Top 20 Onstage Freakouts By Musicians
During some of the most unforgettable moments when a singer or band member snaps during a performance - whether due to provocation or seemingly out of the blue. Our list features Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Axl Rose, Nickelback, Rob Zombie, and others. Which reactions do you think were reasonable? And which ones were just over the top? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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00:00All right, you got two choices.
00:02I can punch you in the face, or you can just leave.
00:04Which choice do you take?
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:07And today, we're counting down our picks for the top 20
00:10onstage freakouts by musicians.
00:13Hey, what are you doing?
00:14Yo, what are you doing?
00:15Stop it.
00:15God, I'm so sick of people like you, man.
00:23For this list, we'll be looking at the most memorable times
00:26that a musician lost their cool during a performance,
00:29whether because they were provoked or for no apparent
00:32reason at all.
00:34Which of these do you find justified?
00:36And which are just straight up crazy?
00:38Let us know in the comments.
00:41Number 20, Paul Stanley rages against a laser pointer.
00:46There's nothing quite like a man in white face paint
00:48unleashing his rage.
00:50In case you have any doubt, you are definitely a rock city.
00:58After an audience member targeted the band
01:00with a laser pointer during their performance of Love Gun
01:03at a 2009 concert in Portland, Kiss's Paul Stanley
01:07stopped the show to address him.
01:09And if y'all want to see me shove a laser pin up
01:12some mother fucker's ass, it's that guy right there.
01:16He cracked a few jokes regarding the audience member's
01:19young age, like referencing his first beer
01:22and the fact that his mom was probably
01:24waiting outside in the car.
01:26I know it's a big night for you.
01:27You may have had your first beer.
01:29But we're here to have a good time.
01:32And you're not going to wreck it for anybody.
01:34The crowd founded a hoot cheering along.
01:36To Stanley's credit, he didn't get too angry or boisterous,
01:40which is more than we can say for many others on this list.
01:43I know you got it for Christmas.
01:47Number 19, Nathan Williams has a breakdown at Primavera Sound.
01:52In 2009, the San Diego-based indie punk band Waves
01:56was performing at Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona.
02:00And it couldn't have gone worse.
02:02Frontman Nathan Williams was under the influence.
02:05And he annoyed both the crowd and his own bandmates
02:08with his petulant behavior.
02:10Just hit the drums.
02:11Ah!
02:11Ah!
02:12Ah!
02:12Ah!
02:13Ah!
02:13Ah!
02:14Ah!
02:14Ah!
02:15Ah!
02:15Ah!
02:16Ah!
02:16Ah!
02:17Ah!
02:17Ah!
02:18Ah!
02:18Ah!
02:19Ah!
02:19Ah!
02:20Ah!
02:20Ah!
02:21Ah!
02:21Ah!
02:22Ah!
02:22Ah!
02:23Ah!
02:23Ah!
02:24Ah!
02:24Ah!
02:25Ah!
02:25Ah!
02:26Ah!
02:26What?
02:27There's nobody playing an actress.
02:28Settle down, boss.
02:29The drummer eventually left after pouring a beer over Williams' head
02:33and throwing his drumsticks at him.
02:35And Williams was left playing into a cut mic
02:38while stagehands dismantled the drum kit.
02:40All right.
02:41Hi, everybody.
02:42We're Waves.
02:43Ah!
02:44Ah!
02:44Ah!
02:45Ah!
02:45Ah!
02:46Ah!
02:46Ah!
02:47Ah!
02:47Ah!
02:48Ah!
02:48Ah!
02:49Ah!
02:49Ah!
02:50Ah!
02:50Ah!
02:51Ah!
02:51Ah!
02:52Ah!
02:52Ah!
02:53Ah!
02:53Ah!
02:54Ah!
02:54Ah!
02:55Ah!
02:55Ah!
02:56Are there any Nickelback fans in Portugal?
02:58Have we got any Nickelback fans in Portugal?
03:01Well, evidently not.
03:03When Nickelback took to the stage at Portugal's Ilha do Hermal festival in 2002,
03:08unruly audience members pelted them with rocks.
03:12Not unreasonably.
03:13An irritated Chad Kruger asked them if there were any Nickelback fans in Portugal.
03:18He followed up by asking if they wanted to, quote,
03:22hear some rock and roll, or, quote,
03:24go home, before raising his hands in bewilderment.
03:27A response was forthcoming as he was smacked in the head by a thrown object.
03:32In response, he bid farewell to the crowd before walking offstage and flipping them off.
03:37Number 17.
03:38Andy Biersack confronts a heckler.
03:41As it turns out, Black Veil Bride's frontman, Andy Biersack,
03:45doesn't like comparisons to Motley Crue.
03:48While performing in Vancouver,
03:50Biersack was accosted by a heckler who made unfavorable comparisons to the aforementioned band
03:55and repeatedly requested that the opening act return.
