The Worst Gig: From Psycho Fans to Stage Riots, Famous Musicians Tell All

by Jon Niccum

Overview

"WORST GIG is Music Appreciation 225, taught by that cool professor everyone wanted to have beers with after class. One fun nugget after another. It was harder to close than my Twitter app."—Matthew James, McSweeney's

"Tawdry tales of concert catastrophes!"—Buzzfeed

"Musicians' 'Worst Gig' makes for best read ever."—Salon

What is the worst show you've ever played?

Sometimes the worst shows inspire the best stories. After hundreds of interviews with national headliners and beloved indie acts alike, entertainment journalist Jon Niccum has crafted a collection that chronicles the most embarrassing, most hilarious and most insane live show moments ever.

THE WORST GIG features outrageous stories from stars such as Wilco, Def Leppard, Tenacious D, Rush, John Mayer, and The Sex Pistols. Be it nature's wrath, equipment breakdowns or even military intervention, get the wild scoop on what really happened, straight from the artists themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402284960
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	10/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	33 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jon Niccum is entertainment writer for the Kansas City Star and former music editor at the Pitch, Kansas City's leading alternative newspaper, as well as a contributor to Esquire.com and CMJ New Music Monthly. His entertainment writing has won several dozen national awards.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

I began interviewing "famous musicians" as a print journalist in 1994, primarily doing advance "phoners" for acts that were touring through the Kansas City market. Typically, I'd spend several hours doing research and then map out a dozen or more questions in advance that were specifically tailored to an artist.

One time an overseas call from the guitarist for The Cranberries arrived six hours earlier than scheduled, catching me off guard and underprepared. Following that, I assembled a batch of my favorite questions in a document called "Generic Interview," in case something similar happened again. These questions were ones that usually inspired worthy replies:

+ "What's the best advice you've received about playing music?"

+ "Do you have any superstitions or rituals that you follow to prepare for a show?"

+ "What line from one of your songs do people ask you the most about?"

+ "What's been your career highlight?"

The last question appeared reasonably provocative, but I noticed it never generated an answer worth publishing. The responses were either too gushy or prosaic. So I decided to try the opposite tactic during a few interviews, asking, "What is the worst show you've ever played?" That question unleashed the most brutally colorful stories.

Since then, most of the performers I've interviewed have revealed their "worst gig." When many of these salty chronicles proved unprintable in a daily newspaper, I proceeded to hoard them. I knew that someday they would find a proper home elsewhere.

In 2011, I launched the website The Worst Gig (worstgig.com), and the reaction was immediate. The site was written up all over the place, from BuzzFeed to Gorilla Mask, and the accompanying web traffic was outstanding. After Salon raved about the site with the headline "Musicians' 'Worst Gig' makes for best read ever," I knew the stories wouldn't remain limited to the Internet.

Now after hundreds of interviews with national headliners, the project has made it into actual print, which is right where it started.

The Worst Gig features unique tales told directly to me by the artists. Most of these I gathered through phone interviews or in- person conversations, with a few longer accounts penned specifically for the book. The collection delves into the times when things didn't quite work out for performers- be it because of equipment breakdowns, psychotic fans, awkward mix- ups, violent confrontations or nature's wrath. These incidents may have seemed horrifying, mortifying or unendurable at the time, but in the rearview mirror, they prove hilarious. Sometimes the worst shows inspire the best stories. -Jon Niccum

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: WRONG VENUE

COWBOY JUNKIES
ALICE COOPER
OWL CITY
FISHBONE
KANSAS
PAT METHENY
CROSS CANADIAN RAGWEED
GRACE POTTER AND THE NOCTURNALS
GILLIAN WELCH
GWAR
THE GET UP KIDS
"Tales of Touring Terror: The Screamin' Sirens' Worst Gig," by Pleasant Gehman

CHAPTER TWO: INSANE FANS

RUSH
MUTEMATH
JULIANA HATFIELD
AFTER THE FIRE
INXS
MIKE WATT
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
TENACIOUS D
BETTIE SERVEERT
X
"Poster Children's Colorful Array of Crappy Gigs," by Rose Marshack

CHAPTER THREE: DANGEROUS MALFUNCTIONS

FLAMING LIPS
DWEEZIL ZAPPA
UME
RENAISSANCE
YUNG SKEETER
OTEP
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
WILCO
"The French-ish Connection," by Jason Falkner

CHAPTER FOUR: COMMUNICATION

BREAKDOWN
FLOGGING MOLLY
DROWNING POOL
JOHN SCOFIELD
BERNARD PURDIE
TREASURE FINGERS
MOBY GRAPE
NEW DUNCAN IMPERIALS
BILL LYNCH
KINKY FRIEDMAN
R/D
STEVE LUKATHER
"Semisonic's Worst Shows Ever: A Conference Call," by Dan Wilson

CHAPTER FIVE: MOTHER NATURE'S WRATH

GARBAGE
CONCRETE BLONDE
DEF LEPPARD
FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS
GEORGE WINSTON
TOWER OF POWER
"Eisley Braves the Snowpocalypse," by Sherri DuPree- Bemis

CHAPTER SIX: OOPS!

