Ever Been Thrown Out Of A Concert?

[luvlz2]

Just wondering if anybody has ever gotten thrown out of a concert for anything...Share your story with us.

Ok, here's mine; I got kicked out of Iron Maiden for the Seventh Son of the Seventh Son concert in Phoenix. Security was rough back then...I had four joints in my back pocket in a sucrets metal tin, I went to the bathroom and inside someone asked me for a smoke, so I pulled one out to give it to him and then a security guard comes in and sees me handing him a smoke and he was like "Hey"! and he pulled me out of the bathroom and started to search me, for drugs...So he said "empty your pockets"! and when I pulled out the sucrets metal tin the security guard said "let me see that"! (I knew I was going to get thrown out when they seen the joints), so I didn't hand him the metal tin, I was about to, but instead I threw it! And then then the security guard said "stay right here'! and he went to get it, and that's when I bolted(lol). But he caught up with me(he was much bigger than me) and he tackled me. Well, a bigger guy walked right by and seen us and then he jumped the security guard because he thought the bigger guy was bullying me, so that was my break, I was loose and while they started fighting I ran in and found a seat(lol!). But it was intermission the lights were still on and security found me and they pulled me out of the building. They took me and the other guy (who helped me) outside the building and had us against the wall and started pushing us against the wall and said "Do you guys wanna start something now"?! And we didn't of course...and we both got kicked out! I felt bad for the other guys who helped me.

[alinds]

No but I've not been allowed in.

[TypeO]

I climbed the 10 or 12 foot fence around the stadium to get OUT of one once - couldn't find an exit, and I really felt I needed to get out of there.

Paid $12.50 to get in (1978) to see some regional band, Pablo Cruise, Foreigner and Bob Seger, and climbed the fuckin' fence to get out.

VERY long (although pretty entertaining) story, but in fairly simple Cliff's Notes...

Orlando, FLA - Tangerine Bowl (now the Citrus Bowl), late June / early July 1978 (temp in the mid 90s).

4 of us went in together, I had an OZ and we also snuck in a fifth of SoCo (not so difficult back then).

Sitting in the middle of the infield on a blanket, one friend crawls over from talking to a guy on a neighboring blanket to report the guy had blotter acid.

I went over, asked price ($3 / hit - red dots on a thin strip of paper).

I asked if it was good, the guy said it was really good.

I asked how many he was doing, he said 3.

He looked like he was doing OK, so I got 3, friends each got 2.

Of course, it never crossed my mind that just maybe he looked OK because he had JUST taken them...

VERY long story short - within 30-45 minutes (about the time Foreigner went into Double Vision) this shit was coming down on me like 10,000 screaming demons.

Foil balloons were the new thing, and it looked like people were walking around with shiny steel balls floating on the end of a string.

Helicopters overhead and my rather vivid imagination convinced me the concert site was the staging area for some kind of a government experiment, most likely some type of chemical or gas being released by the helicopters and causing us to have multi-colored blotches all over our skin.

Naturally, I had to escape.

Once in the parking lot, my friends took refuge at the parked car we came in, but not me.

I had to get away from this horrible experiment before it was too late.

I made it out to South Orange Blossom Trail, but crossing proved too difficult for my impaired depth perception.

At that point I had convinced myself that the world had actually been unplugged, and I could literally hear the earth's rotation slowing until it came to a complete stop.

Apparently when the earth stops spinning, the sun's rays have increased amounts of radiation, which are visible as tiny lines of black dots coming out of the sky directly into your skin, which also kind of peels away as the black dots hit it.

The best course of action at that point was to hide under a parked car on the side of SOB Trail.

Looking across the pavement at ground level, the road looked like heated plastic bubbles forming and bursting, and there was a constant static-y, electric buzzing noise.

After an indeterminate period of time, I emerged from under the parked car (thank God the owner didn't return and drive off while I was under there!) just in time to see an Orange County Sheriff pulling towards me.

I turned to run towards the side street, but a second OC Sheriff on a motorcycle was already dismounting and coming at me.

They took me down, stuck a thumb about 3 quarters of the way into my neck until I stopped trying to wrestle myself away, and promptly discovered the fat OZ that was only a couple of joints short of being untouched.

I ended up with felony possession (back then, anything over 5 grams was a felony), plus resisting arrest and some kind of public intoxication.

Because I was having trouble communicating the whole government experiment / cover-up conspiracy (not to mention my suspicion that they were in on the whole thing as well), they told my parents I was most likely under the influence of PCP (HA, not THIS time!), and would probably be pretty incoherent the rest of the night.

I sure proved them wrong when I got into the car with my parents and began babbling about the whole experiment.

Bottom line, by the time my parents got me home, I was still peaking, and it was an extremely LONG and freakishly colorful night.

I ended up with the charges dropped in exchange for a loose, unofficial 6-month probation kinda thing, since I hadn't yet turned 18.

Good times.

[Electrophile]

No, I don't do anything that would warrant security asking me to leave the premises. If I spend as much money as I do on a show, I'm not going to be dumb enough to do something that would basically negate me spending the money in the first place.

