# Has a professional musician ever made a major mistake in concert? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667 "2007-09-18T22:28:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/21 "2007-09-19T03:19:54Z")
Sometime back in the 90s, I saw Peter Gabriel in concert with my brother. I can’t remember which song it was, but he started, went a few bars, missed a line, and stopped. Then he said, “ladies and gentlemen, this is what we in the professional music world call a fuck up.” He picked up at the beginning of the song and nailed it. Strangely enough, when I related that story to a boyfriend, it turned out that the exact same thing had happened at another Peter Gabriel concert he’d been to, several years before the one I’d seen. Does this make Peter Gabriel the only rock musician who’d fuck up on purpose? If it’s on purpose, is it actually a fuck up? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/22 "2007-09-19T03:22:34Z")
[QUOTE=phouka] Strangely enough, when I related that story to a boyfriend, it turned out that the exact same thing had happened at another Peter Gabriel concert he’d been to, several years before the one I’d seen. Does this make Peter Gabriel the only rock musician who’d fuck up on purpose? If it’s on purpose, is it actually a fuck up? [/QUOTE] Maybe he just can’t manage that particular song. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/23 "2007-09-19T03:25:40Z")
When King Crimson played the Santa Cruz Civic many years ago, the crowd went nuts before they came back for the encore. Both Fripp and Belew got caught up in the moment and completely blew the beginning of a song. It was so strange to see Robert Fripp, normally so composed and self-assured, be totally discombobulated by an audience’s reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/24 "2007-09-19T03:26:04Z")
[QUOTE=phouka] Sometime back in the 90s, I saw Peter Gabriel in concert with my brother. I can’t remember which song it was, but he started, went a few bars, missed a line, and stopped. Then he said, “ladies and gentlemen, this is what we in the professional music world call a fuck up.” He picked up at the beginning of the song and nailed it. Strangely enough, when I related that story to a boyfriend, it turned out that the exact same thing had happened at another Peter Gabriel concert he’d been to, several years before the one I’d seen. Does this make Peter Gabriel the only rock musician who’d fuck up on purpose? If it’s on purpose, is it actually a fuck up? [/QUOTE] It’s been too long, so I don’t remember exactly, but Judy Collins did something like that in December in Oklahoma and then again in June (when she’d surely had time to practice) in Colorado. No, I wasn’t following her around. I just moved. If I’d known it was going to be exactly the same concert down to the goofs, though, I’d have gone to hear somebody else. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/25 "2007-09-19T03:30:52Z")
As to whether a professional classical pianist has made a mistake–yes. My cousin had to be coached and practically psychoanalyzed because when he screwed up, he made it visible by screwing up his face. Generally you couldn’t hear the goofup, because he kept going and he was good. And a lot of times it was something so subtle you’d have to be very, very familiar with the piece to realize it was what he considered a mistake, unless you saw his face. He also needed coaching on that soulful, emotional look some piano players get. His intuitive way to play was hunched over with kind of a scowl, and reviewers would say they weren’t picking up on the emotion. A few acting lessons and his reviews changed for the better, because once his gestures looked emotional, they could hear the emotion in the music. ---
**Author:** ![percussion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@percussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percussion)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/26 "2007-09-19T03:42:19Z")
[QUOTE=zyzzyva] Had a music teacher who told a story about doing a performance of Handel’s Messiah. At the very end of the Hallelujah Chorus, just before the final “Amen,” there’s a very significant dramatic rest. During this performance, though, the tympanist was a beat off and crashed down on the kettle drums right in the middle of it! OOPS! I did that once in a rehearsal of messiah, The conductor was really looking at me for a while, the pause went a little too long…so i thought he wanted me to “strike up the band” 😃 Im glad it was in a rehearsal to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/27 "2007-09-19T03:48:25Z")
I recall a bad horn flub in Beethoven’s Fifth by Bobby Korno during the solo. “Wow! Did you hear that?” said the announcer, Peter Schickele. He was sent to the penalty box for 50 bars and returned to the symphony just in time to join the cadence. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/28 "2007-09-19T03:50:10Z")
