On Air Now
Calm Classics with Ritula Shah 10pm - 1am
Musicians share their most excruciating but hilarious live concert disasters
30 July 2020, 16:13 | Updated: 30 July 2020, 16:16
If you’ve ever experienced a mortifying moment during a live performance, you are not alone. And here’s the proof...
Earlier this week, we posed a burning question to our followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
“Musicians, what’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you during a live concert?”
And they did not disappoint. Here are some of the responses that made our toes curl just a little lot in secondhand embarrassment.
Getting over a cold. Sang the word “no” very loudly and close to my fellow singers’ face. Copious green snot came out of my nose and went across my lips. Some went on her cheeks. Staging, costume and directing meant I had to let it hang. Ate it on my next sung entrance.
— Emily Gray (@EmilyGrayMezzo) July 20, 2020
My fabulous off the shoulder dress fell entirely off, down into my lap after a vigorous final chord......with half the solo recital still to go. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
— Jennifer Reason (@JenMReason) July 21, 2020
Thoroughly cringed out yet? Prepare yourself...
It was Fiddler on the Roof.
— Fenella Humphreys (@fhvln) July 20, 2020
I was the Fiddler.
I fell off the roof.
🤦♀️
Somehow, they get worse.
At a funeral for a friend's grandparent, for some reason that defies understanding I started to play The Sound of Silence instead of Jesu, Joy.
— Joanna Meier (@JoannaMeier) July 20, 2020
I realised almost instantly, but finished the SoS before playing Jesu because the alternative seemed even worse.
Not a good day.
Only keep scrolling if you can handle severe secondhand embarrassment.
I suddenly got a v runny nose during a piano recital, halfway through a Debussy arabesque. I had to just stop, tell the audience I needed a tissue, go backstage, blow nose, return and begin again, otherwise I’d have been dripping on the piano. Was at the Holywell Music Room. pic.twitter.com/9VHN2iPftI
— Rachel Parris (@rachelparris) July 20, 2020
Falling flat on my face when John Rutter was conducting and rather than get back up, I slid off the stage on my stomach. A bit like a slug.
— Cheryl Forbes #WearAMask (@mezzocheryl) July 20, 2020
Not even Classic FM presenters are exempt from a mortifying moment.
After that onslaught of embarrassing tales, it’s only right that we conclude with a happy ending.
We’re not crying, you’re crying.
