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Now, you got concerts where everything is just fine, good music good vibes and you got concerts where for the best or the worst something is happening, not linked to music, that you will remember like Woodstock, Altamont or the Montreux concert which gave way to the DP song. Here are some of these concerts.
Genesis : 19.06.1971 Aylesbury
"Genesis was back in Aylesbury on19 juin 1971. This was a glorious homecoming. (...) On this occasion it was undoubtly one of Genesis best performances with the audience in a euphoric condition. On the 'Knife' Peter got so carried away that he went to the back of the stage and started running straight forward. When he neared the apron of the stage he was bound to stop...but he didn't! I think a feeling of wanting to be one with the audience overcame him and he leapt off the front of the five foot high stage and straight out into the audience at a great hight and speed. Meanwhile gravity had been at work and he descended right into the audience with great force. Instead of catching him and having a soft landing, however most members of the audience, seeing this considerable weight about to land on them and in a selfpreservative knee-jerk reaction, parted, except for one person who was dancing and presumably thought that they were hallucinating and this couldn't possibly be really happening. Peter came crashing down right on top of them . The rest of the audience, highly impressed with his athletic prowess, immediately helped him to his feet. unfortunately, only one seemed to be working. Peter was carried to the stage with agony on his face and somehow managed to finish the song on his knees. at the end of the song the band left the stage not realising how badly he was hurt and Peter was left center stage on his knees unable to move. He was soon carried to the dressing room, an ambulance was called (...)Peter had a fairly severe leg fracture.(...) This experience , although extremely painful , clearly inspired Peter to get in physical contact with his audience. In later years Peter would stand with his back to the audience on the front of the stage and fall backwards where he would be carried around the audience on a sea of hands. Clearly this was a safer approach to the one he had tried in Aylesbury in June 1971."
Dave Stopps : "Gigging at the Friars Aylesbury"
Mothers of Invention : 04.12.1971 Montreux
"On december 4 (1971) we were working at the casino de Montreux in Geneva , Switzerland , right on the edge of the lake. In the middle of Don Preston's synthesizer solo on 'King Kong' , the place suddenly caught fire. Somebody in the audience had a bottle rocket or a Roman candle and fired it into the ceiling , at which point the rattan covering started to burn . There were between 25 hundred 3000 kids packed into this room - well over capacity. Since more kids were outside , trying to get in , the organizers had cleverly chained the exit doors shut. When the fire began , the audience was left with two ways out : through the front door, which was pretty small, or through a plate glass window off to the side of the stage.
I(Zappa) made an announcement- something like :"Please be calm. We have to leave here. there is a fire and why don't we get out?" You'd be surprised how well people who speak only french can understand you when it is a matter of life and death. They began filing out through the front door.
As the room was filling with smoke , one of our roadies took an equipement case and smashed the big window. Th crew than began helping people to escape through it into some kind of garden place below. the band escaped through an under ground tunnel that led from behind the stage through the parking garage.
A few minutes later the heating system in the buiding exploded , and some people were blown through the window. Fortunately , nobody was killed and there were only a few minor injuries - however , the entire building burned to the ground and we lost all our equipement."
Frank Zappa: in "The real F.Z.book"
Mothers of Invention : 10.12.1971 London Rainbow Theatre
"The plan was to get to England 2 days in advance of the Big Gig at the Rainbow and rehearse with the new gear.(...) We had some problems, but still we managed to make it through the first show. At the end of the first show , we went offstage and came back to do an encore.All I (Zappa) remember after that is waking up in the orchstra pit in pain.I didn't know whet had happened to me.In the following weeks I was able to piece it together, but at that time I had no idea.
The band thought I was dead. I had fallen 15 feet down into a concrete-floored orchestra pit, my head was over on my shoulder , and my neck was bend like it was broken . I had a gash in my chin , a hole in the back of my head , a broken rib and a fractured leg. One arm was paralyzed.
In those days , I didn't carry a bodyguard ; security was supplied by the local promoter; during their absence, a guy by the name of Trevor Howell had run up onto stage , punched me and knocked me over into the pit. He gave 2 stories to the press : one of them was that" I was making eyes at his girlfriend." That wasn't true , since the the orchestra pit was not only 15 feet deep but twice as wide and the spotlight was in my face. I never even saw the guy coming.He told another newspaper that he was pissed off because he felt we hadn't given him "value for his money". Choose you favourite story."
Frank Zappa: in "The real F.Z.book"
Starship : 17.06.1978 Lorelei Germany
In 1978 I was listening mainly to Westcoast and lucky me a reformed Starship was going to do a tour of the european summer festivals. So with a friend we went to see them at the 'Lorelei', a nice venue in Germany o the banks of the river Rhine. It is a beautiful place, but unfortunately when we arrived it started to rain.
there were about 10.000, and quiet a big partof american soldiers. The theatre itself is made of stone rows and quiet steep and fortunately there was not too much mud.
The concert statred around 4 O clock in the afternoon and th first group was Brand X (without PC) I quiet liked them, but they didn't get more than a lukewarm applause. We got some more beers and came back for Leo Kottke. I loved then and I still love a lot the 12 string guitar playing of LK.
Still the major part of the audience didn't seemed to appreciate so much Kottke's 12 string guitar work.
Now , good news it was not raining anymore but only drizzeling. The next act should have been the Atlanta Rhythm Section, but they didn't show up.So everybody was waiting for the headliners : the mythical 'Srarship' with Grace Slick, Marty Balin & Paul Kantner.It was about 19:00 and the stage was ready when the manager entered the stage and announced : "Unfortunately, Grace Slick is ill and the band can't play today". (Afterwords I learned that the other members epecially Sears, Chaquito and Freiberg wanted to play without GS, but Paul Kantner refused to play without Grace )
Now, most of the audience members were quiet pissed, so it took some time until everybody understood : "The concert is over, have another beer , go home and do whatever you like, cheers!"
As I said the theatre was quiet steep and suddenly there was a rain of beercans and bottles on the stage.This was the good old time when you could bring nearly everything to a venue (from a pocketknife to a bazooka plus assorted drugs)
The poor roadies had just tried to get away the soundboard when one of them was touched in the face by a beerbottle. When the 'berbottle rain' stopped suddenly there were lots of 'highly motivated' audience members climbing on stage, demounting everything which was demountable, putting it on a pile and suddenly the stage was burning.Some guys pushed the concert piano over the edge of the stage, awfull noise.
Enter the police and the firemen : in the meantime a new arsenal of beer bottles and cans was prepared and the police and firemen retreated( why risk our lives for some kids who just want to have some fun.In the meantime night had fallen and the whole athmosphere was that of an apocalyptic campfire.We went of to sleep in the woods.The next morning before hitching back we returned to the venue, and I felt quiet sad that everything had ended up this way.
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Tadpoles keep screaming in my ear
"Hey there! Rotter's Club!
Explain the meaning of this song and share it"
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