A friend worked for RCA/BMG and would get me tickets and backstage passes for shows. I took my kids to see Alabama (a country band).
We were taken backstage and my kids met the band, except for Randy Owens (the lead singer). Randy had his own dressing room. He was going through a phase where he wanted to change the band’s name to Randy Owens & Alabama.
There was tension, I guess. But the party in the band dressing room was great. I poked my head into Randy’s dressing room and he was sitting there, looking at a magazine, alone.
Saw Smashing Pumpkins in 1996 and Billy Corgan was very pissy about the band’s performance.
I understand they were having a hard time due to internal turmoil & shifting lineup, but I didn’t really notice it affecting the performance until he made a big deal of stopping the band, apologizing resentfully, and starting up again. Even in small venues I’ve never seen such unprofessional conduct.
I’m not a big fan of country music, and this was a billion years ago. Martina McBride and Clint Black were two others I met backstage. They were both very cool.
I met Cooder a couple of times while in L.A. and found him quite lovely both times. I’m glad he’s a pro like that onstage.
Similar story though, I was at the premiere of the Lou Reed: Berlin concert movie at the Toronto Film Festival, and as director Julian Schnabel was introducing it, a volunteer was quietly whispering into her headset just offstage, and he snapped and barked at her, which seemed a bit over the top.
I already told the story here about James Woods turning totally dickish to me (nutshell: we were having a friendly chat, then when his arm candy complimented my tie, his face blackened and he stormed off).
I’ve been on a couple of movie sets, and seen some actors snap and yell, but IMHO those instances I witnessed were pretty much warranted, so I decline to name names. Sometimes it’s justified: performing ain’t the easiest job in the world, and when a production is chaotic, it gets everyone on edge.
I guess seeing Pete Townshend clobber Abbie Hoffman with his guitar would qualify.
Saw Van Morrison walk offstage a couple times. Each time his wife “Janet Planet” coaxed him back on. That may have been more like stage fright though.
When I was six, I asked Brooks Robinson for his autograph. He told me, “get lost, kid.” From everything I’ve read, that was the only time in his whole life he wasn’t a nice guy. My lucky day.
I don’t know if I’d call it a full blown tantrum, but I saw Paul Simon get very frustrated with his audience (for their call out for his early songs), which columnated in him shouting, “I’m not going to do an imitation of myself at 18 for you!”
This was followed by some quiet brooding before the show resumed.
Saw Ace Frehley lose his mind on the Monsters of Rock Cruise a few weeks ago. He had to cut his set short (because he started late, though reports differ on who was to blame for that).
His cabin was a few down from me and I saw him ranting at his entourage to get him the names of whoever was responsible, this is outrageous, etc, etc.
On stage, he did grumble a bit about having to cut it short, but the tantrum wasn’t done on stage.
Saw Axl get pissed at the audience back in '92 for …I’m not even sure what. Not being enthusiastic enough? People were mad because he was leaving the stage between nearly every song to change his outfit. And started way, way later.
I’ve been to a number of concerts where the performer used Ry Cooder music before they took the stage. The performers were a wide range of genres. Everyone seems to love Cooder.
I was at a Hank Williams, Jr. concert in Baton Rouge back in the late '80s and all he did was try to play a couple of songs, insult the crowd, and smash his guitar. He stumbled off the stage and the lights came up and it was announced “the concert is over.”
According to the newspaper the next day, “someone slipped something in his drink” and he was in no position to perform. I don’t believe that. I think he pre-gamed a bit too much.
To make it up, he rescheduled a free concert, which I was able to attend, since I had my ticket stub. Earl Thomas Conley opened and sang 2-3 songs, and then Hank came out and gave it up 100% for 2-3 hours. I appreciated that.
Didn’t quite rise to the level of tantrum, but some serious diva behavior. I’ve shared this story here before:
For a couple years in the 80s I worked as a food and beverage cashier for the Westin Hotel in the Renaissance Center in Detroit. One of my jobs was working banquets and conventions selling tickets to the convention guests they could redeem for drinks from the bartenders. I was riding the freight elevator to a banquet room with Andrea McArdle (the first “Annie” on Broadway), who was the entertainment for the night, and a couple of her handlers, entourage, or whatever. I was 20 or 21 at the time and she’s about my age, a little older, looking great in a tight sequined dress, But through the duration of the elevator ride she loudly and bitterly complained to her companions about being stuck in a shitty town like Detroit, doing a show in such a crappy run-down venue, she needed to fire her manager, she was too good for this shit, etc.
The amusing part was when she went on stage— like flipping a switch…”it’s SO great to be here in Detroit!” With her best Disney voice and a big smile on her face. “I’m so happy! But I do get a little down at times. And when I do, I just think…(breaking into song) The sun’ll come out tomorooooowww…”
Cooder came and spoke to our class about film scoring. He requested that we screen Paris, Texas and the first reel of Southern Comfort before the discussion. I also love his score for Johnny Handsome, that one’s really underrated.
Not me, but a classmate from art school landed a job at the Guggenheim after graduating. Yaacov Agam was doing an installation inside the big bowl of the interior, basically a hanging accordion where, if you stood in the right place all the panels would show a picture. Agam cut the line in the museum cafeteria, which the other patrons, it being NYC, vocalized their objections clearly. My classmate attempted to coax Agam back to the end of the line, only to be told “I’m Agam!” When he gently persisted, Agam spit on him.
I was the victim of one. I worked security in Hollywood. At one show, there was a door that you could only go in if you had a certain pass. Some celebrity tried to go in, and I stopped him. He tried the old “dont you know who I am?” (and honestly, I didnt know his name and I have now forgotten it, but I did recognize him). But I of course did my diplomatic “well sir, I am sure that you didnt get that pass was all a misunderstanding…” but he would have none of it. he threatened to have my job (he was welcome to it) and other things. Finally some actual big star came over, gave him some “orange juice” (about 50% vodka, the drink of the day, since in theory booze was not being served at that time- champagne after the show only), and led him away.
I found that Big names were generally less stuck up than 2nd rank celebs.
We had Local Sports Anchor come to my junior high/middle school for some sort of assembly. We weren’t angels, but we weren’t outlandish miscreants either. Probably just general tween excitement. Instead of giving us a minute to settle down, he proceeded to scream insults at us for the entire assembly. I’m not saying we didn’t deserve some mild criticism or even shaming, but it was way out of line. And as an adult looking back at it, that must have been factually true because we were not collectively punished after he left and we never heard a word about it afterwards. If we were really the worst fucking kids of the 80s, we would have at least had a “we’re so ashamed of you” lecture.
This is not a tantrum story, but it sort of fits into the vibe of this thread.
A friend lived across the street from the home of a disable little girl. She and her family were involved in some fundraising venture and the local news did remote spots from her home throughout the morning one day.
The person visiting the home and appearing on camera was a local weather guy who was extremely popular with his audience. He did several spots throughout the morning, interviewing the girl’s family members and promoting their cause. Watching the news, you would get the impression that he was spending hours at this girl’s side.
Not so. My buddy, who was home that day, said that in between every TV spot, the guy would slip out to his car and smoke a cigarette while reading the newspaper until he was called back in for the next segment. This went on all morning.