What was the scariest stage fright moment you have ever had?
Ken Tamplin
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Mine was a gnarley German guy in a bullfight arena in the south of Spain with this huge German guy shouting expletives that he was going to kill me. (we were billing with a hard core death metal band and he was their fan)
I invited "Heinz" on stage and said "so you think you're tough? Let's see how tough you really are, and introduced him to the 5,000 person audience and said ladies and gentlemen...Heinz...handed him the microphone and walked off stage leaving him alone in front of all those people. He freaked out...did a killer stage dive and we won over the audience. :-)
I said "Let hear it for Heinz...and the audience went crazy ... (man I thought I was dead ha ha)
What is your scariest moment? :-)
Comments
I'll write about two of them, the first one wasn't my fault, but I think maybe some of us have suffered that kind of technical issues.... I was invited to a concert, it was a gig organized by someone I knew for several years, so he found out I had a record and my own songs so he invited me to play, at first it seemed nice to have that kind of experience, I had sung in bug stages before, but this one was my first with my own music, so I go early to sound check and I knew the sound guy from another event I was helping as a staff member, so I did the sound check played both my guitar, sung and had my backing tracks ready, then some of the orginizers ask me to sing some acustic covers so the event starts, so I borrowed the other band's guitar, and did it totally for being a nice guy, ... so the terrible happened hahaha
I get out there, and they were so badly organized they never opened the acoustic or electric guitar, then started playing my backing tracks from a couple second late, never gave me monitor, and I was standing there, in the middle of a bg stage, in front of around 2000 people, without really hearing myself, they finally got me a microphone, to sing, hahaha and I took control of the situation, and sung my songs and owned the moment....
But I was sooooooo angry, nervous, confused and shamed, that walked out of that place just after I finished performing...
The cool part is that, like it sometimes happen, several people contacted me afterwards and told me they loved my performance, and that although it was obvious they were sabotaging my perfon¿rmance I was able to connect with the audience.
And the most important lesson I lerned there was.... ALWAYS ASK A FRIEND TO BE YOUR SOUND GUY hahahaha
The second one, I was asked to play at a church, when I was traveling, and they provided musicians for me, so normally I'd go alone and do it, and playing it safe.... so this friend of mine that was tyhe one inviting me, tells me that he brought them here and almost assured me they would be awesome....
so we started and it was a mess... hahaha so from the desperation trying to get them to follow my lead and get the song together, I moved and accidently hit the microphone with my guitar and it fell to the ground hahahaha the audience was silent..... but musicians realized they were playing in the wrong key afterward (although I had previously told them all the indications) sooo... hahaha it WAS EMBARRASING... so I just took a deep breath and picked up the micrphone, and started over from where I left, but just my guitar and vocals.....
so that day I lerned always bring friends to play with you, or go solo HAHAHA
The good thing I was invited again and brought my friend to play, and we played very cool. so that's something I love from live playing, you can always grow from both good and bad performances
(SORRY IF I WROTE TOO MUCH) thanks for reading
It was an important gig, the band was tight, and we had really good material, but on this night something was just off. I was feeling very nervous which was unusual because I'm a ham.
It's showtime, all of a sudden the other guitarist bolts for the restroom, and I look at the drummer, and his lips are trembling. I'm thinking to myself, this is it, we're done for. Everybody collects themselves, and we make our way to the stage. I put my foot up on the stage, and realize that I can't lift myself up. I'm really worrying at this point. What the heck is going on!? This never happens.
So we make it up there, the lights are off, and the drummer hits the hi hat four count, and BAM!
We tear into Just What The Doctor Orderd, and we rocked that place all night. It was beautiful.
Peace, Tony
Then there was one time during my college time, I went to an event called 'band matching' and I was forced to go on stage and sing in front of hundreds of people as a vocalist. At first, I felt horrifying because I never went up on stage and sing for my whole life. But then, I forced myself to imagine the hall was empty and eventually I did it.
It was really a great experience.
I pass my iPhone with the backing track to the Soundman, and take the stage. Gilby Clarke dials in a decent George Lynch tone for me, and I confidently start playing "Wicked Sensation" by the Lynch Mob.
Of course the backing track is too low and I keep losing the groove of it, and suddenly my breathing goes all shallow and weird. I wish I had copped a squat on a nearby stool as my legs started to feel weak... but this was literally the first and last time (to date) that this has ever happened to that degree.
I guess I was star struck, as I had never played in front of a front row filled with A-List rock stars.
I played with my band at a major town celebration, and was totally fine.
Not my finest hour, but I am proud that I stuck with it and finished the song. I learned allot that day
I just said my line but I smiled through the whole part and laughed afterwards.
Rogue
Well we were supposed to play at huge conference here in Switzerland at a Ü18-lounge which was a big deal for us since it is hard to get a slot there. Unfortunately I had dealt with a cold the previous week and couldn't speak more than 3 words let alone singing. I was afraid to hurt my voice and to fail my friends (band).
Nonetheless we had a very strong feeling to go and have a try. Driving to the conference we were joking around, since that's what we do when we're nervous, saying I should growl the lyrics and we turn our songs spontaneously into metal hymns. That wasn't really helpful.
And there I stood in front of a huge crowed, having an overdose of cough sirup, unsure if I can sing a note. I have never been more nervous and have never been since.
However, we didn't mutate into a heavy metal band. I reached the peaks without strain and sang the full set. Thanks to God who still does miracles.
stagefright - I guess is a bit like putting your head in the lions mouth and finding out what happens. I once did karoke but I found the attention hard to deal with .
Human Robot