Home SHOW TIME - Band Rehearsals and Performance Day!!!

What was the scariest stage fright moment you have ever had?

Ken TamplinKen Tamplin Administrator, Moderator Posts: 446
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

  • @Ken Tamplin

    Well, I remember I was 18 and many delusions of grandeur in local festival.

    I knew nothing of singing and art and my promise was to make them dance to smoke on the water deep purple.

    My mind was creating distortion, do not ask me how, but he did.

    The thing is that it was very windy. It was a place outdoors. I was not listening by monitors and my ego kept asking the man reverb console. I stormed off.

    Finally we played one minute because the wind increased, all angry and my reverb never came.
  • RawDreeGoRawDreeGo Pro, 2.0 PRO Posts: 77
    I have the weird blessing for performing since I was 11, so I don't have a story for stage fright, but a lot of embarrasing moments haha

    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 ;)
  • KevinGremKevinGrem Pro Posts: 217
    I used to have stage fright as a young drummer playing in the school bands. I eventually overcame that. Then I starting singing karaoke and I always was drinking when I did that so stage fright was never an issue there. I still drink before some performances to help ease the nerves. But I don't need it actually; I didn't drink anything at my last show. It was really small though, so I didn't feel any pressure.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,111
    I usually don't share my shortcomings or pitfalls, but this was probably the worst, and best gig I ever did.
    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
  • Verginia_gohVerginia_goh Member Posts: 1
    I had stage fright when I was a little girl. I love to sing but I don't have the guts to sing on stage.

    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.
  • Furious_PhilFurious_Phil Moderator, Pro, 2.0 PRO, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 1,421
    At a recent guitarist, songwriter symposium, I was asked to play a piece for the guest instructors. Bumblefoot (GnR, Sons of Apollo), Gilby Clarke (GnR) and Sean Kelly (Helix, COney Hatch, Lee Aaron)
    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
  • LoneWolfRogueLoneWolfRogue 2.0 PRO Posts: 265
    It wasn't for singing as I started in acting but mine was when my fellow actor in a play my high school was putting on for the kids got his line wrong and I was next to speak and started giggling and had to find a way to stop it even though orders were too

    I just said my line but I smiled through the whole part and laughed afterwards.

    Rogue
  • BrianOConnorBrianOConnor 2.0 ENROLLED Posts: 61
    https://youtu.be/VK4BjNKESj8. hey guys, this is my son and i's rock band roadrunner.ive been doing ktva for about 14 months.went from being able to sing 6 songs to now playing 40 song gigs.i still have a long way to go but I feel and hear the progress.its been great.thanks Ken.hopefully I shared this video right.its been a long time since I posted anything.
  • BrianOConnorBrianOConnor 2.0 ENROLLED Posts: 61
    In the wrong part of the forum but it worked.lol
  • sabrina_CHsabrina_CH 2.0 PRO Posts: 10
    oh boy, besides drunken stoned men in front of the stage yelling and overrunning the bandstand we should play Detroit from Red Hot Chili Peppers (what we would have loved to if we could have played it :D)...

    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.
  • HumanRobotHumanRobot Member Posts: 246
    edited February 2021
    HI

    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
  • wolfmanwolfman 3.0 Streaming Posts: 5
    My first Rock Camp. Singing Electric Eye WITH Rob Halford.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcZl6wPzbxA
Sign In or Register to comment.