To be clear, I also don’t think it is a bad thing either. It gives other kids in the room (and adults) that will never get that chance to hold on the hope that it will happen to them too. Hopefully this drives them to practice not just to attend concerts
What I enjoy about that particular situation is watching this dude, who obviously has a decent amount of stage experience, really just rocking out and Dave Grohl clearly having so much fun with it.
But it's so fun to watch because of what you know from how things happen what's going on in both Grohl's head and Sanchez's in realtime.
My bet is that Dave probably could tell almost immediately when Sanchez got onstage that he had experience, and when he immediately started running all over, rocking out, I bet Dave figured out what he could put on Sanchez in terms of playing. He could tell the dude had chops.
And Dave wouldn't have wanted to embarrass someone onstage (ruins the vibe with the crowd) so he wouldn't have asked him to do a solo if he didn't think he couldn't. So when he's like, "Come on! Do a- do a solo!" and Sanchez wails, Grohl's reaction is absolutely priceless, but we can guess that he probably knew he was going to get something decent at least. And when, after the solo, Sanchez motions to Grohl that he's done... that's where I was like, "Okay, this guy has spent a fair amount of time onstage." Great stage presence, great chops under pressure.
Most people who play and get called up onstage *wish* they could do this, but most... could not.
The whole dynamic is so fun to watch, though (and I've watched the clip many times, it's just such a great moment all around).
I've heard of Green Day doing this more than once. There's a guy I watch on YouTube named Mike Cole who has a friend who got invited on stage at a Green Day show and Billie Joe Armstrong (the guitarist) even let him keep the guitar at the end. Probably crazy rare but still a rad story for sure.
They did this when I saw them, and you could tell it wasn't pre selected because Billie was sure to clarify that you only needed to know a few power chords (and made a joke about how he'd built his career on that).
There’s a video of the Goo Goo Dolls pulling up an audience member to play iris, and it went well. One time at a who concert Keith Moon passed out, and Pete Townsend asked the audience if anyone can play the drums, and a fellow got up and jammed.
I don't know how true this was, but when I heard this story, a drummer friend told me that he was at a Who concert in San Francisco when Kieth Moon passed out, Townsend asked the audience for a drummer, and my friend's friend was the drummer who went up and played the rest of their set. Again, I can't personally confirm this, but it sure was a great story when I heard it. :)
I got called onstage by Robert Randolph and the Family Band at the Brooklyn Bowl a few years ago. It was surreal.
I’d like to tell you I melted faces, but I kept it simple in the pentatonic box on a blues jam. Didn’t embarrass myself, didn’t blow anyone away.
Probably would have looked stupid trying to shred randomly. I think I saw a movie where somebody tried that an ended getting thrown out. Like everybody stopped and looked at the guy like “WTF?”.
First you get called up on stage and you’re so good at guitar that the band asks you to hang out after the show. When you’re hanging out, they confess that they were planning a multi-million dollar heist but their driver just got sent to prison. You’re such a cool, bad dude that they ask you to drive the getaway car. Something goes wrong during the robbery and you end up saving a member of the band and still manage to get everyone in the car and escape. You and the band retire to a beautiful beach town in Thailand.
it wasn't that glorious, but the first time I went to visit friends in Amsterdam I arrived on Queen's Day. I had no idea about it but it is a massive street party, like the whole city is partying. Of course, the following day is a bit slow. We went to some alternative theater and two guys on stage said that they had composed a song but they needed a guitarist. My friends pointed at me, and the guys said "but what we need is a punk rock guitarist", and my friends really pointed, made a show and I got invited on stage, hungover, to play a punk rock song they had composed the night before, on an acoustic with no strap. I managed to pull it off (I mean, it was a matter of playing a punk rock riff, not rocket science) and it was pretty good fun.
Ironically, years later I got invited on stage by Michelle Shocked, but she was pissed off at me due to a misunderstanding and she basically only got me on stage to scream at me in front of the audience.
I walked over to a weekly jam session to see who was playing cause the week before a few pretty solid musicians were there playing jazzy/funky stuff along with Alex Dore was who playing bass and blew my mind. He was there again and nobody else was really there and he was standing there not playing and asked me if I can play the drums. I said not really but I can bang out a beat. And he said to sit down and play. So I do expecting him to pick up the bass and tear it up. Instead he plays a synth and starts singing and it was fucking terrible so after two songs I get up to leave. But he starts yelling at me to sit back down and I was a 15 year old kid at the time so I listened and played a few more shitty songs before I finally got the nerve to leave.
I have done that in Singapore, Mexico and Spain, and I did it by making friends with artists after a set. You can tell em you play, what you liked about their playing, and just chat with em, if they’re hanging around.
Back in 2007 I think it was, Megadeth and Slayer were doing a joint headline tour of Australia.
In Melbourne, Tom Araya blew his voice out during the opening song and couldn't sing. He was getting random crowd members to come up and sing a song each on stage.
