Famous band plays small venue unannounced. Has it ever happened?

[Joey_P]

This wasn’t a full set, but G.E. Smith was playing at a blues club and unannounced (as far as I know) he called up Roger Waters.

Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) joins G.E. Smith at The Stephen Talkhouse - Blues in G

[Loach]

I just saw this article. Last thursday after being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nirvana played an unannounced concert at a 350 capacity club. Filling in for Cobain were Joan Jett, St Vincent and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon.

[drastic_quench]

Weezer used to play quasi-secret shows in LA under the name Goat Punishment.

[What_Exit]

Bruce Springsteen has done it often. I have personally lucked into seeing him at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, The Monmouth County Clearwater Festival in Asbury Park and show up unannounced at the Garden State Art Center for Ringo Star’s All Star Tour. He has done it a lot in the past, especially at the Stone Pony.

Led Zeppelin I heard did this in the early 70s. But this is second hand and I cannot cite it.

[pkbites]

Not exactly what the OP is asking but close:

Up until the 1990’s there was a ballroom in Hartford, Wisconsin. The owner would contact bands that were going to play a big concert in Milwaukee, Madison, or Green Bay and get them to stop by the ballroom and play there the night before.

Because it was last minute there wouldn’t be any ads for these concerts until the night before or even the morning of the concert. Some pretty big names (for the time) passed through. In the early/mid 80’s $3 to see Molly Hatchet, Quiet Riot, Loverboy, Meat Loaf, Pat Travers, etc. was pretty cool.

[Dale_Sams]

@njtt

I almost got to see The Sex Pistols, in 1977, when there was a huge buzz about them in Britain, and when they did a brief tour under an assumed name (or, maybe a series of assumed names) of small clubs around the UK. There was a tiny club I used to go to quite regularly (I doubt whether it could have held as many as 100 people at full capacity), and one time I and the friend I was with noticed a very small notice by the door, written by hand in black ballpoint, announcing a gig by The Sex Pistols the next week. Needless to say, we turned up the next week, but The Pistols did not. The story was that they had cancelled because of the notice that we saw. The band had made a very strict stipulation that the gig should be totally unannounced, and pulled out when they discovered that even this very discreet announcement had been made. I think they intended to play under the name The Hamsters. However, I believe that at this time they did play unannounced at a number of other small clubs around the country, probably under other assumed names.

Mind you, at this time The Sex Pistols may never yet have played a large venue, but their reputation was such, at this time, that they cold certainly have easily filled one.

The Sex Pistols second to last appearance was in Tulsa at the Cain’s Ballroom. Cain’s is a small place, but because of having the reputation of hosted the Sex Pistols, they’ve been able to stay in business and attract any number of acts that otherwise wouldn’t have even bothered topping in Tulsa.

[pravnik]

A lot of big name bands play unannounced or under pseudonyms at small venues at SXSW. Jack White showed up unannounced on a street corner and played a few songs at SXSW in 2011. NPR has it on youtube: Jack White Plays A Surprise Parking Lot Show At SXSW 2011.

I once saw Poison and Warrant show up at a bar at one in the morning and drunkenly play Beatles covers. Sorry, no video.

[jrepka]

@silenus

Neil Young and Crazyhorse used to gig at bars all over Northern California back in the 70s while they were rehearsing for a tour.

I saw him with Crazy Horse at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz and with Booker T and the MGs at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Typically the show would be announced at around noon the day of the show, and tickets would only be available at the venue. I got the last three tickets for the Booker T show…

[TriPolar]

@WreckingCrew

The Stones were also going to play an unannounced show in Providence, but cancelled when a local TV station announced it.
The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search

Oh man… our state is so lame.

[Ranger_Jeff]

Iron Butterfly performed at a bar in Whitehall, Ohio, in the mid 80’s. It wasn’t exactly unannounced, their name was on the marque. Nobody noticed.

[Isamu]

The Stones played unannounced in a small pub in Richmond, Melbourne, Australia in 1986 and I was there.

[Little_Pig]

The Stones at the Kingston Mines in Chicago, on more than one occasion. It was at the old location, a bit further south on Lincoln avenue.

[Meurglys]

Not a band, and not a proper venue, but here’s Neil Young busking in Glasgow before a Neil Young & Crazy Horse gig back in 1976.

[MeanOldLady]

Prince has a reputation around Minneapolis for sometimes performing at the one halfway decent music club in town unannounced. According to lore, it’s only happened a few times that he plays completely without notice, but it was enough to earn him the reputation, and he has from time to time dropped last minute surprise shows that give little notice.

[kayaker]

@What_Exit

Bruce Springsteen has done it often.

I came to mention Springsteen in Pittsburgh.

After performing at the Civic Arena on September 20, 1984 Bruce Springsteen came to the Decade with his friend Joe Grushecky and performed three songs with Bon Ton Roulet. John Bon Jovi did the Decade on March, 1987 playing a 50 minute set with his friend the manful handful Norman Nardini. Norman had opened for Bon Jovi at the Civic Arena earlier in the day.

[DChord568]

@silenus

Neil Young and Crazyhorse used to gig at bars all over Northern California back in the 70s while they were rehearsing for a tour.

Neil also famously headed a short-lived band called The Ducks (featuring Moby Grape bassist Bob Mosely) that played in the Santa Cruz area. Many of their shows were unannounced gigs at local bars.

[Freudian_Slit]

@MeanOldLady

Prince has a reputation around Minneapolis for sometimes performing at the one halfway decent music club in town unannounced. According to lore, it’s only happened a few times that he plays completely without notice, but it was enough to earn him the reputation, and he has from time to time dropped last minute surprise shows that give little notice.

He did it last summer at City Winery in NYC, too.

[LC_Strawhouse]

Molson (the Canadian beer co.) once ran a promotion where they set up shows in small venues with secret performers, but promising it was someone totally awesome. I think one of them turned out to be Metallica.

[Trick_Rider]

Leading up to the release of their most recent album, The Tragically Hip played a few shows at a downtown Toronto restaurant.

[Don_Draper]

@Pixel_Dent

Not quite the same but there’s a well known youtube video where Jewel dons a disguise and performs at a Karaoke club.

I tried finding a cite for it, but I swear I read an interview with Dolly Parton once in which she described visiting a friends’ house in California. Her friend lived down the street from a gay club which happened to be hosting a “Night of 1000 Dollys” (basically a Dolly Parton-themed drag queen ball.) There was even going to be a Dolly Parton impersonator contest. Feeling a little mischevious, Dolly went to the club and entered the contest.

The kicker was that not only was she not recognized as the real Dolly, she lost the contest!