Top 5 onstage Vegas meltdowns
May 10, 2007 | 8:37
am
Messing up in Vegas has been in the news of late, from David Hasselhoff to some HBO executive. With plenty of exceptions, I hate to use this space to dwell on people's private misfortunes. In the case of Hasselhoff, I thought he was the highlight of "The Producers" at Paris Las Vegas during his run here. I also never heard the slightest whisper that any performance or rehearsal found his behavior drunken, slurred, marred or odd. Whatever his personal demons, he may not have been able to keep them out of the papers, but he kept them off the stage. That isn't always the case. Sticking just to the past few years of this new century, here is my list of top five onstage Vegas meltdowns:1. This didn't technically happen on stage. But when John Entwistle died with cocaine in his system and a local stripper in his bed at the Hard Rock 2002, it was the night before the Who were set to perform a sold-out reunion show at the venue. The concert was delayed.
2. As a holiday, Super Bowl weekend is the Las Vegas equivalent of Christmas. Few bookings are more important, and, every resort is fighting for the attention and affection of sports bettors. But earlier this year the Rio had a crisis when its headliner, Prince, was scheduled to actually perform at the Super Bowl. The Purple One performed a miracle booking--Lauryn Hill--to replace him. But after keeping fans waiting all night and into the next morning, she canceled the concert with a flimsy excuse. Amazingly, this fiasco has not interfered with her ability to get bookings in Vegas. She returns June 30 to Red Rock Resort (if she shows up).
3. Tie: In 2003 Lou Reed had a vintage temper tantrum and stormed off stage at the Hard Rock just like it was the '70s all over again. But instead of being wasted, he wanted the casino to close the back bar; the drinkers apparently caused too much noise for His Louness to play a rock concert. At least Reed returned to the stage when the casino obliged him (though the largely comped audience had walked out during the 20-minute dispute). Then there's Lucinda Williams, who couldn't get through three songs when she left the stage after starting late at the Hard Rock in 2002. Sounding like Britney Spears, Williams--one of the most literate songwriters alive--told the crowd: " I just can't do this. You all can have your money back."
4. George Carlin live on stage at the MGM getting himself fired in 2004: ""People who go to Las Vegas,
you've got to question their (expletive) intellect to start with. Traveling hundreds and thousands of miles to essentially give your money to a large corporation is kind of (expletive) moronic. That's what I'm always getting here, is these kind of (expletive) people with very limited intellects." A short time later he checked into rehab.
you've got to question their (expletive) intellect to start with. Traveling hundreds and thousands of miles to essentially give your money to a large corporation is kind of (expletive) moronic. That's what I'm always getting here, is these kind of (expletive) people with very limited intellects." A short time later he checked into rehab.
5. Frankie Laine was 88 when he was recruited to open at the Suncoast in 2000. What happened was horrible. Norm, in the Review-Journal at the time, described the Saturday debut as follows:
"First there was a 25-minute overture, never a good sign. Then, when Laine came out, he coughed a couple times and mentioned his voice hasn't been the same since a bout with pneumonia more than a year ago. He asked the audience to watch a five-minute video of him singing and then announced their $40 tickets would be refunded if they wanted. Most did."
photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
I couldn't have said it better myself. HA! I would pay to see the reactions of the fat touristas after this rant. George Carlin sums up Vegas:
"People who go to Las Vegas, you've got to question their (expletive) intellect to start with. Traveling hundreds and thousands of miles to essentially give your money to a large corporation is kind of (expletive) moronic. That's what I'm always getting here is these kind of (expletive) people with very limited intellects."
Vegas: All sizzle, no steak. Well, except for this blog and photog.
Posted by: Big Karl | May 10, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Isn't it great that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?
Oh wait. Apparently not if you are famous
Posted by: Bingo | May 10, 2007 at 03:36 PM
Looks like this article needs a copywriter and better research. Seriously, there have not been better meltdowns besides Laura Hill not showing up to a concert! Oh my God!
Good job LA Times--try checking the spelling in a Word doc:
- "behavior druken"
- "the Supber Bowl"
- "he was recurited"
Posted by: rm | May 10, 2007 at 09:33 PM
nice work, rm. that's a pet peeve of mine, too. more and more online papers have grammar error after spelling error after other errors. there's no checker at all these days. i like how la times corrected their errors, now.
Posted by: ha | May 11, 2007 at 03:48 PM
I meant to write a thank you note to RM eariler for pointing the typos out. I have, of course, fixed them. Yrs., Richard
Posted by: Richard Abowitz | May 11, 2007 at 03:56 PM
Thank you RM. If I were in 4th grade I'd get my a** whipped for having spelling errors in a piece of work - where's the sadistic nuns with a ruler in hand when you need them? Send them to the LA Times online department. Careless!
Posted by: JJ Hart | May 11, 2007 at 06:28 PM
Typical Vegas...more people are commenting on the superficial (spelling) as opposed to the content. No wonder I hate that Vegas. Richard, you and Sarah need to report on a real town like Los Angeles, Hollywood, and the beach cities. Las Vegas and it's idiot populace just plain suck.
Posted by: Big Karl | May 11, 2007 at 09:29 PM
Oh, thank you RM for pointing out spelling and probably punctuation and grammatical errors. I run screaming out of my bedroom to point out to others the terrible spelling and poor punctuation and grammatical errors (really, if the subject is singular, don't use a plural verb) when I see these errors on the crawls below the talking heads on cable news channels (MSNBC and CNN, you are now put on warning). Who is typing this stuff?
Posted by: ucrsue | May 12, 2007 at 10:05 AM
I'm reminded of an incident in the 60's with Frank Sinatra at the long gone Sands. He was very drunk and insulting gamblers and being the "Chairman of the Board" he was getting away with it.
His big mistake was staggering into a private very high roller card room where General Manager Carl Cohen was playing and loosing badly. Being in no mood for Frank's antics he had him thrown out of the casino by several very tough "Jersey Boys."
Landing on his ass in a flower bad he got up and onto at sort of golf cart used to transport guests to their rooms. Then he floored it and went crashing through a glass door, breaking it and smashed into a row of slot machines with gamblers screaming and running in terror.
Cohen ( brother of infamous mobster Mickey Cohen ) was called and met Sinatra at the spot where the two wrestled for only seconds and then Carl landed a mean left hook and Sinatra went down. A KO then and the future. Sinatra never appeared at "The Place In The Sun" again.
Posted by: Dan Wilcox | May 12, 2007 at 06:36 PM