Ian Brown goes wild

[SPARX]

Ian Brown (GAMH, 15 March 2005)
 It's not often that you get to see a fight onstage.
 
 Ian Brown and his band arrived at the Great American
 Music Hall amped and, from an Oasis fan's point of
 view, "Mad Fer It!" So was the crowd, filled with
 Stone Roses afficionados and some casual observers.
 Ian looked like, as my friend Paul said, a "scouse"
 with his Adidas track jacket, shades, and a goldie
 lookin' chain around his rather slender neck. His
 pants were saggin' too - Easy Access style. You would
 think that the baggy era never left with this guy on
 stage. He opened up with the title track of his third
 solo release, Solarized, but he kept on complaining
 throughout the song that the sound levels were shite.
 He even told the crowd after the song, "You guys paid
 money to see this show - let's not go cheap with the
 speakers!" He then asked the crowd, "How much did you
 pay for this?" He then tried to incite a riot
 afterwards by saying, "We'll trash this place!" Now I
 see where Liam gets his stage presence!
 
 Then, this is where the fun started. After "Sally
 Cinnamon," which caught the entire crowd by surprise
 and back to those nostalgic days of the early 1990s,
 he then played "Made of Stone." My beer was raised up
 high and I was ecstatic to hear this song. Then, right
 dab in the middle of the song, Ian Brown, in diva-like
 fashion, signaled the band to stop. He then blurted
 something about the sound being horrible and then went
 to the mixing desk to fix the problem. As Ian was
 singing acapella about some penny he found, just to
 check the noise levels, he then signaled the band to
 start. Again, I was amped, ready, beer raised high,
 and bouncing my head. Then, AGAIN, he stops the song
 and complains about the sound. Same procedure
 happened: mixing desk, sings song about pennies, and
 then signaled the band to start. This time, he
 completes the song and continues.
 
 You thought that was entertaining, then you've seen
 nothing yet! As he was just starting "Love Like a
 Fountain," some guy in a white shirt from the crowd
 jumps on the stage and rugby tackles Ian Brown! This
 totally caught Ian by surprise because he was
 blindsided by this guy. The band immediately rushed to
 aid Ian, with security following, but Ian defended
 himself! When he got up, he kicked the living shit out
 of the guy! His band also did the same, and security
 was trying to free the guy and break up the melee. As
 the man with the white shirt got up and tried to
 escape the stage, Ian then continued to pummel him. A
 really big security guard tried to get Ian to stop by
 holding onto Ian's jacket and refusing to let go. This
 pissed Ian off and then Ian started to fight the
 security guard! Somehow, someway, the security guard
 ended up on the ground and Ian started pummeling him
 with either his microphone or a beer glass (there are
 conflicting stories on this). After the band joined
 in, the security guard got up and was bloody from the
 fight.
 
 Ian and his band walked off stage and house lights
 came on. GAMH promptly shut down all bars and had
 security in place on the stage and around the area.
 The crowd were pissed that he walked off, but I don't
 blame him. The crowd chanted for his return, but to no
 avail. Some left the venue, while others stuck it out.
 I went to the bathroom, and I chatted amongst the
 Brits in line and they were saying that this is the
 greatest gig ever and that it would be even greater if
 Ian came out. After 20 minutes or so, the drummer came
 back on stage and Ian soon followed. Ian then grabbed
 the mic and was still pissed, and he says, "If anyone
 wants to fight me, come to the stage right now!" A
 couple of tossers in the crowd raised their hand, but
 Ian was not joking. He pinpointed a guy with glasses
 in the crowd, and told the guy that he is ready to
 fight him on stage. The man with glasses, surprised at
 this reaction, declined but Ian was insistent. After a
 couple of minutes of that, Ian then focused his
 attention to another guy, stage left, and began
 badgering him. Then Ian prompted the security guards,
 asking any of them if they want to fight him. From
 that point on, the house lights remained on and the
 bars were shut down.
 
 They then started where they left off, playing "Love
 Like a Fountain." The sound was still not optimal, but
 Ian continued anyways. More songs off of the new album
 and his previous releases were played, all of which
 were quite good even though I haven't heard of most of
 them. Another Stone Roses song was played, this time
 it was "Waterfall." No stoppage in the music here (I
 think), but there was stoppage when the band played,
 "I Wanna Be Adored." Same complaints from Ian, but the
 crowd loved it nonetheless. No encore, which came as
 no surprise, but we hoped for one.
 
