Backstage Pass
 

I never got to go backstage, though my sister did, at Marillion's 1985 tour to support "Misplaced Childhood". Those of you who were more fortunate, feel like sharing your stories? No? Then sod ya! :D

Seriously: surely some of you here have got invited, blagged or fallen drunkenly backstage at gigs and have tales to tell?

LiL and I got to go backstage at a Sparks concert. LiL met Ron and Russell Mael. We have photographic proof. It was pretty fantastic.

I met Gordon Lightfoot backstage once. I live near his hometown, and he gave a performance at a very small venue. My dad somehow managed to wiggle an invite backstage. I was too young to remember it in great detail, but he was quiet.

I got to go onstage with 24/7 Spyz at the Viper Room in Hollywood. Never backstage though.

I've been backstage with authors more often than bands, but I still have some good stories.

A coworker of mine drunkenly threw up spaghetti all over John Irving once.

:laughing:

A friend and I chilled with AMT at their merchandise booth before their show. Other than hanging out with a few local bands that my friends are in that's all I got.

I was backstage at this:

Milwaukee Metalfest II Setlists | setlist.fm

I was with Zoetrope, on leave from the Army, and hanging with the singer (my long-time friend). I met Jason Newstead. yay.

I met Joni Mitchell backstage after the taping of the A Tribute to Joni Mitchell concert. She seemed very regal to me (shades of a Lou Reed lyric there), and as we chatted briefly I told her she had beautiful hands (which she did. Word was that Joni had been suffering a resurgence of polio-like symptoms at the time.). During breaks in the taping Joni ate bananas and chain smoked American Spirit cigarettes. My friend who accompanied me backstage knew how nervous I was and blurted out that my young daughter memorized and sang every word to "Coyote", to which Joni replied, "That's a mouthful!". :)

I've also met Ronnie Spector (when I was a teen - I think it was at a rock 'n' roll convention - she was very nice lady), Julian Lennon, and Marianne Faithfull backstage after concerts.

^ This woman

One of my first jobs was working in the catering kitchens in a sports centre that doubled up as a conference centre/concert hall.

Stock Aitkin & Waterman were doing a gig with a bunch of their acts with Sonia as the headliner.
Me and a girl I worked with were told to deliver a trolley of food & drink to her dressing room.
So we get there knock on the door and Sonia answers it, we go in and take everything off the trolley onto the table in her dressing room. She says thank you and we leave.
Outside her dressing room we start collecting any stray glasses or plates around and putting them on the trolley and this girl says to me 'Wow I can't believe how much fatter she looks in real life' and turns around only to see Sonia standing right behind her.

We left ..... quickly.

I've met and continue to meet various musicians at shows and other music related events but the only time I can recall being backstage in a dressing room, was at a performance by The Grandmothers at The Met Cafe in Providence, RI, during their 2000 tour.
I was there with a couple of friends and after the show, we hung around by the side of the stage talking to Bunk Gardner (one of the band members) as he packed up some equipment. We talked for a while as the venue emptied out until there were only the band members, a couple of bartenders and the three of us left inside the place.
One of the friends I was with casually pulled a joint out of his pocket, lit it up and passed it to me. The two bartenders didn't seem to giva a **** and as we passed the joint around, we were joined by Jimmy Carl Black and Don Preston (two more band members.)
We all stood by the side of the stage talking and toking until the joint was finished whereupon Bunk, Jimmy and Don decided to join the guitar player Sandro Olivia (who actually bore a rather striking resemblance to Frank Zappa) in their dressing room for an impromptu acoustic jam of "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" by The Beatles.
My friends and I joined them and stood inside the doorway of the dressing room enjoying the music for several minutes until we decided it was time to bid adieu to the band and head for home.

An interesting and fun night of music for sure!

I met this creature once. He thought I was a girl.

I mostly go to smaller concerts, after which the musicians keep hanging around with the people at the venue's bar, but I never had the wish to socially interact with musicians I like.

I saw Hamilton Leithauser from the Walkmen when he opened for Spoon, and I chatted with him after the show for like two minutes. That's it.

(It was a really good set from him, which just goes to show how good his solo stuff is - but the album is borderline unlistenable for me because of the production.)

Also hung and chatted with the guy's in King's X outside the club before their show.

Me and Doug have a bit of a history..... (I'll post the story if anyone's interested)

Please do!

Many, many years ago (way before 9/11) we traveled to Chicago to visit my wife's family. As we're walking through Ohare lo and behold Doug and another person walk right by us in the opposite direction. This was back in the day when Doug looked like this:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OUL_rPG1ZD...ings-x-old.jpg

So I mention to everyone who it was (I was a HUGE fan) and they tell me to run back and get his autograph. I grab a pen and piece of something to write on and sprint back. Doug has just walked through security and I walk up with the pen and paper, he sees me and reaches around the security scanner to take it from me.

FREEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two cops are suddenly crouched down with their hands on their guns.

I explain and we both apologize. They tell Doug to walk back through the scanner which he does, he smiles and gives me the autograph, and then walks back through again.

Maybe two years later I took my nephew to see them in Boston and noticed the band out front by their mini-bus. I walked up and asked him if he remembered the incident and he bursts out laughing and tells the other two guys the story.

Best part is me and my nephew are hugging the stage all night and they do I'm your Captain by Grand Funk as an encore. They let my nephew and a few others up on stage to sing along with the "I'm getting closer to my home" part.

Nice.

I've met a few people in passing that know some of the members of Kings X. Although I've never been a fan, and never really listened to them, I did have one guy try to convert me when I told them I'd never heard their music. I guess he was a cousin of one of the members or something similar and was very adamant about it.

Not a backstage thing, but I met Dave Murray (from Iron Maiden) while watching Duke Robillard/John Hammond Jr at Buddy Guys Legends a long time ago. I went up to the bar to get a drink, and looked to my left. Did a double take, and said (quite loudly) "You're Dave Murray!". He nodded, and I went gushing on about how I'd learned just about every lick he's ever recorded. He acknowledged my gushing, and I went off back to my table giggling and whispering to my friends "I just met Dave Murray!".

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...pooKbIDjMdslYm

Well, now you're gonna have another guy try to convert you. How can you not dig this?

Still not doin it for me. Sorry dude. I mean they are good, but it's not something I'd run out and buy.

Dogman is where it's at.