Really wild and outrageous behaviours

[headiscrowded]

After reading a reposted post about wild and outrageous behaviours in a northern venue during an early 80s tour, I was wondering, could anyone else share any wild and outrageous behaviours that they witnesses or possibly even partook in at gigs. I was not sure where to post this, as maybe it fits best in Stranglers Mk1, but maybe there were really wild and outrageous behaviours in other years and maybe there were really wild and outrageous behaviours at gigs of other bands. So maybe "general other Stuff " is appropriate. I am sure there are some members and lurkers who have great tales to tell. And if you are of the opinion that one area of the UK is/was wilder and more outrageous than the other, also tell about that. But if you are explaining experiences not in the UK, feel free to describe all the wild and outrageous behaviours also. And if you can pinpoint a time in which the behaviours started getting less wild and outrageous, then please explain. TIA.

[ThinkTank]

Really Wild and outrageous i dont think i have any stories that match that description but i will try and tell a few stories that stick in my head.

Wasn't it on the Aural Sculpture tour they had a bloke stripper that dressed to Nice n Sleazy ? I Vaguelly remember something like that going on i think that was at the Dominion in London but most gigs these days blur all in to one so i could have that wrong.

Cliffs Pavilion in Southend, i think it was The Dreamtime tour more banter than wild and outrageous but i will tell it anyway as its a favourite story of mine.
So everytime I saw the Stranglers around London on this tour the fans were all singing "Hes Fat, Hes Round, Hes Worth a Million Pound Jet Black !! Jet Black !!". Spurs fans might be able to remember back in the Paul Gascoign days that fans at football sang the exact same song to him. I knew the song as i had spurs fans that were mates of mine so i was very aware of this song. Hugh obviously wasn't, so he stops the gigs and says something like "Everywhere we play we keep hearing this song being sung what is it that you are singing lets hear you then. So the fans start singing it again for Hugh so JJ getting right in to the fun of it all, grabs a mic from the stand and jumps into the audience and pushes through the crowd and takes the mic to the fans so they can be heard. Then Jet wanting to be apart of all the fun as well starts to drum to the song which then spurred the brass section to start playing some brass to the song . This song then becomes quite a song being sung loudly to music sounding in the venue it was good fun.

JJ returns and the song dies out and the crowd give a big cheer enjoying the fun.
Hugh with all the sarcasm and wit and with a wry smile after all that work says "Is that it ?" in a dismissive way and not impressed.

The Stranglers walking off stage and insisting on the Bouncers being removed from the venue at Hammersmith Odeon on the Feline tour that was great and it felt like i was experiencing my own Xcert Live. Certainly a moment that made that gig the most exciting gig i have ever been at. Band and crowd pumped up and a brilliant set list as well. I think somewhere on here i have talked about it detail ill try and find it if i can.

[headiscrowded]

TY, Tank! Was this in the days when there were no barriers, so JJ could literally just slip downwards into the arms of his many adoring fans rather than performing a leap of faith?

Hugh's response - a great example of "cutting you to the quick". Seriously how nasty.

Jet was worth more than a million pounds to his loved ones.

[ThinkTank]

TY, Tank! Was this in the days when there were no barriers, so JJ could literally just slip downwards into the arms of his many adoring fans rather than performing a leap of faith?

Hugh's response - a great example of "cutting you to the quick". Seriously how nasty.

Jet was worth more than a million pounds to his loved ones.

Yep this is a fairly small place about 2,000 capacity and no barriers back then the audience would be pushed up against the stage. I don't remember any problems for JJ getting into the crowd he just jumped down into it and moved his way over to the singing.

I loved Hugh sarcasm and cutting comments it was all what was expected back then and audiences were always delighted by it. It felt like part of the act and if he never did it on the encores then it was a little disappointing. Encores was always a treat. There is that "Evening With Hugh" which is good fun to listen to on the B side that escapes me for the moment that would be good to hear again i only have got it on Vinyl so haven't listened to that for years and years.

I remember another incident and that was at Finsbury Park when Madness played there and Morrisssey got heckled off stage i think someone threw a full plastic bottle at him. He wrapped this union Jack flag around him as a sarcastic taunt at the skinheads and they took exception and started verbally abusing him and bottles got thrown in which one was a direct hit. Morrissey left the stage and didnt return. I have heard lots of comments on the Internet about that incident which never validated against my memory as most say he did a 45 minute set before he left i dont remember that at all it was more like 4 songs then he left. I was a little disappointed as i was interested in seeing him do his solo work to see what he was like so that was spoilt a bit but it was not as bad as the reports made out to my memory he certainly did not have coins thrown at him like some reports were saying.

