Drinking on stage

[Boogie]

If I weren't driving home, I'd have a few beers throughout the night (maybe one an hour), but that's never the case . So at the most, it's a couple all night, if any. Some drinking doesn't impare my playing, but it does accelerate my fatigue.

 

[watelessness]

I could never keep time if drinking on stage so I didn't. To each his own.

 

[SuperFly53]

I always drink a few beers. I rarely get drunk.

 

[cosmic_ape]

I sweat a lot onstage. Alcohol dehydrates you. Not a good combo. Besides, I'm there to work.

 

[Poffypoffa]

When I saw Black Crowes, Chris Robinson spent the whole show taking swigs out of a bottle of Jack Daniels. Was the best concert I've ever been to, however.

 

[Albrecht Smuten]

Thank you guys for helping me with this little social research!

didn't you previously front Jethro Tull????

No, but many times I couldn't sleep because I couldn't stop imagining it

He could down a Scotch in the middle of a song, at the same time play his bass with the other hand, not miss a note, give me a "gotcha" wink, and carry on. So whatever works, I guess....

That's more common than one might think. My previous guitar player was able to fall asleep on stage and still play the whole gig without one mistake. He used to have a roommate, who played upright bass, and had the same skill while being extremely high. His explanation was: "You have to be high when you practice".

I drink beer onstage. You know, a few over the course of the night. No need to be stone cold sober. It's rock and roll at a bar... it's not "family night" at the local Chuck-E-Cheese.

Back in 2005 I was in a band that organized a crazy night at a local club with three other bands. We billed it as "Shotfest". We got the local New Times to write up an article about what was happening and the place was absolutely packed. The deal was this: All four bands, right before their first song and then after every song they played, all the members of the bands would do a shot of Jagermeister. There was a waiter on the side of the stage responsible for refilling the drinks and passing them out to the band members, extra people on hand to move gear after a band's set, and of course, designated drivers for all. So, for every band, they'd start off tight and after about 7 or 8 songs, it was a total onstage meltdown. By the time everyone was too drunk to play, they'd get off the stage and another band would come on. I've got this big grin on my face just thinking about how hilarious it was. We all had a blast, the audience found it as hilarious as everyone else, the bar made a killing, and everyone left happy.

This sounds really fun Now I think about organising such party myself...

 

[captdg]

I think that those who use substances while performing...or have become dependant on substances prior to performing....run the risk of ending up looking like Eric Clapton in the '70's...how many people saw him vomiting on stage during one of his performances during that era??? Not a pretty sight.

Then of course, there's the infamous Jim Morrison drunken spectable in Miami that led to his arrest for "public lewdness".

There is a time and place for substance abuse! Just not on stage!

And if your dependant, please get your fix before the show so we don't have to witness your acute withdrawal symptoms during the performance, thank you very much.

This has a kernel of truth..I was so used to having a beer or 5 while grilling.. Then when I went offshore (no alcohol) and we would grill my pavlovian response kicked in.. I never missed it otherwise..

 

[Keletcaster]

Intresting topic guys. I myself try to avoid drinkin' when I'm performing it just takes away my edge. My attack on lead stuff just suffers.

 

[soundbee]

I ONLY drink on stage - I've found that if I kick back and start before or between sets then I'll get too sloshed. Plus I'll us a bottle as a slide - ah the sweet taste of open G play'd through Brooklyn Lager

 

[kukumba]

I used to play ALOT in the 80's and back then we used to drink alot on stage. If we had to play 3 or 4 sets we would each go through a six pack or 2 on stage each night. Free beer for the band was in our contract. We were moving around and going nuts on stage, so over the course of several hours we never really felt that drunk, but we did feel it the next day a little. We also got plenty of free shots sent by the audience that were hard to say no to and you never knew what you where going to be drinking when those shots came up. Could be peach schnapps or frickin Everclear!

I was in my late teens and early 20's so I could drink like that every night and not suffer. If I did that now Id be in the hospital the next day for sure. That was on stage....but in the studio writing new stuff, our band used to have a saying, "when the drug suffers, the band suffers." Mostly herbal remedies but still some of our coolest stuff was composed after taking our glaucoma medicine. We kept it totally under control and stayed away from coke and hard drugs although we saw alot of that on the road.

Nobody ever barfed on stage but we did see a few chicks barf back at the band house and backstage. Our roadies were quick to remove them if it got ugly. Ahhh, those were the days.

Also, should mention that we were totally broke and barely made enough to survive.
Here I am playing at the Button South circa 1990.

Here we are back state at an Epic Showcase at the Cat Club in NYC around 1991

 

[Rango]

Cool Pic's. Thanks for sharing that!

 

[Shawn@PRS]

Cool pic Kukumba! Are some of those guys your brothers? They look like they could be related to you.