Lame/inappropriate/stupid stage-diving stories...

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...share your experiences!

Tonight, for instance, I saw the Black Heart Procession (very nice) open for the Melvins (fucking godlike). During one of them Melvins explosion of Monster God Riffs, a feller snuck on the stage to do his dive. The musical setting was right, but this guy was an idiot. Having run across the stage, he then takes flight towards the spot down front where there are the least amount of people anyway. Logically they all flee away from him in what my friend Jill, watching from the seats, described as a 'parting of the Red Sea' moment. It perhaps only further occurred to this specimen as he hurtled towards the floor that maybe he also shouldn't have been aiming directly towards the low 3 ft. barrier separating the pit from the seats -- and as it is, he slams into the juncture of barrier and floor at a near-perfect 45 degree angle.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Guy was knocked flat out cold for about two minutes but was revived without immediate apparent bleeding or anything, then hauled off by security, who perhaps in this case would be very justified in a beating.

Topping it all off was the fact that the Melvins, either unaware of the incident or used to it all by now, kept on playing without a break.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

At some gig... Actually local band had already left. So had most people. Two friends decided to stagedive. On top of eachother. Until one decided, while his friend was in mid air, he had enuff. He walked away. Friend fell on floor. Stood up. Popped a few pills. Climbed the air around him. All was well.

― nathalie, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey Ned - I saw the Melvins open for Rage Against the Machine. Just thought I'd share that fact to incite you.

― bnw, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

whispers Don't make Ned mad or he'll take away your membership card for his fan clun!

normal voiceI saw the Melvins 10 years ago at the Great American Music Hall with Beat Happening (who were pretty good) and Unwound (who were not). It was my first show and the Melvins ruled! No one stage-dived though so I guess this was kind of a lame/inappropriate story to tell. Sorry.

― Alex in SF, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Two words to inspire fear - 'Poison Idea'

― dave q, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw the wildly overrated My Bloody Valentine once. I remember that during what was I think supposed to be their really extended noisey song that induces flashbacks and makes everyone weep, some guy with a floppy sort of mohawk dove off the stage over and over again, taking a bow almost each time and drawing attention to himself. It kind of undermined the supposedly devastating power of this song I had read about in an MBV interview, but it also made him look like a chump. He kind of reminded me of a Dr. Seuss creature of some sort.

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

When the Fugees came to Dublin on the "Score" tour, they were the first band to play the Point Depot since a girl had been killed at the Smashing Pumpkins gig due to moshing and overcrowding.

Midway through the gig Wyclef decides to jump into the crowd. Fugees are banned from Ireland FOREVER.

― Ronan, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw Iggy Pop a few years ago... Iggy did the stage diving - but he chose to dive into a crowd of high school girls. (That sounds like Iggy, dunnit?) But the high school girls were squeamish about catching all 110 pounds of sweaty Iggy, so they "parted the Red Sea" as the term has come to be known. If it had been floor, Iggy would have done alright I guess - but there were seats down there. So he landed on the back of a few seats.

Not looking real good, Iggy climbed back on stage - white as a (don't want to say ghost - everyone says ghost) ..um, ok, ghost. Not only that, but his left arm is about 4 inches longer than his right arm. A roadie came out to try to shove Iggy's arm back into his shoulder. Iggy looked like he was about to pass out. The roadie carried him offstage. Show over. The band throws their equipment down and leaves. I think they had played 4 songs.

It was "Down on the Street" they were playing when it all happened. Perfect.

I heard that at the next show, Iggy's left arm was duct(gaffers) taped to his torso.

Fuckin' high school girls.

― Dave225, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

There are few things more tragic than some old hardcore fan (i.e. Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Black Flag, etc.) reminiscing about the days when stage-diving/slamming/etc. "meant something, man!" But, here comes tragedy. I think I bid adieu to said rituals when they stopped seeming at all appropriate to the proceedings -- I remember going to see Fishbone at the since-torn-down Academy off Times Square, and people were "moshing" around and stage-diving *BETWEEN* songs. So much for it being a "reaction" to to the music, let alone any semblance of a "dance." Also, seeing people "mosh" at a Violent Femmes show (they're acoustic, for chrissakes) and during the weepy, syruppy ballads at a Mission UK show (I know, I know....what was I doing there in the first place?) really pounded the nails in the coffin. If anyone's seen the video for that pin-up poster band Adema wherein the lead singer stage-dives into a crowd of waifish models, that should be evidence enough that it's old and over and meaningless now.

― Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Did the wording of this thread's subject change slightly since earlier this morning or am I imagining things? (In which case, give me some of what I'm on.)