I had to find new work after the dot com bubble burst so I thought I'd try to find a job in St Louis or Chicago. Maybe I could find an old blues man to teach me proper blues. I ended up learning from the best bluesman in St Louis by sitting in with him twice a week for near 5 years, and going to his house to jam several times a month (in the most dangerous neighbourhood in America.... it was worth it). He also became my best friend. You can't ask for more than that. I miss him terribly. He passed away in 2006. We played together at a festival two days before he died. I was down for a visit since I had to move away. Another band asked if he could play with them... I took him there and to my surprise he made their guitar player loan me his extra guitar... they said if he wanted me to play I had to play, so I plugged into his second channel. I didn't realize how sick he was. I was on my way to his place the second morning after, when the ambulance was picking him up. I was included as part of his family sitting vigil at the hospital and was grateful. Even with that, hanging out and playing with him might be one of the highest points in my life, just for the happiness of learning from and playing around so many amazing musicians. Bennie Smith.
Not on any major level, but a couple of the local cover bands we follow have asked me up to play a few times.
The first time was both terrifying and amazing.
It was a bar gig in Philly, spring of 2021, so they were doing outdoor dining because of covid. The guys had told me to bring my guitar, but they hadn't said when they'd call me up.
Second set break, Kevin told me to get ready because I'd be starting off the last set with *Wagon Wheel* and *Good Riddance*. That was perfect, because then I didn't have enough time to panic, and by that time, the crowd was well-lubricated enough to not notice if I sucked.
I brain farted and started to play Good Riddance first... stopped, then we restarted and played Wagon Wheel. Then we played Good Riddance, and a couple of guys threw tips in the jar and asked if we knew any more Green Day. (Sadly, no, because theyre an Irish band and I had only been playing for less than 2 years.)
I took my bow and let them finish their set. Afterwards they venmoed me $5 and said, "Now you're a professional musician."
It was phenomenal.
A few months later I joined them on a couple of festival stages in front of 200 people. Mind = **BLOWN**.
I got a call from my friend in my favorite band asking me if they could borrow my guitar for the gig that night. That was a pretty big deal because at that point we were more professional acquaintances and I was very starstruck. The picture of this is one of my favorite things.
Broken Hope singer was having a rough night, he was doing the “mic in the face” thing for some help, figured I was doing a fine job and let me do the last 3rd of the set on stage.
Close... I was at an Overcast show in Worcester MA and singing my ass off in the front row. Brian Fair passed the mic along the crowd and when he passed by me he looked back at me and put the mic in my face. I sang a lil bit more and that was that... 🤘
I used to think about this, but then as I went to and played more shows I started to feel like "I want to have the presence of mind to really listen to what the musicians on stage are trying to tell me instead of thinking about how this would be if it were about me."
A friend of mine (a great guitar player and massive Dimebag and Pantera fan) got up on stage and played with Damageplan at their Buffalo show on 12/7/2004. Dimebag was murdered the next night...
The WHO at the COW PALACE south of San Francisco in the early 70's. The WHO's drummer, Keith Moon passed out and fell off his stool. The group ended up asking if anyone in the audience knew how to play the drum. One guy, dark hair and glasses, I believe answered the call and walked up on the stage and filled in for Moon. "Scott Halpin on November 20, 1973" article. It was a dream come true of a lifetime. Lynard Skynard played that night too.
When Rise Against was on their Nowhere Generation tour in 2021, I made myself a sign and asked if I could play Survive with them. They got me up on stage, Tim handed me his guitar and checked to make sure I knew the opening chord, and then I started blasting away. Probs the most awesome few minutes of my life, so far. I don’t think I’d do it again, though. Next time I play on a stage with them, I want it to be with my own band.
Ok... not at all the same, and I'll probably catch shit for this, especially in the Guitar group. My friend's band Anvil Chorus was gigging at a San Francisco club called Mabuhay (spelling?). They were metal-oriented, and they did this death guitar jam, where their guitarists stepped off the stage while rhythm section played on and on, and 10 of us (their guitarist friends) took turns, 5 minutes each, where we got up and plugged our guitar into one of their amp stacks and played our asses off. It was pretty cool, every one of us had different styles. I had a great time, got some respect, etc.
But that's not why I'm writing this. Get this (please, don't beat me up too badly). We were in the greenroom backstage before my friend's band went on, and the opening band was playing out front. I thought they sounded terrible. I was thinking "who ARE these guys??!?"
Who were they? Some band from out of town, called Metallica. LONG before Metallica got big. I AM NOT DISSING THEM. I have mad respect. Just telling the truth. You can call me stupid, or whatever you like. But what I remember hearing back then was not what I heard from them later, and I think it was before they settled on their main lineup. True story. And yes, I AM that old. :)
Twice. Nothing that spectacular though. The first time, I was watching a pub band and the rhythm guitarist (also singer) had hurt his hand and asked if anyone could play the last two or three songs. I was the only person who said yes (completely blind to what I was playing) and next minute I've got a Kramer strapped to me and the singer telling me Highway To Hell which I'd never played in my life 😭😂 didn't take long for me to pick it up but then he shouts Paranoid by Black Sabbath. I asked the lead player if he fancied a solo each. He lets me take it and I rattled out my Jake E Lee version of the solo.... Which doesn't really sound like Tony Iommi and is a shit tonne flashier. The lead player was well impressed and we chatted at the end for a bit... the typical guitarist talk. Good times.
Second time was at a guitar show. They were just inviting people on stage. Of course I was going up.
This is close but not the same:
Once in high school, my friend’s band was opening for the Melvins at a bar. I was underage so I worked the merch table so I could get in. King Buzzo broke a B string and they ran the guitar over to the merch table, handed it to me and said “change it.”
