» Rock and Roll Stories

festivals
Oh I've got loads..

Pete Doh(!)erty - Homelands festival 2005, behaving like a gentleman backstage, walks on stage, and all of a sudden becomes the character we all know - swigging from a vodka bottle, stumbling all over the place.. the set is cut short by the usual *yawn* antics, and he smashes the vodka bottle onstage. Rock and roll. No, not quite, it was water in the bottle. He had a plane to catch, had to be sober or they wouldn't let him on, and would miss the flight if he didn't finish the set early.. even had a car waiting for him..

Shane Macgowen - Phoenix Festival.. couldn't get off his tour bus without help, then stood there unable to move.. waiting for his carer to tell him what to do, eventually they took him to his dressing room for a few hours.. finding himself alone in the dressing room for a few minutes must have panicked him, so decided to have a shit in the corner.. band performed the set, first third without Shane, the last third without Shane.. middle section had Shane onstage "singing".. poor guy was out of it.. drank 3 pints of Martina in about 10mins.. tried to smash up his mic stand, but couldn't lift it up high enough to do any damage. What a state. He even had to leave the stage half way through this for a top up of showbiz sherbet in a specially made area of black backdrops.

Oh, and last year at Reading, after smashing all his brand new equipment up onstage (most bands swop the good instruments for shite ones the last song so they can do this) Mr Doh(!)erty, threw it all into the crowd.. and walked off. Rock 'n' Roll *again*.. only to come back and ask me if I could get the acoustic guitar back. "Nah, sorry mate, you threw it" :)

I'll think of some more. Been doing the festivals for 10 years. Got loads.
(Fri 30th Jun 2006, 17:27, More)