04:04Biersack stopped the show and asked them to come onstage
04:07before throwing the microphone into the crowd.
04:09The heckler refused to speak into the mic or come onstage,
04:13so Biersack decided to jump into the crowd and confront them himself.
04:20He was pulled away by security, however, while the crowd chanted his name.
04:30Number 16.
04:31Rob Zombie rants about Marilyn Manson.
04:34In October of 2012, Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson were performing together
04:39at Detroit's DTE Energy Center during the Twins of Evil tour.
04:44Look at this.
04:45Does it look like it's been kicked by anybody?
04:48Manson started his set late and went over his allotted time,
04:51then accused Zombie of ending his set prematurely.
04:55Manson even threatened to kick Zombie's ass.
04:58I don't want to kick somebody's ass.
05:00F*** you.
05:02A furious Zombie retaliated onstage by venting to the crowd
05:05in a profanity-laced rant about Manson.
05:08Some tours do not f***ing go together.
05:14Fortunately, no asses were actually kicked.
05:17The feud was quickly resolved, and the tour continued without another hitch.
05:24Number 15.
05:25Shirley Manson can eat meat.
05:27Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson has long been known for her brash,
05:31rock-and-roll persona, and that was on full display
05:34during 2012's Marés Vivas music festival.
05:37If you see anybody throwing anything at anybody else,
05:42you tell me about it, or you tell one of the security officers
05:46at the side of the stage.
05:47A member of the crowd was supposedly throwing items,
05:50prompting Manson to stop the show.
05:52She then threatened to have the security guards beat him up.
05:55I will ask the crowd to move away from you,
05:57and you'll be left standing on your own.
06:01And then I'll get the security officers to come down
06:04and pick you up and f*** you up so bad.
06:08And she ended the rant with the unexpected proclamation,
06:12quote, I'm on my period, I can eat meat.
06:14I'm on my period, I can eat meat.
06:19Did she just threaten to cannibalize someone?
06:21If so, that might be a first when it comes to on-stage freakouts.
06:26Number 14.
06:27Dave Grohl kicks a fan out.
06:29The Foo Fighters frontman has earned a reputation
06:32for being the nicest guy in rock.
06:34Skin and bones, skin and bones.
06:39But even nice guys can lose their tempers
06:41when someone is disrupting their show.
06:43Hey, hold on, hold on a second, hold on, hold on.
06:46Oh, oh, oh, quiet.
06:47At London's Roundhouse in 2011,
06:50Grohl spotted an unruly fan who was fighting in the audience.
06:54Who's fighting right now?
06:55Who's fighting?
06:56Let me see him.
06:57He stopped singing in order to call the fan out
06:59and throw him out.
07:00As he told the rest of the audience,
07:02he was there to make people dance, not fight.
07:04It was, to be honest, a pretty justified reason
07:07to lose your temper on stage.
07:11Yeah, whatever.
07:12Shut up.
07:13That guy was an asshole.
07:14He's out of here.
07:15Number 13.
07:16Dave Mustaine vs. Laser Pointer.
07:19Paul Stanley isn't the only rock and roll legend
07:22irritated by laser pointers.
07:24While performing at the infamous 1999 Woodstock Festival,
07:28Megadeth's Dave Mustaine was targeted
07:31by someone with a laser pointer,
07:33prompting a funny and crude rebuttal.
07:35I see who you are with the laser, you little dickhead.
07:38Oh, aren't you so cool?
07:40The rant was filled with expletives
07:42and dripping with sarcasm,
07:43including his nice little thank you
07:45and thumbs up at the end.
07:47How about you be cool so the people around you
07:49don't beat your f***ing brains in?
07:51And let me play guitar, okay?
07:53Thank you.
07:54The put-down seems to have worked,
07:56as fortunately for both the band and the crowd,
07:59playing laser did not reappear.
08:01Number 12.
08:02Maynard James Keenan tackles a guy and keeps singing.
08:06And you thought singing and playing an instrument
08:08at the same time was difficult.
08:10Tool was performing Push It at the Astoria Theatre
08:13in London in 1997,
08:15when a boisterous fan got on stage
08:17and approached singer Maynard James Keenan.
08:20He may have been unaware of Keenan's jiu-jitsu skills.
08:29With his arms outstretched in celebration,
08:32the fan was grappled and thrown over Keenan's shoulder
08:35and subsequently pinned to the ground.
08:37But the best was yet to come,
08:39as Keenan got the guy in a chokehold
08:41and continued to sing the song without missing a note.
08:49Now this is one creative and absolutely hilarious way
08:52to dispose of a stage rusher.
08:54Number 11.
08:55Justin Bieber tries wiping the floor.
