# Potentially controversial moments in rock concerts that may offend or entertain music aficionados
**URL:** https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263
**Category:** All other music
**Created:** [October 2, 2026, 10:27am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263 "2026-10-02T10:27:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MacGregor](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/MacGregor)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2026, 10:27am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/1 "2026-10-02T10:27:21Z")
Thought we could look at a few moment from decades gone by in rock concerts, that are either ‘controversial’ or just purely entertaining. Ritchie at the 1993 deep Purple concert throwing his glass of water springs this thought into action, as well as the California Jam ‘demolition’ and hell fire and brimstone moment. Also a look at other artists who have carried on in a certain way at a performance. There are plenty, for example The Who smashing everything on stage to Hendrix and his ritual burning of the Stratocaster. Alice Cooper and that poor live chicken being ritually dismembered. The list could be a decent one. Cheers.
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### Author:  [@Stargazer](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Stargazer)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/2 "2026-10-02T13:41:53Z")
Ritchie’s 93 water sports were the insult of a _Herrenmensch_ towards others (his bandmates and the camera guy), the incident didn’t physically endanger anyone. Blowing up amps at Cal Jam, however, did (inter alia Ritchie himself), yet it wasn’t intended to hurt anyone, but rather aimed at entertaining the audience (sort of what Rammstein do with all their fire props today) + likely sabotage/upstage ELP’s later co-headliner slot.
It’s two very different things. I really regard what happened in 1993 more as an insult than anything else. An insult committed by someone who very well knew it would not be returned in kind on him which leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Ritchie was acting out from a position of privilege.
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### Author:  [@MacGregor](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/MacGregor)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2026, 10:32pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/3 "2026-10-02T22:32:35Z")
I have to admit it did leave me wondering at the time, ‘what the hell is Ritchie on about’? Worse things have happened and that isn’t a way of dismissing it at all. It amuses me simply because I wasn’t there, where if I was I most probably wouldn’t find it as ‘comedic’. Pink Floyd finishing the Animals album tour, 1977. What was going on on stage and certain things leading up to that concert and the ‘spitting incident’. It happened, not a good look but who knows what was really going on to lead up to that. At least band members were not punching the shit out of each other on stage. That sort of thing has happened with certain acts. And talking of being ‘physical’ on stage, we all remember some band members in certain rock bands coming to the aid of someone in the audience that is being physically harassed. It’s all rock 'n roll as the saying goes, but yes anywhere where the ‘herd’ mentally prevails, especially with substances aiding things, there is bound to be some sort of a problem. Individual band members with an attitude eh? Cheers.
[https://americansongwriter.com/remember-when-the-spitting-incident-that-inspired-pink-floyds-the-wall/](https://americansongwriter.com/remember-when-the-spitting-incident-that-inspired-pink-floyds-the-wall/)
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### Author:  [@Stargazer](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Stargazer)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2026, 12:51pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/4 "2026-10-03T12:51:24Z")
I thought that the Birmingham NEC incident was pretty much the nadir of DP intra-band relations, not too far removed from that one Eagles gig where Glenn Frey and Don Felder threatened to beat each other up during the gig and in fact jumped on each other immediately at the end of it only to be pulled apart by the roadies (Felder had acted dismissively - at least that is what Frey thought - towards a Democratic politician and his wife Frey had invited backstage before the gig).
When I read about the water cup throwing it was with the benefit of having seen DP for the second time on that tour (my first gig was Frankfurt, which was very good) in Mannheim. That was a gig where the on stage atmosphere was already icy with Ian trying to make light of it and/or goading Ritchie who was passive-aggressively withdrawn when he was not throwing dagger stares at his singing nemesis. Even watching from the audience, it was uncomfortable to witness and I already thought back then that if this is what it’s like already on the beginning of a tour (and in the wake of a recent reunion after having been apart for two years), then things were not looking good for Purple. That is why Ritchie’s departure a few weeks later did not surprise me. Blackmore simply didn’t want to be there anymore and the band had grown tired of his antics.
