3 Times Famous Musicians Had Complete Meltdowns on Stage

Back in the day, it was a bit more common for musicians to have meltdowns on stage. There wasn’t as much control over picture-perfect production back then, and more often than not, famous rock stars were spread thin during intensive tours. If anything, we understand why at least a couple of the following musicians had meltdowns on stage in front of hundreds of people.

1. Nick Cave

Nick Cave and Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis have toured together quite a bit through the years. They’ve always worked together beautifully on stage. But even the best of the best have bad days, and in 2009, the pair had a pretty bad day on stage.

During the set, Cave is putting on the show as expected. Ellis, however, gets a little too into it. He continues to change key progressions and go off script, which visibly angers Cave. Though, some fans argue that Cave wasn’t angry at Warren, but rather at whoever was on the mixing deck controlling the volume of the guitar. I guess we’ll never know the truth.

2. Axl Rose

Back in the day, Axl Rose was the poster child of musicians having meltdowns on stage. The famous David Bowie story is just one example. Rose also had beef with the audience in another situation back in 1991 during a performance with Guns N’ Roses in St. Louis. 

Rose was allegedly angry about a fan with a camera, and dove straight into the crowd to punch the offender in the face. He then jumped back on stage, blamed security for not doing their jobs, and said he was going home. The result was the Riverport Riot, which caused (allegedly) over $1 million in damages to the band’s equipment.

3. Billy Joel

While touring in Moscow, Russia in 1987, Billy Joel got visibly angry on stage. This example of musicians having meltdowns on stage came from an issue the Piano Man had with the lighting engineer of the set. However, it’s hard to tell exactly what that lighting engineer did to rile Joel up so much that he would bash a microphone stand on stage. 

Oddly enough, despite his outburst, the concert continues as if the smashing in question was normal. His band members didn’t seem too fazed. The audience seemed to be weirdly into it, too. 

Photo by Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

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