Ever had a punch up at your Gig ?

SharkyBait911

Senior Member
I had one the other day and i just wondered if it was common ?

(It was one of the most exciting gigs ive ever done !)
 
Do you mean you personally had a punch up? Or there was one going on while you were playing? Either way I've not experienced any.
 
Yes, I've seen a few. Some bordering on the hysterical given the druken state of the turkeys participating.......no-one got seriously hurt and we were all ROFL, like watching an impromtu 'comedy routine'. Others really quite frightening given the level of violence involved......knives, stabbings, pool cues and bar stools.......vicious indeed.

Even played in a band where the bass player once belted the lead singer before a gig. We did our show as if nothing had happened and they continued it in the car park afterwards......that one was quite funny!
 
at metal gigs? yeah. we've had to stop playing mid-set to stop kids from destroying each other. and yeah if me/friends go to hardcore/metal gigs then there is always fighting. but at normal gigs? nope.
depends on the gig/venue, some places it is totally normal, others it isn't.
 
Most of my gigs are Christian worship. I'd find it hilarious if it happened there.
 
I always say if there's a fight during a gig that's a good night if you or any of your friends don't. get hurt & it not the beginning of the night of course LOL

I look at it like this you don't. see a fight in a empty club & usually in a packed club which means there are people buying drinks & lots of them so the club makes out & when the club owner happy you'll be happy also.

Good clubs know how too deal with fights, when alcohol is involved its just a matter of time & usually they are prepared.

Just have good common sense.

Bonzolead
 
My ex-band opened up for some guys at the Bullet Bar in Camden, they were on tour..based in Manchester and seemed to be about 10 years to late for the Brit Pop era (Not really my thing),
The singer and guitarist start knocking into each other during their set, didn't seem too bad but you could tell it was getting a little personal..
Anyways I was outside loading my bits and bobs into my car and they started having a punch up in and around their van after bursting out of the venue looking they were trying to kill one another. One of them shouted

'You threw a bit of paper at me!'

Which I thought was the most un-rock and roll thing to have a fight about.

That's the closest I've ever had to a punch up, I play for 40+ year olds now so punch ups are very rare.
 
The singer and guitarist start knocking into each other during their set, didn't seem too bad but you could tell it was getting a little personal..
Anyways I was outside loading my bits and bobs into my car and they started having a punch up in and around their van after bursting out of the venue looking they were trying to kill one another. One of them shouted

'You threw a bit of paper at me!'

WHAT PUSSIES!! :)

And what a shame you didn't get a recording of the exchange. It would bring the house down if played at a party for a landmark birthday (40, 50 etc). You'd need a paramedic there to handle possible heart attacks
 
a long time ago when i was still in high school my band played a big house party for literally hundreds of people. we were set up on an indoor balcony overlooking a large living area. we were playing a song when we suddenly noticed that a bunch of guys with instruments were charging up the stairs, apparently about to overthrow us by force! (were we that bad?) a few big guys grabbed onto them and pulled them off the stairs. there was a bit of a brawl and they were thrown out the door. i later heard that they were party crasher musicians!
 
What's the story there, Sharky?

As for me, they don't call me The Terminator for nothing! Ok, they don't call me that at all ...

Haha ok then i shall speak of this wonderful tale,

We were coming to the end of our last set and we were getting into our danciest numbers (kings of leon etc) and there were two groups of drunks dancing and one of the lads knocked another from the the other group and hey started to argue and push and shove etc
THEN
one of the lads pushed on stage and got out lead vocal mike and started to shout abuse at the others...... We just kept playing...... i was worried he was going to come and get my sticks or some thing but he didnt, then they started to push more then the first fists went flying but it stopped when people broke it up but for them moments when it was all going it was great !..... in the end we finished our very extended version of sex on fire and went home !
 
a long time ago when i was still in high school my band played a big house party for literally hundreds of people. we were set up on an indoor balcony overlooking a large living area. we were playing a song when we suddenly noticed that a bunch of guys with instruments were charging up the stairs, apparently about to overthrow us by force! (were we that bad?) a few big guys grabbed onto them and pulled them off the stairs. there was a bit of a brawl and they were thrown out the door. i later heard that they were party crasher musicians!

I swear we were double booked!.......and we calmly left on our own, thank you.
 