[luvlz2]

People get kicked out for so many reasons, whether they get caught with something contraband or not.

[Reggie29]

No and I've never been to a concert where I wanted to leave either.

People get thrown out for all sorts of STUPID reasons.

Why put yourself in that situation in the first place after going to all that effort to get there?

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[luvlz2]

My point is you could be sitting in your seat a complete angel, and get punched in the face by the person next to you, and both be kicked out.

[Reggie29]

Funny you should mention that.

I was at a pub one night checking out a couple of bands.

Anyway, this idiot belted me from behind and stupidly I DIDN'T belt him back and we got kicked out for fighting.

It was right at the death and almost closing time so I really didn't miss anything.

[luvlz2]

Funny you should mention that.

I was at a pub one night checking out a couple of bands.

Anyway, this idiot belted me from behind and stupidly I DIDN'T belt him back and we got kicked out for fighting.

It was right at the death and almost closing time so I really didn't miss anything.

Oh no! Lol!

[ally]

I've been carried out of a few

[reswati]

I once got thrown behind the stage for exposing my bare ass to the damned soundmixer during a session we played at.

Don't know if that counts as well....

[luvlz2]

.

Don't know if that counts as well....

Oh yeah, by all means that's a good one! Lol! Thanks for sharing!

[BUCK'EYE' DOC]

I almost got thrown out of the Eric Clapton/ Steve Winwood concert last year, June 2009, in Columbus.

I was videoing "Voodoo Chile" and an usher saw me and told me to come out to the lobby with her. I told her "no", but quit videoing. About 5 minutes later she came back with a male usher, and he practically pulled me out of my seat. Then he told me that videoing wasn't allowed and I needed to erase my memory card. I argued with him and told him to look down on the floor, you could see the cameras of dozens of people videoing, and why was he singleing me out. He said that those people were not in his section, and I was, so if I didn't erase my video then I would have to leave. Because it was at the end of the concert, I thought long and hard about being thrown out just to keep my video. But it would have been embarassing for my family. Also, he said something to me which made me agree to erase the video: that the music and images from the concert were intellectual / creative rights that belonged to the artists, and that by videoing without their permission, I was essentially stealing from them. That made sense to me, as I am very honest and would never steal anything. So I agreed and he watched me erase everything that was videoed. He did allow me to keep the still photos that I had taken.

Just before the first usher confronted me, two guys right behind me had gone out to the lobby. I think that they told on me, that I was videoing, because as soon after they came back in, the female usher came in looking for me in particular. I think that the guys were jealous as I had my really good camera with a 50X zoom lens and I was getting great close up video of Eric, and they could see my video screen since they were sitting right behind me. Then they made the comment when I came back into the concert that I was bold for refusing to go out with the first female usher and asked if I did indeed erase the video.

I also noticed that there weren't many Youtube videos posted of that particular concert, so the security was very strick in general.

Edited to post this amazing video that I found of "Little Wing" from the Columbus concert. I believe that it was the best concert that I have ever attended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L8RBIpFleY&feature=related

[spidersandsnakes]

The worst thing that ever happened to me at any gig was some prick nicked ny ORIGINAL Harley buckle belt after the concert....that DURK!!!!:(

[Jahfin]

Never been thrown out of a concert but I know of a couple of people that have. In both instances (Leon Russell, Jimmy Buffett) the people in question were too drunk. One ended up in jail, the other was simply escorted out of the venue. Which makes me wonder, why even go if you're going to get too fucked up to remember anything?

As for the filming thing, no one ever threatened to kick me out but I ran into a similar thing at Alice Cooper's Theatre of Death show in Durham, NC last year. First of all, it was advertised that no cameras would be allowed. However, when I arrived I couldn't help but notice people everywhere taking pictures. I asked a member of the venue staff if it was ok to go to my car to get my camera and she said, "you better hurry up before he dies again!" (Alice "dies" four times during the production). Upon my return, a member of security stood directly in front of me (sometimes behind me) with his arms crossed, watching my every move. I told him I had permission to take pictures but he insisted I was filming. Meanwhile, concertgoers all around us are shooting video and taking pictures with no consequence. This security person continued to harass me (which is exactly what it was) so I reported him to the venue staff. Still, he would not leave me alone. This was my very first Alice Cooper concert, something I'd waited a lifetime for and here was security guy, taking a huge shit in my cornflakes. Venue management was not at all happy about his behavior and gifted me with a pair of tickets to any concert of my choice.

When it comes to filming/taking photos at a concert, the venue/artist needs to make their policies known well ahead of time and then stick to them. I also don't want to step on toes and if cameras aren't allowed then I won't even bring mine. On the other side of the coin, as long as no flashes are going off and no one is aiming to profit from their photos then I see no harm in it. If someone posts a clip to YouTube it can only help promote the artist in question. Some artists (such as R.E.M. and Pearl Jam) have embraced fan shot videos/photos. During R.E.M.'s last tour they even set up a blog so fans could post videos and photos. With the advent of cellphones you simply can't put a stop to it, like it or not. I recently saw The Black Crowes and they have a strict no camera/no filming policy. Unfortunately this isn't mentioned anywhere on the ticket. However, it did state on the venue's website that cameras were allowed as long as they weren't professional (the designation is if the lens is removable). Having only the venue's info to go by, I brought my camera along, only to be turned away at the door. Once inside, every time someone tried to snap a shot with their cellphones, they were shut down by security. Still, someone managed to film the 10 minute encore, the Crowes covering the Velvet Underground's "Oh, Sweet Nuthin'!"

