WorstGig.com

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

"So I'm hiding behind a door and there's a security guard literally telling me that I can't go anywhere."

The Sex Pistols

"We were still playing away while somebody was being carried off on a stretcher..."

Fitz & The Tantrums

"I had never been in an ice storm before because I'm from California – I didn't know what was going on."

Run DMC

"I would say 20 percent of the crowd was booing. I'm talking, 'BOOOOOO.' Middle fingers up."

Alice Cooper

"The people were sitting in Samsonite chairs holding hands. 'Now here's Alice Cooper.' They just sat there and would not move. I didn't know if they were threatened, like, 'If you move you're going to get expelled or something.'"

Blue Man Group

I started sweating and thinking, 'I'm just gonna lose it in front of all these thousands of people.'"

Flaming Lips

"Dude, it's just a fucking smoke machine. It's not like we're (Nikola) Tesla trying to get our coil to reignite the stratosphere."

Gillian Welch

"There was literally nobody left in the place but the bartender and the MC. The MC said, 'Okay, you can play now. Will you turn the PA off when you're done?'"

Tool

"I remember this horrible feeling looking at the crowd when all these malicious, skinhead psychos showed up and started beating people up to our music."

Def Leppard

"We thought, 'What the fuck is going on?'
Then we got hit with tear gas."

Rush

"They just sort of stood there and stared at us. Then by the second song they started to rumble. By the fourth song it was 'BOOOOO. Get out of here! Get off!'"

Welcome to WorstGig.com, a website encompassing decades of interviews conducted by veteran music journalist Jon Niccum.

As any performer can attest, it's not always a glamorous experience. There are a million stories of hardship, regret, mistakes and mishaps that can make up the landscape of life as a touring musician. The Worst Gig is a collection of those stories from some of the most influential musicians of our time, told in their own words for your entertainment.

Visitors to this site will find a selection of stories from Niccum's archive. They'll also experience audio recordings from the original interviews and a collection of some of the web's best video clips that showcase others' own Worst Gig moments. If you're a performer yourself and have a Worst Gig story, please share it in the Reader Submitted Stories section.

NEWS

THE BOOK IS HERE!

(Kindle and iPad versions also now available.)

"The Worst Gig" is now available everywhere. Fans of the site will enjoy the expanded print edition, which features dozens of new stories by famous artists. Highlights include Led Zeppelin, Rush, John Mayer, Fugazi, Tenacious D, GWAR, Semisonic, Fitz and the Tantrums, Sex Pistols, Def Leppard, Tori Amos and Anthrax. The book is available at many anchor locations: Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million and various fine independent book stores. Or it can be ordered from most websites, such as the ones listed in the Buy the Book section at the top right of the site.

SUGGESTIONS

Have an artist you would like to see featured on the site? Please send the suggestion to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

JOIN IN ON THE 'WORST' WORLD

Have a story of your own? Here's the place to tell it. The Worst Gig invites everyone to submit true, personal tales of extreme hilarity and/or soul-crushing woe to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..