# Performers too drunk or stoned to finish a concert? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444 "2005-07-07T12:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/41 "2005-07-08T05:24:44Z")
Ah, this is where I get to haul out “My Favorite RockStar”! ( everyone groans. :rolleyes: ) 1975, Vancouver. Alice Cooper, of course. He _said_ it was the flu, but I have it from a reliable source that it was the 26 ounce variety. 😉 What happened was, he had to jump out of a giant toybox and onto the stage. _Not_ off the stage. Oops! :smack: He struggled through a song or two more but finally had to take his concussion offstage and to the local hospital. No, I wasn’t there, but my friend Mary was. I saw him in '77 and '79 though and I’m going on October 19 when he plays the orpheum. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/42 "2005-07-08T05:32:05Z")
I dated Jose Feliciano on and off for a couple years. I once heard him tell a stage manager that if the guy could get him something, (green) he’d play and extra 30 minutes. The guys said he’d do what he could, and started to walk away. Jose’s manager, stopped him, saying, something like: I can garrantee, that if you don’t, he won’t play at all. He played an extra long set. The reason, he said, was, he had stage fright, even after all that stage time. :dubious: He never drank alcohol, he said it was too disorienting, but anything else was welcome. Even impaired, he could tune his guitar while playing a song on stage. I don’t think too many people ever noticed that. It blew me away. Tuning my guitar was ten minutes of torture for anyone in the room! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Macphisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@Ms\_Macphisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Macphisto)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/43 "2005-07-08T06:14:37Z")
> [@vl\_mungo](#): > > Count me as another who saw the Replacements. I knew there was no way I’d be the first to post that in this thread. > > One of my other highlights was back in 1986 when our city was the host to Expo. Expo got some flak for not putting aside any one of it’s multiple stages to feature “local musicians”. Evenually they caved and allowed a “New Music Festival” to take place on the grounds. The first band to take the stage (in front of a lot of tourists and families) were local purveyors of Demolition Rock, Slow (later Copyright). They had been drinking grain alcohol all afternoon… their first “song” went something along the lines of “what do you think of Bill Bennett (the Premier of the province at the the time)? Seig Heil! Seig Heil! The second “song” was further godawful noise with lyrics along the line of “how long can we play this song” over and over. Needless to say, the plug was pulled… at this point the bass player (all 6’6” 280 lbs. of him) got naked. Then the riot started. This is where the story gets weird. Near the stage area there was a TV station that broadcast from the Expo grounds for the months Expo was on. Their news team would deliver the 11:00 news in front of a glass wall behind which you could see all the Expo crowd walking around. As they were doing the news that night, the unruly crowd converged upon them (knowing they would be on TV). Sensing trouble, the station cut to the evening movie… Rock n’ Roll High School. Wow. I don’t remember hearing about this during Expo. Mind you, given that I was 7 at the time, I guess I was too young for the fun stuff. I don’t have any personal experiences to share, but to trot out _my_ favourite band, the one and only time any members of U2 have missed a show was in '93 in Sydney. It was the first of two shows in the city, and supposed to be the dress rehearsal for filming the show the following night. Adam Clayton didn’t even start the show - he was too hungover/still drunk to make it and his bass tech filled in. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/44 "2005-07-08T08:16:13Z")
> [@](#): > > She also says here that when playing solo shows she used to get drunk and take he contacts out so she couldn’t see the audience. Did anyone here manage to see one of her early solo shows? I saw her on tour around the time Strange Angels came out, and I’d seen the Muses a number of times before that… I don’t know about drunk, but every time I’ve seen her she has had a thousand-yard stare that’s kind of frightening, especially when she’s playing something like Rabbits Dying or Mania! I guess she just isn’t wearing contacts! ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/45 "2005-07-08T08:43:03Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > I don’t really remember it too well but back when I was a yung 'un around 1980, my parents took me with them to a special appearance by Hank Williams Jr. at some back country campground. The show started about an hour late and Bocephus only sang three songs and then walked off stage. I don’t remember much about the performance but I remember how royally pissed my parents and all the fans were with mumblings about a drunk, stoned bastard and such. IIRC, everybody plunked down a good piece of change for this special intimate show. I heard it mentioned on a radio talk show (I don’t remember which one) that Hank Williams JR. has been banned from several places because of his heavy drinking. ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/46 "2005-07-08T09:10:03Z")
In the late 70’s, I saw Hank Williams Jr. get drunk and show his ass in Charleston, SC. He told the audience, “Charleston can kiss my ass” and left. I heard that a lynch mob was at the airport when he tried to leave. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/47 "2005-07-08T09:32:00Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > But he finished the show! When I saw them, they didn’t. They played about 40 minutes, the last ten in which they would start to play some awful classic rock songs, then quit just a few seconds into them. I thought I saw Bob Stinson puke behind his amp at one point. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/48 "2005-07-08T10:39:46Z")