Many years ago, hell when I just a kid, really, I was playing in a blues band in North Carolina. We had a Saturday night gig at a bar connected to a motel, a large room with a decent stage. It was your basic southern roadhouse. The clientele were...well, they were rednecks. But they seemed to like us and everyone was drinking and dancing.

Then, during the second set, two of the big-haired ladies who were there got into a fist fight right on the dance floor, no doubt over some feller. Before you knew it, there had to be twenty people engaged in a full-blown free-for-all, right on the dance floor in front of the band. It was a riot situation, man. So the bar-manager decides to break out the tear gas. That's right, he TEAR GASSED the place. Everybody started making for the exit, where the brawl continued outside.

Now tear gas doesn't just make you cry. It stings like a bitch and makes your face go all raw. All you want to do is get away as fast as you can. But we, the band and our girlfriends, didn't dare try to escape with all our gear through the chaos outside, so we huddled on the bandstand, holding wet napkins to our faces. Apparently there was no other way out. Then another fight broke out between a couple of the band-members over why we were even playing there in the first place. This went on until a whole squadron of police arrived and broke everything up.
 
Many years ago, hell when I just a kid, really, I was playing in a blues band in North Carolina. We had a Saturday night gig at a bar connected to a motel, a large room with a decent stage. It was your basic southern roadhouse. The clientele were...well, they were rednecks. But they seemed to like us and everyone was drinking and dancing.

Then, during the second set, two of the big-haired ladies who were there got into a fist fight right on the dance floor, no doubt over some feller. Before you knew it, there had to be twenty people engaged in a full-blown free-for-all, right on the dance floor in front of the band. It was a riot situation, man. So the bar-manager decides to break out the tear gas. That's right, he TEAR GASSED the place. Everybody started making for the exit, where the brawl continued outside.

Now tear gas doesn't just make you cry. It stings like a bitch and makes your face go all raw. All you want to do is get away as fast as you can. But we, the band and our girlfriends, didn't dare try to escape with all our gear through the chaos outside, so we huddled on the bandstand, holding wet napkins to our faces. Apparently there was no other way out. Then another fight broke out between a couple of the band-members over why we were even playing there in the first place. This went on until a whole squadron of police arrived and broke everything up.


thinks to self : i neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed to start a blues band.
 
Haha good story con struct!

Playing in, and going to a lot of metal and hardcore gigs, it means it can get a bit rough. Towards the end of the night if you have a good crowd there will definitely be mosh pits. Although, there are sort of unwritten rules never to take what goes on in that situation personally, however some people do and it can occasionally end in fights and stuff.

At our gig tonight actually there were a gang of skinhead metal types (think Phil Anselmo from Pantera) and they were going crazy! Right at the front of the crowd in our lead singers face punching the air and stuff (I think they may have been the sort to have 'controversial' thoughts on peoples ethnicity). In the midst of all this one skinhead punch in the air but accidently hit my lead singer in the crotch. He wasn't happy. He's got quite a short fuse so I'm surprised he didn't say/do anything. I glad he didn't though because they were pretty big guys.

Hey, I'm a lover, not a fighter!
 
I played at a hardcore/metal show at which people in the pit busted out chains and brass knuckles during the band that played after us. Then, in the midst of the brawl, someone got slammed into a merch table. The table collapsed and the glass tip jar shattered, leaving a nice mix of blood, glass, coins and t-shirts all over the floor. Later on that night someone broke the window with a skateboard.

Another one of our shows we achieved our band goal of having girls fight in the pit while we were playing. Hair was pulled and they were eventually thrown out of the venue.
 
one of the lads pushed on stage and got our lead vocal mike and started to shout abuse at the others...... We just kept playing...... i was worried he was going to come and get my sticks or some thing but he didnt, then they started to push more then the first fists went flying but it stopped when people broke it up but for them moments when it was all going it was great !..... in the end we finished our very extended version of sex on fire and went home !

Would have been awesome if you had recorded the gig - instant cult classic!

Jay, your tale is completely insane. Being stuck in tear gas with your instruments, protected only by wet napkins. I hope you were paid extra for that one!
 
Most fights at my gigs are the result of some lame brain going a bit too far in the moshpit and ensuing retaliation. My bassist (6-4, 340 lbs) and I (5-8, 250 lbs) had to form a scrum-line to protect our PA and effects rack when we ran sound for another band when the edge of the pit came within 5 feet of our gear.
 
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