Drunkenness at shows?

[1sttimelongtime]

Ugh at the dublin show some drunken woman tried for like twenty minutes to shove me from my spot at the stage ! I could not believe her. She could barely speak and was falling all over the place. I thought about kicking her legs out from under her and shoving her under the stage but figured she would just pass out or go away which she did.

[golddustdrummer]

Originally Posted by 1sttimelongtime

Ugh at the dublin show some drunken woman tried for like twenty minutes to shove me from my spot at the stage ! I could not believe her. She could barely speak and was falling all over the place. I thought about kicking her legs out from under her and shoving her under the stage but figured she would just pass out or go away which she did.

some drunk lady kept trying to get me to switch places with her at the front of the stage because she had seats that were technically in front of mine. I finally had to tell her she was about a foot taller than me and she could easily see over me. She said "I guess you have a point" and left me alone. Like I'd give up my place at the front of the stage...riiiiiight! and I'm only 5'2", its not like I'm 6'11"

[GODDESS6]

the drunk at the show i mentioned, did not have front row seats~ & bragged how she bullied her way up to the front~ there was no way she was getting my spot~ i don't think i ever wanted to elbow someone in the face so bad~

[LikeAMagnet]

Originally Posted by 1sttimelongtime

Ugh at the dublin show some drunken woman tried for like twenty minutes to shove me from my spot at the stage ! I could not believe her. She could barely speak and was falling all over the place. I thought about kicking her legs out from under her and shoving her under the stage but figured she would just pass out or go away which she did.

So.. the general consensus is that the Dublin show was energetic and the crowd were enthusiastic... but, that could well have been because there was a serious amount of drink flowing.

Wow. Why am I not suprised?

[chiliD]

I dunno, I just think that people today (in general) don't handle alcohol as well as people did 20 (or so) years ago. Seems like the "obnoxious" factor of drunken people is a whole lot higher these days than "back in the 'good ol' days'".

Now, pot smoking...that's different...the "obnoxious" factor is quite a bit lower of stoned folks compared to drunks.

So, in conclusion, I'd rather be in a whole section of stoners than I would drinkers. But, then, that's just me.

[Nikolaj]

