Best and Worst Rock Concert Moments

Procol Harum headlined a concert in the early 70's. Word was they had some bad disagreement with the promoter. The result was they played about a 30 minute set then walked off saying "we don't know any other songs"..(they hadn't played "Whiter Shade of Pale").

I saw just a phenominal Pink Floyd concert @ 1970. It was held in an upscale classical concert hall. The band was on and the acoustics were just perfect. The downside was seeing many fans helped out by EMT's and a guy carried out on a stretcher from what appeared to be a fatal drug overdose.

A bad moment was at Mile High stadium 1969 when the police fired tear gas into a group of gate crashers wanting to see Hendrix. The wind then shifted and blew it all into the crowd. Good concert though - I think the last time he played with Noel Redding.

Worst Moments
1) When I was the lighting director for the Aerosmith reunion tour in 1984, Steve Tylor was still getting loaded. During his first song at our gig in Rockford Il he put his harmonica in his pants pocket. The pocket had a hole in it and the harmonica slid down his leg and lodged in the top of his sock. He was too loaded to figure out what was going on, missed his vocal cues and then, while still searching for the harmonica in his sock, tumbled over the front of the stage knocking himself out and ending the show.

2) When I was the lighting designer for Alice Cooper we played a year of gigs. Alice was back to his old habits during the entire tour. I won't get more specific than that. Anyway, our last gig of the tour was at the huge outdoor stadium at CNE in Toronto Canada. The opening act went on. Then we waited. Apparently Alice was too ill to go on so his show canceled. 20,000 fans then rioted. A drunk fan decided that he could jump off the top deck onto an awning and slide down to the bottom deck, like in the movies, and then run out to the field and trash the stage with the others crazies. Unfortunately he plunged through the awning and died.

BEST MOMENT:
When I was the production manager for INXS we played Shea's Theater in Buffalo New York. The band was really rocking that night and the crowd was totally into it too. By the end of the show, the fans in the balcony were dancing so hard that the balcony was bouncing up and down at least 6 inches either way from center and plaster was falling down on the orchestra seats. The crowd thought it was cool too and started dancing so that the balcony not only bounced up and down but side to side too in a wave.

Thankfully no premanent structural damage that I know of but one of the most wonderful shows where the crowd was feeding off of the band and the band fed off the crowd. A magical night

2d Best Moment:
I'm home off tour and get invited to see some band a friend was working for at the Ford Ampitheater in LA. Daytime and I am hanging out on the side of the stage just behind the speaker stacks. There is this really really pretty girl sitting there so I start chatting her up. She resonds and I think I am getting lucky. In the middle of a song she says to me "I'll be right back. " Then she gets up and walks on stage up to a mike and starts singing. She was Stevie Nicks. Oh well, I didn't get lucky afterall.

3rd Best Moment:
Well, not my style but still kind of fun. My pals are working for Luther Vandross. He liked guys from what I understand. I'm sitting in a chair just behind the stage left proscenium at the Greek Theater in LA (how appropriate).

He is singing a love ballad and sees me over there. He comes walking off stage out of view of the audience, walks up two feet away from me and sings his love ballad to me. Finishes, winks at me, and goes back on stage to finish the show. I decided to leave a little early if you get my drift.

I went along with some friends that were driving up to Monterey Pop Festival in '67. We were all broke, so no chance to actually buy tickets. After hanging out on the grounds and listening in at the festival, the guy with the van suggested spending what little we did have by going up to the Fillmore. We didn't recognize the band - "Who"? They were certainly an eye (ear) opener, but then another band took the stage that weren't even on the program. I think it was Santana's first concert. I was more than impressed!
Much later in my "maturing" years, I had friend that got me into a "Dead" concert standing right up front at the stage. I have always liked their music, but the "wall of sound" was too much for my delicate ears. I had to leave. Not very bad. And I am still enjoying my hearing.