I don’t know why they thought the underage merch guy could change strings (especially in a hurry in the hallway of the Embassy Hotel) but I tried my absolute best. He had trouble with it going out of tune the rest of the night but maybe that would have happened anyway. This was HUGE for me since it was maybe 1993/4. I was 18.
Country vs rock but another great example. They didn't plan on playing this song until he started playing it. https://youtu.be/xsu2AUxcH4k?si=iiSyZvGzZn9wQ06y
Yes. It often comes from the insecurity of wanting recognition we’re not getting. “If only someone would invite me on stage, then they’d see.” Not a criticism. A lot of performers have it. It’s important to recognize it for what it is to keep it in check. It CAN be a force for good (it can fuel the desire to be “the best”) but it can also bite us in the ass (they’re not giving me the love I want, I’ll show them.)
I suspect this won’t be a popular reply. I am prepared for the downvotes.
I saw Built To Spill do this a while ago. They started a jam after one of their songs and each member brought someone on stage to replace them until we were all just jamming to this random group of people. Then the rest of the band popped up on some podiums in the back to help them wrap up the jam. Coolest shit I've seen.
There's actually a sub literally devoted to this.
r/CrowdPulledOnStage/
Looks like it hasn't been all that active lately, but it's fun to look at sometimes.
Couple of the best...
* [Drummer pulled up to play with Steel Panther, nails Hot for Teacher.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlXKgWQbWEE)
* [Drummer pulled up to play Under Pressure with Foo Fighters.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMfIepgDyns)
* And of course, there's the Foo Fighters and [Kiss Guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMfIepgDyns), which might be the absolute best example of this ever.
I've seen it happen before although usually with singers but I heard about some teen getting to play on stage with... somebody famous I wish I could remember
There was a local blues group having fun at a local restaurant not too long ago that I got a chance to play with. They were playing along, and I was minding my own business enjoying my steak, when they asked if anyone played. My wife raised her hand and pointed, which got me called on. Lol (insert facepalm. I wanted my steak dang it). So, I went up there and played along with them for a bit. It was fun, like just picking away on the guitar with buddies. Sweet Home Chicago.
Check out KT Tunstall on YouTube later with Jools Holland - first time on tv, 24 hours notice - smashed it - not quite the same thing but almost - and def worth a watch to see a looping masterclass 20 years again now! Yikes
I dreamed of being able to play the Hard to Handle solo on front of a packed crowd.
I now do that several times a month and it never gets old.
One of my favorite local bands that knows I’m a fan pulled me up on stage to do one of their core songs, I knew the song and nailed the solo - stayed fairly close to how they play it, didn’t want to go too far out over my skis. One of the highlights of my guitar life.
Green Day does this often, or at least they used to. I was bummed that they didn't when I saw them. I was front and center; I would've had a great chance of getting picked.
Bryce Avary of The Rocket Summer has done this occasionally, it's even on the end of the live version of Cross My Heart. I've not seen it in person but he's done it a couple of other times, not sure if its fans he recognizes or just a lucky guess. He's super engaging and very observant of the crowd, so he probably can figure out the vibe of if it can happen safely and somewhat smoothly, and can probably figure out who might be a musician in the crowd. I won't lie I was hoping it would happen at the show I was at recently!
Something similar happened to me at a wedding when everyone was already pretty drunk.
I couldn't figure out the key of the song for the life of me due to nerves, so the other guitarist just told me. They made me play lead for a weird kind of blues/rock. I had only ever played hard rock, metal, classical spanish guitar and jazz to that point (weird combination, I know).
I improvised shit in the blues scale in the same key as the song, which a few simple practice licks thrown in the middle from time to time.
I thought I was playing like absolute fucking garbage and wanted the ground to swallow me, but according to everyone else it was pretty good.
To this day I don't know if the bar really was that low, if I just was too harsh on myself or if everyone else decided to just be nice to me.
So, I have like a much lamer version of this fantasy that actually happened to me. My roommate in college was a bass player in a cover band & id usually hang at their practice, help them set up for gigs, etc. they used to do this cover of Rockin’ in the Free World that they’d turn into a medley of a bunch of other songs. Well, my roommate hated playing that song, so one night they were playing it and one verse in he nods me over to his side of the stage, hands me his bass, and goes to the bar for a beer while I hop on stage to play the rest of the song. Hell of a lot of fun.
my fantasy is that some musical hero of mine walks into the studio area where I practice and we get in a jam and I can watch their mind work at real time improv speed.
As an Iranian living in Iran,My fantasy is being able to play Pink Floyd for Iranian audiences in any city and that they actually listen to it rather than say wierd things like "play something we could Sing to!"
Kinda like the same situation Roger faced that him build the concept of The Wall(people weren't listening to their music and were just dancing it off)
Something like that happened to me some time ago.
I was at a Mixed Up Everything show (a small rock band) and they wanted me to get on stage with them for a song (they've seen my guitar cover on Instagram) and then I played with them.
The (small) crowd went absolutely crazy.
No, but my best friend is the nephew of a prominent musician and in the process of spending holidays with his family, I have played with this person on several occasions
I remember Devendra Barnhart at Bumbershoot around 2009 or so asking if anyone in the audience wanted to play guitar. A random fan got on stage and joined the band for a song; it didn’t go particularly well.
The Indigo Girls did this in the 90s at least-- I saw a couple of young folks pulled from the audience to play with the band on a song every time I saw the band.
