Just the basic facts. Can you show me where it hurts? Cue thousands of hopeful eyes looking to the top of the wall.
Have you ever happened to be one of the lucky ones, or are there any guest appearances at gigs on YouTube that get you in the feels?
Guest appearances at gigs
I thought this one was impressive
Favourite one I’ve seen was at a Wilco show, halfway through You Never Know, an Asian man bounded on and played – or rather, mimed – on a keytar. “It’s Synthesizer Patel!” Yelled Jeff Tweedy. Cue about 2,000 mystified Wilco fans and about 10 people who had seen the second series of Look Around You (me included) pissing ourselves laughing.
Did he mime the sound of an oboe though?
At least the bloody bastards didn’t steal his synthesiser.
Great example. Thants!
I saw Martin & Martin in London when Michael Jackson was in the audience 😉
https://www.discogs.com/master/1110573-Martin-Martin-Just-Another-Little-Girl
Hehe. Hey Beany. How’s things?
⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️Two Superstar Afterworders⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️
Not here as often as I should be. Keeping busy for an old fool. I miss the NW Mingles.
Had a lovely mini mingle (ooh err) with Pencilsqueezer in Chester recently. We agreed
We did indeed.
Although we’re further away now (North Yorkshire) and finally settled we’d be up for a meet up.
That would be delightful. We’d be delighting in it.
Ditto.
Lichfield is so close as to be the North West. Less grim, mind.
Not sure I understand the question.
As for guest appearances at gigs, in general I am fairly ambivalent. If I have paid my hard earned money to see, say, The Stones. I want that experience 100%, not having someone like Bono bouncing on stage to ruin it
I managed to get as ticket from a tout funded by a fortuitous £25 premium bond win, and saw the Stones at Granby Halls Leicester (May 1976)
Eric Clapton walked on and played the encores. (This was just before his descent in full humdrum etc.).
Rumour had it is that he was also seeing Ric Grech (who was in a pretty sorry state at the time). The suggestion being that EC and others visited him after show. Ric Grech at the time lived no more than 200 yards from my/parents house.
I saw Clapton join Dylan at Wembley Stadium in 1984 (Chrissie Hynde, Van Morrison and Santana also). Did it improve the gig? Not really
I saw Ronnie Wood join Dylan at the Fleadh in Finsbury Park. Did it improve the gig? Hard to tell, Captain, hard to tell.
@gatz Didn’t Van come on as well.? It was a right old mess.
Not that I recall, though I did see hime play his own set there another year. He’s not mentioned in this write up either, if your memory needs to be refreshed (mine certainly did after 20+ years).
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jun/22/popandrock2
@gatz Thank you.
Did Bob play Fleadh more than once? I certainly remember him and Van singing One Irish Rover together at Finsbury Park (although they clearly each had their own idea about how the tune should go)
Edit, as yes 1993
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bob-dylan/1993/finsbury-park-london-england-5bd52784.html
I was at that Wembley gig and Van doing It’s All Over Now Baby Blue was a great moment.
I saw Clapton stroll on stage to join J. J. Cale at Hammersmith Odeon in ?1976 – strolling being the only way to join the great man I suppose.
My main memory is of some dickhead sitting behind my wife, putting his feet up on the back of her seat and trapping her hair.
Waterboys 1986, Milton Keynes Bowl – two years before they released Fisherman’s Blues, although the title track was already in the set. Big closing number ahoy – it’s Purple Rain, and who’s that on scintillating, shredding lead guitar? It’s only Roddy Frame!
Ian McNobb at Glastonbury 1994.
Wendy: “Who’s that come onstage?”
Me: “Crikey, it’s that Waterboy fella, Mike Scott.”
I’m sure you meant Ian McNabb
I don’t think he did – I’ve read his book.
Deffo McNobb in Steady Towers. Loved the Icicle Works and some of his solo stuff but he’s often a dick on Social Media…
He’s a complete dick on social media and in his book. His ego is in inverse proportion to his current level of fame and my goodness is he bitter.
He is still writing and realising some great tunes though.