I remember some drunks at a couple Say You Will shows I went to- during 'Say Goodbye' at the Bridgeport, CT show, a guy said really loudly: "I love Fleetwood Mac, but this song sucks!"-- Stevie looked very unhappy, because the front rows were unusually rowdy during this quiet song, she let out a sigh and there was sadness in her eyes, but she sang it beautifully. The sigh came right after the guy's comment, so I tend to think she heard him, but who knows. LB was making a speech, I think (?) it was before 'What's The World Coming To'-- i should watch the 'Live In Boston' dvd because the speeches seldomly, if ever, varied. After Lindsey said whatever he said, another wise guy down front, center stage, said 'Ah, Preacher! Speechmaker, Pontificator!' He wasn't nearly as loud so I doubt anyone on stage would have heard him. This was also at the Bridgeport, CT show, quite later in the tour.
Early on, I saw the 2 consecutive nights of the SYW tour in Worcester, Mass. I recall a really, really drunk girl with incredibly bad breath kept talking (too much) to me, and I'd answer politely but tried to keep as quiet as I could, at a loud concert, and she kept being loud, saying how her boyfriend had to work early and wanted to leave. Stupidly, I told her she had to at least stick around for 'Stand Back' and she went into a long, drunken plea to him to stay longer, and they did. Finally, someone behind us said 'No more talking, ok!' and boy, was I relieved. The fans behind us were probably taping or filming the concert, or just wanted to hear the concert blab-free.
For drunk, rowdy fans, though, it wasn't Fleetwood Mac that stands out to me as much as a Cyndi Lauper-Joan Jett double bill in Wallingford, CT right around that same time in the early 2000s. Joan opened and was quite good but the audience was dead, until her last 2 songs. She said "I hope you enjoy Cyndi" and was a total pro, but clearly was disappointed at the crowds reaction to 95% of her set. Then, Cyndi came out, and the crowd suddenly became VERY vocal, which Joan would have loved, but Cyndi did not. By the end of the show, Lauper really, really, totally lost it and threw a fit and refused to finish singing 'Time After Time'. She didn't even introduce her excellent band.
From her first song, Cyndi seemed to have anger over the sound- which was great, but maybe she couldn't hear well. Whatever the situation was, Cyndi was singing incredibly well that night, but she thought the audience was disrespecting her, which wasn't actually the case. One drunk, who Cyndi initially engaged, kept talking to her on the stage, Cyndi said 'ahhh, they changed your medications again''-- it was cute, until a girl yelled at the guy 'Shut up!'-- which Lauper mistook for the girl telling HER to shut up while Lauper was telling a sad tale of what inspired 'True Colors'. Lauper lost it, verbally chastising the poor girl, the drunk guy laughed, knowing it was him who was being told to shut up, not Cyndi, and Lauper misunderstood his laughter, screaming at him, "yeah, well the guy died, yeah, real funny!" and then launched into the song.
Near the end of the concert, Cyn lost it bigtime when she claimed a different, younger girl, blew a spitball up on the stage at her, hitting the dulcimer (?) she was playing, in front of her mic. -- "That's IT!!! I've had it! I'm in no mood for this, let me tell yuhh!" and she stomped offstage, returning about a minute later, eyes filled with enraged tears, and she sang about 2 minutes of 'Hey Now', to end the show. I was in the second row, and I confess I don't know exactly what a spitball is- but all I saw was a paper wrapper of a straw fly up to Cyndi's mic, the drinking straw's paper looked dry to me.
It was all really uncomfortable, because Lauper got totally enraged, I sunk down into my seat and wondered how a performer could be so livid when she was actually being very well received by 99.9 % of the crowd... A friend 'in the biz' told me "that's why Lauper's only just now getting back to be being a headliner"- that there are zillions of stories of her temperment, especially on tour. The 'spitball' girl had desperately sought attention from Cyn during ' I Drove All Night' and Cyndi was either lost in the song or chose not to interact with her, but I still don't think there was any spit, or malice, involved. Maybe the girl (mid 20s) just returned to her seat with a beverage, I think that's all it was.
Sorry for the long message, again, but it shows how Stevie's approach (letting lose with a sigh, sad eyes, and continuing with her performance) has served her career well, compared to Lauper's approach (bawling out 7,000 people for the actions of one or two!) and losing her professional composure. If she'd only kept her cool another 10 minutes, it wouldn't have cast the definite stench it did over her really excellent vocal performance of the night. And ya just don't ball-out an audience...do you?
It's probably been 5 or 6 years now, and I don't think Cyndi's returned to CT, yet.

[Sahara]

In Dublin on Sunday night a middle-aged lady turned up at the front every now and then and roared "Black Magic Woman!" repeatedly before wandering away. After the encore she was crushing up against us, roaring again and interjecting occasionally to tell the other fans at the front"that's their song!"
What, really?

Originally Posted by LikeAMagnet

I dont see why people paid up to 130 euro just to go and get drunk off overpriced alcohol anyway.. I know I wouldn't have a hope of remembering the gig if I was drunk at it (the excitement has made me forget some stuff as it stands!).. And I would definitely spend a lot of the near future kicking myself if I couldn't remember a night like Saturday!

So true!
I hate drunk people.

[portiab44]

Originally Posted by GODDESS6

i copied & pasted this from my omaha 'unleashed' review~

but i have to tell you about the drunk girl~ all the people up front had paid to be there & a few others were let up, it seemed like the 1st 12 rows were let to come up front~

FM sold tickets or did something and they allowed 3 standing rows of people at the stage. If you had a front row seat then you had 3rows of people standing in front of you. It sucked for anyone with decent floor seats. these ppl had special tkts to get up there...does anyone remember what this was? How did they have access to those "special " seats?

[Neal]

I don't think I've ever been to any concert (FM/SN or otherwise) and not had a run-in with drunks.

The only notable one was at one of Stevie's 2005 shows; a guy behind me had his daughter (5, 6 yrs old?) sitting on his shoulders for most of the show and her feet were constantly kicking the back of my shoulders. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and encouraging her to do the same, which I'm typically fine with as I'm not exactly quiet at concerts either. I tried putting up with the kicking since she was a child, but finally shot a dirty look over my shoulder in his direction. Of course this set him off and he had a stream of insults and comments to make for the latter half of the show. I would have responded but tried to be the bigger person for the sake of his kid.

When it came time for the Edge walk, he put her down with his wife/girlfriend and tried to stagger to the stage. I tripped him, stepped over his head and proceeded to get my first handshake from Stevie!