 News came out today that Ian got arrested in his hotel
 room by S.F.P.D. and was questioned for the assault
 and battery.  Needless to say,
 this man has a short fuse, despite his short stature.

[Jaguär]

A friend of mine was at the show and from what I remember of her account yesterday, the house security guy was then stopped and pummeled almost unconscious by little pip squeek Ian and then his security and/or road crew. House security was just trying to do their job by getting the fool in the white shirt away from Ian and interfer as little as possible. It was Ian and his crew who went way overboard.
 
 One of the paragraphs above seems to explain why then another fight with Ian broke out to the side of the stage a little while later.
 
 Oddly, the show ended in a sing-a-long making for a very weird experience for the night.
 
 Said friend was still very disturbed by the whole thing the next day as it was pretty brutal.
 
 I think Ian Brown just out-twatted Liam Gallagher!
 ___________________________
 
 Here's another account of the show from an SFO radio station:
 (Sorry about the length but afraid they will remove the article in time.)
 
 "Miles the Intern's first hand account of the Ian Brown Riot!
 
 Ian Brown played three songs at the Great American Music Hall last night ("Destiny or Circumstance", "Sally Cinnamon" and "Made of Stone") before a riot happened. During "Made of Stone", Ian was complaining about the sound quality, so much so that he stopped the song twice only to start it over. During this time, some drunk guy was pushing his way through the crowd, trying to get to the front of the stage...right in front of me!!!
 
 As Ian broke into the fourth song of the night, this SAME drunk guy not only got close to the stage, but jumped on it from the left side. He then tackled the singer. The next thing you hear is Ian on the mic saying "What the f***". As security ran on stage to grab him off, Ian began to kick away at this guy, which pleased the crowd. A pretty big scuffle followed and the next thing you know, Mr. Brown and a pretty big venue security guard with bleached blonde hair is going at it face to face. After some words and what seemed to be challenges, they began to throw punches.
 
 By this time Ian's whole band gets the guard on the ground and begins to stomp away using their feet, microphones, and tambourines. So by now there were about 15 people on stage: half rioting, half separating each other trying to end this. Security was finally able to pull the band of the guard, who was now sporting some red with that wonderful looking dye-job.
 
 Eventually, everyone but two or three guards left the stage. The house lights went up and the show was apparently over. After being in a state of shock I, for whatever reason, became curious to know what the name the third was that Ian kept on stopping. I thought it was a really good track and I didn't really know it since I'm not a Stone Roses super fan. So I reach my arm on stage to take a look at the setlist and BAM... I hear "Get The F***" off" and "Don't Touch S***" from the two remaining guards on stage.
 
 Jeez, sorrrrrrrrry!!!!
 
 It became quite clear to me that the moods of the employees were very tense. To me, the show was over. No way was Ian Brown coming back out. One fan next to me was obviously a heart broken Ian Brown super fan with tears coming down his eyes. He began to yell things to security like "Welcome to America man", "Oh my GOD", "Why", "You Don't F****** attack the singer" and "Go back to Texas you piece of S***" (referring to the Security guard who fought Ian). This guy was defiantly counting down the days to this show.
 
 So after about 10 or 15 minutes of waiting, I decided to leave.
 
 Apparently Ian eventually came back out and finished his set. I wasn't there to see it so I don't know what happened once he graced the stage again. I've heard that he continued to complain about the sound and was even arrested when the show was over.
 
 It's really too bad that this happened. I mean sure, I guess it was kinda cool to see something so rare and out of the ordinary like this at a concert. I mean, this is something you only hear about! You're never actually there to see it!
 
 However, the people who own and book Great American Music Hall are great people and they don't deserve this. Great American is a fantastic music venue and I hope this doesn't keep people away. One stupid drunk idiot "fan" and a cocky Security guard ruins it for everyone, well at least me."

[Frank Gallagher]

Many lessons to be learned here.
 
 Don't fuck with a manc!
 
 Don't EVER say a manc looks like a scouser! (he probably heard the comment and that set him off)
 
 A true manc wears a parka, not a tracksuit top, what was Brownie thinking?
 
 Oh yes, don't fuck with a manc.
 
   

[xneverwherex]

Originally posted by O'Mankie:
  Many lessons to be learned here.
 
 Don't fuck with a manc!
 
 Don't EVER say a manc looks like a scouser! (he probably heard the comment and that set him off)
 
 A true manc wears a parka, not a tracksuit top, what was Brownie thinking?
 
 Oh yes, don't fuck with a manc.
 
     
 
 now i gotta go check with my friends back home in the bay area, and see who managed to catch the show. would love to hear their thoughts!

