earlier than anticipated and I’m sure he got some extra free peanuts.

R.e. The Who, it was a guy named Scot Halpin, here’s a Wiki article and links to video from the Cow Palace that night. Cool!

5

Well, it’s not really “saving the show” but I was at a Replacements concert in, oh, maybe 1992 and Paul Westerberg noticed a fan singing along to every single song. He pulled him up on stage for a verse and the fan was so good, he let him finish out the entire song. The fan was the lead singer of a local band so it wasn’t entirely just some yahoo.

6

I’ve seen Crowded House do that in concert. They asked if anyone knew the song and would like to come up on stage. They brought two folks up. One was quite good, the other not so much.

7

I think Green Day did that in concert, only they actually let them play all the instruments after testing them out to make sure that they knew what they were doing.

Kinda veering into Tim “Ripper” Owens territory here, he was the singer in a Judas Priest cover band who became the lead singer for Judas Priest after Rob Halford left. Girlfriend of one of the guys in JP sent a video of Tim to JP, they brought him in for an audition and he got the job. Story later loosely adapted for the movie “Rock Star”.

8

Unfortunately, Keith Moon forgot the old mnemonic, “Horse tranquilizers before liquor, never been sicker. Liquor before horse tranquilizers, well, you’re still pretty much fucked.”

9

How does this happen? Don’t the teams have to submit rosters before the game?

10

Metallica has done this beofe once or twice. Lars Ulrich was hospitalized due to some kind of medical emergency immediately before a show in 2004 and they got Joey Jordison, the drummer from Slipknot, to sub in at the last second.

11

I would think that would not be legal!

12

saoirse was dreaming. Saoirse, wake up!

13

:confused:

:smack:

:smiley:

14

A Canadian friend in Prague told me one he said he saw about ten years ago: during a pro hockey game, a player spit in a referee’s face and the refs left the ice in protest. An announcement came over the PA asking if anyone in the stands had any referee experience; those who repsonded were sent in to ref the game. They ended up with a bunch of guys who usually refereed high school games who were too intimidated to make any calls on the pro superstars, so the game was the most crazy, aggressive over-the-top spectacle he’d ever seen. Anyone remember anything like this happening?

15

He is giving a Harry Turtledove alternate history take on one of the greatest moments in sports history. Scratch that, one of the greatest moments in history.

16

At a concert in Philadelphia (1972-ish) Joni Mitchell forgot the lyrics to Conversation, so a kid from the audience went up and sang it with her. It was a wonderful duet, with him singing harmony and filling in the words she couldn’t remember. I still wonder if it was rehearsed, it seemed too perfect to happen spontaneously.

17

Oh. Football, right, I seem to recall something about the Bills losing all those Super Bowls but it’s hazy. I don’t really follow sports unless they involve playing cards or partial male nudity.

18

For a real example in sports, there’s the story of Lester Patrick in the second game of 1928 Stanley Cup finals. Patrick was 44, and coach of the New York Rangers. When his goalie got a puck in the eye and had to leave the game, Patrick asked the opposing team if it were OK to bring a player down from the stands to play goal (I don’t recall his name, but he was a NHL goalie for another team). The Montreal Maroons refused to allow it, so Patrick – who had never played goal before – stepped in and held Montreal to one goal, allowing a 2-1 Ranger win. They went on to win the cup.

19

I was at a concert (by the band Daniel Amos) where this sort of thing happened. As they were about to go into the next song, one by one the band members feigned illness or claimed they had to step out for a minute, and asked if there was anyone in the audience who could fill in. Considering that it was spontaneous and unrehearsed, the fill-in audience band did an incredible job.

(footage of the performance available on YouTube)

20

I “witnessed” a real “is there a doctor in the house?” moment on my honeymoon.

We were on a cruise, and on the last night at about 8pm, someone comes on the loudspeaker and calls a name, asking them to go to the medical bay. Any number of reasons for that, but I remember thinking that it must suck to have someone hurt themselves at the end of a vacation (I was assuming it was a broken arm or leg, or a cut or something).

A few minutes later, they call out another name, asking “if you can, please come down to the medical bay”. Odd, since that didn’t sound like a call to a family member, but there must be some reason for it.

A few minutes later…

“If there is an anesthesiologist on board, can you please come to the medical bay on Deck 1 aft. I repeat, if there is an anesthesiologist on board, please come to the medical bay on Deck 1 aft”

I think no one moved for several minutes in the lounge area where we were standing! I mean, WTF? There is a doctor and 2 nurses (IIRC) on board… what kind of emergency can they not handle themselves!

Two hours later, the captain comes onto the loudpeaker and announces that he has to shut down the casino and bar service, because “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to divert this ship to Miami for the medical evacuation of a passenger and his family”.

Our destination that night was Port Canaveral, so it must have been REALLY serious if they couldn’t stabilize the passenger for the 6 or so hours left before docking! What appeared to be a Coast Guard vessel came out to the ship and left, and the cruise ship started making it’s way back to Canaveral, and ended up docking 4 hours later than scheduled.

The rest of the story is more about my husband and I, but while on the phone with someone from Royal Caribbean regarding our missed flight, the idiot told us that “it wasn’t my fault someone had a heart attack on the ship.”
Poor guy. I wonder if he made it? I don’t know what the policy would be if someone had actually died on board. I hope he and his family are well.