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Strangest Guest performers you have seen at a show


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I have seen some shows were some odd guest starts popped up for a song or two. Share your favorites

 

I'll start with the strangest one.

 

in 1998 I was seeing Leftover Salmon at the Horde Fest. Neil Young popped up on stage and played harmonica!

When seeing the Gorillaz at MSG Lou Reed performed with them, the time before that Ike Turner joined them

Saw BB KING join Phish at a show

When seeing Billy Joel at Shea :Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, and Paul McCartney joined him

Saw the Rock n Roll Hall of fame concert at msg. Sting joined Stevie Wonder that was neat

Minnie Driver joined Ryan Adams at a show I saw

 

I'm sure I'll think of more

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The "strangest" (and "WORST") comes quickly to mind: Zak Wylde filling in for DIckey Betts with the Allmans at Great Woods, Betts was arrested in Albany the night before.  I can't stand everything about Zak Wylde.

 

There must be many more "strangest" but not "worst" for me, I'll have to give it some thought.  Right now my brain has been shutdown by the memory of Wylde and that bullseye guitar on stage with the Allmans.   

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Abe Vigoda joined Phish on stage, in a wombat costume, last fall. I didn't see it, but if this doesn't top this list I don't know what could. Trumps Carrot Top playing with Widespread Panic, even.

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The LoS/Neil Young thing doesn't surprise me, really, nor the Phish/BB King appearance. Regardless of what you think of their music, Phish is a respected bandby a lot of heavyweights. Plus, they've shared the stage with shitloads of musicians.

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Etta James sang with the GD on NYE (and the night before) in 1982. Apparently, she had never heard of them previously. Tower of Power Horns joined and some nice versions of "Tell Mama," "Lovelight," etc. were played....

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Phish had a Gene Simmons impersonator onstage with them the first time I saw them.  There was no way to know it at the time, but that run of shows (Roxy, Atlanta) has achieved mythic status in the Phish universe and has been officially released.  I'm glad I got to see the first 1.5 shows of that run.

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Not really a guest performance, but Sting opening for the Dead in '92 in Vegas was pretty surreal.  Especially when he covered Jimi Hendrix.

 

Natalie Cole was a guest at a Hep C benefit with the Allman Brothers.  Among other songs, her vocals on Whipping Post were chill inducing.

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I wasn't there, but I heard rumors of Don Henley jumping up on stage with Mojo Nixon to sing with him on "Don Henley Must Die".

If that is true, I have a new respect for DH.

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My first concert, technically, was a music/comedy show: Mel Torme opened for Rich Little. I was only 10 years old, so I had zero familiarity with Mel. To me it was just your typical cheeseball "older person" music, although he did sing it very well. What I didn't know was that Rich Little could sing too...and he really did, imitating Mel Torme, Anthony Newley, and probably some others. So it wasn't really that strange, but to my unprepared 10-year-old mind it sure was.

 

They were very warm and gracious to the fans, by the way: standing and posing for pictures and signing autographs for anyone willing to line up and meet them after the show. Pretty cool.

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I suppose this counts:

Local band Falstaff (featuring former Shrimp Boat member Ian Schneller) used to have their friend Young come up on stage with the band at some point to sit in with them and do… something while the band played.

One time it was strike a triangle. Once.

Another time he sat on a chair in the middle of the stage and made toast.

Another time it was draw something that he didn't show to the crowd.

Always odd and always fun.

While I never saw Shrimp boat :( , I understand that he used to do similar things with that band, too.

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This is not the strangest guest but maybe the best of my young music life was Koko Taylor singing a couple songs with JB Hutto and the Hawks in the early 70s before Koko had her resurgence and became world famous.

 

LouieB

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