Your not so good gig experiences.

[Arthur Streeb-Greebling]

Most of those Stranglers gig for me as a Teenager back in the 80’s were frightening experiences!
A real sense of danger in the air, and most of it coming from the stage

Another quite scary one was the first of the Reading Festival gigs in ‘83. Just left school and my first music festival. I’d had a few lagers and being just 16 was quite unsteady and when The Stranglers came on the crowd went absolutely mental and I ended up on the ground along with my mates and with many people on top of us. Thought I was gonna suffocate and many people were falling and getting crushed too. There was no stopping it.
I must thank whoever it was for giving me a hand and picking me up. Cheers mate!

I actually think someone drowned in the Thames at that fest or it could have been when I saw The Stranglers there again in 1987.

[Greatkudu]

Most of those Stranglers gig for me as a Teenager back in the 80’s were frightening experiences!
A real sense of danger in the air, and most of it coming from the stage

Another quite scary one was the first of the Reading Festival gigs in ‘83. Just left school and my first music festival. I’d had a few lagers and being just 16 was quite unsteady and when The Stranglers came on the crowd went absolutely mental and I ended up on the ground along with my mates and with many people on top of us. Thought I was gonna suffocate and many people were falling and getting crushed too. There was no stopping it.
I must thank whoever it was for giving me a hand and picking me up. Cheers mate!

I actually think someone drowned in the Thames at that fest or it could have been when I saw The Stranglers there again in 1987.

I was at that gig a great gig,but I had no dodgy moments,only the toilets which were Cattle Troughs and I couldn't go as there were Hells Angels standing near,so I had to hold it in all day. Major Kudu.

[Palais23]

Yeah, I was at that gig also. Someone did drown, loads of thefts by Angel's from tents. Saw fights between Angels and when Sabbath were playing, one Angel decided to make space for himself swinging a motorcycle chain. Despite that, great groups eg Stranglers, Marillion, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Thin Lizzy, Suzi Quattro. My first festival and still the best.

[Greatkudu]

Yeah, I was at that gig also. Someone did drown, loads of thefts by Angel's from tents. Saw fights between Angels and when Sabbath were playing, one Angel decided to make space for himself swinging a motorcycle chain. Despite that, great groups eg Stranglers, Marillion, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Thin Lizzy, Suzi Quattro. My first festival and still the best.

Ah the Angels typical High Jinks and of course an Angel would need space swinging a Motorcycle chain,a far cry from the Festivals of today,I don't think Sam Smith or Harry Styles would have lasted for one second at Reading,it's when men were everard, unlike the metro sexual wimps of today.We was ard in those days. Major Styles

[theraven1979]

I saw Mansun towards the end of their career. Absolutely dismal gig you could see the writing on the wall. Unlike the time in 96 when they supported the Manics.


Jim

[Greatkudu]

Oh sorry I forgot the Stranglers Birmingham Punk all dayer,the worst Stranglers gig I have seen,they came on late Paul looked like he had enough and then he left in 2006, people were saying around me how shit the Stranglers were and I agree they were,but luckily I had a non Stranglers T shirt on,floor was full of broken plastic beer glasses a truly awful gig,but on the plus side SLF and the Buzzcocks were great,I still have the T shirt but it brings back bad memories so stays in the bottom of my drawer.Major Lizzo.

[ThinkTank]

This wasn't bad for me but a bit of a bummer for Morrisey fans. I think it was at Milton Keynes or reading but been to lots of festivals so they all blend in to one. Well anyway at this gig it was popular for the left side of the stage to have a throwing bottle fight with the right hand side of the stage (plastic bottles i should add). The bands that played that day just put up with it and the show continued. There really was at times a wall of bottles going left and right and i would hate to think what liquid filled those bottles..
So Morrisey comes out with a union Jack wrapped around him and was bating the audience a little bit. So what happens some of the bottle throwing turned on him of which he walked off stage red faced and all in a drama so that was the end of that set i think it lasted half way though the second song so maybe 6 minutes in all.
What was very interesting was Aswad was on later and they had the same treatment so the lead singer stops the gig and starts to have a go and explains how the fight isnt about us right here but the battle is else where blah blah but what was really great to see is that they won the audience totally over. The bottle throwing stopped and you could see that the lead singer got so carried away with his speech and overcoming the audience i remember him climbing to the top of a really high speaker that was wobbling from not being balanced. I thought there was going to be a death at one point but good on Aswad for showing how you deal with crowds like that. The whole crowd all really got in to them so big respect.

