1 January

Pick a Day

Music History Events: Fan Problems

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February 17, 2015 "Because I Got High" singer Afroman is arrested for assault after punching a female fan who attempts to dance with him on stage at a show in Biloxi, Mississippi. Afroman, who doesn't see the woman until he turns around to clock her, blames his anxiety and says that he hadn't had time to take his meds when he went on stage.More

February 28, 2012 Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump makes a blog post titled "We Liked You Better Fat: Confessions of a Pariah" where he writes about hitting a low point with a failed solo album and taunts from audience members. The post prompts FOB bass player Pete Wentz to contact Stump, and they get the band back together, staging a triumphant comeback with their 2013 album Save Rock and Roll and the hit "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)."More

June 3, 2007 During a gig in New York, a fan throws something at Akon during his set. The singer brings the offender on stage, picks him up and hurls him into the crowd.More

October 9, 2006 During a concert at Madison Square Garden, Barbra Streisand makes some disparaging remarks about President Bush. An audience member yells, "What is this, a fund raiser?" and Streisand stuns the crowd with her retort: "Why don't you shut the f--k up."

December 23, 1999 Cristin Keleher, an unemployed musician in Hawaii, breaks into George Harrison's Maui home and makes herself at home, ordering pizza, drinking root beer, doing laundry, and calling her mother before authorities arrive to arrest her. She is eventually charged with breaking and entering and theft, and serves four months. "I thought I had a psychic connection with George," she says.

March 6, 1998 Liam Gallagher of Oasis headbutts 19-year-old British fan Benjamin Jones, breaking his nose. The incident takes place in Brisbane outside of the singer's hotel. Gallagher is charged with assault, but Jones later drops the case and pursues civil charges.

June 17, 1997 When Ozzy's voice gives out before the Ozzfest date in Columbus, Ohio, he doesn't appear but the show goes on without him. Fans, who aren't told until later that he won't be there, don't take the news well and trash the venue.More

February 23, 1997 During a show at the The London Astoria, Tool's lead singer Maynard James Keenan - an army veteran and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner - floors a fan who comes onstage and keeps him in a choke hold. He continues to sing "Pushit" while detaining the fan.More

October 11, 1981 Opening a show for The Rolling Stones at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Prince gets booed off the stage. The Stones have good intentions in bringing in a rising star, but his act isn't a good fit for this crowd, and when he opens his trench coat to reveal bikini briefs, it gets ugly. Prince never again performs as an opening act.

October 10, 1977 An audience member throws an M-80 firecracker on stage at an Aerosmith show at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The explosion injures lead singer Steven Tyler's cornea and guitarist Joe Perry's hand. The next year, Tyler is hit in the face with a bottle when they play the arena.

July 6, 1977 Performing at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on the final stop of Pink Floyd's first stadium tour, Roger Waters spits on an unruly fan and excoriates the crowd for setting off fireworks. The experience inspires their next album, The Wall.More

May 26, 1974 An overenthusiastic crowd at a David Cassidy concert in London rushes the stage, injuring a thousand screaming fans and crushing 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, who dies from her injuries four days later. A distraught Cassidy refuses to tour for the next 11 years.

March 24, 1973 A fan shouting "Leather!" jumps on stage and bites Lou Reed in the butt during a concert in Buffalo. The fan is ejected and Reed is left with a sore posterior.

September 15, 1969 Before taking the stage with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at the The Big Sur Folk Festival in California, Stephen Stills gets in a sloppy fistfight with a heckler railing them for their profligate lifestyle. The festival is raising funds for Joan Baez' Institute For The Study Of Nonviolence.

April 2, 1967 An overzealous audience member throws a smoke bomb onto the stage at The Rolling Stones concert at the Town Hall in Vienna, Austria, leading to a riot and the arrest of 154 fans.

May 17, 1966 Bob Dylan, who had recently "gone electric" and added rock and roll instruments to his folk music, appears at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Just before he begins a version of his latest hit, "Like A Rolling Stone," a member of the audience, a folk purist angry at the move to rock, shouts out, "Judas!" Dylan responds with, "I don't believe you," adding, "You're a liar!" He then proceeds to tell the band to play the song "f--king loud."

May 3, 1958 The popular disc jockey Alan Freed hosts a rock concert at the Boston Arena (a hockey rink) that does not go well. The city doesn't host another rock concert until 1964.More

September 29, 2009 After throwing wads of cash ("making it rain") on Pitbull at his gig in Aspen, Colorado, a fan receives a haymaker punch to the jaw from the singer.More

September 7, 2008 While performing the song "Morning Glory" at the V Festival in Toronto, Noel Gallagher of Oasis is attacked by a concert-goer who rushes the stage and pushes him into his monitor. The band continues the show, but Gallagher is taken to a hospital that night to treat injuries to his ribs. He suffers a fractured rib and ligament damage, which forces the cancellation of several Oasis concerts.

June 19, 2004 An audience member hurls a lollipop on stage while David Bowie is performing in Oslo, Norway. The lollipop wedges itself in David Bowie's left eye (which already has an enlarged and frozen pupil following a childhood fight). Bowie halts the concert to remove the lollipop. Luckily, he escapes serious injury.

May 8, 2001 The road manager for Insane Clown Posse is arrested at an Omaha show for attacking an Eminem supporter who was tossing M&M candies on stage to taunt ICP about their Detroit rival.

December 18, 1981 On his 38th birthday, Keith Richards is playing with The Rolling Stones at a show in Hampton, Virginia, when a fan rushes the stage. Keith sees him coming and hits him with his guitar. As security intervenes, Richards straps his guitar back on and continues playing.More

May 20, 1980 The Clash concert in Hamburg, West Germany is plagued by crowd violence. When Joe Strummer smashes one particularly bellicose fan over the head with his guitar, Strummer is arrested, but cleared after a test proves he was not drinking.

November 25, 1978 Playing The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler is hit in the face with a bottle thrown from the audience. The band leaves the stage and the show is cancelled after Joe Perry tells the crowd, "We love you, but you can't throw things at us." A firecracker was thrown on stage during an Aerosmith show the previous year.

October 24, 1975 Barry Manilow's glasses are broken by the crowd as he rushes to his limo after a concert in Chicago.

May 29, 1975 The Osmonds' appearance at Wembley Pool in London sets off a riot amongst fans.

May 18, 1975 The Bay City Rollers appear at BBC Radio "Fun Day" at the Mallory Park racetrack in Leicestershire, England, where they are set to perform on an island in the middle of a lake. When throngs of fans try to swim to the Rollers, mayhem ensues and they never get to perform.

May 13, 1974 An unlikely riot occurs at tonight's Jackson 5 concert at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC when impatient fans begin smashing bottles in the parking lot. 50 fans are injured; 43 are brought to jail.

April 25, 1974 The streaking fad hits its peak as Rolling Stone reports that Yes and Gregg Allman concerts have been interrupted by naked people running around the venues.

February 18, 1973 At Elvis Presley's concert in Las Vegas, four men climb on stage and try to shake his hand. They are quickly thwarted by security and Elvis' bass player Jerry Scheff. Elvis tells the crowd, "Immobilize the men using karate moves." No charges are filed. Elvis tells the audience: "I'm sorry I didn't break his goddamned neck, is what I'm sorry about."

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