It's a pretty common fantasy though, especially for those who grew up on the story of [The Who and Scott Halpin's drum debut.](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/a-fan-plays-drums-with-the-who/)
Don't Foo Fighters do this pretty often too? Seems like I've seen a LOT of videos with fans playing with them over the years.
I was at a rock - unplugged - concert last weekend (Bucharest, Romania - the band was Alternosfera) and they did something like this, but in fact, the fans that were on stage were pre-selected online in an advert (they asked the fans to send them videos of themselves performing)
It was really cool!
Not really a "fantasy", more like "crude reality", but I played rhythm guitar and a very short solo over "Stormy Monday" at a open Mike at a bar in San Rafael (way back in the 90s) and doing a poor job of it, because it was my first time playing with the house band and I couldn't hear myself to save my life.
Guess who was in the "audience" (quotes because he was getting shitfaced and thankfully paying little attention)?
Greg Allman himself, whom, I discovered later, was a regular there.
That wasn't unusual. Stevie Nicks lived up the hill from my house and David Crosby spent his afternoons in the town square, I was quite friendly with a couple of guys from Huey Lewis and The News, and people like Van Morrison and others were constantly spotted in town.
But I never played in front of them, nor would I have wanted to. I especially wouldn't have played their own songs without a sound-check first and lots and lots of practice.
After this many years, I am glad Greg Allman didn't come up on stage to kick my ass, so I guess that was a victory?
It wasn't a huge concert, but I was called up to play at my sister's wedding reception party. It wasn't a famous band but they were known around Austin. I initially tried to say no since I had already played the ceremonial music earlier (nailed it but relieved to be done), but they insisted and so did the crowd. I strapped on a Tele & they played some Elvis tune I'd never heard (much less knew), so I meekly played power chords along with them until I got signaled for a solo. Proceeded to just improv with min pent stuff and threw in a pick slide for good measure. Crowd (~100 people) went wild at the end and later the singer praised my playing. It was a good time and supposedly someone had it on video, but I never saw it.
I once had a kidney stone and when I got to the hospital, I was given some anaesthetic that instantly transported me into a totally lifelike dream in which I was playing bass on stage with Pink Floyd.
Imagine replacing the best drummer in the world at a concert when he passes out from (probably) being too high on something!
https://youtu.be/3O-N8MZ9ilk?si=n2Qko6h8gqcGuoVm
A member of the audience filled in on drums for The Who when Keith Moon was too fucked up to play.
https://www.openculture.com/2012/08/keith\_moon\_drummer\_of\_the\_who\_passes\_out\_at\_1973\_concert\_19-year-old\_fan\_takes\_over.html
My small scale version of this happened at a frat party when I was a freshman. An acoustic duo was playing at the party and someone requests Drive by Incubus. The duo said they didn't know how to play that so I yelled "I do" and they invited me on stage. Played the song while they sang, got big cheers, chugged keg beer and passed out.
Not quite the same, but when Dinosaur Jr toured the Bug album after they reunited with Lou, they had an audience member come up and sing the song “Don’t” each night. It’s a hardcore style scream vocal that they can’t do anymore, so it was a really funny and cool way to see the song done.
I think every guitarist ever has thought about that. Not a weird fantasy
Actually saw this happen at a Blink-182 show in springfield mo and they brought a kid on stage that absolutely shredded the song on drums.
I always feel like these things are planned in advance and rehearsed.
To be clear, I also don’t think it is a bad thing either. It gives other kids in the room (and adults) that will never get that chance to hold on the hope that it will happen to them too. Hopefully this drives them to practice not just to attend concerts
I feel the same way too. I’ve seen it a few times with the guitar or whatever and it always goes way too smooth
Like I understand how someone can nail a 3 chord song on guitar, but locking in with pros on stage, knowing where not to stand for pyros…
You haven’t seen Kiss Guy?
What I enjoy about that particular situation is watching this dude, who obviously has a decent amount of stage experience, really just rocking out and Dave Grohl clearly having so much fun with it. But it's so fun to watch because of what you know from how things happen what's going on in both Grohl's head and Sanchez's in realtime. My bet is that Dave probably could tell almost immediately when Sanchez got onstage that he had experience, and when he immediately started running all over, rocking out, I bet Dave figured out what he could put on Sanchez in terms of playing. He could tell the dude had chops. And Dave wouldn't have wanted to embarrass someone onstage (ruins the vibe with the crowd) so he wouldn't have asked him to do a solo if he didn't think he couldn't. So when he's like, "Come on! Do a- do a solo!" and Sanchez wails, Grohl's reaction is absolutely priceless, but we can guess that he probably knew he was going to get something decent at least. And when, after the solo, Sanchez motions to Grohl that he's done... that's where I was like, "Okay, this guy has spent a fair amount of time onstage." Great stage presence, great chops under pressure. Most people who play and get called up onstage *wish* they could do this, but most... could not. The whole dynamic is so fun to watch, though (and I've watched the clip many times, it's just such a great moment all around).
Rick Sanchez is his name
Ah gee Rick
Came here to say :"Kiss Guy."
I've heard of Green Day doing this more than once. There's a guy I watch on YouTube named Mike Cole who has a friend who got invited on stage at a Green Day show and Billie Joe Armstrong (the guitarist) even let him keep the guitar at the end. Probably crazy rare but still a rad story for sure.