[Virginia]

No, I've never been thrown out of anyplace before. But I saw a group of well dressed, 50'ish women get thrown out of a Lady Antebellum concert over the summer. They were falling down drunk, and the young people around them were complaining to security. It was very distracting; and interesting explaining that one to my 9-year old (I found the whole scene pretty ironic!)

[BUCK'EYE' DOC]

Hi Jahfin and Virginia ,

I can't understand, either, why someone would get wasted before or during a concert. And those women at your concert, Virginia, weren't setting a good example for the younger fans.

A guy in front of us at Roger Water's The Wall concert was really drunk. On the last song, he turned around to my sons and said something to the effect of "I don't know which one of you is talking (or coughing, we couldn't understand what he was saying), but shut your mouth (or cover your mouth)." The funny thing was, they weren't talking at all, or coughing, for that matter. The people in the row behind us were talking during the entire concert, but it didn't bother us so I don't understand what that guy's problem was. He left before the band exited the stage after the wall came down so we couldn't ask him what he was talking about. But he looked like he was really mad and could have started a fight. He was in his mid 40's and looked like a business man.

Here is a clip of Alex Lifeson of Rush getting harrassed on stage during the Time Machine tour this summer. You can tell that he was getting very agitated and he told the person, a drunk woman I believe, to shut up. I guess that even the band members get hassled by drunks in the audience.

(Another video of the same concert:

)

Edited to say: I did check with the venue before the EC/SW concert and they told me that cameras were allowed, and they did not mention anything about video. Since people on the floor were recording, I thought that it was allowed. My receptionist from my office attended that concert, too, but sat in another section of the arena, and she video recorded several songs of the concert. She said that the usher was standing right behind her and saw her doing it and did not say a word to her. At Them Crooked Vultures concert, I saw a security guard get physical with a woman standing in front of the stage who was taking photos. But it was announced prior to that concert that no photos were allowed, and they were enforcing it. It was announced outside the venue and as you entered. If the policy is made known in advance, then there should be no problelms.

[zeppelinrulz]

no

i nearly got kicked out of mastodon and slayer about 4 years ago

luckily i got some sweet video of slayers set which i bootlegged for some mates of mine and i still have the stub

[Hotplant]

Funny stories.

TypeO, I have a new respect for you. That story was hilarious!

I also think they need to make it clear way before hand about what is and what cannot be. I've hassled with security about that too. I can get down-right bitchy too, especially if I paid a great deal for a good spot.

I've never been kicked out. But I have been plenty stoned. Never ever made an a$$ out of myself though.

Back in the dark ages my girlfriend and I did however get caught trying to sneak in to a show, we "hid" in the restroom and they made us leave, but somehow we got back in.

However, these are Rock shows I'm talking about....not the friggen ballet Nutcracker.

[redrum]

Never kicked out of a concert but a movie theater when I was about 10 or so. They used to show newsreels then and when they showed Khruschev my friend Jim yelled out 'PIG!' and the usher kicked us out before the movie started. It was a Friday night and we didn't know what to do with ourselves after that.

[redrum]

They took me and the other guy (who helped me) outside the building and had us against the wall and started pushing us against the wall and said "Do you guys wanna start something now"?!

I remember one night outside Winterland on Post St. when the so-called 'security' guards were just beating up on people for no reason. Of course most of the concert goers were hippie types and none stood up against the fuckin' pricks (myself included)

[luvlz2]

Never kicked out of a concert but a movie theater when I was about 10 or so. They used to show newsreels then and when they showed Khruschev my friend Jim yelled out 'PIG!' and the usher kicked us out before the movie started. It was a Friday night and we didn't know what to do with ourselves after that.

Funny!

[luvlz2]

I remember one night outside Winterland on Post St. when the so-called 'security' guards were just beating up on people for no reason. Of course most of the concert goers were hippie types and none stood up against the fuckin' pricks (myself included)

The bouncers must have been making a good commision on each person's butt they kicked I bet, That used to be normal, and if you were asked for your camera and gave the slightest refusal(or made a face that lasted longer than one second in refusal), you'd get put in a headlock for your equipment and immediately kicked out. Ah, the good old days...

[TypeO]

Funny stories.

TypeO, I have a new respect for you. That story was hilarious!

lulz.

Not making any broad assumptions here, but most people who find that story funny can relate, if you get my drift.

There's something about shared experience that really drives home the lulz.

I remember my older brother relating an acid trip once, and I literally had tears in my eyes as I could truly picture the different situations he described.

Good stuff.

[Kiwi_Zep_Fan87]

As far as I know, nope.