08:58While performing in Norway in October 2015,
09:01Justin Bieber attempted to clean a puddle of water
09:03that had been spilled on stage.
09:05However, his excited fans got in the way,
09:08prompting Bieber to lose his temper.
09:10Hey, I'm trying to wipe the floor.
09:11Give me a second.
09:12Yo.
09:15Guys, never mind.
09:16I'm done.
09:17I'm not doing the show.
09:18He tiredly stated into the mic that he was done
09:20and that he was not doing the show,
09:22while throwing off his jacket and storming backstage.
09:25I'm not doing the show.
09:26No!
09:29This freakout came after performing just one song
09:32for the nearly 1,000-strong Norwegian crowd.
09:35Bieber apologized on Instagram,
09:37saying that it was a rough week
09:39and that he had been irritable
09:40owing to overwork and lack of sleep.
09:43Number 10.
09:44Billy Joel flips his piano.
09:46While Joel was performing in Moscow back in 1987,
09:49his documentary crew directed the light technicians
09:52to illuminate the audience
09:53so that they could get better shots.
09:56Why does it always seem to hit me
09:58in the middle of the night?
10:00Stop it!
10:01But this killed the vibe,
10:02leaving Soviet fans fearful
10:04that security was about to descend on them.
10:06In response,
10:07Joel screamed at the lighting technicians to stop,
10:10seamlessly integrating his shouts into the song.
10:13Toby, there's a number I can always dial.
10:15Let me do my show, for Christ's sake!
10:18When they didn't,
10:19he flipped his own piano
10:20and destroyed a microphone stand,
10:22all while still singing.
10:26The fans thought the whole outburst was just,
10:29well, rock and roll.
10:31And honestly, maybe it was.
10:33Number 9.
10:34Josh Homme kicks a photographer in the head.
10:37Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age
10:39is well known for his short fuse
10:41and irritable personality.
10:43Turn the f*** around, you chicken s***!
10:47One only needs to watch his profanity-filled tirade
10:50against an audience member at Norwegian Wood
10:53to know that.
10:54Another shocking moment came
10:56at the KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas concert
10:59when Homme kicked a photographer,
11:01seemingly without reason.
11:03According to the photographer, Chelsea Lauren,
11:05Homme violently kicked her camera,
11:07which was driven into her face.
11:09She was forced to seek medical treatment
11:11at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
11:13Homme later apologized,
11:15saying that he was, quote,
11:17lost in performance.
11:19I was a total dick.
11:21Number 8.
11:22Ted Nugent on Obama and Clinton
11:24Ted Nugent is one of the most
11:26outspoken Republicans in entertainment,
11:28and it was clear that he abhorred
11:30Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
11:33While performing in 2007,
11:35Nugent brandished two assault rifles on stage
11:38and told Obama to, quote,
11:40suck on my machine gun.
11:42I was in Chicago last week.
11:44I was in Chicago.
11:45I said, hey, Obama,
11:46you better learn to suck on my knees, you punk!
11:49He also told Clinton to, quote,
11:51ride one of these into the sunset.
11:53His suggestions were met with
11:55some cheers and applause from the audience.
12:02Nugent, who famously said of apartheid that,
12:05quote, all men are not created equal,
12:07would later call Obama, quote,
12:09subhuman and escalate his threats,
12:12leading to investigation by the Secret Service.
12:16Freedom!
12:20Number 7.
12:21Father John Misty rants about
12:23American idiocracy
12:25He may go by the stage name
12:27Father John Misty,
12:28but chances are most fans didn't
12:30shell out music festival cash for a sermon
12:32about the numbed collective consciousness.
12:34Do we think that our hilarious
12:36tyrant is going to be met
12:38with a hilarious revolution?
12:40Tillman was set to perform
12:42at WXPN's Exponential Festival,
12:44but rather than grabbing his guitar
12:46and putting on a show,
12:48he decided to smoke a cigarette
12:50and lecture about the numbing effect
12:52of the entertainment industry,
12:54the nature of evil,
12:56and the stupidity of the world.
13:00He then improvised a winding piece
13:02before covering Leonard Cohen
13:04and prematurely walking off stage.
13:06We don't know if he was on something,
13:08but it sure killed the audience's buzz.
13:11Number 6.
13:12Axl Rose jumps into the crowd
13:14Axl Rose, vocalist of
13:16Guns N' Roses, certainly has a
13:18flair for the dramatic.
13:20He's infamous for his tirades and meltdowns,
13:22but the best of the bunch has to be this one,
13:24which sees him literally jumping
13:26into the crowd.
13:28Take that! Take that!
13:30Now, get that guy and take that!
13:32After telling security to take away a man's camera,
13:34Axl proceeds to jump into the crowd
13:36and take action into his own hands.
13:38He then blames the
13:41quote, lame-ass security
13:43before slamming the microphone down
13:45and storming off stage.