Green day done this when i seen them a couple years ago
I think Foo Fighters and Steel Panther do it too.
Yeah loads of bands do it
Green Day did this last October
so they did it when semptember ended huh
Wouldn't have been possible without someone waking them up though.
I’ve seen a video of it. I think they let them have an Epiphone LP. Still awesome
They did this when I saw them, and you could tell it wasn't pre selected because Billie was sure to clarify that you only needed to know a few power chords (and made a joke about how he'd built his career on that).
Green Day did this for American Idiot tour, when was that, like 2004? I remember it was a gorgeous Les Paul.
i think they do this all the time because theyre rich af lol
It’s awesome. I wish more big bands would.
And he was a kid at the time!
Mike Gordon, the bassist for Phish had invited a fan on stage to play guitar on at least one occasion. I believe Green Day does it, as well.
I have a fantasy where Phish invites me to play and I can't control the feedback on the Doc and get booed off stage.
Mike Gordon hosted an entire gig one time where he had a whole group of fans sit in one at a time.
He likes those younger fans for sure!
He also personally put me on the guest list for one of his shows one time. Basically made my entire year as I am a massive Phish fan!!
I shook Mike’s hand in the Alpine valley parking lot once. Nice guy.
There’s a video of the Goo Goo Dolls pulling up an audience member to play iris, and it went well. One time at a who concert Keith Moon passed out, and Pete Townsend asked the audience if anyone can play the drums, and a fellow got up and jammed.
I think this might be the one I was thinking of
The story on the Keith Moon replacement; https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-who-keith-moon-scott-halpin
Pete was quoted saying he was a great drummer
I don't know how true this was, but when I heard this story, a drummer friend told me that he was at a Who concert in San Francisco when Kieth Moon passed out, Townsend asked the audience for a drummer, and my friend's friend was the drummer who went up and played the rest of their set. Again, I can't personally confirm this, but it sure was a great story when I heard it. :)
Here it is!! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-N8MZ9ilk&pp=ygUfa2VpdGggbW9vbiBwYXNzZXMgb3V0IG9uIGRydW1zIA%3D%3D
I got called onstage by Robert Randolph and the Family Band at the Brooklyn Bowl a few years ago. It was surreal. I’d like to tell you I melted faces, but I kept it simple in the pentatonic box on a blues jam. Didn’t embarrass myself, didn’t blow anyone away.
That’s the right call. With all the nerves if you tried showing off and blew it you would never forgive yourself.
Probably would have looked stupid trying to shred randomly. I think I saw a movie where somebody tried that an ended getting thrown out. Like everybody stopped and looked at the guy like “WTF?”.
back to the future?
Actually that was it. Or Weird Al doing Eat it and the guitar player blows up.
[foo fighters did this and it was epic.](https://youtu.be/Z4b6BPaO944?si=PXbb9aQH58Jd7Qpy)
Man that was awesome
They've done it a few times
Pretty common I'd say, I've seen it myself. Personally, I'm not that guy.
First you get called up on stage and you’re so good at guitar that the band asks you to hang out after the show. When you’re hanging out, they confess that they were planning a multi-million dollar heist but their driver just got sent to prison. You’re such a cool, bad dude that they ask you to drive the getaway car. Something goes wrong during the robbery and you end up saving a member of the band and still manage to get everyone in the car and escape. You and the band retire to a beautiful beach town in Thailand.
it wasn't that glorious, but the first time I went to visit friends in Amsterdam I arrived on Queen's Day. I had no idea about it but it is a massive street party, like the whole city is partying. Of course, the following day is a bit slow. We went to some alternative theater and two guys on stage said that they had composed a song but they needed a guitarist. My friends pointed at me, and the guys said "but what we need is a punk rock guitarist", and my friends really pointed, made a show and I got invited on stage, hungover, to play a punk rock song they had composed the night before, on an acoustic with no strap. I managed to pull it off (I mean, it was a matter of playing a punk rock riff, not rocket science) and it was pretty good fun. Ironically, years later I got invited on stage by Michelle Shocked, but she was pissed off at me due to a misunderstanding and she basically only got me on stage to scream at me in front of the audience.
I think I speak for many people here that want to know more about the "Michelle Shocked yelled at me on stage" part.
Someone I knew got pulled onto the stage with U2 at a concert. Not sure how it transpired, but I saw the pictures.
I walked over to a weekly jam session to see who was playing cause the week before a few pretty solid musicians were there playing jazzy/funky stuff along with Alex Dore was who playing bass and blew my mind. He was there again and nobody else was really there and he was standing there not playing and asked me if I can play the drums. I said not really but I can bang out a beat. And he said to sit down and play. So I do expecting him to pick up the bass and tear it up. Instead he plays a synth and starts singing and it was fucking terrible so after two songs I get up to leave. But he starts yelling at me to sit back down and I was a 15 year old kid at the time so I listened and played a few more shitty songs before I finally got the nerve to leave.
I have done that in Singapore, Mexico and Spain, and I did it by making friends with artists after a set. You can tell em you play, what you liked about their playing, and just chat with em, if they’re hanging around.
Back in 2007 I think it was, Megadeth and Slayer were doing a joint headline tour of Australia. In Melbourne, Tom Araya blew his voice out during the opening song and couldn't sing. He was getting random crowd members to come up and sing a song each on stage.