[Villavic]

At the Unleashed tour at Dallas a guy was so drunked that people took him away, he could hardly stand.

When Paul McCartney came to Lima a guy was so drunk even before the show started, that I'm sure he didn't see anything. I didn't see him again when Paul appeared.

Both episodes were at front rows. Both shows started on time or very short delay.

Are we confessing our own sins? Cause I have to admit I'm so ashamed I starred a bad episode few years ago, it was a popular 80s electronic new wave british band, that came to Lima, I had dinner at a grill restaurant and got few glasses of wine. I arrived ok at the show but the band appeared... 3 HOURS LATE. By that time I had some (several?) beers in my head, that made a short circuit in my brain (considering the previous wine) and my behavior was not good. Actually I was so upset, I considered so unrespectful to start 3 hours late (with no apology messages) that I didn't stay at the show.. or they threw me??
I don't justify my behavior with the delay, actually that episode is something I regret.

[CADreaming]

I attended a solo Lindsey show in 2008 and during his "Malibu days" speech, several rowdy fans who had had a few were talking and laughing, making a little fun of him. He looked over at them and said something like, "We spent a lot of years harming ourselves - like some of you are doing now. Why do you do that?" Then, he went back to finish his speech.

[elle]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

I attended a solo Lindsey show in 2008 and during his "Malibu days" speech, several rowdy fans who had had a few were talking and laughing, making a little fun of him. He looked over at them and said something like, "We spent a lot of years harming ourselves - like some of you are doing now. Why do you do that?" Then, he went back to finish his speech.

ha, i've heard that one - it's on youtube i think! i thought it was when he was introducing Neale... and said that he knows him for a long long time, since the days when they "were hurting themselves... like some of you in the back there are doing now" or something like that.

[Macfanforever]

I'm glad I quit the booze dept 25 years ago.I don't like taking peoples freedom away.But.I think they should outright ban booze at all concerts.It for safety sake.Instead of $8 beers make them $15. Lower the soda and water to $2. For $15 they will still probably buy beer.

If a concert goer comes staggering in to the show with his/her ticket after getting plastered tailgating for 2 hours .He/She should get rejected at the door.

Why should this drunk ruin a good show for all of us fans.

At the last couple of Stevie shows I had a group of drunks a couple of rows in front of me.At another show I had a woman beating on my back like a drum while we were in front for the Edge walk.I have no idea if she was drunk or just happy to be up in front.

[sushud82]

I don't know if I've ever been to a FM or Stevie show where people around me were *sober*. The last Stevie show I was at (Toledo, 2011) the lady behind me was "asked" to leave by security then she started arguing/crying and I don't remember what happened (guess it doesn't matter if I drink or not!). She wasn't bothering me personally bc everyone was up and screaming/singing. I could just do without the beer spillage, constant in-and-out to refill/pee, sticky floors. Someone was smoking at that show as well and Lori was really pissed about it.

The Lindsey shows that I've been to have been dry on drunks.

I personally prefer not to partake at FM/related shows. I save that for Tom Petty lawn seats.

I did once find a fresh joint in the bathroom at a Stevie show. That was pretty exciting to a college kid.

Susan

[Macfanforever]

Originally Posted by sushud82

I don't know if I've ever been to a FM or Stevie show where people around me were *sober*. The last Stevie show I was at (Toledo, 2011) the lady behind me was "asked" to leave by security then she started arguing/crying and I don't remember what happened (guess it doesn't matter if I drink or not!). She wasn't bothering me personally bc everyone was up and screaming/singing. I could just do without the beer spillage, constant in-and-out to refill/pee, sticky floors. Someone was smoking at that show as well and Lori was really pissed about it.

The Lindsey shows that I've been to have been dry on drunks.

I personally prefer not to partake at FM/related shows. I save that for Tom Petty lawn seats.

I did once find a fresh joint in the bathroom at a Stevie show. That was pretty exciting to a college kid.

Susan

Yes I was getting alittle annoyed and ticked off at the last Stevie shows .People kept on the run for refills and pee or what ever.They can't stay put.Meantime when its time to run to the stage for the Edgewalk they come unglued when you walk in front of them.

They make those rows so narrow so they can get more seats in the venue.If they dump about 3 to 5 rows and widen between rows for people can remain in their seats while others get up and do their business.