I saw Pink Floy on that Animals Tour. They played Animals (the complete album) in the first half, Wish You Were Here (ditto) in the second and Money and Time as the two encores. It was a corporate rock event and band communication on stage was zero. The audience was kind of impatient with Animals which in 1977 was seen as a disappointment/uninviting album after the in Germany hugely popular WYWH (Animals’ stature would only grow over the decades - rightfully so), it seemed that during the first half of the gig everyone was just eagerly expecting the flying pig balloon (the papers had been full with it) and wanted the accompanying music to be over with to hear something familiar like Echoes. The atmosphere (both band and audience) was overall unpleasant (Snowy White and the sax player were not even introduced by name) throughout the gig. Waters‘ later behavior on the American leg of that tour fits in the picture I got.
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### Author:  [@Fla76](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Fla76)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/5 "2026-10-03T13:30:59Z")
Even before the NEC Arena, there was the equally famous incident where Ritchie, faced with journalists asking about the Japanese tour,
declared: “The Japanese tour is cancelled”
while tearing his passport to pieces right before their eyes!
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### Author:  [@Stargazer](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Stargazer)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/6 "2026-10-03T20:40:09Z")
And doing that to the Japanese fans of all people who had always adored DP so much and enabled them to record an album as pivotal as Made in Japan! Ritchie was being selfishly destructive. He could have said: “_Look you guys, I’m not enjoying this anymore. I’ll fulfill my commitments in Japan because it’s only a handful of dates there, but after that I’m off and you’ll have to find someone else._”
None of that, instead Ritchie chose the nuclear option and then even went on to sabotage DP’s future by running around telling everyone that the Japanese tour was off.
He really endeared himself to everyone back then.
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### Author:  [@MacGregor](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/MacGregor)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2026, 10:58pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/7 "2026-10-03T22:58:00Z")
Indeed, the Gilmour and Waters ‘friction’ had well and truly raised its head by the Animals tour. Not to worry, they still sort of managed to last a little longer, just! The Eagles spat was due to substance and ego abuse big time. From what I have read it was about many things, not just the snub from Felder. Intra band politics eh?
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### Author:  [@MacGregor](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/MacGregor)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/8 "2026-10-04T00:06:29Z")
It’s a slow burner the Pink Floyd “Animals” album. Although for me I got into it right from the first listen. It is the last of the ‘great’ Floyd albums, however it isn’t as ‘symphonic or a softer’ album for many Floyd fans from the past. A lot more angst on that record, from Gilmour’s guitar especially. The lyrics are also ‘caustic’ and more political and great to my ears, but too much no doubt for many fans. The beginning of Waters’ ‘bile’, for want of a better description. In regard to the additional band members not being introduced on stage, I cannot see that ever happening at a Floyd gig. It was all about the music, show etc. That would never worry me at all under those circumstances. In fact I would find that a bit odd for them and other bands to do that. Didn’t that become a trend of sorts a little later on with certain acts in live entertainment? Some bands did do that, Frank Zappa for instance, although with Frank it would have been a good idea as band members were coming and going all the time. Cheers.
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### Author:  [@MacGregor](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/MacGregor)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/9 "2026-10-04T00:26:40Z")
Sometimes in life Uwe, it is best to let bygones be bygones. Certain individuals have a shorter fuse, so to speak. Some have a detonator as such. It happens in all facets of life. Best to let people move on rather than stay and something worse eventuates. Humans eh, can’t live with them, cannot live without them. Well, that is ONE way of putting it. Cheers.
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### Author:  [@Stargazer](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Stargazer)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/10 "2026-10-04T07:06:12Z")
Both DSOTM and WYWH were ambient ear candy for the masses, they are pleasant albums to listen to. Animals was sullen and abrasive, but I thought that fitted well with the Orwellian themes and the general mood in the UK in 1976/77.
I have long forgiven Ritchie the water cup incident and his throwing the toys out of the pram in 1993. I think his creative zenith was by then well in the past and he made room for a new future for DP.
Even Blackmore fans will have to admit that Ritchie has released nothing of greater musical relevance since 1993. He was done. Blackmore’s Night‘s music can be wistfully pleasant in places, but it is nothing of great substance or depth. And it has been relatively static since the first album, I don’t hear much of a development in 29 years. But then I’m not even entirely sure whether development in music is something Ritchie still strives for or has been striving for in this millennium at all.
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### Author:  [@Fla76](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Fla76)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 9:25am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/11 "2026-10-04T09:25:21Z")
Blackmore’s Night’s first two albums are magnificent.
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### Author:  [@Stargazer](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Stargazer)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 1:27pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/12 "2026-10-04T13:27:30Z")
With Candice’s at that point still juvenile sounding girlie voice and songs like Wish You Were Here covered or the terribly stiff adaption of Swan Lake?