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 10 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the wildly overrated My Bloody Valentine

Hehe.

― Sean, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I was at a Neds Atomic Dustbin show and some fella, bare ass naked mind you...decided to get up on stage during "Kill Your Television" and dive. The red sea parted and he landed smack dab on his naked genitalia. Neds stopped the song and made some humerous remark. THe naked guy was hauled off by the local constables.

― Poops McGee, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hehe.

Those words were said, Sean, yet I could not read them. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Swervedriver, Princess Charlotte in Leicester, Easter 1991. The post- gig rumour was: broken neck and paralysis. It didn't look that bad to me.

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1/ The Dickies some years ago, this punx0r got up on stage, went to thee back, took a ru, and did a truly impressive leap into thee crowd, who cleverly got the hell out ov the way. You could feel the impact thru the floor.

2/ A grunge gig a similar number ov years ago, I think it was Mudhoney's 2nd time in Newcastle. Someone stagedived, and landed on a friends head, hurting him quite badly. I turned round & saw this guy on the ground, with another friend repeatedly booting him. It looked like a scene from "Locas Tambien". During the same gig, this older guy in a black coat (IIRC) kept diving again & again & again. It was really annoying - Who was it? Well, a name melody maker journo who occasionally appears on this forum was suggested, and the resemblance was quite striking as I remember. Was it you Jerry?

3/ G.W.A.R. a little later. Someone tried to climb onstage, and the one who looked like a roman centurion...er...(googles)...."Beefcake the Mighty" it sez here...picked this guy up with one hand, swung him over, crane stylee, and dumped him back into the crowd. Very impressive
I'd have to say that I think stagediving is k-lame, & has ruined a couple of otherwise great gigs for me, so fukc stagedivers.

― Norman Phay, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

About fifteen years ago, I attended an all-ages show by some local hardcore band. I've forgotten everything about the show (like the band's name)...except for this one incident. One guy jumped up to do a stagedive, and his shorts fell off. That wouldn't have been too notable, except for the fact that he had had a partual erection that turned into a full one seconds after his shorts hit the ground. When he dove, everyone "parted the red sea," as folks here put it, and he hit the ground. (Luckily, the stage was only two feet high.)

― Christine "Green Leafy Dragon" Indigo, Thursday, 11 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the height of "everybody must mosh" idiocy was the mid-90s, when folks (in Minneapolis at least) would fucking stage-dive/mosh to goddamned near ANYTHING. most egregious example ever (and not a SD- story, just a mosh one--sorry Ned): Liz Phair at First Avenue, '94. oh my god do NOT do that at that show! fuck!

― M Matos, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

More tales of derring-do please.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 13:25 (nineteen years ago)

Most recently at a Young Gods concert at the Barfly in London (a tiny venue, why did they play there?) one guy gets up and performs the classic 'red-sea' manoeuvre, despite the thunderous din of TYG in full flight and my proximity to him (about 20 feet) I still felt the thud of his anding on the floor though my feet. Franz and Al were laughing their tits off at the poor feller.

― mzui (mzui), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

Fugazi, Exeter University Lemongrove, about three years ago.

Some sap decided to crowdsurf. I can only assume that he wasn't aware of the band's reputation or that of their fans either. It was like the Red Sea + Moses. Landed on his head, blood everywhere, unconscious for a few minutes, dragged out by his ankle with one shoe missing.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

Thurston Moore, drunk and giggling, dove off a stage directly over my head in 1990. I feared being landed on and flattened by 6'6" of shitfaced dude but luckily his velocity at takeoff carried him well into the densely packed crowd. Altogether not the most focused and intense show of SY's career, but much fun was had by all.

― xero (xero), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

When Urban Dance Squad played DNA in San Francisco (1990), I kept stage diving over & over, and decided to get brazen by doing the patented back flip into the crowd. By that time, though, they we're all thinking "Oh here comes this guy", and the red sea thing happened and I fell flat on my back. It hurt. It was a deeper shade of stupid.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, my deep shame can be revealed: In high school, I went to more than a couple Insane Clown Posse shows (I'm even in one of their videos). So, I'm at the show, and I must have been looking at something else, because everyone else steps away right as I look up, and there's Violent J (the fat one) coming down right on top of me. I cushion his fall, but torque my neck to the point where I can't move it for like the next three days.
It did put me off of seeing them for life, so I guess that's a plus.

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

These are great.

Someone must have some Tad stories?