[Arthur Streeb-Greebling]

Yeah, I was at that gig also. Someone did drown, loads of thefts by Angel's from tents. Saw fights between Angels and when Sabbath were playing, one Angel decided to make space for himself swinging a motorcycle chain. Despite that, great groups eg Stranglers, Marillion, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Thin Lizzy, Suzi Quattro. My first festival and still the best.

I remember SRV but didn’t know who he was. Became a big fan a few years later though.

[Arthur Streeb-Greebling]

My not so good gig experience concerning another band was Guns ‘N’ Roses at Castle Donnington Monsters Of Rock in 1988. Wasn’t a big fan but watched them anyway. Two people were crushed from the crowd surges and died that day during their set. I remember when the lights came on at the end of the night after Iron Maidens set and they made the announcement, there was just total silence from the 100,000+ crowd.

[Palais23]

Yeah, I was at that gig also. Someone did drown, loads of thefts by Angel's from tents. Saw fights between Angels and when Sabbath were playing, one Angel decided to make space for himself swinging a motorcycle chain. Despite that, great groups eg Stranglers, Marillion, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Thin Lizzy, Suzi Quattro. My first festival and still the best.

I remember SRV but didn’t know who he was. Became a big fan a few years later though.

Same here. I then saw him at the Hammersmith Palais where he fell off the stage pissed. A couple of years later he had sobered up and I saw him at the Hammersmith Odeon on his last tour. Best performance was Reading though.

[Arthur Streeb-Greebling]

Yeah, I was at that gig also. Someone did drown, loads of thefts by Angel's from tents. Saw fights between Angels and when Sabbath were playing, one Angel decided to make space for himself swinging a motorcycle chain. Despite that, great groups eg Stranglers, Marillion, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Thin Lizzy, Suzi Quattro. My first festival and still the best.

I remember SRV but didn’t know who he was. Became a big fan a few years later though.

Same here. I then saw him at the Hammersmith Palais where he fell off the stage pissed. A couple of years later he had sobered up and I saw him at the Hammersmith Odeon on his last tour. Best performance was Reading though.

Nice one, wish I’d have seen him again but by the time I became a huge fan he was brown bread. Was a big influence on my guitar playing in the early 90’s and still one of my fave blues guitar players.
I remember reports of his death very well as I think it was around the same time in 1990 when Hugh left The Stranglers.

[gizzard]

This wasn't bad for me but a bit of a bummer for Morrisey fans. I think it was at Milton Keynes or reading but been to lots of festivals so they all blend in to one. Well anyway at this gig it was popular for the left side of the stage to have a throwing bottle fight with the right hand side of the stage (plastic bottles i should add). The bands that played that day just put up with it and the show continued. There really was at times a wall of bottles going left and right and i would hate to think what liquid filled those bottles..
So Morrisey comes out with a union Jack wrapped around him and was bating the audience a little bit. So what happens some of the bottle throwing turned on him of which he walked off stage red faced and all in a drama so that was the end of that set i think it lasted half way though the second song so maybe 6 minutes in all.
What was very interesting was Aswad was on later and they had the same treatment so the lead singer stops the gig and starts to have a go and explains how the fight isnt about us right here but the battle is else where blah blah but what was really great to see is that they won the audience totally over. The bottle throwing stopped and you could see that the lead singer got so carried away with his speech and overcoming the audience i remember him climbing to the top of a really high speaker that was wobbling from not being balanced. I thought there was going to be a death at one point but good on Aswad for showing how you deal with crowds like that. The whole crowd all really got in to them so big respect.

Wasn't this Madstock at Finsbury Park early nineties?
I have the Morrisey set on DVD.