If you want to be benevolent you can say that the debut and the sophomore effort of BN sounded surprising for a former hard rock guitarist and his so far not having professionally sung gf. But I fail to see what these two albums have contributed to the history of folk rock or any other genre. Throughout all their existence, BN have sold like 5 million albums - if we’re honest, they are not even relevant here among the HS crowd. I can’t remember a single instance in recent years where BN releases have been discussed with the depth and insight of say Whoosh!, =1 or Splat!
But accepting your argument for a moment, these two albums came out in 1997 and 1999 respectively. That’s 27 years of creative hiatus by Ritchie then - big dif. The thing with Ritchie is that for all his talent, he is not really adventurous. His own very traditional music taste stifles experimentation and development.
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### Author:  [@Fla76](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Fla76)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/13 "2026-10-04T15:14:40Z")
I simply think there are a lot of great songs on it.
and were nonetheless interesting within the world music or New Age genres.
Fire at Midnight and Ghost of a Rose also featured good songs, even if there were fewer of them than on the two previous albums.
You might say there were already 50, 100, 200, or 1,000 other bands playing that kind of music, but for me, what matters is whether the songs were good or not.
If Neal Schon makes a fusion-ambient album, that’s fine; if Malmsteen does an orchestral opera, that’s fine; if Satriani makes an electro-guitar album, that’s fine, so why isn’t it okay if Ritchie gets tired of playing rock and makes New Age music with his wife?
Fair enough to say that BN’s discography is repetitive and that we could have done without the albums from the last 15 years, but tearing apart their early work seems deeply unfair to me.
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### Author:  [@Zenos\_toytus](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Zenos_toytus)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/14 "2026-10-04T18:25:15Z")
I will go on record to say that Blackmore’s Night have done a huge favour for the global historical re-enactment scene, being an easy gateway drug to medieval music for the not-very-limited-amount of people who knew who Ritchie Blackmore was but had no interest in or idea about medieval music or the period in general.
As far as the discography goes, I love the first two albums, and really like everything up to Secret Voyage, which is the last thing they excelled in. After that it gets more patchy, but I will say I really liked Nature’s Light for what it is, since it showed me after the Reunionbow debacle that there was one more album in the man, and actually gave me false hope that there might be another around the corner…
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### Author:  [@MacGregor](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/MacGregor)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2026, 9:16pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/15 "2026-10-04T21:16:07Z")
BN are not relevant perhaps for Uwe, but this is rock site generally speaking isn’t it? Seriously, as I keep repeating myself to the ever so repeating chip on shoulder drivel of yours Uwe. You purchased the albums and had a listen no doubt just as you did attending concerts. If you truly don’t like BN, as much as your mind tricks you to believe that, then you surely would not do these sorts of things. Did you applaud at all at those BN gigs you attended so dutifully? Or only occasionally when Ritchie played the Strat and ‘rocked’ out a little bit? And don’t give me the ‘collector’ rubbish, your bile and resentment surely over rules your dedication to the cause, does it not? Keep going, you will NEVER be free old son, NEVER. Cheers.
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### Author:  [@Stargazer](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Stargazer)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/16 "2026-10-05T00:49:12Z")
When did I transform in your eyes from being a closet Ritchie fanboy to one spewing bile and resentment? 😂 Your unsolicited psychological observations from the other end of the world about me veer as wildly as a baby kangaroo’s head in its mommy’s pouch while she is jumping in a rocky area.
Look, I like Status Quo too and they probably haven’t recorded a meaningful album since Blue For You which was in 1976. You’re not gonna hear from me that their releases in the last 50 years or so have changed the world of music.
A lot of what BN does is pleasant (verging on cheesy), sometimes it is even heartfelt and even rarer there are still glimpses of former glory. I can say for the dozen or so BN gigs I have seen that not once did Ritchie play with them as badly as I have seen him play with Rainbow, Purple or Reunionbow - credit that to Candice who always manages to coax something out of him no matter what his mood of the day is.
But BN are as little cutting edge as Status Quo who can btw also be quite folky
[https://youtu.be/m0FkSaFTV2A](https://youtu.be/m0FkSaFTV2A)
and entertaining, bar any creative ambition.
