With the Virgin Festival approaching this weekend, we thought we'd take a look at some of the most memorable festival moments that have happened when a bunch of fans go somewhere outside and listen to live music. Some of these are messy, some are crude and there's one that's tragic, but all of these have earned their place in the history of rock for one reason or another.
Radiohead + Baseball = Awesome? (Lollapalooza '08)
Radiohead are well known for putting on absolutely brilliant performances, although when they played in Chicago back in 2004, they got a bit of help from an unexpected source. While playing "Everything In Its Right Place" and "Fake Plastic Trees," some fireworks from what was believed to be a Chicago Cubs baseball game started lighting up the sky. Unbelievably, the pyrotechnics seemed to effortlessly sync up with Radiohead's performance, leaving folks to wonder if MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was branching out into the entertainment business.
Vidya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_7x1lH7y6s
Green Day Take A Mud Bath (Woodstock '94)
Woodstock '94 was a revisit to one of the first musical festivals ever, although it wasn't quite exactly the festival of love that the original was, what with artists like Nine Inch Nails and Red Hot Chili Peppers being headlining acts. Or with Green Day on the roster, for that matter. Still a young punk band learning their way, the lads in Green Day sparked one of the messiest moments in festival history when a piece of sod ended up on stage and the band called attention to it. End result? Half of the field getting ripped up by fans which devolved into a huge mud fight. No one was spared, either: bassist Mike Dirnt wound up absolutely filthy, to the point where that security didn't recognize him and punched him out, breaking his jaw!
Vidya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hRFI436jxo
Everything Goes To Hell With The Stones (Altamont Free Concert '69)
Festival security guards are notoriously known to be dicks, moreso than regular concert guards. No one really knows the reasons why; it could be that they're getting paid to face away from the band in hot weather, or it could be that they have to wear those stupid security shirts regardless of the weather, or it could be that they just hire the surliest people imaginable to work the festivals. But no matter how bad the bouncers are, they can't compare to the Altamont Free Concert's security detail. The Rolling Stones, of all people, decided to arrange the security details for this show. Now, I love Mick and the boys, but I can't help but wonder if placing a group with known chemical substance lover Keith Richards in charge of something important like security was the wisest of ideas. Anyway, The Stones were part of a large concert festival that included other artists like Santana, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Naturally, there needed to be some good folks to work security, so who did the Rolling Stones tap? The Hells Angels. Yeah, the notorious outlaw biker gang was working the festival, who were paid to work the festival in exchange for $500 worth of beer. Things ended somewhat predictably, with the bikers getting rowdy with the fans, attacking them with pool cues or their motorcycles. In one incident, Marty Balin (of Jefferson Airplane) was beaten senseless onstage by one of the bikers.
Vidya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc5ftlnYmt4
My Chemical Romance get "Slayed" (Reading Festival '06)
One of the biggest problems with music festivals is that there is always some sort of schedule problem for people attending: two of your favorite acts are going onstage at the same time, you have to sit through some boring band you've never heard of so that you have good spots for the band you actually want to see, and so on, etc. Well, The Reading Festival had its own scheduling snafu back in 2006, which resulted in one of the festival's greatest bottling incidents of all time. For those who don't know, The Reading Festival has a long history of bottling unpopular acts, which involves throwing as much refuse (generally in the form of plastic water bottles) as possible at the acts in question. Due to one of the most colossally ridiculous scheduling decisions ever made, metal gods Slayer played a set directly before current rock darlings My Chemical Romance took the stage. This would be akin to having Avril Lavigne choosing to have Cannibal Corpse as her opening act. Needless to say, a bunch of jacked up metal fans, having seen one of the best metal acts ever perform, decided to stick around and perform target practice on the Black Parade.
Vidya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO4QsQxcpjk
Rage Against The Machine Bare All (Lollapalooza '93)
Rage Against The Machine have never been ones to shy away from controversy, as anyone who knows even a little about the band would knowis aware. The band has been known to make bold statements, most notably with their impromptu march in Minnesota at the Republican National Convention earlier this week. Back in 1993, though, the band was facing a ton of scrutiny from the Parents Music Resource Center and decided that they would make a statement regarding this in the city of Brotherly Love. Onstage in Philly, the band came out stark naked, with duct tape over their mouths and stood there naked for 15 minutes. Not exactly what you would expect, but the band did make it up to disappointed fans, performing a free gig later on.
Josh Homme Loses His Mind (Norwegian Wood Festival '08)
Music festivals are a great source for spontaneous moments: random incidents happening due to the nature of the event. Sometimes, these events can be absolutely awesome and spontaneous. Other times, unfortunate crap can happen which leads to some unique incidents. Such a thing occurred at the Norwegian Wood Festival earlier this year, when a kid in the crowd threw a shoe at Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. Homme, understandably ticked at someone throwing a friggen shoe at him, flipped out and got the kid tossed from the venue, while letting loose a stream of profanity that would probably have George Carlin spinning in his grave. Homme's comments were also construed as being somewhat homophobic, although he later apologized and recanted for his actions.
Vidya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfZm32tpWY8
Courtney Love Does Her Best Courtney Love Impersonation (Big Day Out '99)
Courtney Love has a notorious reputation for being completely bat shiaatee insane, and her antics at Australia's Big Day Out Festival, which had her competing with folks like Marilyn Manson and Korn on the Crazy-O-Meter, had...well, just take a look and judge for yourself. Keep in mind that this is the "clean" version.
Vidya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1CxZ3wZw-M
Tragic Moments In Denmark (Roskilde Festival '00)
While fests should be all about the music and fun, sometimes some really bad stuff can happen at festivals. This could probably be best exemplified with Pearl Jam's appearance at the Roskslide Festival in 2000. As the band took the stage, fans surged to the front of the stage, unfortunately trampling 9 fans who died as a result of the pressing crowd. Pearl Jam attempted to call attention to what was going on, but by then it was too late. The incident had an profound impact on the band, with Vedder immortalizing those fans who died in the 2002 single "Love Boat Captain."
Vidya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2xo7NoQNfU
Jay-Z Plays Tribute To Oasis (Glastonbury '08)
Probably the greatest things at any sort of live music venue are the surprise songs that artists love to throw out to please the fans. Usually, these sorts of things aren't recorded in the studio, so fans are treated to something truly unique and new when they check their faves out live. Recently, notoriously polite Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher shared his admiration for Jay-Z's body of work in an interview, giving his thoughts on the rapper's appearance at Glastonbury. Hova, apparently flattered by Gallagher's kind words, expressed what he thought of Oasis at the start of his set, giving the fans watching the show a unique treat, as he belted out into a truly amazing rendition of "Wonderwall." Honestly, it is moments like these, where musicians are able to check their egos at the door and have a good time, that make these festivals so goddamn captivating.
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