I used to know a bartender who told stories about going backstage and onto the tour bus with David Allan Coe. She was pretty wild, but I always thought her stories were exaggerated. Then one night he was performing somewhere local and he called her, asking if she wanted to get together.
She asked me and another friend to come along. We went to Kings, a 24 hour place, and ordered pie and coffee. About 15 minutes later , in walks David Allan Coe. We sat and chatted for an hour or so.
Back during summers in college a friend of mine worked as a bouncer at The Bayou in Washington DC. Occasionally he’d ask me to join him if they needed more guys or if he thought I’d like the band. Big fun.
On night in 88, I think, I was in the bar before doors opened just milling around waiting for my assignment - door, crowd, upstairs, whatever - and I got tapped on the shoulder. It was one of The Ramones - Johnny, I think - who said, “Can I have a quarter? I want to play [some video game I don’t recall].” I gave him a quarter, he thanked me and left.
Not hilarious. But man, was he kinda slurry. But I couldn’t really tell if that was drugs or just sort of where he was on a normal day.
Not a hilarious story, actually very sad, but still a rock and roll anecdote.
Back in the early 2000s, I was in my backyard talking to my neighbor when we saw smoke and flames coming from the street behind ours. He called 911 and we stood at the back of our property and watched the fire department try valiantly and fail to save a house as it burned to the ground. Luckily no one was home at the time. When we finally went inside my neighbor said “I hope his gold records are ok”. Which made me go “Wait, who’s house did we just watch burn down?”.
Turns out it was Felix Cavaliere, singer/keyboardist for the 60s group The Rascals. I lived in that house for 10 years after that and he never rebuilt, the lot just remained vacant. I did find out later that his band memorabilia was all kept in the basement and survived, including the gold records.
It’s another country music rather than rock’n’roll story, concerning Waylon Jennings and Billy Joe Shaver. At this point, in 1973, Jennings was fast becoming one of the biggest names in outlaw country, and Shaver was an unknown songwriter trying to sell his songs. At a drunken party earlier in the year, Jennings had promised Shaver he’d record his songs, and taken a demo tape of them. Jennings then promptly forgot about this, and ignored Shaver’s attempts to get in touch.
Getting increasingly frustrated, Shaver eventually shows up at the studio where Waylon is about to start recording his new album, and threatens to beat the crap of of Jennings if he doesn’t listen to his songs immediately. Waylon was furious, but also slightly impressed, and also not feeling particulatly threatened due to the gang of Hell’s Angels hanging out in the studio with him. So he tells Shaver he can play one song, and if it’s the best damn song he’s ever heard the bikers won’t remove him from the studio with perhaps more force than strictly necessary.
To cut a long story short, the album Waylon Jennings then recorded, Honky Tonk Heroes, contained 11 Billy Joe Shaver songs (and one by another writer, at the record company’s insistence), and is generally considered one of the greatest country albums of all time, and a high point of the careers of both men.
Link to a longer version of the story, with more details and some links.
saw a cop chasing a kid at a concert , don’t know why he was chased. Another kid took the night stick off the cop and threw it and it landed right near me. No way was I picking it up but somebody picked up the night stick and ran off , don’t know what happened to him.
When I took my brother to his first concert (Genesis @ Winterland…Wind & Wuthering tour), my mother expressed concern about my brother being exposed to drunk and rowdy concert goers.
Trying to reassure her, I said that Genesis were probably the least drunk and rowdy fans I could think of. My brother nodded in agreement.
Within minutes of the band taking the stage, the people sitting behind us shook up bottle of champagne, opened it…and about half the bottle sprayed out and soaked my brother’s back. He gave me a WTF!? look and we both burst out laughing.
Back in high school (80-82 area) the local rock station was broadcasting a live George Thorogood & The Destroyers concert - My dad was ‘old school’ country (vintage Cash, Robbins, Hee Haw) as well as pretty much “Rock and Roll is the devils music”.
So, I was listening to this concert in my room - I stepped out to get something to drink, my dad stepped in (to go thru to the garage) at just the right moment to hear
What the Hell are you doing out there?
Being uttered from the speakers - he turned around and walked back into the kitchen looking just a little shaken.
(it seems that at that moment - some drunk dufus decided to try and climb a speaker tower).