I agree he comes across as a complete dickhead in his book.
Did the two members of Crazy Horse not make a dent then?
Scott also crashed Sharon Shannon’s gig there that year.
The Crazy Horse fellas had already been announced. Doing an actual Waterboys song was a bigger giveaway. I have the official bootleg CD somewhere.
Rumour has it they learned two Waterboys songs – “One fast, one slower” – but then couldn’t remember which was which. I think it’s pretty obvious from the CDR.
Mike Scott is a serial turner -up. He joined the Decemberists on stage for an encore of either Whole of the Moon or Fisherman’s ( can’t remember which) at Shepherds Bush 20 years ago.
That is one of the best gigs I have ever attended.
John Goodman joining the Neville Brothers on cowbell at the Forum, Oct 1989. Supported by Del Amitri, a fact which continues to surprise me.
Stevie Wonder at Madison Square Garden in 2007. Guest appearances by Tony Bennett and Prince.
It was glorious.
I saw it when Pete Townshend joined the no-hits Clash at the Brighton Top Rank in January 1980. It was the talk of the 6th form Common Room the next day. The Clash also had Jimmy Pursey, Paul Cook and Steve Jones help out on “White Riot” at the Music Machine in 1978.
Chris Difford at our local 80 seat venue, ablely assisted by……Peter Kay. Chris probably didnt do as many songs as he expected.
I was actually at that Roger Waters Wall gig at the O2 when Mr Gilmour did appear at the top of the Wall. We were encouraged pre-gig by the sight of Nick Mason taking a seat in the crowd.
At the moment of DG’s arrival, a youngish (early 20s) Spanish lad stood up to the annoyance of those seated behind him.
“You don’t understand – THIS is my band” he explained
“You don’t understand, I’ll belt you one if you don’t sit down” explained one seasoned gig goer behind him.
View instantly improved.
It was a glorious moment hearing Gilmour play Comfortably Numb. Also some nice banter at the end with the stage introductions. Waters admitted that he had been “a miserable sod” when making The Wall, Gilmour nodded vigorously.
Shame they fell out again.
Not on YouTube, I suspect but Kate Bush appearing at Peter Gabriel gig (Earls Court? Late 80s?) to duet on Don’t Give Up was pretty magical and all the better for being a complete surprise.
I actually had a ticket for that show (obviously didn’t know Kate would be appearing), but didn’t think of the financial and organisational logistics of actually being able to get there and stay over whilst being on the dole at the time, so ended up just not going. Imagine my joy when I got to find out about the special guest (I was, and remain, besotted with La Bush).
Strangely enough, I got to see them both (not together) in 2014.
Not a great recording, but… 1:38 here
I was there and it was completely unexpected and a truly magical moment.
I always refer to it as the time I saw Kate Bush by accident.
The greatest guest appearance, which I think is still on You Tube, is Steve Hillage playing with Sham 69 at Reading back in the day.
My contribution, too: https://youtu.be/dPkt-JS_jDA?is=ePDi0Bfh_muHK7DB
A good one was a Neil Finn gig, Shepherds Bush Empire in about 2002. Suddenly noticed a bloke with dark hair playing harmonica stage left. Looks a bit like Johnny Marr, I thought. Song finished. Then they all did There Is A Light… which was nice.
Then the opening guitar for How Soon Is Now? started up. Place went mental.
I saw Jimmy Page come on and jam with Jeff Beck who was lovely to him then blew him off the stage. 15 years later I saw Dave Gilmour come on with Beck and was far too cool to get the Beck treatment. They did Hi Ho Silver Lining brilliantly to Beck’s mock annoyance. Brilliant fun. They did the twin lead guitar solo perfectly.
Different relationship – Page and Beck were friends/rivals from being teenagers.
Yes they’ve probably been doing that since the early 60s.
Funnily enough we just watched the Stones Grrrr gig from 2012 – besides ridiculous shoes, Lady Gaga is magnificent on Gimme Shelter.
Jethro Tull at the Royal Festival Hall in 2008 for their 40th anniversary tour.
