The Craziest Things I’ve Seen Happen During Concerts In El Paso

I've seen a lot of concerts over the years, in many different places and I've also seen some crazy stuff take place on and off stage.

The old saying sex, drugs and rock n roll has certainly been proven true over the years. I don't want to get anybody in trouble so I won't go too far down that road here. Trust me though, I've seen it ALL. Mountains of powder, pounds of ganja ... one band member went everywhere with a briefcase lined with absolutely every pill known to man.

Some of the rockers I have dealt with were married so, I'll be skipping over the sex part too. Maybe someday, when I write my book ...  we'll see.

Anyway, the "usual" rock 'n roll shenanigans aside, other things have happened ranging from amusing to dangerous. I remember once having trouble getting CO2 "cannons" to a KLAQ Balloonfest. These things shoot clouds of CO2 into the air on cue and it looks pretty cool.

To the screeners at El Paso International Airport, they looked like bombs and after scaring the hell out of everyone, we were finally able to convince them that they were harmless show props and they let us get on with our business.

That also led to KLAQ getting a recurring bill for CO2. I returned the canisters and got a receipt but somehow they never got logged in to the gas places system and we got a bill for renting them on and off for a couple of years. SMH.

Another incident involved a performer tripping on stage in the dark. It was during a TSO show and, after the narrator spoke his piece, the lights dropped and he moved to his spot but tripped over something in the dark. No one off stage saw it but everybody heard it. Those monster sound systems aren't very forgiving.

Prior to a KLAQ Balloonfest, Spider 1 from Powerman 5000 was getting ready to go on when he clipped his head on a cabinet. It wasn't a very serious hit but, as anyone who has ever cut their head will tell you, head wounds bleed like crazy. A pile of towels later, he was cleaned up and ready to rock.

When it comes to illness or injury, this story tops them all. White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult had her appendix rupture during a show. It actually freakin' ruptured but it went almost unnoticed by anyone on or off stage. She was rushed to the hospital but fully recovered and was fine. Talk about tough boy, wow.