they just don't terrify the audience like that anymore

Schimpufluch or R&S or whatever it's called to thread!
Hermann Nitsch to thread!
Sun City Girls to thread!
Aluminum Group to thread!

(just kidding on that last one.)

Friends Forever use pyrotechnics heavily, but in a non-confrontational way. (Still hurt though.)

i could swear black dice were trying to deafen us last time i saw them. a guy went into seizures... of course, he seizured during openers new faggot cunts.

arab on radar singer jumped into the crowd at the cocodrie and sort of started shit, but not really.

i could probably say that extreme elvis and his pissing on stage and so on probably counts...

there are others in the noise scene that would probably fit into that as well...

lot's of fights seem to follow matthew st. germaine around...
m.

The one and only time I saw Antiseen, about a decade ago, Jeff Clayton did the whole "bash his head with the microphone until he bleeds" thing. He also drop-kicked into the audience a pitcher of beer that somebody set on the stage. That's about as crazy as things got unfortunately.

Most of the time this style performance can just come off as really silly and kinda like a mummy buy me an ice-cream tantrum. But sometimes it just what you feel like seeing. Its not really the "done thing" in the new zealand noise scene - one local who does it well is Dark Anus.

Jesus Lizard, the Cows, No Trend, Oxbow, Swans, the Dwarves all are (were) terrifying live (hey...you're right, the only band still playing on that list are Oxbow & the Dwarves). Not always because of "violence towards the audience" or any such nonsense. More like a great deal of conflict or unsettling audience interaction. Swans especially, because M. Gira's such a quiet man that when he's enraged it's double upset. The Cows just plain freaked me out, and when I thought I was sufficiently braced, I went back again, and they freaked me out again.

I've seen Jesus Lizard and Swans, it wasn't that scary, but then, this was late in their respective existences - on the other hand, one particular Will Oldham show (at the Black Cat w/the Anomoanon or whatever they're called, just before release of "I See a Darkness") was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. I can't say why exactly, something to do w/the random screeching ape noises he made and other comments that made sense to absolutely no one. Nobody laughed either. eeep. And his eyes kept rolling back in his head.

awww.....don't pick on gg.......i bet you guys haven't heard his country album.he really missed his calling......never saw him live.....i think deep down....there was something kind of mopy,and shleppy ...waiting to come out of him.it's so called civilisation that scares me,not gg allin.well.....the geraldine fibbers were pretty scary....in that fab-four...teddy bear scene in 'the shining' kind of way.but i actually have met carla in a dark alley.(the smell((a club in la.))...and....not to ruin her image but she's not even slightly scary......she's just like... this kid..who works at the frozen yogurt shop that you have a little crush on and she puts a few more sprinkles on your chocolate vannilla swirl than she does for the other guys.

I saw Hugo Largo once and their lead singer was waving this large knife around, then, coincident with a crescendo in the music, acted as if she threw it really hard into the crowd. I'm not sure what she really did, probably just dropped it behind her.

She did that every time they played, Nick. Did she have a bunch of layers of clothing that she would remove throughout the set? That was her thing, too.

I never bothered with any of those late 80s bands, I was a bit over that sort of confrontational stuff by then. I like some of Lisa Carver's writing a lot, though. And I vaguely knew a guy in Missing Foundation who was kind of sweet.

Maybe I'd be into it again by now. I saw Turbonegro a few years ago and Hank the singer shoved a sparkler up his ass. It wasn't terrifying, though, it was the best show I'd been to in years.

They didn't "do" anything special, but Whitehouse scared me so bad I had to leave their show in Chicago in '95 even though I'd wanted to see them for over ten years. A riot broke out later apparently and they swore off U.S. shows. It really did seem like their point was that it really is possible to terrify an audience with content & careful manipulation of one's public image. What was most terrifying was how the real drunk guys up front didn't seem frightened at all, though.

Shows by the Evaporators are terrifying in the sense that you may have no choice but to support a very sweaty and smelly Nardwuar in a crowdsurf.

went to see the birthday party circa 82
news had reached us that the syd uni gig was wild...lived up to expectations and nick cave had become extremely violent with crowd. went to the newcy gig and he sat in a chair for the whole of it...complained the drugs were no good. i rememmebr a friend jumping up, taking swipes but he stayed in the chair...

also went to the spk gig after someone lost an ear to a swinging chain (appaarently)

GG Allin, SF. First onstage was his brother the drummer, who produced a 'Hustler' and masturbated. Then GG and the guitarist went onstage. GG defecated on stage and smeared it all over himself, then sang "I Kill Everything I Fuck". Two girls approached the stage and GG headbutted them, they were out cold. As more and more fecal matter flew audience-ward people started heading for the exits. A security guard told GG to cool it, so GG inserted the mic in is rectum, pulled it out and started battering security guard about the face with it, after which they cut the power, so GG ran offstage up the stairs to the bit with tables and started throwing them off the balcony, causing mass carnage below. After every window and table in the place was broken the police arrived, and as I walked out somebody pulled a gun on me. The whole show was 11 minutes in duration. I think all shows would be like this - as for 'paying to see someone who's making a statement', far better than paying to see yet another hopeless band, eh? (BTW - the opening act[Insaints] was even more disgusting!)

