Pining for the live-music experience, once again, someone on the IDLES’ Facebook page — otherwise know as the “AF Gang” — posted the following discussion thread. I answered in kind, but thought it was worth sharing here, given the subject matter and all that. The post in question concerns a venue here in Manhattan called the Hammerstein Ballroom. While I haven’t been in the building in several years, by this point, I did see some cool shows there, including performances by The Cranberries, Lush, Weezer, Massive Attack, The Prodigy and the first reunion tour of Bauhaus, which ended up being recorded for posterity and released as the album/video, Gotham. I was also there for the show described below.
"What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done during a gig?”
I immediately had an answer for that one….
At some point in the very late `90s, the Verve came to New York City, playing the cavernous Hammerstein Ballroom. As much as my friends and I loved the Urban Hymns record, I have to say -- they weren't much to witness live. Somewhat as a result, three members of my party -- self included -- got somewhat heroically drunk. At one point during proceedings, I departed from our spot in the middle of the crowd to adjourn to the men's room, which was a flight down. Again -- leglessly drunk, at this stage.
Upon reaching the stairwell, I noticed that running down the middle of the staircase was a lovely, magisterial railing. "I know, " I thought, "I will expedite this mission by sliding down this bannister, thereby getting to my destination quicker, enabling me to return to my spot in the crowd to watch this lifelessly dull performance by the Verve." This was not exactly a sound plan.
I climbed aboard the bannister and -- indeed -- sailed down it with a velocity I hadn't truly considered. I ended up shooting off the END of the bannister on the floor below and flying about another seven feet (mercifully not colliding with anyone in the process), until my ponderous bulk reconvened with the floor with a bracing thud. I landed on my wrist, which promptly swelled up like a grapefruit, constricted by a metal bracelet from Tibet I'd inexplicably taken to wearing. "You should probably have a doctor look at that," exclaimed a friend whilst handing me another beer. I didn't.
The Verve broke up about a year later. They fleetingly reconvened in the 2000's, to no great effect, although Urban Hymns remains a very fine album. The Hammerstein Ballroom remains temporarily closed in light of the pandemic. As for me, the swelling around my wrist healed... kinda after a bit, as did the black n' blue mark on my buttock and the man-sized wound in my pride. To this day -- 22 years later -- I can now click my wrist if I rotate my hand a certain way.
You're not supposed to be able to do that, obviously.
What was YOUR most embarrassing gig experience?
Below is a video of the Verve's American tour, including some lovely footage of NYC....
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