Van Morrison, King’s Hotel Newport (South Wales, that is), some time in the early 1990s, possibly 92 or 93. The first night of 2 semi-secret warm-up gigs. A mate had encountered a clearly already very tired and emotional Mr Morrison being poured into the back of a taxi outside a nearby Chinese restaurant at about 5 o’clock. Come the gig itself, Ivan shambled onto the stage - as usual - but then began to say things into the microphone - absolutely unusual; he never says a word normally. With him on stage was his Belfast mate Brian Kennedy who did most of the singing while Van mumbled occasional lyrics and staggered about. During a lull between songs, a young woman standing a few rows back [it was a standing venue, with me and my mate Clarkie right up against the stage because we’re short] shouts out a request for “Brown-Eyed Girl”. Morrison lights up: “I’m not fucking going to fucking sing that fucking song. What the fuck do you think this fucking is? A fucking greatest hits band???” The band struck up something else, Brian Kennedy sang it and shortly after the gig was over. Cue the second night. Morrison arrives on stage (again with Brian Kennedy) pristine clean and sober. Doesn’t say all that much but a few songs into the set the band strikes up “Brown-Eyed Girl”, which Morrison sings with great gusto. In fact, he sang it again as an encore. I am not sure which I enjoyed more: the legless Van or the contrite Van! ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/49 "2005-07-08T19:56:06Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > I don’t really remember it too well but back when I was a yung 'un around 1980, my parents took me with them to a special appearance by Hank Williams Jr. at some back country campground. The show started about an hour late and Bocephus only sang three songs and then walked off stage. I don’t remember much about the performance but I remember how royally pissed my parents and all the fans were with mumblings about a drunk, stoned bastard and such. IIRC, everybody plunked down a good piece of change for this special intimate show. Talked to my Mom about this show and apparently that backcountry campground was Pine Knob outside of Detroit (Now known as DTE Music Theatre, Detroit). Way back then in the late 70’s it wasn’t much more than a tiny ampitheatre with some stumps for seats, now it’s a major outdoor venue. Anyways, my account of Hank Jr. was accurate but it was a double bill and apparently George Jones was the real headliner, turns out George was a complete no-show. He and Hank had had too good of a time together on the bus, Hank tried to perform but failed and played and sang like shit then said something rude to the audience and walked off stage! George’s manager wouldn’t even let him go on stage he was so trashed. It nearly turned into a redneck riot (that’d be a good country band name), from what I hear. I guess George Jones had also developed a reputation for pulling the drunken no-shows and was known as “No-Show Jones”. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/50 "2005-07-08T20:57:17Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Anyways, my account of Hank Jr. was accurate but it was a double bill and apparently George Jones was the real headliner… Good God, did the entire crowd get drunk through osmosis!? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/51 "2005-07-08T21:10:22Z")
And no one’s mentioned the lawsuit that fans filed against Scott Stapp, and his [horrible] band Creed? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/52 "2005-07-08T21:11:18Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > Good God, did the entire crowd get drunk through osmosis!? No, my account is just hazy, I don’t remember it too well. I was maybe 10 yrs. old at the most and not really into the performers and engrossed in the surroundings but not really the music. My Mom refreshed my memory. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/53 "2005-07-09T01:25:12Z")
Back in 19\_ \_, when I was a virgin still, I attended a concert by Jimmi Hendrix, or should I say two concerts by him, since he skipped the first one and had to reschedule the second one the next day. And even then he came late and left early. All in all, he only did three or four songs in less than an hour. He was obviously stoned to the gills, but it was the most electric music i ever heard and my father grounded me for a month. Good thing I came home after 3 in the morning, otherwise, I’d had gotta wupped too! 😛😛 ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/54 "2005-07-09T02:14:14Z")
> [@Club 33](#): > > Interesting… > > Almost 40 posts and no mention of Van Halen. 🙂 > > I saw them in 1983 at the US Festival in So. California. They were all trashed and sounded horrible. David Lee Roth, bless his heart, couldn’t remember any of the lyrics. It was awful enough that we left after 3 or 4 songs. > > Roth later blamed his condition on an early morning visit to his trailer from Joe Walsh. Things went downhill from there. Every time I have seen David Lee Roth, with or without Van Halen, he forgets the words. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444/55 "2005-07-09T02:36:34Z")
I saw Warren Zevon in Boulder so drunk/stoned that he could barely stand up. Good thing he sits to play the piano. The audience was giving shit to guitarist Waddy Watchell, and Warren stood up and weaved around stage. Saying something like “i thought people in Colorado were mellow, here have some valium to chill out” , thus taking a bottle of pills out of his pocket and throwing it to the yahoos in the crowd that were heckling Waddy. He finished the set though, and did an encore. It was actually a sloppy but great show. I’ve seen a gazillion hardcore bands in the early 80’s that couldn’t finish a set because one of members was too out of it on something. Kinky Friedman sure sounds like there were a few gigs he didn’t finish owing to a combination of 7 magic herbs and spices. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/performers-too-drunk-or-stoned-to-finish-a-concert/311444.md?page=2)