Its worth saying also lots of bottle throwing was happening all day and it felt like at the time Morrisey was being a lovey snowflake and made more of it than was needed.

[ThinkTank]

Here it is Crowded although you might have heard it before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3kntB5SvzA

[Homer]

Ally Pally August 1990 ….. during the gig, looked to my right and a lad had a bird bent over and was shagging her from behind …. Asked me if I wanted a go which I declined.
Wife was shocked to say the least

[theraven1979]

Ally Pally August 1990 ….. during the gig, looked to my right and a lad had a bird bent over and was shagging her from behind …. Asked me if I wanted a go which I declined.
Wife was shocked to say the least

That you said no?

Aren't you the one waving a t-shirt above your head throughout?

Jim

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro using Tapatalk

[headiscrowded]

TY, Tank! Was this in the days when there were no barriers, so JJ could literally just slip downwards into the arms of his many adoring fans rather than performing a leap of faith?

Hugh's response - a great example of "cutting you to the quick". Seriously how nasty.

Jet was worth more than a million pounds to his loved ones.

Yep this is a fairly small place about 2,000 capacity and no barriers back then the audience would be pushed up against the stage. I don't remember any problems for JJ getting into the crowd he just jumped down into it and moved his way over to the singing.

I loved Hugh sarcasm and cutting comments it was all what was expected back then and audiences were always delighted by it. It felt like part of the act and if he never did it on the encores then it was a little disappointing. Encores was always a treat. There is that "Evening With Hugh" which is good fun to listen to on the B side that escapes me for the moment that would be good to hear again i only have got it on Vinyl so haven't listened to that for years and years.

I remember another incident and that was at Finsbury Park when Madness played there and Morrisssey got heckled off stage i think someone threw a full plastic bottle at him. He wrapped this union Jack flag around him as a sarcastic taunt at the skinheads and they took exception and started verbally abusing him and bottles got thrown in which one was a direct hit. Morrissey left the stage and didnt return. I have heard lots of comments on the Internet about that incident which never validated against my memory as most say he did a 45 minute set before he left i dont remember that at all it was more like 4 songs then he left. I was a little disappointed as i was interested in seeing him do his solo work to see what he was like so that was spoilt a bit but it was not as bad as the reports made out to my memory he certainly did not have coins thrown at him like some reports were saying.

Its worth saying also lots of bottle throwing was happening all day and it felt like at the time Morrisey was being a lovey snowflake and made more of it than was needed.

Yeah he's a bit of a miseryguts, no?
But glass bottles being thrown is kind of dangerous.

[headiscrowded]

Ally Pally August 1990 ….. during the gig, looked to my right and a lad had a bird bent over and was shagging her from behind …. Asked me if I wanted a go which I declined.
Wife was shocked to say the least

He was seriously just offering her up without her consent? Just a piece of meat ...

How awful. Hope your poor wife got over it. How traumatic.

[ThinkTank]

TY, Tank! Was this in the days when there were no barriers, so JJ could literally just slip downwards into the arms of his many adoring fans rather than performing a leap of faith?

Hugh's response - a great example of "cutting you to the quick". Seriously how nasty.

Jet was worth more than a million pounds to his loved ones.

Yep this is a fairly small place about 2,000 capacity and no barriers back then the audience would be pushed up against the stage. I don't remember any problems for JJ getting into the crowd he just jumped down into it and moved his way over to the singing.

I loved Hugh sarcasm and cutting comments it was all what was expected back then and audiences were always delighted by it. It felt like part of the act and if he never did it on the encores then it was a little disappointing. Encores was always a treat. There is that "Evening With Hugh" which is good fun to listen to on the B side that escapes me for the moment that would be good to hear again i only have got it on Vinyl so haven't listened to that for years and years.

