For me it was Devo and Frank Zappa (not on the same bill).

Devo - among other events during the show; when I Can't Get No Satisfaction was played the herky jerky guy doing a 3/4 front flip was there. During Crack That Whip - a real whip.

Frank Zappa - he was asking all the women to toss the panties they were wearing up on stage because, as he described, he was making a personal quilt out of them after the tour.

Scariest one was Blue Oyster Cult when they played out making a pact with Satan.

I don't remember, really

Uncle Ted. Shot flaming arrow on stage while wearing indian full headdress.

Out of about 500 or so shows, definitely Petty Booka... which is two Japanese girls that play covers of old timey standards on Ukuleles and sing. It's like a mind bending, time warp, alternative reality thing, familiar and WTF at the same time, as though it's not real, but it is

Nitzer Ebb - Just an odd performance.

The Red Elvises - Never seen a bass balalaika before.

The concerts I've gone to have been pretty tame.

Rock-em/Sock-em at the old Aragon Brawlroom in Chicago

It was a metal concert with professional wrestling matches between bands. It was so bad that people chased the wrestlers out of the ring with chairs so the next band would come out and play.

The headliner was Raven.

In the late 70s or so, I saw The Tubes in an L.A. club, doing their full-on show with dancers, costumes, etc. A lot of fun, a mixture of hard rock, burlesque, performance art, and vaudeville. "White Punks On Dope" was amazing.

Coolio

One of my housemates in grad school got tickets for he and his girlfriend, and when she dumped him before the concert I agreed to go so he didn't have to go alone

He walked onto the stage, said "what up, John Madison university!", said he had smoked a giant blunt perched on the spire of Wilson hall, "sang" like two songs, dropped the mic and walked off

He was out of rhythm, and behaved bizarrely...and there was no indication he wasn't coming back so many stood around wondering just what was going on

Residents. Mark of the Mole tour. Munich, FRG. Circa 1982/3. The Residents were covered by camofluage netting and wearing something like NBC suits. SOP for them to be disguised. The Moles and Chubs were acted out up front and even through the make-up and costumes the dancers were beautiful young ladies. IIRC, there were two that were so figured that I would hazard marriage today.

Edit: After the Residents were mentioned in later posts, here is a link to their Mark of the Mole material. If you want weird/strange, check it out.

http://www.residents.com/historical/?page=moleshow

Hey, hey. Even found a YT link to MotM. Triple edit: an excerpt from Spanish tv...

https://youtu.be/kMpI0C6mtLU

Strangest concert to pass upon... or not go to... GG Allen and the Murder Junkies. He used to advertise in Boston Rock fanzine that if you sent smelly female underpants then he would send free records. Thanks but no thanks. Enjoy the heroin overdose . The OD was after the show that I passed on.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mr kablammo,

Saw a Christian rapper named Christafari who had white boy dreads and flow like Snoop.

I think it was Cheech & Chong at the Circle Star Theater in San Mateo. (It was called that because the stage was round and surrounded by seats, and the stage could rotate.) It was the '70s and I was about 10 or 11 and I went with my aunt and older cousin. I remember quite a few people, including the guy sitting right in front of us, smoking these weird pungent-smelling cigarettes and acting really wild and belligerent. My aunt and cousin were commenting on it, but I was too young to know what they were reefering... uh, I mean, referring to.

Bella Fleck and the Flecktones.

The drummer (I believe he calls himself future man) played a drum solo that was so wild that piece of his drumsticks were breaking off and flying around everywhere.

I dont even know what youd call that music...acid bluegrass maybe.

I was at a classical music concert by the San Francisco Symphony, when right in the middle of a full orchestral piece muscicians gradually began to leave the stage after finishing their individual parts, taking their instruments with them, until there were only two violin players left on stage. I later found out this strange behavior was written into the score and was part of the performance.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
Bella Fleck and the Flecktones.

The drummer (I believe he calls himself future man) played a drum solo that was so wild that piece of his drumsticks were breaking off and flying around everywhere.

I dont even know what youd call that music...acid bluegrass maybe.

Saw them back in 99, it was a rather interesting show. Here is a link to one of their songs.

Almost 12

KISS

Devo at the Palladium in NYC Summer of 1979 was a great show - only weird in that nothing like it had ever been done.

Tubes were just a legendary event.

I'd say the weirdest show was Nina Hagen, again in NYC, winter 1981.

I saw Cheech and Chong with a friend at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, VA back in 1975 or 1976. They did the bulk of their acts from that era, including Ralph and Herbie (two dogs conversing). They both did this skit on all fours with lots of butt-sniffing along with graphic parody of a dog taking a dump, descriptions of corn for texture, etc. I had heard their albums so I knew what was coming but seeing those two performing in person at a smaller venue was bizarre.

I saw Frank Zappa in the early 1980s at Old Dominion University. I had expectations of seeing his typical oddball antics but by then he was doing material from Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar. I think the point of that tour was to demonstrate that his guitar chops were as good as any other guitar virtuoso's in the industry at the time. When he spoke to the audience it was with his usual sense of humor but when playing there was no putzing around or weirdness - it was all about musicianship. The band was very tight and he blazed through most of his standards. It was truly a great concert but a bit different than I had anticipated.

I remember being blown away by Ted Nugent as an opening act at a show in 1975. This tour was supporting his first solo album and when his antics were wild but not as over-the-top as later on. I forget who he was opening for but after a few songs and his leaps onto/off of amplifiers I could have cared less who the main act was. It was probably the first time I had seen someone play that hard without using crutches like fuzz-boxes, processors, etc. Just a guitar, amps, and a crapload of crazy energy. I still can't remember who the main act was that evening but I do remember going straight to the record store the next morning to buy Uncle Ted's album. Not so much a weird or strange concert but very memorable.

Weirdest, and probably the absolute BEST show I have seen was the TALKING HEADS on their STOP MAKING SENSE tour in 1983.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

Scariest one was Blue Oyster Cult when they played out making a pact with Satan.

BOC was my scariest as well...they were on the downward trajectory of their fame -- this would have been back in the mid '80s -- and were playing a high school gymnasium (as I recall...something small and oddly situated like that) in Oregon (Eugene, I think), and it was jampacked, way too intimate a venue for the draw they still seemed to have (though granted it was a pretty small place). Place was foggy with pot smoke (no surprise) and I saw a lot of bottles being traded back and forth, and broken glass and blood spatters seemed to be everywhere I stepped. Never saw the incidents that led to all that glass and blood and whether it was accidental or violence (never saw any security, either), but there was a bad, wild mood blanketing that place. We were too big of BOC fans to leave early, but we got the hell out of there when it was over.

I saw the Zappa show that audioholic was talking about. Yes, he could play the guitar. Saw him in Columbus, Ohio.

Weirdest was probably Dylan and the Dead at the Akron Rubber Bowl in late 80's. We must have been the only ones in the crowd not tripping. The people were in a trance. I went to later Dead shows and enjoyed them tremendously. And I wasn't tripping then either.