[bearman🐻]

Was anyone else at the Stone Roses Gaston Hall show in 1995? First night of the US tour, I am lined up towards the front, and Ian comes out. He signs some CD's (including a great bootleg I found in Italy, which he wanted a copy of), then tells me the PA is "shite" and that they have to move the show to the following night. They move the show to WUST, but asks me to tell the people lined up behind me that the show is off that night. People traveled from Atlanta, Raleigh, who knows where else. I was not greeted with many kind words.
 
 This is where the story gets MORE surreal. Somehow I end up following the band onto their tour bus and they ask me where to hang out. I tell them the Brickskellar since they were around the corner at the Ritz. I go back to meet up with my friends and tell them that we're going to party with the Roses. So we go the Ritz, and manage to get Ian on the phone but he says the band have a huge bag of weed in their room and are just going to crash out. Instead some of their roadies come down and we get drunk with them. The following night was just insane...I finally got to meet John Squire, who until that point was MIA. They were one of the nicest bands I ever met, they were signing everything for everyone, hanging out with fans, giving us beer, etc. That goes down as one of my more memorable concert experiences.

[Sir HC]

Originally posted by bunnyman:
  Was anyone else at the Stone Roses Gaston Hall show in 1995? First night of the US tour, I am lined up towards the front, and Ian comes out. He signs some CD's (including a great bootleg I found in Italy, which he wanted a copy of), then tells me the PA is "shite" and that they have to move the show to the following night. They move the show to WUST, but asks me to tell the people lined up behind me that the show is off that night. People traveled from Atlanta, Raleigh, who knows where else. I was not greeted with many kind words.
 
 This is where the story gets MORE surreal. Somehow I end up following the band onto their tour bus and they ask me where to hang out. I tell them the Brickskellar since they were around the corner at the Ritz. I go back to meet up with my friends and tell them that we're going to party with the Roses. So we go the Ritz, and manage to get Ian on the phone but he says the band have a huge bag of weed in their room and are just going to crash out. Instead some of their roadies come down and we get drunk with them. The following night was just insane...I finally got to meet John Squire, who until that point was MIA. They were one of the nicest bands I ever met, they were signing everything for everyone, hanging out with fans, giving us beer, etc. That goes down as one of my more memorable concert experiences.

I was there.  I talked to the University electrician a couple weeks later and found out that Ian's big problem was that there were seats and so nowhere for people to dance.  He supposedly tried to knock out the stained glass windows with his microphone and tried pushing the PA stacks off the stage.  
 
 At the 9:30 the next night (well it is now) they did such a brilliant set.  No encore was needed.
 
 didn't get to meet them though.

[Frank Gallagher]

I did see Brown the afternoon before the Gaston Hall fiasco...he was strutting like a rockstar down Wisconsin Ave. with a couple of henchmen in tow....didn't say anything because by the time I'd realized "Hey, that's Ian Brown" he was a good few yards past me. He looked all kinds of pissed off, or maybe that's just his rockstar look.

[SPARX]

Ian will be hosting MTV's  Subterranean this Sunday   :cool:

[SPARX]

Some live tracks:                                                                                             http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.payne11/ianbrownlive/

Harry Nilsson was the secret singer for TV's theme song "The Courtship of Eddie's Father."

[SPARX]

Originally posted by Y. P. Blood:
  Harry Nilsson was the secret singer for TV's theme song "The Courtship of Eddie's Father."

"Thank you Mrs. Livingston"

[chaz]

Originally posted by Y. P. Blood:
  Harry Nilsson was the secret singer for TV's theme song "The Courtship of Eddie's Father."

The kid from that show went on to sing for Dr. Know and more recently the bastardized Dead Kennedys reunion tour (sans Jello).

[ggw]

Originally posted by Y. P. Blood:
  Harry Nilsson was the secret singer for TV's theme song "The Courtship of Eddie's Father."

Hey Y.P., I hope you're paying some sort of royalties to Mr. Meisner.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
   Hey Y.P., I hope you're paying some sort of royalties to Mr. Meisner.

Why pay for obviously bogus factoids:
 
  Frank Zappa's father was the character actor who played "Mr. Greenjeans" on the "Kaptain Kangaroo Show.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by O'Mankie:
  Many lessons to be learned here.
 
 Don't fuck with a manc!
 
 Don't EVER say a manc looks like a scouser! (he probably heard the comment and that set him off)
 

mankie ... is a manc the same as a knacker?  when i lived in dublin, i learned that word and didn't realize how personally people took it ...