Strange Gig Happenings

[gibbo]

Moonie's recent post about a frying pan falling onto his guitar and mixer has prompted me to ask; has anyone else experienced weird and wonderful happenings at gigs?
One recent thing for me was a gig at a little club where the main airconditioner was mounted just above the stage about 2 metres to the left. It was about 40C inside the club and the aircon was running at full steam.
We were halfway through the first song when the aircon gave a loud rattle and clank and proceeded to spray about 4 litres of water onto the stage, right onto the 240v power distribution board! Jenny and I both looked at each other, let go of everything metallic and held our breath waiting for the bolt of lightning... nothing!
I gingerly shut down the computer, turned off the amps, unplugged the power and spent the next 10 minutes drying off the power board, thank God for the Ladies' Room hand-dryer.
All went well after that but, with no aircon it got to be about 45C inside and, as a matter of self-preservation, the poor overheated punters were forced to consume excessive amounts of beer!
Let's hear some stories.
Cheers, Dave.

[shyamwestwind]

Dave, there have been so many of these mishaps but I recollect one exceptionally memorable incident when the rains came and it poured buckets and buckets and the "pandal" ( a huge cloth canopy meant only to keep away the sun !) came down s l o w l y because of the collection of water on top, and the whole "tent" and supporting poles fell on us and our equipment. No one was hurt, luckily. The switch boards were floating around and were all soaking wet. Luckily the power went off (not switched off !!!!!) and we were not electrocuted. We could have played some Electrifying Power Chords !!!!!!!!!!!!It took me days to dry all the power plugs, cables, amps and mixers but all of them worked okay inspite of the dunking they got.
You might not believe this but the same mishap happened about a year ago at a local Club here but it wasnt that bad.
Dave, this is a nice thread you've opened and it should be interesting to hear from the others.

[weegeo]

I remember playing the old Harland and Wolff club in Belfast [this is about 25years ago] and 2 funny incidents happened to me. We were backing a well known cabaret artist when i dropped a drumstick instead of taking another 1 from my pouch i tried to lean down and pick it up from the floor i managed to fall of my stool and sent the lead players amp flying hehehehehehe
On the same night as the night came to an end as we were playing the national anthem i was leaning against the stage door [which was directly behind me ]when someone opened the door and i fell backwards thru it even at the time it was so funny. As i`m sure you`ve guessed more than a little alcohol was involved.

weegeo

[larryc]

There have been a few over the years. One that is particularly memorable.
Twenty something years ago, I was part of band which had the "Christmas Show" in a well known venue in the Broadstone area of Dublin.
The deal was, at the end of the night,during the last set, the Drummer reached behind him, pressed a button, the skylight opened, and lots of balloons fell from above.
The balloons were positioned from above in the roof, this was done by a lounge boy during a quite part of the day.
One particularly cold day the lad filling the skylight was in a hurry and forgot to replace the skylight cover, A few enterprising Ferrel cats took full advantage of the lads forgetfulness and settled in for the night. Enjoying the lovely heat coming from below. (Hands up who knows what happens next)
Last set comes round, Drummer presses button, skylight opens,
Balloons start to burst, About six wild cats hit the dance-floor screaming and scratching, one lands on a womans head, Punters faint, punters run, cats scatter in all directions, Glass breaking all over the place, tables upended, Balloons still falling, Band still playing lol.
This all happened in a matter of seconds, Then they were gone, they must have found a way out or else they ran through the walls lol.
Some people still talk about the night the Devil appeared in the Broadstone.
I don't have the heart to tell them lol

[gibbo]

Thanks for the stories lads, I loved them.
My missus went into hysterics reading about Larry's feral cats.
That's a hard one to top and I won't even try but I thought I'd add to the thread to see if we can get a few more contributions.
There was the time my Duo partner was a little upset because a punter in sunglasses wasn't responding to her come-hither smiles... until she realised the poor blighter was blind.
Or that infamous Phillipino dancer that haunts the Western Sydney club scene, always done up to the nines and stealing the show with her fabulous re-creation of a scene out of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (Jenny always makes a crack about ping-pong balls).
Just a couple of months ago we had a guy actually fall asleep while dancing/standing on the dance floor, he nearly had a heart attack when his girl gave him a thump.
It goes on and on, there's never a dull moment in the live music game.
Let's hear some more stories.
Cheers, Dave.

[shyamwestwind]

Many of you would have seen those macho men "swirl" their dancing partners around , over and above their shoulders, in and through their armpits . The couple look fantastic and its a sight everyone enjoys, the kind that make all the rest of the dancers form a circle and watch them.
Well this particular macho gentleman was so obnoxiously arrogant one day, demanding that our band play all their requests without entertaining others' requests, we planned to have fun and played their favourite "partner swirling" song and the energy should have been seen to be believed. The poor girl was swung around like a yo yo and the crowd clapped ! Then, to absolute clockwork precision, the music stopped just as the girl was held high above his shoulders and it was a moment he'd never forget in his life. He slowly brought down the girl looking sheepish as ever, but flushed with anger. It made our day and though we faced a battery of abuses that night, we eventually became good friends and he realized that he had treated the band bad.
Cruel, huh ?

[gibbo]

I can relate to that one, Shyam.
We were playing in a little club that had foam acoustic tiles for a ceiling.
A Jive dancer did that full-lift over the head and the girl came back down safely but left both her high heels impaled in the ceiling. We all went into hysterics and had to stop playing... we were right in the middle of a song called Rock 'n' Roll Shoes... it was just too funny!
The guy had to borrow a stool from the bar and managed to recover the shoes and keep on jiving but, for the rest of the night, every time I looked at the holes in the ceiling I went into hysterics. I haven't been back there since but I wonder if they've replaced the tiles?
Cheers, Dave.

[shyamwestwind]

"Dancing on the Ceiling" huh ? That was funny man !!!!