You do realize that my friends were drinking from the pitcher and lude’s too, right? It wasn’t like they were purposely trying to screw with Steve Marriott…they just offered up what they were drinking to be friendly. Nothing nefarious here.
I would say that giving someone a potentially lethal drink without telling them is absolutely “nefarious,” even if the giver himself is enjoying the drink. It’s certainly not “hilarious.”
Not only did they jeopardize Marriott’s health, but they ruined the evening for everyone who paid to see him play. Sorry, but the “ha ha I’ll take whatever” hippie days are long since over…
My favorite stories so far are Garth Brooks’, and Waylon Jennings/Billy Joe Shavers’. Who would have guessed? (I’m not really into country music). Cool.
I saw D.R.I. in 1990 while they were touring in support of Thrash Zone. I think Murphy’s Law opened up for them, along with a couple of local Tallahassee bands. Anyway, the first song of their set goes fine. We’ve got a good mosh pit going, everyone’s been having a blast for a couple of hours. They start the second song and before the 2nd measure is done, the drummer LEAPS OVER HIS DRUMS and clobbers the guitarist, a vicious leaping fist to the back of his head. Mayhem ensues! The guitarist jams the head of his guitar into the drummer’s stomach and then kicks him in the head as he goes down. Then he RAISED HIS GUITAR OVER HIS HEAD to smash the drummer; he actually started the downstroke and then got shoved by the singer leaving the stage and missed his mark. He did break the guitar tho. The drum kit is all over the stage now, the bass player walks off yelling “FUCK this!” and the crowd is going apeshit.
We have no idea what the hell just happened, barely 8 seconds into their 2nd song the night is over, cops are on stage, EMTs are on stage, the house lights come up and they hustle us out of the place.
I found out later that night from a friend in one of the opening bands that apparently the drummer had picked up a groupie a few days before. Well right before they went on, she confessed to him that she had fucked the guitar player the night before while he was passed out. He held it together for the first song and then just lost his shit all over the place.
Ok, another one that’s not hilarious; it was memorable tho. 
Hey! I was at that exact show as well!
Neil Innes told a story about when was buddies with the Beatles he took a girlfriend to meet them in the studio. McCartney was playing around with a ukulele and apparently the girlfriend couldn’t resisting ribbing him a bit and asked, “What is that? A poor man’s guitar?”
According to Innes, McCartney deadpanned, “No, it’s a rich man’s ukulele.”
In the 70s I went to see Rod Stewart in Pittsburgh. The opening act was a band nobody had heard of, Air Supply. The crowd hated them, booing from the first song, and they played a short set.
Wow, cool story. Were brothers Kurt (vocals) and Erick (drums) in the band then? I knew at least had a first name acquaintance with them in 1984 and 85 when they were still and hardcore band before going metal (splitting hairs I know). They truly were eating at soup kitchens and rehearsing like crazy circa Violent Pacification.
Maybe a funny story. Kurt told the story of eating at soup kitches and being vegan. Then when on tour in 84/85 they stayed at home in Texas, and he broke his fast because “the bacon Mom fried up smelled so good! I couldn’t help it.”
No, this was Felix that went crazy. Eric only played with them for a couple of years, leaving the band in '84.
I read this a long time ago, possibly in Rolling Stone. The story was that The Doors were playing in Seattle, IIRC during the later “slobbering drunk Jim” phase. Jim made a comment to the audience about never having played Seattle before; a voice from the crowd quickly reminded him that in fact they had played Seattle only a year or two before. Jim shrugged it off saying “oh well, Tempus Fuckit.” (Deliberately garbling tempus fugit which in the context would have meant “time flies.”)
I still think it’s funny and I don’t care who hears me say so.
They aren’t gonna pay attention to him either. They’re all looking for Timothy B. Schmit. 
If we can include country anecdotes we can include jazz anecdotes, right?
Al Cohn (famous bop tenor saxophonist): “Hey, where were you all day yesterday?”
Zoot Sims (ditto): “Out in Jersey, making a a record. Me and twenty mandolin players.”
Al Cohn: “My god, where did they find TWENTY mandolin players?”
Zoot Sims: “Let’s just say, all day yesterday in Jersey City, you couldn’t get a haircut.”
Also see the many exploits of trad/swing violinist Joe Venuti, including conducting the Paul Whiteman orchestra with his erect penis, and presenting one-armed cornet player Wingy Manone with a Christmas gift of one cuff link.