Have you ever had a physical fight while on stage?

rze99 · May 2023

The View has to abandon a gig because they were fighting.

I’ve never been in a fight on stage. I’ve looked daggers and shouted at band mates that screwed things up. I once collapsed half-conscious into a bassist while doing a hot gig with the ‘flu and he kind of wrestled me up and propped me up to ensure I didn’t end up on the floor. But fist fight? No.

https://news.sky.com/story/the-view-forced-to-abandon-gig-after-bandmates-fight-on-stage-12878965

Lebarque · May 2023

VimFuego · May 2023

loads, but then security jump in, kick me out and the band continues with the set.

BillDL · May 2023

I've always smiled at this one:

Deijavoo · May 2023

Aye, but not with each other, that only happened in practice room. One gig where this bloke was giving us Zeig Heil right in our faces, or another when people tried to throw other people at us or grabbing our guitars while we play.

Tannin · May 2023

No. But avoided it only by a series of miracles.

I was always the worst musician in the band, and the newest member. I just held the bottom end down and knew enough not to try to get fancy. The other lads were more than fair - the drummer and I got an equal share of the takings even though the guitarist and the singer did all the real work. But once in a while we'd play a rough gig and some bogan would want to get up on the stage and have a sing through John's microphone (in his eyes a capital crime ranking somewhere between regicide and setting fire to a naval dockyard) or mess round with the equipment or just get generally stroppy.

For reasons I do not understand to this day, the other three - even the drummer who was a big strong lad - would grab me and push me out to deal with the situation as best I could. I'm of average height and back in those days I had to stand up twice to cast a shadow. Most of those obstropolous drunks I had to deal with could have creamed me without the slightest difficulty. But - again for reasons I am utterly at a loss to explain - I none of them ever quite did.

As I live and breathe, I'm bloody lucky that I still live and breathe!

Kebabkid · May 2023

Sort of...a band member's 'friend' used to turn up to gigs, get drunk and make a nuisance of himself and utter snide remarks under his breath that I'd hear when packing down/loading out and just generally annoy people throughout our gigs.

On one occasion, he decided to get on stage and drunkenly dance whilst deliberately and repeatedly knocking into me. Unlike me, I just thumped him and literally threw him off the stage at The Standard, Walthamstow. I think the alcohol he'd consumed softened the blow!

Reverend · May 2023

Kebabkid said:

Sort of...a band member's 'friend' used to turn up to gigs, get drunk and make a nuisance of himself and utter snide remarks under his breath that I'd hear when packing down/loading out and just generally annoy people throughout our gigs.

On one occasion, he decided to get on stage and drunkenly dance whilst deliberately and repeatedly knocking into me. Unlike me, I just thumped him and literally threw him off the stage at The Standard, Walthamstow. I think the alcohol he'd consumed softened the blow!

The stage wasn't too high there at least.

Reverend · May 2023

Many years ago, my band at the time - Evil Knievel -was playing in Birmingham wit Sloth, Sally and Mistress.
We'd been told that the singer of Mistress was a bit of a nutter and to be fair, during their set, Dave Cunt (yes that was his name) was punching himself in the face whilst singing. He keep asking someone to hit and in the end our 6'4" bassist obliged. He spent the rest of the set holding his jaw to stem the flow of blood. Apparently he had to get stitches

CoffeeAndTV · May 2023

I used to work in a comedian’s backing band and he’d occasionally piss the audience off, especially hecklers with his comebacks. It could get physical.

mudslide73 · May 2023

We had a guy get up with us then fell on the drums. I got him off the stage but no punches were thrown. He was so apologetic he got a round in for us all - a massive surprise.

rze99 · May 2023

@mudslide73 reminds me when I was 16 the band I was in had a drummer who got heavily into glue sniffing. We did a local gig at a hall packed full of school students and the drummer was out of it.

3 tracks in he slowed down then passed out sprawled over the drums. The crowd thought it hilarious but I thought he was dying. no mobiles then so someone when to a nearby house and called 999. When the ambulance came and they stretchered him off - still passed out - through the crowd. Half way through the hall he gave just lifted of the stretcher a bit and gave a piss take royal wave from the stretcher which got a big cheer.

darthed1981 · May 2023

VimFuego said:

loads, but then security jump in, kick me out and the band continues with the set.