13:47Well, thanks to the lame-ass security,
13:49I'm going home.
13:53It's not every day you see an entertainer
13:55leaving the stage to literally attack
13:57their own fans, but hey,
13:59Axl Rose has always been one of a kind.
14:02Number 5.
14:03Courtney Love freaks out
14:05Okay, this one we can understand.
14:07I don't need to see a picture of Kurt, asshole.
14:09While playing in Brazil,
14:11Love stopped the show to deride a fan
14:13who was constantly throwing up a picture
14:15of Kurt Cobain, frontman of Nirvana
14:17and husband to Love for two years
14:19before he tragically took his own life.
14:21Go see the f***ing Foo Fighters
14:23and do that shit.
14:25She called the fan rude, explaining
14:27that she has to live with the memory of Kurt
14:29every day, and that throwing up pictures
14:31of him is disrespectful and stupid.
14:33The man apparently does it again
14:35because she curses him out, flips him off
14:37and leaves the stage.
14:39Most onstage freakouts are childish,
14:41but this one, while still unpleasant,
14:43feels heavier and more personal.
14:45Number 4.
14:47Kurt Cobain has a tantrum
14:49Speaking of Kurt Cobain,
14:51here he is in action doing very
14:53Kurt Cobain things. Kurt was seemingly
14:55hammered for this performance,
14:57as he randomly stops performing in the middle
14:59of the song, staggers backwards
15:01and slams his guitar into the ground.
15:03He then goes on a rampage of destruction,
15:05which includes destroying the drum kit,
15:07knocking over and viciously headbutting
15:09the amps, and using the drum
15:11cymbal as a blunt instrument.
15:21Like his similarly weird freakout
15:23at the Hollywood Rock Festival, it's hard
15:25to tell if this is just a drunken escapade
15:27or an unwell man desperately
15:29crying out for help.
15:31Number 3.
15:34Sparks throws her tampon at the crowd
15:36Now this is surreal.
15:38Sparks, co-founder and vocalist
15:40of metal band L7,
15:42was truly not feeling up to facing
15:44the wrath of the crowd on this day.
15:46While playing at England's Reading Festival,
15:48the band experienced technical
15:50difficulties, and the irate
15:52crowd began to fling mud at the stage
15:54in frustration.
15:56In retaliation, Sparks took out her
15:58menstrual product, spoke to the crowd
16:00and flung the used item at them.
16:04Oh Jesus!
16:09It's hard to know where to begin with this.
16:11We're used to vocalists yelling at people,
16:13jumping into crowds and destroying equipment,
16:15but this, this is something else.
16:17If you're invited to Reading next year,
16:19I will be giving birth and eating the placenta
16:21on stage.
16:22Number 2. Billy Joe Armstrong's
16:24meltdown at iHeartRadio
16:26Come here! You wanna come up here and fight?
16:28I'll fight you right now.
16:30Come on, get up on the stage.
16:32Green Day's Billy Joe Armstrong is no stranger
16:34to confrontation, having jumped into
16:36a crowd to fight a patron who was supposedly
16:38bothering others in 1997.
16:40But it's his infamous 2012
16:42meltdown that takes our entry here.
16:44Green Day was performing at the
16:46iHeartRadio festival in Las Vegas
16:48when the singer noticed that they only had
16:50one minute of stage time remaining.
16:52I've been around since
16:541988.
16:58And you're gonna give me one
17:00minute?
17:01Rather than putting on a hell of a final minute,
17:03Armstrong stopped the song and
17:05went on a slurred, profanity-filled
17:07tirade, complete with declarations
17:09of how long he's been around
17:11and that he isn't Justin Bieber.
17:13Let me show you what one
17:15f***ing minute f***ed me.
17:20He then destroys his guitar,
17:22flips off the officials and saunters
17:24off stage. We've seen angry
17:26people before, but this is a full-on
17:29meltdown for the ages.
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18:01Inner Sleeve.
18:07Kanye West has always been a controversial
18:09and dramatic figure, but he elevated
18:11his game here and delivered what was surely
18:13the greatest meltdown in music history.
18:15I am putting my career,
18:17my life, my public
18:19well standing at risk
18:21when I talk to y'all like this.
18:23This is a moment in a matrix, bro.
18:25After showing up 90 minutes late to his
18:27show in 2016, West performed
18:29very briefly before randomly
18:31exploding into a diatribe that
18:33touched on many topics, including
18:35fellow celebrities like Beyonce and Jay-Z,
18:37the politics of Hillary Clinton,
18:39and pop radio playlists.
18:41Get ready! Get ready!
18:43Cause the show's over.
18:45He then dropped
18:47the mic and stormed offstage.
18:49Later, he canceled the remaining dates of the
18:51tour, citing stress and exhaustion.
18:54Do you agree with our picks?
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