I’m relatively sure there’s a music related truism that goes, everyone makes mistakes, but with an amateurs you know they did it, while a professional will take it in stride and play it off so really no one notices. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/29 "2007-09-19T03:56:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] I’m relatively sure there’s a music related truism that goes, everyone makes mistakes, but with an amateurs you know they did it, while a professional will take it in stride and play it off so really no one notices. [/QUOTE] Except in improvisational jazz, where, if you make a mistake, just repeat it, and it’ll sound intentional. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/30 "2007-09-19T04:07:59Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] I recall a bad horn flub in Beethoven’s Fifth by Bobby Korno during the solo. “Wow! Did you hear that?” said the announcer, Peter Schickele. He was sent to the penalty box for 50 bars and returned to the symphony just in time to join the cadence. [/QUOTE] Heh. The first time i heard this on the radio many years ago, I had to pull to the side of the road and park because I was laughing so hard I was a menace. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/31 "2007-09-19T04:09:49Z")
Oh that reminds me. When we want to see Jeff Tweedy in San Diego, he began a song, stopped and then said “I fingered it wrong. And everybody knows how painful _that_ is.” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/32 "2007-09-19T04:13:09Z")
[QUOTE=UncaStuart] Heh. The first time i heard this on the radio many years ago, I had to pull to the side of the road and park because I was laughing so hard I was a menace. [/QUOTE] That’s nothing. Think of how bad Bobby Korno must have felt. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/33 "2007-09-19T04:27:26Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Except in improvisational jazz, where, if you make a mistake, just repeat it, and it’ll sound intentional. 🙂 [/QUOTE] My jazz instructor’s advice for soloing was “think of a note–then don’t play it.” If you do it with enough conviction and good phrasing, it’s pretty amazing what you can get away with in jazz. _No, I wasn’t in the wrong key, I was just playing “out.”_ Quick anecdote: I’m not a professional musician, but I’ve done many paid gigs and was a bit of journeyman keyboardist for an indie band. The worst mistake I recall was when I had completely forgotten a certain song was transposed down a half step. We were a fairly tight group, so big flubs were very rare. Anyhow, this tune begins with the singer and piano playing together for a verse before, then the bass comes in, then the entire band starts in. So I’m playing in C, while the song should be in B. The bass comes in, realizes something is wrong right away, and transposes up a half step while shooting me a wide-eyed look. Oh shit. I realize what’s happening and can’t think of any way to modulate down a half-step without it being completely obvious, so I try to almost telepathically communicate to the two guitarists the trainwreck that is about to occur if they don’t cover me and transpose up a half-step. Well, as is to be expected, nobody was paying attention to the keyboardist so at the crescendo there’s this huge crash of noise where the two guitars are playing very loud B chords, and the singer, bass, and keyboards are all in C. (I suppose we can call it a Cmaj7#9#11, if we’re being charitable. 🙂 Needless to say, not something you hear in most indie rock )Wow. What a wall of dissonance that was. The entire band cracks up and stops while I continue playing my little C-F chord progression and figure out the best way out of this situation is to very obviously modulate down into B, as a sort of humorous musical “My bad!” It worked. The audience cracked up, clapped, and hollered, and we continued the song without stop from the beginning in the correct key. It actually added quite a bit to the energy that night. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/34 "2007-09-19T04:34:22Z")
In _Scar Tissue_ Anthony Kiedis mentions a few shows where songs were badly mangled due to either him or Frusciante being too fucked up on drugs, physically beaten down and fatigued, or both. In one instance, Kiedis completely blanked out on the opening lyrics to _Under the Bridge_. I’d wager that this happened at a lot of 90s alt-rock shows. More recently, I saw Calexico (an indie/folk/rock band with Mexican influences - they kick ass, if you haven’t heard of them) and singer Joey Burns repeated a line from the first verse in the second verse in _The Sunken Waltz._ What I mean is, the line from the first verse is: _Tossed a Susan B. over my shoulder/and prayed it would rain and rain_ and the equivalent line in the second verse is: _Packed his tools and his keys and left/and headed out as far as he could_ Burns sang: _Packed his tools and his keys and left/and prayed it would rain and rain_ I am fairly certain this was a mistake on his part. I don’t see why he would have done it intentionally. Besides that, the show was great. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/35 "2007-09-19T04:44:26Z")