Beat me to it

Blueingreen · May 2023

Not a physical fight as such, but I've been on stage at a town hall dance when the band was getting attacked by mad bastards and we were holding them at bay with mic stands (as you might imagine, there's a story of how that situation developed). Fortunately the police had been called and they were brilliant. They arrived really quickly, within 10 minutes or so, and instantly realised we were the innocent party, probably because some of the instigators were known local troublemakers. Cops stood guard while we loaded our gear on to the van and gave us an escort out of town and for several miles beyond that.

AK99 · May 2023

Lebarque said:

Proper scuffle that!

Am impressed by how the little chap managed to end up standing on top with the big drummer (at least 3-4 weight classes above him) still on the deck. T'aint the size of the dog in the fight / size of the fight in the dog 'nall that

LastMantra · May 2023

I've had many a non-physical fight.

Paul_C · May 2023

I met my youngest's mum after putting my bass down rather than wrap it round one of our backing singer's head (he was sacked and she replaced him) because he was off his nut on lager and cocaine and kept backing into me while dancing, eventually standing on my foot and nearly knocking me over, despite me getting as far back as I could. That's the closest I've ever got to getting in a fight as I'd usually run away

Kebabkid · May 2023

Reverend said:

Kebabkid said:

Sort of...a band member's 'friend' used to turn up to gigs, get drunk and make a nuisance of himself and utter snide remarks under his breath that I'd hear when packing down/loading out and just generally annoy people throughout our gigs.

On one occasion, he decided to get on stage and drunkenly dance whilst deliberately and repeatedly knocking into me. Unlike me, I just thumped him and literally threw him off the stage at The Standard, Walthamstow. I think the alcohol he'd consumed softened the blow!

The stage wasn't too high there at least.

It's high enough to hurt

Image: /plugins/EmojiExtender/emoji/fb/1.gif

Dontgiveupyourdayjob · May 2023

I've wanted to lamp a few pissed up punters at gigs when they get a bit overenthusiastic and try and get up on the stage. Would love to go full Keith Richards at times, but wouldn't risk breaking a guitar for it!

stratman3142 · May 2023

I came pretty close to clocking someone with my guitar. While I was playing at a gig, I saw a bunch of guys bothering my two daughters. In the middle of a song, I stormed into the audience yelling 'back off', ready to swing my Strat. The rest of the band stopped playing, the crowded pub went deathly quiet. The guys looked shocked and fortunately wandered off, as everyone was looking.

A very surreal moment. I went back in an embarrassing silence and started the next song which was 'Run To You'. But I'd stepped on my multi fx pedal board during my outburst, and selected a bank with one of those weird factory presets which sounded like a fuzz box underwater. My heroic moment turned into comedy.

After the gig the landlady was fxxking furious and said I shouldn't bring my daughters to gigs if I couldn't put up with the attention they got. We didn't get another gig at that venue. But my daughters thought it was 'cool' and still mention it, which, when you're a parent, is the best you can hope for.

Open_G · May 2023

Once played a gig at a mass brawl where a wedding broke out. Also once got threatened with violence by a very drunk best man because we had finished for the night and he wanted to keep dancing.

Ceilidh bands are a dangerous business.

p90fool · May 2023

Onstage band member fights never escalate beyond our "who glares wins" band motto (it's always me btw...) but I've punched a punter in the throat for trying to push my wife off her drumstool so he could "have a go" mid song, and smashed a guy in the face with my headstock for getting aggressive with our 4'11" girl singer.

Moral; don't do pub gigs during the Royal Welsh Show, where a town of 3,000 people hosts 400,000 educationally subnormal farmers who've saved up all year to come and fight, drown in the river and best of all, rape someone.

NickB · May 2023

'Twas only last year at the Red Lion in Brackley. One of those yokel towns where all they want to do is drink, do a few lines of the Peruvian marching cut with Ajax, and fight. So I'm with my Rhythm and Blues band, The Scoundrels. We're about 3/4's the way through our 1st set, and as he walks in I clock him. He's a f**king meat head, dark blue wife beater vest, shaved head, tats, arms and neck are the same diameter (about the size of my thigh) and a mean look. I thought to myself, he looks trouble. Sure enough, 2nd half, I'm belting the riff out to Money (that's what I want), and he kicks off, pouring his drink over his ex and assaults her new beau. Bouncer runs in, a slip of a lad, said meathead lays him out across the stage, into the PA. Claret everywhere.... shall I catch the PA speaker or carry on belting the riff? I caught the PA speaker. Gig ended, we got paid and vowed never to go near that shit hole again.

