Strange Things Make Their Way Onto The Stage Sometimes

I love to go to concerts and events. One of the most awesome things that happens, is the adventure!  Sometimes you just never know what is going to happen.  It is so fun to see what people in the crowd come up with, because most times, everyone is having fun and just relaxing.

Concerts to me are a way to enjoy something beautiful, to watch a passion poured out from someone who typically you admire, or else why would you be there watching them, and a way to gather with people who share similar views as you, because they are usually fans!

I can’t say I’ve seen too many odd things thrown on stage, but I have seen a few. Several years ago, June 18, 2005, I went to an event in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin, (yes I remember, because I have the ticket stub.) Several performers were part of the festival, Rick Springfield, Great White, Jack Blades, (w/ Nightranger) & more.  It was a fun night, and a great show, but sadly, there is sometimes that one person who kinda ruins it for everyone.  I guess this would be a, things not to do kinda rant!

Despite the fact that I had fun and enjoyed the performances, I remember the singer of one of the bands had to stop the show at one point, because people were pelting them with objects.  That was probably the worst case of performer abuse I witnessed ever, but thankfully, the crowd listened and they stopped throwing things.  I believe there were some beer bottles that were being tossed.  Talk about dangerous.  I know I’d be a little upset if someone was throwing them at me.

Whoever thought being a rockstar would lead to being attacked like that?  It does happen, thankfully, as I’ve mentioned, I have not seen it too often, and I think around here, people are pretty respectful and just happy to be at the event.

Several large outdoor festivals I have left after they closed out, have ended with wading through at least ankle deep piles of garbage, empty cups, containers, cans, bottles, there really is a pile of junk everywhere in some cases.  It can get crazy sometimes. I suppose, there is ample opportunity to find objects that can be hurled for some reason or another.  But WHY?  I have to wonder why people would want to attack someone for entertaining them.  I haven’t really ran into it too much, other than it being lighthearted and fun.  Rude people who toss objects that actually can harm the entertainer do exist, however, and really it’s just plain not nice.

On the other end, and in a more positive light, sometimes fans bring props, toys, rituals that eventually become kind of fun and entertaining and get incorporated into the shows. Not every object that somehow manages to make its way up to the stage causes harm.  I’ve had some good laughs and great adventures thanks to somebody making some silly poster, or some performer grabbing an object from the crowd and talking about it, you know what I mean!

But, when it turns bad, and sadly, it does sometimes… It falls into the category of… ‘Bottling.’ Wikipedia even has an entire page devoted to this phenomenon.  Bottling refers to the action where an audience of a certain concert throws objects, such as bottles and cans at performers onstage.

Yes, the name comes from empty or full bottles of water, but sometimes they even contain gross things like urine!  Weird items like furniture, mud, fireworks, broken glass and dead animals have also been recorded as being thrown onstage, even items like phones, stuffed animals, babies, people, tshirts, hats, cookies, food, the list is endless!  Some of the performers listed on the Wikipedia bottling page I’ve never even heard of, and perhaps that is why they have objects tossed at them. (Still not nice, LOL ! )

Any child of the 80’s remembers the infamous bat tossed at Ozzy Osbourne.  It was in Des Moines, a bat had either been stuck in the rafters or tossed up towards him by a crazed fan on January 20^th of 1982, and Ozzy, thinking it was a rubber toy, munched on it.  He had to go through a week of rabies shots.  Ozzy also on purpose bit the head off of a dove as a publicity stunt.

Here is a list of some of the weird things/performers/bottling events from history:

• Underwear.  I’ve seen bra’s and panties tossed up on stage before, on several occasions.  I have never understood what the point of that is, but way back in the day of Tom Jones, he really grew a habit of attracting panty tossers. He does not seem to even notice or is numb to it by now, people still do it, he's in his 70's... do you find this a little odd?

I used to know a girl, who would bring a bra and she wrote her phone number and hotel room number in them, and tossed them up on stage, only for the male performers. I am still unsure if she was just being silly, or if she was serious, of if it was her calling card.  I may never know.

She did sport that ‘Meat Dress’ once upon a time, so maybe there was some strange connection?  Or it could be something altogether different.  I don’t really want to know. I don't think the eggs and sausage occurred at the same time, so, it's not like they were enjoying breakfast with Gaga. Yes, you could insert the joke of your liking here also.  Go ahead, I don't mind.

• Rihanna was pelted with salt and vinegar crisps during a show in Manchester.  Snacks.  ?!?  She did start her show about an hour late, so maybe people were mad about that.

• David Bowie had a lollipop hit him in the eye at a show in 2004.
  Read the news report by clicking here.

• Green Day; Mud & Grass. Billie Joe Armstrong turned it into a mutual deal, and a huge mudwar began at Woodstock ’94.

• Kanye West stopped his show during a performance in Dublin, saying, “I ain’t trying to make excuses, but some, [expletive] fan threw a [expletive] coin up here and it threw me all the way off.  He went on to say, pretty much: Don’t throw stuff when I’m performing.

Kim Kardashian was attacked with a bag of flour by a PETA member, it had something to do with her wearing fur.

• The Who’s Roger Daltry was bottled in the arm, with a bottle while performing at Madison Square Garden.  He was not too happy about that, but another Who member, Pete Townshend was joking with the audience that they should throw watches, cameras, credit cards, and their girlfriends up on stage.  He collected $25 in cash, saying he would donate it to Roger’s hospital bill.

I was near a person who got struck in the head with one of the sticks, and lets just say it was not pretty.  Blood was drawn even.  So, even though the performer didn’t intend to cause harm I’m sure, someone got hurt from the other direction.  It does happen.

They have had run-ins with shoes and phones too.  I have seen my share of shoes being tossed on the stage.   Sometimes I wonder if they are tossed by accident, maybe they just accidentally slipped off somebody’s foot, and oh, hey, there they are flying on the stage.  Well, you never know, right?

I still would not trade any of my awesome memories for anything!  I do know, however, that I won’t be tossing any weird things up at someone who is there to entertain me.  No bottling from me will happen!  One has to wonder too, when some of the odd stuff does happen, how did they get past security, in (some cases, especially) ?  What are your thoughts?