Offensive or not, that is pretty damn funny.

Friends Forever were indeed fun, although my friend dislocated a finger during either the "Exploding Cartwheel of Social Justice" or in deflating the band's giant tarp-weapon. His band, Keystone Eyes are even more notorious although not necessarily as creative in their provocation.

Cock ESP and some of the other noise acts still use shock tactics in their performances on occasion (eating live mice, starting fights at parties, etc).

I've heard of one noise-band who actually drove a bulldozer into (read: through) the venue and then ignited several M-80s which were tossed into the audience. This constituted their performance.

In general, audiences are a lot scarier than bands (e.g. an early Pantera gig in Fresno, CA during which a fistfight broke out involving at least thirty people was one of my more memorable concert going experiences).

I forgot all about the Dwarves' contribution to this performance style. Thanks (sorta) for the reminder.

Joe Coleman used to do this kinda stuff as well, as I recall.

I saw the Feederz play at the Re-Bar in Seattle a few months ago... and Frank Discussion (sp?) came out only dressed in a clear body bag. He announced in this really creepy way "The other day, I went dumpster diving behind the abortion clinic." He produced these necklaces of real rat fetuses and calmly dressed them over the front row of audience members. "ALOHA MOTHERFUCKERS"

I once saw Lungfish at CBGBs and made the mistake of being in the front of the crowd. The lead guy didn't do anything especially intimidating, but he seemed bent out of shape about something and twitched A LOT. I wanted to leave but I thought he was gonna come down and beat the shit of me if I did.

no mention of Anal Cunt yet? the band that, among other things, is known for throwing cinder blocks at people in the audience?

Arthur, I don't remember taking off layers of clothes (Hugo Largo), but I know you live on and off in L.A. and this was the show at the Elk's lodge, opening for the Sugarcubes in the late 80s, I think. Were you at this show? (Late response because I'm a post and check the next day kind of guy.)

The scene in the 80's was great and really fucked up at the same time. There were a lot of people flirting with a whole bunch of different ideologizes, some of them went far to the right (and I don't just mean making the audience pledge allegence to the flag at shows). It is a good thing when people recognize that stuff is bullshit, I wish they could see 90% of all the God Bless America and flag waving was bullshit too.
Anyway here are some confrontational shows I have seen, and they were pretty dawn good for the most part.
I was at the Re-Bar show and the Feederz rocked, the intimidating thing was seeing Frank for the first time (everybody has heard the dead animal freak-out stories) but once the show started, it was great. I was more impressed with their skill and energy then the gross-out factor. I imagine anyone who just walked into that show, unaware, would have freaked a bit. People should be more concerned with Frank's ideas, then dead rats, anyway (he is your modernized negation, you know!).
I have also seen Jesus Lizard many times, David Yow was pretty dangerious in a small room. Before they got popular he had a habit of drinking a lot of Bushmills before the show and getting naked. Apparently he was worse in Scratch Acid but he was really very nice when I saw them play. At one Jesus Lizard show at Chambers in Baltimore (a tiny club), an underwear be-clad Yow was doing the "tight and shiny", where he would grasp his testicles tightly and sing. This started people going back. I was stooped down at the front of the stage, pushing a crowd surfer back with my back to him, when he grabbed a fist full of my hair! He had a habit of sticking his dick in your face if the mood was right and I was thinking "Oh shit, he is going to ruin JL's music for me, forever." He sang Block Buster into my face (which was at crotch level), then pushed me back into the crowd, probably saving me countless dollars of therapy.
Lung Fish's sing, Danny is pretty scary sometimes. He really gets into a zone when they perform. When he was fronting Reptile House, why long ago, he could get really confrontational, throughing stuff and menacing people, but he is a really calm nice person in real life.
I have watched Iggy Pop intimidate a huge audience, just because they were not sure what the hell he was going to do. He played off it well, doing a huge swan dive into the crowd, busting his elbow open on somebody's teeth and then drawing a big, bloody cross on his chest. Rock star!
The Cows were wild but their audiences were the dangerious ones! I saw them several times in diferent cities and there was always bottles flying and total chaos. Heroine Sheiks (part Cows, Part Swans) are really good and they have this detatched, we might do something vibe, that backs you up.
Butthole Surfers could be really threatening too. I was at two different shows in DC that ended in trouble: one was a near riot at an out door show, when Gibby insulted a bunch of DC riot pigs who were trying to shut the show down. Two was at the original 9:30 Club when someone set the outside dumpster on fire!
The Digits used to be a crazy show, Rick Digit liked starting shit and their final show in Chicago was like a performance art thing, where Rick busted a fake bottle over a plant in the audience's head, tons of stage blood everywhere. Nobody was in on it and a bunch of people probably thought it was real. Fights at their earlier shows were actually real.
I remember one small band that you probably never heard of called Deisel Sperm who used to do the "cutting themselves up" on stage bit. At one show one of them was either drunk or just went to deep and began really bleeding. People in the crowd wanted them to stop playing, not because they were offended, but because they were affraid the guy would bleed out. He was yelling "This is punk!" and got upset by the audience's concern.
My point: violence, the threat of violence, dead things, blood and misdeminor sexual assault are threatening, sure, but the impending conflict is always a bigger threat in your mind. Not knowing what will happen next is the scary thing and most bands can't pull that off anymore. If Linkin Park slashed themselves up, who would care?

