PUNTERS who hoped to catch ex-Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft at last weekend's Splendour In The Grass festival got to witness one of rock's age-old cliches - the on-stage hissy fit.
Ashcroft decided not enough people were there to see him and so stopped part-way through his opening number and claimed he was going to see Pixies play instead. He didn't return to the stage, leaving the fans who bothered to turn up and see him justifiably pissed off.
He's certainly not the first musician to crack the sads, spit the dummy, throw a tantrum or just have a plain-old meltdown on stage and he won't be the last. Here are five of Musicology's favourite hissy-fit serial offenders.
Brian Jonestown Massacre
ONDI Timeron's awesome doco Dig! showcased BJM in all its shambolic glory, with drugged-out frontman Anton Newcombe depicted as borderline genius/lunatic and his own worst enemy. Over the years, BJM have become better known for their on-stage brawls and Newcombe's petulant rants than their actual songs, which is a shame, but Newcombe brings it on himself. A memorable Dig! scene shows him spoiling a record label showcase (blowing chances of securing a deal) by ranting at his bandmates before punching on with them, but the sad thing is this wasn't a one off - it was almost expected at BJM gigs and happened on a regular basis. Even when Newcombe played solo things often went sour, as the singer-songwriter would often turn on the audience, occasionally even violently (this includes at least one occasion where he kicked a punter in the head). The internet is peppered with accounts of Newcombe ranting more than playing or walking out of gigs without finishing a single song, although he's reportedly less volatile these days. But you never know what you're going to get with a BJM gig, which is half the appeal - as one punter put it, they're the blind date of live music.
Here's the BJM in all their sweary, violent glory (from Dig!):
Cat Power
EQUALLY renowned for on-stage meltdowns was Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power. In 2006, she got sober, picked up a crackin' backing band and actually seemed to be enjoying herself on stage, attracting rapturous live reviews that were the total opposite of pretty much every live review ever written about Cat Power. Prior to drying out, her solo shows usually featured Marshall mumbling, crying, leaving songs unfinished, hiding on stage, or endlessly complaining about the sound. The gigs almost always ended abruptly when Marshall either stormed off angrily mid-song or just wandered off in a daze or stumbled off in tears. An Australian tour in 2003 included a now-infamous Sydney in which she did pretty much all of the above, with the gig ending with her lying on the ground in the middle of the audience babbling before security came and carried her away. That this was something of a norm at her gigs only made her re-birth as a bubbly (sober) entertainer all the more welcome and amazing.
Read about her Sydney 2003 live meltdown here.
Oasis
FEW bands have had histories as stormy as Oasis. Led by Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel, the band is as well known for their uncluttered Britpop anthems as their tempestuous on-stage behaviour. During a US tour in 1994 to promote their UK chart-topping debut Definitely Maybe, a high-as-a-kite Liam berated the audience and attacked Noel with a tambourine. Noel quit but returned. The following year, Liam pulled out of a series of gigs, forcing Noel to sing - at one of the gigs, Liam turned up and heckled the band from the audience. Liam's stroppy behaviour on-stage would often lead to him storming off, leaving Noel to sing the remainder. Off-stage there were numerous punch-ons too, mostly between the Gallaghers, but sometimes directed at journos, punters or their bandmates. The final straw came in August last year when a fight between the brothers led to Oasis pulling out of the Rock en Seine festival, cancelling a European tour, and Noel quitting the band.
Here's Liam cracking the sads and leaving Noel to pick up the pieces.
Kanye West
RATHER than throw a wobbly at his own gigs, rapper West prefers to do at awards shows. He's got pretty good form for it too. After missing out on the best new artist gong at the American Music Awards in 2004, he stormed out, saying "I was definitely robbed... I was the best new artist this year". In 2006, at the MTV Europe awards, West invaded the stage after losing the best video category and interrupted Justice & Simian to declare he should have won because his clip cost a million dollars and starred Pamela Anderson. In December 2008, he actually had a tantrum during one of his own gigs in Sydney, restarting a song four times because he didn't have the right outfit. Then last year West stole Taylor Swift's moment in the sun at the MTV awards because he thought the world cared about who he thought should have won instead of Swift. He's also allegedly had dummy-spits on planes, backstage at concerts and awards nights and even at benefit concerts, where he apparently cracked the sads when he wasn't offered any chicken.
This clip features him getting booed after raining on Taylor Swift's parade.
Morrissey
A CURSORY glance at the lyrics of Morrissey - solo or with The Smiths - shows he's not the happiest of chaps, but he's developed a reputation over the years for throwing tantrums. Last November, he walked off stage in Liverool after being hit in the head by a plastic cup of beer two songs into his set (which might be fair enough but it's a bit thin-skinned). Just weeks later he had a German fan ejected for yelling out "fuck you". The staunch vegetarian also stormed off stage at the Coachella festival earlier the same year after complaining he could smell meat cooking (although he did return to finish his set). He followed this up by cancelling a string of gigs because he was too sick to perform, but was spotted at a Californian nightclub the night of one of the cancelled shows. Morrissey has a history of canning gigs at the last minute but his rep for dummy spits extends to before gigs - apparently he pulled The Smiths from a music festival because he disliked The Bay City Rollers, who were also on the bill, and he was also rumoured to have thrown a hissy fit and dropped out of Glastonbury in 1992.
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