chillidoggy · May 2023

Not within the band, but audience participation fights, yes. One such broke out while playing in one of Margate’s less salubrious boozers, long since razed to the ground. Singer announced that if they didn’t stop fighting, we’d stop playing. The fight continued, so we made our exit out the back with our gear. And at a boozer in Ramsgate, we turned up to find they’d substituted the normal chairs with plastic garden ones in an effort to save the glazed windows, which turned out to be absolutely the right thing to do.

FarleyUK · May 2023

Not in the band, but we had a couple of crowd punch-ups - what started as two people arguing and then ending with most of the pub fighting.

Mostly involved girls pulling each other's hair, then throwing drinks over each other, then glassing each other, then grabbing chairs etc.

Oddly enough, both happened at the same venue in Hemel Hempstead.

stratman3142 · May 2023

I remember a pub brawl at a gig in Lower Feltham many years ago.

I can still visualise a beer glass hitting the wall above the bar and exploding into glass shards. Then all hell broke loose with a mass fight. I quickly retreated to the back wall with the rest of the band. Our sax player grabbed a mic stand off a bloke, who was either trying to nick it or use it as a weapon.

I couldn't find my 1st wife anywhere. When she finally turned up, she said she'd been down the front protecting the monitor speakers

VimFuego · May 2023

FarleyUK said:

Not in the band, but we had a couple of crowd punch-ups - what started as two people arguing and then ending with most of the pub fighting.

Mostly involved girls pulling each other's hair, then throwing drinks over each other, then glassing each other, then grabbing chairs etc.

Oddly enough, both happened at the same venue in Hemel Hempstead.

I grew up in Hemel, that's just any given saturday night there.

FarleyUK · May 2023

VimFuego said:

FarleyUK said:

Not in the band, but we had a couple of crowd punch-ups - what started as two people arguing and then ending with most of the pub fighting.

Mostly involved girls pulling each other's hair, then throwing drinks over each other, then glassing each other, then grabbing chairs etc.

Oddly enough, both happened at the same venue in Hemel Hempstead.

I grew up in Hemel, that's just any given saturday night there.

Can confirm.

The great thing is, I caught it all on video as well. It's a proper Blues Brothers moment.

koneguitarist · June 2023

Worst for me was when I was about 16-17, skinny as a rake playing in my old mans band down south Wales valley’s in late 70s. A fight broke out between about 20 or so miners, like the Wild West tables and chairs flying glasses smashed and my old man shouting encouragement to the fighters. Remember my older brother kicking someone off the stage as we kept playing.
then Bar man hit bar with pool cue 3 times for everyone to stop and said “That’s enough Lads, can we all look for Dai’s ear on the floor somewhere”!
bloke standing there with blood down his neck holding his hand to his head!

I was scared shitless but my old man loved it all.
I also did a gig in a Glastonbury pub about 10years ago and threw a punter away from me over someone’s table, luckily he was thrown out not me.

thermionic · July 2023

Someone once told me of a visit she’d made to pub somewhere in the Valleys (I think it war in or near Caerphily) in the 80s, where one of the locals’ party trick was to get you to ask him if he wanted a drink… he’d whip his hat off and grin “No, i’ve got one ear!” (you have to do it in the accent). Might well have been the same Dai.

That Keef clip reminds me of watching Y Cyrff (Mark and Paul from Catatonia’s first band) in the students union bar in Aberystwyth - we had been the support band. Typical drunk student crowd, not really interested in the music, and one guy in particular spent the entire time shouting abuse at them from the front. As they finished a song, the other guitar player Barry (RIP) finally had enough and flung down his Telecaster, leapt off the stage, punched this guy in the face, then jumped back up, and went straight into the next song.

koneguitarist · July 2023

Did a gig once at a wedding where brides father tried to kill the groom by strangling him on stage, someone had to hit him with a chair to get him off. Both carted off to hospital.
I was also called toCrown Court as a witness too. An assault at one of our gigs. The place was Crossways near Dorchester and a fight between four women, brutal. Not helped by other guitarist asking where’s the mud!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Have you ever had a physical fight while on stage?

Comments