Concert oddities: What unusual things have you experienced at concerts?

[Jules]

In 1996 I was over the moon that Phil Rudd was touring again. I took binoculars which while giving me a closeup view of him, helped me me much of the rest of the show. This, I realized when watching No Bull after it came out.

Two takeaways from that show:

When I got into the building, the beer stations were in place, but empty and unmanned portable beverage stations with a handwritten not above each one that read: Per AC/DC request, no alcoholic beverage will be sold at the event (or was it "concert"?). I don't know of this was unique to the Atlanta GA show/venue, or if sales were banned at more/all US venues. I can't image the revenue lost from alcohol sales and always wondered what that was all about. As you may recall, the prior tour had a major tragedy when 3 teenagers were crushed to death. I don't have any indication there was a connection and the internet is unaware that beer sales were banned that tour in Atlanta.

On another probably unrelated note; that night Phil kept rolling the butt end stick in his left hand after striking the snare drum and at one point even put an ice pack on it while playing. Cliff left his station to walk up to the drum riser and they had a brief chat about who knows what. It also seemed like Phil wasn't doing some of the fills and things that are already sparse in his playing.

All that said, it was a killer show with my all time favorite drummer and when the show closed, I had a melancholy feeling wondering if I would ever see the band in it's full classic lineup again.

[SonorBart]

The summer of '76 at age 17, I saw Henry Gross (guitarist from Sha Na Na who was touring with one semi hit, a ballad called "Shannon"), Jeff Beck w/ the Jan Hammer Group, and Fleetwood Mac outdoors in Fargo, ND. It was a odd line-up, but that happened with multi-band shows back then. The FOH system was front loaded JBL with two 15's, two 10's, and two tweeters in each cabinet with about 25 cabinets on each side of the stage. It sounded like a giant stereo system vs. the usual harsh horn loaded speakers of that era. The drum intro to Led Boots through those speakers was amazing and Jeff was his usual "one of one." I was already familiar with him because of Blow by Blow and Wired, but that show launched my fandom to whole new level. I saw him again in 2001 with Steve Alexander playing a black Designer kit and in 2011 with Narada Michael Walden. This was the tour before Rumors for Fleetwood Mac, but they were well on their way to stardom. The band was really tight and Stevie Nicks was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in person up to that point.

[SonorBart]

I saw Asia in a theatre in Minneapolis in '82 when Only Time Will Tell and Heat of the Moment were climbing the charts. When it came time for Carl Palmer's solo, his riser was supposed to move forward to the front of the stage via hydraulics, but it wasn't working. From my balcony seat, I could see four roadies get down on all fours, push it forward, and then pull it back when the solo was done. It looked like something out of This is Spinal Tap two years before the movie came out.