Barrie Barlow comes out to play on Heavy Horses and an excerpt from Thick as a Brick.
It was amazing. I got into Tull after their imperial phase, so to see one of the stalwarts from that era was a delight.
His playing was tremendous. I am not a drumming expert, but there was something in his style which lifted those two songs from the good to the sublime.
At the same concert, Greg Lake came out to perform Lucky Man – which was nice enough, but somewhat incongruous and unnecessary.
Mr B is on my list of severely under-rated drummers.
I saw Marc Almond guest with TMT. He read dreadful, couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but loved every minute of it.
Herbie Mann got up on stage to jam with erm BB King and his big band. I dont like flute at the best of times. And he wouldn’t get off.
Chris Bailey joining Nick and the Seeds on Nocturama’s Baby I’m On Fire. He sang on it on the record so all good. Chris wanted to hang around but Nick was having none of it.
My first wife’s uncle said, You like jazz, don’t you – and gave me a Herbie Mann LP. Hated it. Flute in jazz – bah.
That said, I have and like Memphis Underground
Feb 1993 at a Van Morrison gig in Dublin. Bono appeared during Gloria, that was fun.
Then for the last track of the night Van started It’s All Over Now Baby Blue only to be joined by Bob Dylan himself and a chorus of Bono again, Elvis Costello, Chrissie Hynde, Steve Winwood, Kris Kristofferson and, I think, Carole King.
Curiously the next time I saw Van Morrison in concert was yesterday.
How was he? Am seeing him in a few weeks
He came out, did a few Freddie Mercury Ay-Ohs, got us all doing a Mexican wave and shouted “when I say cleaning, you say windows… ” No, sorry, that didn’t happen.
He was grand – he was playing a 4pm festival slot for an hour. He looked and sounded like Van. Opened with Into The Mystic, crowd were happy to hear Days Like This, I liked hearing Orangefield. No surprises. I moved to see something else in a tent before he was done.
🙂
gosh.
The only gig I’ve ever bought a ticket for from a tout outside the gig, ZZ Top at the now defunct House of Blues on Sunset Strip. An unplanned trip off the back of a work visit, I’d planned to eat there unaware of the gig, and only realized what was going on when Frank Beard (RIP) emerged from a massive bus along with 2 bodyguards whilst I was still wondering why the restaurant was shut.
A great gig, a once in a lifetime to join in singing “I’ve been bad, I’ve been good, Dallas Texas, Hollywood”. For the encore, out pop John Mayer and who else but Slash. Not the best performance of the song you’ll ever hear, with a rather variable tempo, but no one cared and the place went apeshit.
As you can tell in the slip below – it’s not me screaming, honest
Charity gig by Peter Gabriel at Hammersmith Odeon evidently Bowie was playing piano off stage. Joe Walsh making first appearance with the Eagles as a guest at Wembley stadium.
Surprised no one has mentioned Kyle and her sporadic appearance with Nick Cave, to reprise their murder ballad. I can’t stand the Aussie pocket popstrel, but I confess a moment of pleasure when she joined him at Victoria Park, a year or few ago.
I saw a barechested Arthur Brown join The Pretty Things on stage for a surprisingly soulful rendition of That’s How Strong My Love Is. He was gentlemanly enough to laugh when I yelled “nice one, Arthur” as he left the stage. Funny old gig, Paris somewhere, back whenever, don’t ask. Venue nicely packed, but mostly with young women who struck me as unlikely Pretties fans. Turned out they were there for miserablist solo act Cat Power, who poked (inna Nico stylee) at a keyboard and mumbled sulkily for a few minutes while a sturdy woman with a face tatt cried “we love you”; not a request for the Stones song unfortunately. As the Pretties came on about eighty per cent of the audience made for the doors in a clatter of Blakey’s and face piercings. They missed a blinder of a show, and yes, Arthur’s appearance was an unexpected delight. Nice one.
I saw Arthur Brown join Sons of Cream for a couple of songs a few years back very good he was, alas I cannot remember what he sang.