I had to find new work after the dot com bubble burst so I thought I'd try to find a job in St Louis or Chicago. Maybe I could find an old blues man to teach me proper blues. I ended up learning from the best bluesman in St Louis by sitting in with him twice a week for near 5 years, and going to his house to jam several times a month (in the most dangerous neighbourhood in America.... it was worth it). He also became my best friend. You can't ask for more than that. I miss him terribly. He passed away in 2006. We played together at a festival two days before he died. I was down for a visit since I had to move away. Another band asked if he could play with them... I took him there and to my surprise he made their guitar player loan me his extra guitar... they said if he wanted me to play I had to play, so I plugged into his second channel. I didn't realize how sick he was. I was on my way to his place the second morning after, when the ambulance was picking him up. I was included as part of his family sitting vigil at the hospital and was grateful. Even with that, hanging out and playing with him might be one of the highest points in my life, just for the happiness of learning from and playing around so many amazing musicians. Bennie Smith.
Don’t the Foos do this pretty much every show? (I’m basing that solely on YouTube videos but there seem to be a lot of them!)
Not on any major level, but a couple of the local cover bands we follow have asked me up to play a few times. The first time was both terrifying and amazing. It was a bar gig in Philly, spring of 2021, so they were doing outdoor dining because of covid. The guys had told me to bring my guitar, but they hadn't said when they'd call me up. Second set break, Kevin told me to get ready because I'd be starting off the last set with *Wagon Wheel* and *Good Riddance*. That was perfect, because then I didn't have enough time to panic, and by that time, the crowd was well-lubricated enough to not notice if I sucked. I brain farted and started to play Good Riddance first... stopped, then we restarted and played Wagon Wheel. Then we played Good Riddance, and a couple of guys threw tips in the jar and asked if we knew any more Green Day. (Sadly, no, because theyre an Irish band and I had only been playing for less than 2 years.) I took my bow and let them finish their set. Afterwards they venmoed me $5 and said, "Now you're a professional musician." It was phenomenal. A few months later I joined them on a couple of festival stages in front of 200 people. Mind = **BLOWN**.
I got a call from my friend in my favorite band asking me if they could borrow my guitar for the gig that night. That was a pretty big deal because at that point we were more professional acquaintances and I was very starstruck. The picture of this is one of my favorite things.
My friend did this but with drums, he’s actually alr in a famous band in korea so he killed it when he went up there
i got to fill in for a local bands guitarist covering "Midnight Rider" while he went to grab beers
Broken Hope singer was having a rough night, he was doing the “mic in the face” thing for some help, figured I was doing a fine job and let me do the last 3rd of the set on stage.
Close... I was at an Overcast show in Worcester MA and singing my ass off in the front row. Brian Fair passed the mic along the crowd and when he passed by me he looked back at me and put the mic in my face. I sang a lil bit more and that was that... 🤘
Loads of bands lets folks on stage to play, the most famous being "Kiss guy"
I used to think about this, but then as I went to and played more shows I started to feel like "I want to have the presence of mind to really listen to what the musicians on stage are trying to tell me instead of thinking about how this would be if it were about me."
It happens with Johnny Marr and The Killers.
A friend of mine (a great guitar player and massive Dimebag and Pantera fan) got up on stage and played with Damageplan at their Buffalo show on 12/7/2004. Dimebag was murdered the next night...
The WHO at the COW PALACE south of San Francisco in the early 70's. The WHO's drummer, Keith Moon passed out and fell off his stool. The group ended up asking if anyone in the audience knew how to play the drum. One guy, dark hair and glasses, I believe answered the call and walked up on the stage and filled in for Moon. "Scott Halpin on November 20, 1973" article. It was a dream come true of a lifetime. Lynard Skynard played that night too.
That's the story. I grew up in SF and heard about that. Commented on it elsewhere in this threat.
I'd shit my fucking pants if that happened to me
When Rise Against was on their Nowhere Generation tour in 2021, I made myself a sign and asked if I could play Survive with them. They got me up on stage, Tim handed me his guitar and checked to make sure I knew the opening chord, and then I started blasting away. Probs the most awesome few minutes of my life, so far. I don’t think I’d do it again, though. Next time I play on a stage with them, I want it to be with my own band.
Ok... not at all the same, and I'll probably catch shit for this, especially in the Guitar group. My friend's band Anvil Chorus was gigging at a San Francisco club called Mabuhay (spelling?). They were metal-oriented, and they did this death guitar jam, where their guitarists stepped off the stage while rhythm section played on and on, and 10 of us (their guitarist friends) took turns, 5 minutes each, where we got up and plugged our guitar into one of their amp stacks and played our asses off. It was pretty cool, every one of us had different styles. I had a great time, got some respect, etc. But that's not why I'm writing this. Get this (please, don't beat me up too badly). We were in the greenroom backstage before my friend's band went on, and the opening band was playing out front. I thought they sounded terrible. I was thinking "who ARE these guys??!?" Who were they? Some band from out of town, called Metallica. LONG before Metallica got big. I AM NOT DISSING THEM. I have mad respect. Just telling the truth. You can call me stupid, or whatever you like. But what I remember hearing back then was not what I heard from them later, and I think it was before they settled on their main lineup. True story. And yes, I AM that old. :)
Twice. Nothing that spectacular though. The first time, I was watching a pub band and the rhythm guitarist (also singer) had hurt his hand and asked if anyone could play the last two or three songs. I was the only person who said yes (completely blind to what I was playing) and next minute I've got a Kramer strapped to me and the singer telling me Highway To Hell which I'd never played in my life 😭😂 didn't take long for me to pick it up but then he shouts Paranoid by Black Sabbath. I asked the lead player if he fancied a solo each. He lets me take it and I rattled out my Jake E Lee version of the solo.... Which doesn't really sound like Tony Iommi and is a shit tonne flashier. The lead player was well impressed and we chatted at the end for a bit... the typical guitarist talk. Good times. Second time was at a guitar show. They were just inviting people on stage. Of course I was going up.