I remember another incident and that was at Finsbury Park when Madness played there and Morrisssey got heckled off stage i think someone threw a full plastic bottle at him. He wrapped this union Jack flag around him as a sarcastic taunt at the skinheads and they took exception and started verbally abusing him and bottles got thrown in which one was a direct hit. Morrissey left the stage and didnt return. I have heard lots of comments on the Internet about that incident which never validated against my memory as most say he did a 45 minute set before he left i dont remember that at all it was more like 4 songs then he left. I was a little disappointed as i was interested in seeing him do his solo work to see what he was like so that was spoilt a bit but it was not as bad as the reports made out to my memory he certainly did not have coins thrown at him like some reports were saying.

Its worth saying also lots of bottle throwing was happening all day and it felt like at the time Morrisey was being a lovey snowflake and made more of it than was needed.

Yeah he's a bit of a miseryguts, no?
But glass bottles being thrown is kind of dangerous.

Plastic

It was a sort of thing that started happening back then at festivals. It was playful bottle throwing in a play war sort of way usually an army worth of bottles being thrown from left and right in parallel to the stage. What is outrageous that there are all these fantastic bands on stage and so many people were not paying attention and more interested in throwing bottles at each other.

I cant remember if it was at this gig or somewhere else like Milton Keynes or Reading where Aswad stopped what they were doing and the lead singer made a very emotional longish speech about how the fight isnt against each other but against others and more important enemies.Then on to this is the time to enjoy yourself through music. Or words to that effect. It might have been at amnesty international so it had relevance. Aswad won the crowds respect people cheered stopped and listened and the bottle throwing stopped and the crowd enjoyed Aswad playing. I think that was a very special moment and a very moving speech.

[droopsnoot]

I cant remember if it was at this gig or somewhere else like Milton Keynes or Reading where Aswad stopped what they were doing and the lead singer made a very emotional longish speech about how the fight isnt against each other but against others and more important enemies.Then on to this is the time to enjoy yourself through music. Or words to that effect. It might have been at amnesty international so it had relevance. Aswad won the crowds respect people cheered stopped and listened and the bottle throwing stopped and the crowd enjoyed Aswad playing. I think that was a very special moment and a very moving speech.

Quite the opposite at Reading 1983. Steel Pulse went on stage and had some bottles thrown at them, they went to the mic after, I think, one song and foolishly said "if anyone throws another bottle at us, we're going off". Cue a load more bottles being thrown, and a very short set. There had been an amount of bottle throwing throughout the day, and going on the colour of the contents of the bottles, and the distance to the toilets, I suspect that I wouldn't want to have been on the receiving end either. I don't really like their music, so it was no loss to me apart from the even longer wait to the next band.

[ThinkTank]

I cant remember if it was at this gig or somewhere else like Milton Keynes or Reading where Aswad stopped what they were doing and the lead singer made a very emotional longish speech about how the fight isnt against each other but against others and more important enemies.Then on to this is the time to enjoy yourself through music. Or words to that effect. It might have been at amnesty international so it had relevance. Aswad won the crowds respect people cheered stopped and listened and the bottle throwing stopped and the crowd enjoyed Aswad playing. I think that was a very special moment and a very moving speech.

Quite the opposite at Reading 1983. Steel Pulse went on stage and had some bottles thrown at them, they went to the mic after, I think, one song and foolishly said "if anyone throws another bottle at us, we're going off". Cue a load more bottles being thrown, and a very short set. There had been an amount of bottle throwing throughout the day, and going on the colour of the contents of the bottles, and the distance to the toilets, I suspect that I wouldn't want to have been on the receiving end either. I don't really like their music, so it was no loss to me apart from the even longer wait to the next band.

What a contrast of reactions i think its how the lead singer of Aswad said pick your enemies carefully Steel Pulse obviously needed to learn that

I think you are right about the yellow liquid and going by the length of queues sometimes at the mobile toilets when a crap band is on just adds to the suspected contents.
I can say i loved the music too much to take part in bottle throwing and i never got hit by one either, although a couple of times some did whizz past high over me but never hit .

Like you with Steel Pulse I wasn't an Aswad fan either although they did gain my respect after that and they put on a very good show and i was left impressed.

I meant to say as well i was gutted i didn't attend that gig i chose not to due to the price of tickets and there was not one other band that i had any desire to see and thought it was going to be a marathon of a wait before the Stranglers came on not to mention the length of drive to get there.

I do remember the Stranglers plug of how they were going to be a lot harder sound and an edge for this gig as it was primary a heavy metal festival. I was then later gutted that they recorded it and made an album from that . but they didn't make the gig any harder than any other live performance they were doing at the time it was all marketing tactics of course.