JANE'S ADDICTION
BLUE MAN GROUP
LAURIE ANDERSON
JOHN MAYER
12TH PLANET
CHAMBERLIN
NADA SURF
PETER FRAMPTON
RUBBLEBUCKET
BORGORE
DAUGHTRY
ANTHRAX
"BR549's Stomach- Turning Worst Show," by Chuck Mead

CHAPTER SEVEN: VIOLENCE

THE SEX PISTOLS
JOE SATRIANI
TOOL
MIKE FINNIGAN
HENRY ROLLINS
TRANSLATOR
LOS LONELY BOYS
JEFFERSON STARSHIP
"Fugazi under Siege in Warsaw!" by Ian MacKaye

CHAPTER EIGHT: IT'S ALL GOOD

TORI AMOS
INCUBUS
THE WALLFLOWERS
THAT 1 GUY
AIMEE MANN
THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CHELY WRIGHT
WYNTON MARSALIS
THE LOST BROTHERS
DRIVIN' 'N' CRYIN'
LED ZEPPELIN
"Indescribably Not of This Earth," by Ted Nugent

AFTERWORD: THE AUTHOR'S OWN WORST GIG
"Bloody Wichita," by Jon Niccum

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Editorial Reviews

"The Worst Gig is an entertaining diversion, full of bite-sized tales that will make your eyes widen in recognition or shake your head in disbelief. All of it makes for an entertaining rock n’ roll bathroom book." — ProSound News

"The Worst Gig" is an easy and enjoyable read that you will fly through in just a few days. It is tough to put down, especially if you are a "starving artist" yourself who has your own horror stories of shows gone wrong. It is kind of inspiring to see some of the world’s most famous and talented at their weakest because it adds the human element to their legacy. " — Broken Records Magazine

"Tawdry tales of concert catastrophes!" — BuzzFeed

"I loved the variety of musicians whose recollections are told here- anywhere from Wilco to John Mayer to Semisonic to the Sex Pistols...All in all, a quick read, a funny read. " — Generation G Books

"Musicians’ ‘Worst Gig’ makes for best read ever." — Salon

"'Worst Gig' is Music Appreciation 225, taught by that cool professor everyone wanted to have beers with after class. One fun nugget after another. It was harder to close than my Twitter app." — Matthew James, McSweeney’s

"In a clever new book called The Worst Gig (Sourcebooks) dozens of famous performers tell author Jon Niccum about the concerts they'd rather forget. Niccum manages to wrangle anecdotes from a bunch of folks I admire, including Alice Cooper, Gwar, Wilco, Rufus Wainwright, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins and INXS." — USA Today Pop Candy

"There is plenty here to make any rock fan laugh, and if you have a road musician in your life, they will certainly be able to wince and relate. " — Standard-Examiner

"The best and funniest book I've ever read about the thing that ultimately unites us all: failure." — Wendy Molyneux, Bob's Burgers

"Covering artists of all genres and statures, The Worst Gig is delicious fare for the music fan. The stories are short and sweet enough to be enjoyed on the fly in a busy world or devoured in a riveting afternoon. A must-read for concert addicts." — Open ‘Til Midnight

"Quick and entertaining reading experience...It would make a great present for any rock music fan who is not an avid reader and would appreciate a quick and often very funny look at the less glamorous aspects of life on the road." — Blog Critics

"Anyone who has ever played before an audience will find themselves howling with laughter." — Guitar Digest

"There is plenty here to make any rock fan laugh, and if you have a road musician in your life, they will certainly be able to wince and relate." — Standard-Examiner

"The book is like a documentary without the cameras as you can picture the situations in your mind as the musicians describe some of their outrageous stories to you." — JP’s Music Blog

"Backed by interviews from household name headliners and everyone’s favorite indie bands alike, Niccum has chronicled some of the most outrageous and epic moments in live music, giving the scoop on some of the wildest live gig miscues straight from the artists themselves." — Music Connection

"In this book, rock & roll has never looked more soul-crushing… or more fun." — PBG Lifestyle

From the Publisher