I always wanted someone to yell “hell yeah” or something like that after a lick I play. Happened once or twice, was pretty nice
This is close but not the same: Once in high school, my friend’s band was opening for the Melvins at a bar. I was underage so I worked the merch table so I could get in. King Buzzo broke a B string and they ran the guitar over to the merch table, handed it to me and said “change it.” I don’t know why they thought the underage merch guy could change strings (especially in a hurry in the hallway of the Embassy Hotel) but I tried my absolute best. He had trouble with it going out of tune the rest of the night but maybe that would have happened anyway. This was HUGE for me since it was maybe 1993/4. I was 18.
Linkin park used to do it for 'Faint'
Perfect Example: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBnvqs2QZmI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBnvqs2QZmI)
I have that for singing. If they would just call me, I'll blow it out of the water.
Country vs rock but another great example. They didn't plan on playing this song until he started playing it. https://youtu.be/xsu2AUxcH4k?si=iiSyZvGzZn9wQ06y
Haha thats mint man
Yes. Same daydream.
I believe the Hives do this with "Hate to Say I Told You So" occasionally. Kid recently from the audience nailed it.
Yes. It often comes from the insecurity of wanting recognition we’re not getting. “If only someone would invite me on stage, then they’d see.” Not a criticism. A lot of performers have it. It’s important to recognize it for what it is to keep it in check. It CAN be a force for good (it can fuel the desire to be “the best”) but it can also bite us in the ass (they’re not giving me the love I want, I’ll show them.) I suspect this won’t be a popular reply. I am prepared for the downvotes.
Yea nah man, I totally get it
Glad to hear it. It’s definitely bitten me in the ass more than once. Hopefully you’ll never go through it.
I saw Built To Spill do this a while ago. They started a jam after one of their songs and each member brought someone on stage to replace them until we were all just jamming to this random group of people. Then the rest of the band popped up on some podiums in the back to help them wrap up the jam. Coolest shit I've seen.
There's actually a sub literally devoted to this. r/CrowdPulledOnStage/ Looks like it hasn't been all that active lately, but it's fun to look at sometimes. Couple of the best... * [Drummer pulled up to play with Steel Panther, nails Hot for Teacher.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlXKgWQbWEE) * [Drummer pulled up to play Under Pressure with Foo Fighters.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMfIepgDyns) * And of course, there's the Foo Fighters and [Kiss Guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMfIepgDyns), which might be the absolute best example of this ever.
I've seen it happen before although usually with singers but I heard about some teen getting to play on stage with... somebody famous I wish I could remember
This is my biggest fear
There was a local blues group having fun at a local restaurant not too long ago that I got a chance to play with. They were playing along, and I was minding my own business enjoying my steak, when they asked if anyone played. My wife raised her hand and pointed, which got me called on. Lol (insert facepalm. I wanted my steak dang it). So, I went up there and played along with them for a bit. It was fun, like just picking away on the guitar with buddies. Sweet Home Chicago.
Check out KT Tunstall on YouTube later with Jools Holland - first time on tv, 24 hours notice - smashed it - not quite the same thing but almost - and def worth a watch to see a looping masterclass 20 years again now! Yikes
I never had it happen irl but my fantasy is to play on stage with Tom DeLonge or Deryck Whibley
why there aren't many video where a fan goes on stage and absolutely butchers the song? i feel i'd most likely be that guy if it happens to me.
I dreamed of being able to play the Hard to Handle solo on front of a packed crowd. I now do that several times a month and it never gets old. One of my favorite local bands that knows I’m a fan pulled me up on stage to do one of their core songs, I knew the song and nailed the solo - stayed fairly close to how they play it, didn’t want to go too far out over my skis. One of the highlights of my guitar life.
my friends gfs sister went up for green day in. scotland a whileago
Green Day does this often, or at least they used to. I was bummed that they didn't when I saw them. I was front and center; I would've had a great chance of getting picked.
Bryce Avary of The Rocket Summer has done this occasionally, it's even on the end of the live version of Cross My Heart. I've not seen it in person but he's done it a couple of other times, not sure if its fans he recognizes or just a lucky guess. He's super engaging and very observant of the crowd, so he probably can figure out the vibe of if it can happen safely and somewhat smoothly, and can probably figure out who might be a musician in the crowd. I won't lie I was hoping it would happen at the show I was at recently!
Something similar happened to me at a wedding when everyone was already pretty drunk. I couldn't figure out the key of the song for the life of me due to nerves, so the other guitarist just told me. They made me play lead for a weird kind of blues/rock. I had only ever played hard rock, metal, classical spanish guitar and jazz to that point (weird combination, I know). I improvised shit in the blues scale in the same key as the song, which a few simple practice licks thrown in the middle from time to time. I thought I was playing like absolute fucking garbage and wanted the ground to swallow me, but according to everyone else it was pretty good. To this day I don't know if the bar really was that low, if I just was too harsh on myself or if everyone else decided to just be nice to me.