― mzui (mzui), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

I don't have a stage diving tale for you, but have one that'll bring tears to your eyes (it did for me). I saw a surf punk band at the harp club in New Cross, SE London, about 20 yrs ago. The slam dancing was getting pretty manic, the management panicked and pulled the plug. Next thing someone let off a teargas cannister and a full scale riot ensued, with angry fans breaking off iron bars from the windows and hurling them at the bouncers. Me and my mate legged it down the backstairs, where the band (Rumblefish???) were fleeing with their gear. happy daze!

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Wednesday, 1 February 2006 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

Re: Tad. I saw Tad rolling himself onto the crowd at the QMU in Glasgow. But he did it VERY carefully and slow enough that lots of people rushed over to help out, so it wasn't particularly heroic.

― everything, Wednesday, 1 February 2006 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

How about good stage-diving stories ? Don't want to start the appropriate thread, yes I did search for it, anyway there's enough contrarians here to find it K-LAME. Good luck though because

picture the mighty Naked City playing on a seashell-shaped stage built over Lake Geneva in Switzerland, with the audience sitting lakeside about 100 feet away. A narrow pier connects the shore to the right side of the stage. So a few dozen audience members (most of them in swimming gear already) took "stage-diving" to its logical conclusion.

― blunt (blunt), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

Someone stuck their hand down the front of my pants when I stage dove at a Tool show in Kalamazoo, but I'm not sure how intentional it was...

― js (honestengine), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

I was at a show once where a guy wearing a helmet climbed onstage, pulled out one of those metal NO PARKING signs, and proceed to jump into the crowd like he was about to go sledding. Thank God I was in the balcony.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

http://youtube.com/w/Nirvana-Concert-Fight?v=5TCWphkkswY
Onstage bouncer not impressed by Kurt's antics, nearly gets lynched

― blunt (blunt), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

Fugazi+Silverfish, London 1990-ish. Absolutely continuous stream of stagedivers during Silverfish (i.e. jump into pit, extract self, leg it to side of stage, up stairs, jump into pit, repeat). You can imagine what happened the first time someone tried it about fourteen seconds into Fugazi's first song.

Nirvana, Birmingham 1992 - during "Floyd The Barber", some guy offf the top of the speaker stacks ... parting of the Red Sea - crunch. Way to go (to hospital) my friend.

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 21:16 (nineteen years ago)

with the audience sitting lakeside about 100 feet away. A narrow pier connects the shore to the right side of the stage. So a few dozen audience members (most of them in swimming gear already) took "stage-diving" to its logical conclusion.

Cue the stories of people 'doing' the lake at Crystal Palace Bowl. Notable one during Ride at the Pixies show in 91, when he realised half way across that it was shallow enough to stand up, did so, slipped and promptly disappeared underwater again with a mighty splash. Good audience reaction.

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

Not stage diving exactly but when I saw Nirvana/Breeders/Melvins I was pretty far at front and at one point this teenage girl was floating on the crowd and guys were tearing her shirt off while she screamed. Me and this other dude pulled her down and led her out of the mosh pit and then Nirvana stopped playing because Cobain saw what was going on. He freaked out and enouraged people to beat the shit out of anyone involved in assaulting this girl and the kids around me started looking around for someone to hit. Very ugly scene. They started playing again and then stopped a couple times more b/c the band was so upset by it. This was 4 or 5 months before he killed himself.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

I was at Lollapalooza in 1992 in Chicago. Pearl Jam was playing in the mid afternoon and invited everyone from the lawn to come up to the front of the huge amphitheater type place, where we had actual seat tickets. It was packed, there were permanently affixed seats, and Eddie Vedder jumped into the crowd. The crowd was not expecting this and the seats caused eveyone to be stuck where they were, so my friend was buried under a huge mass of people for like ten minutes and seriously thought he was going to die.

After their set ended, he crawled out of the pile, red, shaking, hair all fucked up, torn shirt, totally wild-eyed and freaked out, ready to kill Eddie Vedder. As we walked away to get water, some bimbo-ish high school girls asked if he had hits of acid for sale to which he, a illicit drug teetotaler, replied "no, that stuff is bad for you". They looked confused.

It didn't really suprise me when nine people died at a Pearl Jam show in 2000, based on what happened to us.

― joygoat (joygoat), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

one of my faves. local hardcore band's reunion show, so a sold out crow at a decent club. stage was a nice level, about 4 feeth high. one of the jockish dudes climbs up on stage, does some quick crazy gyrations to get pumped, runs and takes off. unfortunately he was too busy looking at the crowd, and didn't look straight ahead of him. he leapt up, nice and high, and slammed full speed into the giant hanging pa speaker...fell like a sack of potatoes into the parted seas.

― wolves (wolves), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

Franz and Al were laughing their tits off at the poor feller

I read this as 'floor peeler'.

― superultramega (superultramarinated), Thursday, 2 February 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

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