For sure I can clap at a BN gig, I have no issues rendering applause to even music I actively dislike as long as it is well performed - call it musicianly respect. But do I stand (or sit) at BN gigs thinking that I’m in the process of witnessing something magical and of this moment only? Nope. 😂 It’s like inviting an old friend to dinner who now has a mail order bride 20 years younger than him after he lost his first wife to cancer and you do wish him the best and for them to be happy ever after, but at the same time you shake your head a little. My gaze on BN is a benevolent one fed by past memories of the man who was once the driving force of DP, but I cannot take his “new” (since 1997) endeavor serious. And if you’re honest to yourself, you don’t either, it just puzzles you that I’m loyal yet critical (while you choose to wholly ignore). But being a fan of a band doesn’t mean for me that I leave my brain at the cloakroom.
My point being: What Ritchie has created with BN over a period of now almost 30 years does not strike me as having been a particular loss to “the living breathing” DP. I don’t miss him. And I don’t think that the creativity of BN is a match to what DP Mk VII to IX have delivered in the same time span. If you want to sum up BN then it is - when it’s good and not just flimsy _Schlager_ - Soldier of Fortune or Temple of the King with a female folk voice. That was more than 50 years ago, forgive me if I expected a bit more from Ritchie fucking Blackmore in the meantime!
Now was that more “bile and resentment” in your profound analysis or just a relatively unemotional surmising of BN’s strengths and weaknesses? The band you know so little about?
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### Author:  [@Daniel](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Daniel)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2026, 5:23am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/17 "2026-10-06T05:23:04Z")
I agree Ritchie was done with hard rock by 95, but what a track record up until then. BN is his hobby project, so I take it for what it is. Not unlike IG and Dreamcatcher. They even have the drum machines in common.
Even DP caters to a niche crowd. This is why their new albums drop quickly out of the charts once the hardcore fans have picked up their copy. The Cal Jam days are over. They were already in 1987, commercially speaking.
This doesn’t prevent DP from making a good living on the road still. The brand’s still got pulling power.
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### Author:  [@Stargazer](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/Stargazer)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2026, 5:37am UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/18 "2026-10-06T05:37:47Z")
Not denying his achievements, Daniel: In Rock, Machine Head, Burn, Perfect Strangers, many of you would probably like to add Rising too, I’ll include it for sake of argument, feeling magnanimous today. 🤗 That is some legacy. _Aber alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei._
Absolutely in agreement that all of Ian Gillan’s solo output since rejoining DP is of haphazard, scattershot and makeshift nature. _Ramshackle Man_ alright, he wasn’t joking. It often has more charm than Ritchie’s more rigid stuff, but that can’t help over the fact that most of it is simply unworthy of the musical professionalism, care and attention you have the right to expect from someone in a major band like DP. Ian is certainly no Peter Gabriel or David Bowie in that regard. Basically his last half a dozen solo releases (I’m counting the Javelins in), are all novelty items for the devoted. His last truly professional release was Toolbox.
I wish he would do a solo album with Bob Ezrin at the helm - _der würde ihm schon die Flötentöne beibringen!_ He really needs someone to crack the whip.
When it comes to solo albums outside of the DP day job, I think Jon kept the highest standards, he did not release anything throwaway or blatantly commercial. Windows might have been hard to digest (I’ve heard it so often, I by now like it!), but it was at least ambitious. Roger’s stuff too. It was sometimes low key, but never sloppy or careless.
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### Author:  [@loureviews](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/u/loureviews)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2026, 4:15pm UTC](https://forum.thehighwaystar.com/t/potentially-controversial-moments-in-rock-concerts-that-may-offend-or-entertain-music-aficionados/263/19 "2026-10-24T16:15:36Z")
Count me as another fan of the early BN stuff, and I do think there was some innovation there. They did get into a rhythm of sounding the same by their 10th album, All Our Yesterday’s, and that was ten years ago.
Re the water incident in 1993, you would think from commentary at the time that RB had thrown his own urine, such was the outcry. Ridiculous over-reaction.
Are the ‘living, breathing Purple’ still innovative? I’m going to give all the post-RB albums a fair listen to see. IG, certainly, has been uneven. Gillan’s Inn was a choice, redoing all that old material. Toolbox was wonderful.
The Rainbow gigs in what, 2017-18 sounded like a great tribute band with a familiar guitarist. No shade to RB at all on that - you could say the same for live DP except there are more of them from the old days.
As for Alice Cooper and the chicken mentioned upthread - hasn’t he confirmed that as cobblers?