Sometimes things didn’t go according to plan. Not that there was ever much of a plan; turn up, set up gear, play gig, take down gear, leave, but there was the odd unplanned deviation.
Most of these would be equipment based. The earliest one I remember is a guy leaving his pint on top of George’s Marshall stack on his way to the toilet. “No problem” I thought “He’ll be back in a minute”. He was but he somehow managed to knock the entire amp head off. This happened in slow motion to my eyes, but George managed to finish the song.
Moving drumkits were a common problem, and they were often held in place with the spare tyre from the van or even a piece of concrete. I have no idea where that came from. We finally hit on the idea of using an off cut of carpet, much more convenient.
The Big George trick of using an empty pint glass as a slide usually went well, and I was always poised to catch it as it was cast aside at the end of a solo. The time he used a half full one caught me out a bit though.
Two more serious ones also spring to mind, one involving Shifty. He had constructed a homemade light show and had bent down to adjust something one night. He then received a belter of a shock somehow and decked it..he was OK but Big G called for a whisky from the bar. He then downed it himself for “the shock” Shome mishtake surely?
The final one was not really an accident or mishap. It was at a gig in Paisley, and George had the hump about something or other. I had been standing behind the amp at one point, but had moved out into the audience. Next thing I know he’s doing the full Townshend, guitar off and battering the amp with it. Not a pretty sight to my eyes, but the punters loved it.
Needless to say, a guitar had to be borrowed for a while after that.