In 1978, the Swedish entry in the Eurovision song contest was the song _Det blir alltid värre framåt natten_, sung by Björn Skifs. At the time, songs had to be sung in the country’s native language (a rule that has now been repealed, mainly because English-speaking countries kept winning), but Björn had written a version of the song in English and planned to sing it at the live performance. The backup singers had been taught the English version, but Björn apparently couldn’t make up his mind on whether to make his statement and be disqualified. He went back and forth and eventually told the backup singers that he’d decide on stage. Once on stage, he decides to do the Swedish version, but draws a total blank. He can’t remember the words. He swiftly realizes that whatever he sings, only the comparably small Swedish section of the audience will notice something wrong, so he starts to sing whatever gibberish comes into his head. At the end of the first verse, he remembers the end of the _second_ verse, sings it, and that somehow brings him back on track. He successfully finishes the song. ---
**Author:** ![Marathon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Marathon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marathon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/36 "2007-09-19T05:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=zyzzyva] Had a music teacher who told a story about doing a performance of Handel’s Messiah. At the very end of the Hallelujah Chorus, just before the final “Amen,” there’s a very significant dramatic rest. During this performance, though, the tympanist was a beat off and crashed down on the kettle drums right in the middle of it! OOPS! [/QUOTE] Oh, that reminds me. [Here](http://www.btinternet.com/~tim.johnson77/rambler/Messiahorganistoncrack.mp3) is one of the most amusing screw-ups that I have heard (links to an mp3 played through QuickTime). I don’t know what happened to the organist here … maybe hit some sort of auto-transpose function by mistake or something. Or it was an amazing practical joke. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/37 "2007-09-19T05:15:19Z")
[QUOTE=Marathon] Oh, that reminds me. [Here](http://www.btinternet.com/~tim.johnson77/rambler/Messiahorganistoncrack.mp3) is one of the most amusing screw-ups that I have heard (links to an mp3 played through QuickTime). I don’t know what happened to the organist here … maybe hit some sort of auto-transpose function by mistake or something. Or it was an amazing practical joke. [/QUOTE] That’s awesome. I love how he holds the chord, even though it’s so completely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/38 "2007-09-19T05:23:41Z")
Ella Fitzgerald did a recorded live version of Mack the Knife in Berlin, and completely forgot the words. Had to improvise her way over it all - “what’s the next verse; to this song, dear; that’s the one thing; I don’t know” (or very similar). She won an Emmy for it. > **[Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_in_Berlin:_Mack_the_Knife)** > > Ella in Berlin is a 1960 live album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. This album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance." > > One of Fitzgerald's most acclaimed live performances, at this concert in Berlin, Fitzgerald improvised lyrics for "Mack the Knife" after forgetting the original lyrics. In recognition of ... ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/39 "2007-09-19T05:38:28Z")
[QUOTE=brad\_d] For that matter, in the same show they did a ten-part brass arrangement of Pachelbel’s _Canon_, with five brass players from the orchestra. For whatever reason, the tempo they chose was extremely fast (blistering, I thought): Questions of taste aside,… [/QUOTE] No, the sooner you get that one over with, the better. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667/40 "2007-09-19T05:43:04Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I’d expect a little better in classical music, where technical accuracy is more important than it usually is in rock - but people still have bad days, and not everybody is equally great. [/QUOTE] And even the greats aren’t automatons, technical perfection is not the measure of great music. A ‘name the pianist’ game was played on me by a friend, with an LP of a live recording which AFAWK has never been rereleased. It’s the last movement of a Beethoven sonata, and it’s a tumultuous, haphazard and almost chaotic performance. Just about every single bar has spectacular mistakes in it. It’s hilarious, laugh-out-loud funny, but at the end the audience go wild. Go back and listen again, stop yourself from laughing, and you can hear that it’s also a spectacular musical performance. No, I didn’t guess the pianist, but it didn’t surprise me that it was Richter. [QUOTE=Governor Quinn] Then there are stories about times when the conductor was at fault, such as when Arturo Toscanini, during a live broadcast, mentally slipped up, causing the NBC Symphony Orchestra to go into a halt. It ended up being his last live work. [/QUOTE] Toscanini created such a cult of personality that these stories sound plausible. Other conductors will freely tell you about the stupid mistakes they’ve made. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-a-professional-musician-ever-made-a-major-mistake-in-concert/419667.md?page=3)