As many of you get to know the LTZ family, some of my favorite comments in the reviews of ENDLESS have been about how realistic the depiction of the concert scenes are.
That is because I lived it, my friends!
Throughout my late teens and early twenties, I was knee-deep in the Seattle music scene promoting shows, working with some of the bands you probably all know and love, and booking one of the biggest venues in Seattle (which is sadly a Silver Cloud Inn now).
This week, I thought I’d share a couple of funny but true stories.
BOOTED OFF THE TOUR BUS
One of the bands who everyone knows was just getting started. Their album was out and beginning to get some traction. They were booked to play in a theater in Spokane, which is about 5 hours away from Seattle. The entire management office decided to go except for our boss, who had business to take care of with a different band you all know. Anyway, we piled on the tour bus with the band and crew and off we went.
The show was phenomenal, everyone was in high spirits. After load out, we went to board the bus and the driver wouldn’t let us on. Why? Well, the band had other plans and other guests. They didn’t want a couple of gals from the management office riding back to Seattle with them.
We weren’t left stranded. Our ride back was in a U-Haul squished together with the one of the roadies. A decidedly less than “rock-star” ride home.
KICKED IN THE FACE
The club I booked in Seattle held about 1000 people (not legally) but it was where so many 90’s band played. Everyone from the Goo-Goo Dolls to Ice Cube to The Breeders to Bush graced the stage. Every major Seattle musician also played there from Soundgarden to Candlebox to Sir Mix-a-Lot.
But I digress.
Often, big promotors would rent out the venue for tours that didn’t quite sell out the smaller theaters. One time, a shredding metal guitar god was touring solo and every long-haired dude within a thousand-mile radius descended upon the club to see him play.
I should mention that the club was 21+ and the liquor control laws in Washington State are notoriously strict. When guitar god demanded that he bring in his CLEARLY underage “girlfriend” and was rejected, he lost his mind. Raging around the place, he and his tour manager cursed us, threatened not to play, and generally behaved like entitled assholes. Which made us more determined to keep the girl out. We held our ground.
When he got on stage (yeah, empty threat), he tore into his set. He was an amazing guitar player, I’ll give him that. But in the world of 90’s Seattle, it was so dated. Like an 80’s hair metal band on steroids (side note, he was pretty jacked…)
The crowd began to taunt him a little. His stage banter wasn’t helping anything. Most performers know that insulting your audience isn’t super endearing. You should also know that this was the age of stage diving, it was something that happened every, single night at the club. When the first guy tried to climb up next to guitar god, he took his high-heeled, pointed cowboy boot and kicked him squarely in the face.
Needless to say the set ended early. We took off the deposit to cover our insurance (the kicked guy never sued), the tour manager didn’t even argue. The young girl was waiting for her man outside.
I never heard about that guitar god again…