I saw the pretty things a few times once with Dick Taylor
Eh? He was in the band for most their career, bar some 70s time off for good behaviour.
Unless your spellcheck is taking the Mick?
I saw Damon join Hooky for Aries at the Hammersmith Apollo a couple of years ago. I wasn’t familiar with the song and Albarn was wearing a woolly hat so it took a while for the penny to drop.
I saw Jimmy Pursey join the Clash at the Anti Nazi League rally in 1978 for White Riot. He came in four bars too early yet managed to finish at the same time as the band. Musical genius.
I’ve never seen any surprise guest at any gig I’ve attended. They always seem to appear on the next night of the tour.
Was at the Kentish Town Forum in 2013 for The Black Crowes farewell tour (of that era). The crowd seemed certain Jimmy Page would manifest. Didn’t.
Not strictly a surprise guest, but a surprise band member er… surprised me once. We went to see Neil Innes do a non-Rutles solo show at our little local arts centre years ago. None other than session ace and Steely Dan ‘Reelin In The Years’ soloist Elliot Randall was his guitar player. I was taken aback at that.
OH! Wait! Hang on, yes. I have see one surprise guest. Again, The Black Crowes at Brixton Academy in the late 90’s. Noel Bloody Gallagher open chord pentatoniced for us all during the encore. FFS.
The main one for me was when Paul McCartney came out to join Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band at Hyde Park. They did I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout before Hyde Park management turned off the power because of their curfew.
On the subject of Macca, I saw Bongo joining him on stage at the O2 in December 2018! Ron Wood turned up as well – of course he did.
Also saw Elton murder The Long And Winding Road on an impromptu appearance with Prince, again at the O2, in 2007. It was a thrill to see him; to hear him, not so much.
I saw Noel Gallagher join the above mentioned Ian McNabb and at another gig he joined Ryan Adams.
I saw Van Morrison join Eric Clapton and Eric Clapton join Sheryl Crow.
Paul McCartney joined Neil Young.
Does it count when the co-stars are prearranged? At Roy Harper’s 70th Birthday Bash he was joined by Jimmy Page, Joanna Newsome, John Renbourn and Andy Roberts among others. They did one song and were off again.
Roy Harper joined Jonathan Wilson.
Kim Richey joined Jason Isbell.
An unknown singer joined Chuck Prophet. Chuck announced him, but I forget the name. No-one around us had a clue who he was either, but Chuck apparently thought he was a good thing. He didn’t impress me.
I was reminded this morning of a gig in Glasgow, mid 1980s.
Alex Campbell was the headliner – he was quite frail and I seem to remember it being a “retirement from the biz” gig.
Danny Kyle acted as a kind of MC for the night.
There were two guests: Hamish Imlach, who was announced on the (very) limited publicity; and John Martyn, who was described as a “special guest” but not named.
If I haven’t already posted before about this, I’d be amazed. I went down to the old Mean Fiddler, not for the first time to see Carlene Carter. I’d seen her there before with Nick Lowe loitering at the back of the room but this time she was supporting (and also singing with) The Carter Family. I spotted Elvis Costello at a table by the bar but, for the encores, they called on Johnny Cash, who in turn called on Joe Brown. The man in black then proceeded to call on Elvis to duet on Suit Of Lights.
On another occasion, I missed EC encoring with Los Lobos at the Electric Ballroom because I wasn’t very impressed with them and I’d mainly gone to see the support band (Jason & The Scorchers I think) and left early… although in those days it probably wasn’t really that early!
The Ipswich Town squad came on to sing BV’s on Born to Kill in a cage with Ian Gillan at The Gaumont IIRC- in 1991, I think.
Similarly, John Barnes recently joined Hooky and pals for that rap. I wasn’t there.
Crowded House at The Borderline, 1991. Up steps Richard Thompson to recreate his solo on ‘Sister Madly’, then they kept him on for the rest of the set. Admittedly he’d borrowed the venue to launch Rumor and Sigh earlier in the evening, but it was a nice treat. A gift from a grateful record industry since I worked in a record shop and may have – frankly – over ordered the Feels So Good CD single.