Rather than crap all over the “Unexpectedly rich/poor celebrities” thread, I decided to open this.
A few years ago, the Dropkick Murphys were one of the headliners of the Warped Tour. Which I didn’t see, although I liked the top ten most famous players *
But last year, they came back to Orlando in concert, to the House of Blues, and I went. I expected, like the Bad Religion tour I went to 5 years ago, that it would be jam packed in every corner, nook and cranny. When fully packed HoB supports around 2000 concertgoers.
Instead, they balcony was closed, and there were barely enough people to take up half the lower floor! I’d estimate between 300 and 500 people showed, but the Murphys still played.
To 300 people.
With 4 opening acts.
And backup musicians aplenty.
For $10.
Assuming that they got half the take after roadies, expenses and hall fee, and that they split the take evenly, the average musician make $60 that night.
Props to the Murphys: class act. It was sort of funny when they invited everyone on stage for the last song. The floor only had about 3 rows of people in it: the rest were on stage singing “The skinhead on the MTA.” with the band.
So what other weird concerts/media events have you been to where the performers couldn’t have been getting paid much for?
*but I’ve since seen all of them I wanted to except NOFX.
Back in 1987, I saw New Model Army with perhaps a half dozen other people in Atlanta. It was like having a private concert.
Also in 1987, I saw R.E.M. get on stage at the Antenna Club in Memphis after they had played a show at Mud Island earlier in the evening. They played a couple of numbers with The Soul Capitalists, then did 5 or 6 songs of there own (that they hadn’t played at the concert). They hung out at the bar and chatted with folks. There probably wasn’t a hundred people there.
When I lived in London one of my favourite bands was Carol Grimes and The London Boogie Band who I saw a few times at packed venues. By coincidence she lived around the corner from me and one night was playing just a couple of streets away at a community centre. I went to see her and there were only 10 or 12 people there. The band did 3 flawless sets (although they tended to jam more than usual) and while the band was soloing Carol Grimes would jump off stage and dance with audience members.
I also saw Eric Clapton at Hemel Hempstead in front of about 200 or 300 people. You could walk up the back to the bar and grab a beer and walk down and stand 6 feet from Clapton and then go sit down up the back. It was a warmup gig for his tour and was deliberately lowkey.
I saw INXS play for about 20 people when they were nobodies. Rumour has it that they got a recording contract because a record exec saw them play for a similar crowd having previously seen them play for several hundred at Manly Vale. He was impressed that they put on the same show for a handful that they did for a packed house.
I saw the Misfits in … oh sheesh, I can’t remember what year… '98? 99? 2000, maybe… anyway. They played in the tiny cafeteria at the UNBSJ Student Centre. It cost $12.
Worth every penny and more. I didn’t like the Misfits when I went in, and loved them when I came out. There had to be less than 200 people there. They put on an awesome show, encouraged the crowd to “play nice”, stuck around long after the show, chatting and socialising with everyone, signing things, shaking hands. I shook Jerry Only’s hand, he told me I was cute - though I was a little frightened. No, not because I was shaking a “oooh! famous guy!”'s hand, but because when he took my hand to shake it, his hands were so immense, my hand disappeared… and his biceps were bigger than my head :eek:
I would have gone over and talked to Doyle, but there was just something so surreal about the whole thing: he was sitting up on the stage… this immense, gigantasaur of a dude sporting a “devil lock” hairstyle, crosslegged, giggling, and blowing bubbles with his bubblegum. I thanked Jerry for a great show and meandered off.
Back in… 1990 or 1991 I talked my (then) GF and a good friend of mine into seeing Dramarama at the old Cotton Club in Atlanta. They weren’t superstars or anything, but I was amazed to see less than 200 people there. There were also two opening bands that had apparently brought their fan clubs with them, so the crowd thinned out after each opening act performed. By the time Dramarama was due to hit the stage, there couldn’t have been more than 60 people in the venue.
Now, here’s the funny thing. The Cotton Club had a single bar. It was rectangular in shape, with one of the “long ends” facing the stage. My best friend and I looked over and saw Michael Stipe of R.E.M. sitting on the long side closest to the stage. We’d seen the guy all over Atlanta, it wasn’t that big of a deal. But it kind of cheesed us off that he was taking up one whole side of the bar when the other three sides were somewhat crowded.
“Typical rock star jerk! Lording over us regular folk!” I remember saying to my friend.
Eventually, I went up to the bar to get a drink. Not wanting to wait in line, I decided to try to catch one of the bartenders on Stipe’s side. It was then that I smelled him.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! That guy smelled bad. As in, worse than a wino covered in his own puke and feces. I didn’t think anyone could smell that bad! So that’s when I realized that Stipe wasn’t pulling a rock star attitude thing, demanding the best space at the bar for himself. He simply smelled so bad that no one wanted to get within 10 feet of him!
A friend and I were huge English Beat fans in college, so much so that we transferred our loyalty to Fine Young Cannibals (at least for the first album) and General Public (ditto). Saw Special Beat perform in Boston at their biggest amphitheater venue (amazing show).
Then, about 6 years ago, after I’ve moved out here, my friend’s in town on business, and Dave Wakeling is playing. In a bar. Next to the airport. Not even the LA airport. The Orange County airport.
Crammed, but then it was a small bar. Probably 100-150 people, max. Good show, though, if a little more relaxed in execution than what I would have expected.
But then LA’s like that. A musical time warp. Every act you’ve ever heard of is guaranteed to be playing around here somewhere in some guise or other within the next twelve months. Sometimes is extremely low key, like Wakeling. Sometimes…
Well, let’s just say that 25 years down the line, Earth, Wind and Fire (at the Greek Theater, with people climbing trees to get a look-see) still packs a live punch that you can’t top.
Since this was a free concert, the value was going to be good, but back in the late 60s, I saw the Beach Boys at Nassau Community College. I doubt more than 300 people attended.
This was after the group had hit it big, and before they caught on again as a nostalgia act.
Sorry, I should have made it a bit more clear. Stipe was sitting by HIMSELF, taking up one whole side of the bar, which made the other three sides more crowded than they should have been. That wasn’t entirely clear in my post.
*