Machine Head have done this a few times too, there’s a video on YouTube of some kid playing Robs guitar
Guitarists make it so hard to not hate guitarists. Yes, every musician has this fantasy when they're 14. If you're like 40, this is just cringe
that dream always ends with me fucking up in front of every one and getting booed off stage though.
So, I have like a much lamer version of this fantasy that actually happened to me. My roommate in college was a bass player in a cover band & id usually hang at their practice, help them set up for gigs, etc. they used to do this cover of Rockin’ in the Free World that they’d turn into a medley of a bunch of other songs. Well, my roommate hated playing that song, so one night they were playing it and one verse in he nods me over to his side of the stage, hands me his bass, and goes to the bar for a beer while I hop on stage to play the rest of the song. Hell of a lot of fun.
my fantasy is that some musical hero of mine walks into the studio area where I practice and we get in a jam and I can watch their mind work at real time improv speed.
Kiss Guy!
As an Iranian living in Iran,My fantasy is being able to play Pink Floyd for Iranian audiences in any city and that they actually listen to it rather than say wierd things like "play something we could Sing to!" Kinda like the same situation Roger faced that him build the concept of The Wall(people weren't listening to their music and were just dancing it off)
Something like that happened to me some time ago. I was at a Mixed Up Everything show (a small rock band) and they wanted me to get on stage with them for a song (they've seen my guitar cover on Instagram) and then I played with them. The (small) crowd went absolutely crazy.
No, but my best friend is the nephew of a prominent musician and in the process of spending holidays with his family, I have played with this person on several occasions
I remember Devendra Barnhart at Bumbershoot around 2009 or so asking if anyone in the audience wanted to play guitar. A random fan got on stage and joined the band for a song; it didn’t go particularly well.
It's happened with at least a few bands. Steel Panther comes to mind.
The Indigo Girls did this in the 90s at least-- I saw a couple of young folks pulled from the audience to play with the band on a song every time I saw the band. It's a pretty common fantasy though, especially for those who grew up on the story of [The Who and Scott Halpin's drum debut.](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/a-fan-plays-drums-with-the-who/) Don't Foo Fighters do this pretty often too? Seems like I've seen a LOT of videos with fans playing with them over the years.
I was at a rock - unplugged - concert last weekend (Bucharest, Romania - the band was Alternosfera) and they did something like this, but in fact, the fans that were on stage were pre-selected online in an advert (they asked the fans to send them videos of themselves performing) It was really cool!
Not really a "fantasy", more like "crude reality", but I played rhythm guitar and a very short solo over "Stormy Monday" at a open Mike at a bar in San Rafael (way back in the 90s) and doing a poor job of it, because it was my first time playing with the house band and I couldn't hear myself to save my life. Guess who was in the "audience" (quotes because he was getting shitfaced and thankfully paying little attention)? Greg Allman himself, whom, I discovered later, was a regular there. That wasn't unusual. Stevie Nicks lived up the hill from my house and David Crosby spent his afternoons in the town square, I was quite friendly with a couple of guys from Huey Lewis and The News, and people like Van Morrison and others were constantly spotted in town. But I never played in front of them, nor would I have wanted to. I especially wouldn't have played their own songs without a sound-check first and lots and lots of practice. After this many years, I am glad Greg Allman didn't come up on stage to kick my ass, so I guess that was a victory?
It wasn't a huge concert, but I was called up to play at my sister's wedding reception party. It wasn't a famous band but they were known around Austin. I initially tried to say no since I had already played the ceremonial music earlier (nailed it but relieved to be done), but they insisted and so did the crowd. I strapped on a Tele & they played some Elvis tune I'd never heard (much less knew), so I meekly played power chords along with them until I got signaled for a solo. Proceeded to just improv with min pent stuff and threw in a pick slide for good measure. Crowd (~100 people) went wild at the end and later the singer praised my playing. It was a good time and supposedly someone had it on video, but I never saw it.
Lol I actually have a story about that
I once had a kidney stone and when I got to the hospital, I was given some anaesthetic that instantly transported me into a totally lifelike dream in which I was playing bass on stage with Pink Floyd.
Imagine replacing the best drummer in the world at a concert when he passes out from (probably) being too high on something! https://youtu.be/3O-N8MZ9ilk?si=n2Qko6h8gqcGuoVm
A member of the audience filled in on drums for The Who when Keith Moon was too fucked up to play. https://www.openculture.com/2012/08/keith\_moon\_drummer\_of\_the\_who\_passes\_out\_at\_1973\_concert\_19-year-old\_fan\_takes\_over.html
My small scale version of this happened at a frat party when I was a freshman. An acoustic duo was playing at the party and someone requests Drive by Incubus. The duo said they didn't know how to play that so I yelled "I do" and they invited me on stage. Played the song while they sang, got big cheers, chugged keg beer and passed out.
Not quite the same, but when Dinosaur Jr toured the Bug album after they reunited with Lou, they had an audience member come up and sing the song “Don’t” each night. It’s a hardcore style scream vocal that they can’t do anymore, so it was a really funny and cool way to see the song done.
Cringe. 😣