As for bands playing racist or being racist on stage, what audience would stand for it? (unless you are talking major rock acts spouting racist dogma about Middle Eastern people at arena rock shows, in the guise of patriotism).
The last time I saw a musician at a show walking around shouting racial slurs (he assured everyone later he was sorry and drunk) he got his front teeth knocked out with in five minutes.

Have a nice day.

Great history! Thank you!!

When I saw Didjits, Rick was drinking codeine because it was a Sunday and he couldn't buy alcohol. Also, they brought a 12-foot pipe on stage for the encore of "Foxy Lady," and he just ran his guitar up and down it. They were awesome.

Sorry, Nickn, here's my response, 4 months later: the show I saw was at a large university. I think it was USC, not UCLA. It was a showcase for the bands on the label Eno started in the late 80s, Opal. I think his brother played, too. I wasn't at the Elks Lodge show.

SPK set an audience member alight once.

Great White own this thread.

Fkin Didgits with the plates in their heads, froma chickenshack. punk rock

No mentions of the Butthole Surfers yet? apparently during earlier shows, Gibby would attach a load of clothespins to his long hair and then come out and shake his hair furiously darting clothespin all over the place and towards the audience.

also, early Crash Worship show attenders to thread.

Stephen Jones of Baby Bird used to be quite rude to the audience...

I once saw someone from Marine Research ask an audience member to take a picture of the band on stage w/ her camera. FUCKING HOSTILE!

donut christ is right. i saw the buttholes shortly after "another man's sac" came out and between the clothespins, the flame spitting and the blood Gibby disturbed me greatly. He was also wearing a ladies frock as well, which just made matters worse.

Anyone familiar with the Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza? I don't think they play anymore, but there is a DVD of some of the crazy shit they used to do (setting fireworks off at the crowd, throwing pig carcasses, smoke bombs, weilding medeival weapons, locking the audience in a warehouse and filtering nitrous oxide through the ventilation system etc.)

What about pre-80s?

Grobschnitt apparently used to do this goofy thing where they filled the concert hall with smoke, then announced that poison had seeped in and everyone should get out.
But I take it they did it in a campy enough way that no one was upset (cf the Solar Music Live album where you get to hear the announcement)

All I can think of now is the crazier certainly-not-arranged stuff like Lee Morgan getting shot on stage.

I went to see Terrestrial Tones a month or two ago (a guy from Animal Collective and a guy from Black Dice) and it was the most aurally painful thing I've ever experienced. I had to leave the room.

I was at a Rudolf Eb.er / Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock show where he was quietly playing piano and moaning and then halfway through he pulls out a shotgun, cocks it, and fires it, aiming down the middle of the club in between the seated rows of audience members (who had all already gone apeshit and run for cover to the sides of the room). I think it was firing blanks, but at the time it was pretty damn intense.

Once by accident during a basement punk rock show at a girl's house while parents were gone I threw a bucket of bleach onto an audience- I honestly though it just had water in it. I've never seen so many teen mohawks wilt simultaneously. That was bad.

how could you not smell a bucket of bleach?

i had a road flare thrown at me at a show we booked in january!

http://herjazz.org/movies/clockcleaner.mov

I remember being told that early on, Trail of Dead used to like to wing bottles at audience members who weren't looking.

Now they just suck.

This thread has gone this long without a mention or Survival Research Laboratories? *checks up thread* I guess so!

xpost

It was about 1/3 bleach and 2/3 water. It was very hot and sweaty in the basement and people were complaining about the heat and saw I had a bucket of liquid and said "throw it on us". It was a bad scene.

also xpost-

Crash Worship shows back in the day were fantastic. Whatever you wore wound up covered in autogrease and that nasty cheapass boxwine that they passed around, and they'd set stuff on fire and swing it around on ropes. They got denounced as the Grateful Dead of the industrial scene, but those shows kicked a lot of ass.

During his Holy Virgin Cult 2003 tour, Costes, Tristan, and Nesi (naked throughout most of the performance) burned their genitalia with candles, puked, spit, and urinated into each other's mouths, and hardest to watch of all, Costes inserted a not-so-clean-looking needle up into his urethra. All of this somehow tied into the plot of the opera he was performing. After the show, he worked his merchandise table completely naked. I did not ask him where I could swipe my credit card.