Sometimes The Darndest Things End Up On Stage

I love to go to concerts and events. One of the most awesome things that happens, is the adventure!  Sometimes you just never know what is going to happen.  It is so fun to see what people in the crowd come up with, because most times, everyone is having fun and just relaxing & escaping humdrum normalcy.

Concerts to me are a way to enjoy something beautiful, to watch a passion poured out from someone who typically you admire, or else why would you be there watching them, and a way to gather with people who share similar views as you, because they are usually fans! Events like Rockfest, alot of fun can be had just mingling and watching the crowd!  Sometimes what happens off-stage can be just as entertaining as ON-stage.

I can’t say I’ve seen too many odd things thrown on stage, but I have seen a few. Several years ago, June 18, 2005, I went to an event in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin, (yes I remember, because I have the ticket stub.) Several performers were part of the festival, Great White, Jack Blades, (w/ Nightranger) & more.  It was a fun night, and a great show, but sadly, there is sometimes that one person who kinda ruins it for everyone.

I guess this would be a, things not to do kinda rant!  Despite the fact that I had fun and enjoyed the performances, I remember the singer of one of the bands had to stop the show at one point, because people were pelting them with objects.

That was probably the worst case of performer abuse I witnessed ever, but thankfully, the crowd listened and they stopped throwing things.  I believe there were some beer bottles that were being tossed.  Talk about dangerous.  I know I’d be a little upset if someone was throwing them at me.  Whoever thought being a rockstar would lead to being attacked like that?  It does happen...

Several large outdoor festivals I have left after they closed out, and have ended with wading through at least ankle deep piles of garbage, empty cups, containers, cans, bottles, there really is a pile of junk everywhere in some cases.  It can get crazy sometimes. I suppose, there is ample opportunity to find objects that can be hurled for some reason or another.  But WHY?  I have to wonder why people would want to attack someone for entertaining them.  I haven’t really ran into it too much, other than it being lighthearted and fun.  Rude people who toss objects that actually can harm the entertainer do exist, however, and really it’s just plain not nice.

In a more positive light, sometimes fans bring props, toys, rituals that eventually become kind of fun and entertaining and get incorporated into the shows. Not every object that somehow manages to make its way up to the stage causes harm.  I’ve had some good laughs and great adventures thanks to somebody making some silly poster, or some performer grabbing an object from the crowd and talking about it, you know what I mean!

But, when it turns bad, and sadly, it does sometimes… It falls into the category of… ‘Bottling.’

Wikipedia even has an entire page devoted to this phenomenon.

Bottling refers to the action where an audience of a certain concert throws objects, such as bottles and cans at performers onstage.

Yes, the name comes from empty or full bottles of water, but sometimes they even contain gross things like urine!

Weird items like furniture, mud, fireworks, broken glass and dead animals have also been recorded as being thrown onstage, even items like phones, stuffed animals, babies, people, tshirts, hats, gross items, toys, cookies, food, the list is endless!  Some of the performers listed on the Wikipedia bottling page I’ve never even heard of, and perhaps that is why they have objects tossed at them. (Still not nice, LOL ! )

 You know this one, I'm sure...  It has to be said.  Woah, Ozzy carved himself out a memorable spot in history, totally by accident.

Any child of the 80’s remembers the infamous bat tossed at Ozzy Osbourne.  It was in Des Moines, a bat had either been stuck in the rafters or tossed up towards him by a crazed fan on January 20^th of 1982, and Ozzy, thinking it was a rubber toy, munched on it.  He had to go through a week of rabies shots.  He donated $ 25,000 to the SPCA, and it really grew into peak media frenzy for him.  It was often a ritual that he would toss raw meat into the crowd before they started playing.

I thank God this does not happen at shows now.   I would not want raw meat tossed at me! The audience would toss it back, and they sometimes tossed rubber toys, so when the bat was flung at him, he assumed that it was fake.  Ozzy also on purpose bit the head off of a dove as a publicity stunt.

Watch Sharon & Ozzy talk about that here in this [NSFW-Language] Video(s):

http://youtu.be/-YDc-QPoGpQ

http://youtu.be/B4MRqzBclss

Here is a list of some of the weird things/performers/bottling events from history:

Underwear.  I’ve seen bra’s and panties tossed up on stage before, on several occasions.

I used to know a girl, who would bring a bra and she wrote her phone number and hotel room number in them, and tossed them up on stage, only for the male performers. I am still unsure if she was just being silly, or if she was serious, of if it was her calling card.  I may never know.

• Guns n Roses showed up late and got bottled.  I am sure it’s happened more than once to them.

• The Foo Fighters, Mentos! You know, the Freshmaker. [NSFW-Language]

http://youtu.be/VHuaTulmqls

• The Mars Volta had bottles full of urine??? Gross.  Urine was thrown at them at Endfest. This combined with various sound problems resulted in the band walking off the stage, where the show, ended at Endfest.

David Bowie had a lollipop hit him in the eye at a show in 2004. 

• Green Day; Mud & Grass. Billie Joe Armstrong turned it into a mutal deal, and a huge mudwar began at Woodstock ’94:

 http://youtu.be/h275pulfwHE

• Limp Biskit, at Woodstock, 1999, fans ripped structures, tore up plywood, and got crazy destructive during ‘Break Stuff’. Fans were crowd surfing on huge slabs of plywood as a matter of fact.

• Bring Me The Horizon was bottled at the 2008 Reading Festival, they were a last-minute replacement for Slipknot, after Joey Jordison broke his ankle.  The singer responded by saying, “You obviously don’t like our band, but that’s okay.” Not only were they bottled, but they had woodchips tossed at them.  Gluttons for punishment maybe, they appeared at the festival a year later, but on a stage three stages down.

• Kings of Leon, Pigeon Poop, which didn’t come from the crowd, it fell from the sky.  It even hit the drummer, by landing on his face.  The singer was seen wiping his mouth, and the band did not return after leaving the stage.  They may laugh about that one someday, but for now, I am sure it gives them PTSD.  Poor fellas!

•  Who’s Roger Daltry was bottled in the arm, with a bottle while performing at Madison Square Garden.  He was not too happy about that, but another Who member, Pete Townshend was joking with the audience that they should throw watches, cameras, credit cards, and their girlfriends up on stage.  He collected $25 in cash, saying he would donate it to Roger’s hospital bill.

• At Milwaukee’s summerfest one year, it was raining like crazy.  Everyone was wearing garbage bags to try and stay dry.  It was awesome that despite the horrible downpour and bad weather, none of the shows that day were canceled, and they were all outdoors.  However one of the opening bands decided to toss out some drumsticks to the crowd when they were done.  I was near a person who got struck in the head with one of the sticks, and lets just say it was not pretty.  Blood was drawn even.  So, even though the performer didn’t intend to cause harm I’m sure, someone got hurt from the other direction.  It does happen.

Yes. Interesting things happen when you gather a bunch of young pre-teen girls.   Thankfully it was still in the wrapper and unused.  That makes it a little less gross.  They have had run-ins with shoes and phones too.  I have seen my share of shoes being tossed on the stage.   Sometimes I wonder if they are tossed by accident, maybe they just accidentally slipped off somebody’s foot, and oh, hey, there they are flying on the stage.  Well, you never know, right?

I still would not trade any of my awesome memories for anything!  I do know, however, that I won’t be tossing any weird things up at someone who is there to entertain me.  There will be no 'Bottling' from Karly.  Only good times Y'all!   Bring on some awesome shows!