For information about how to use this forum please check out forum help and policies.
Quote
retired_dogQuote
IrixQuote
child-of-the-moon
Neue Zeit, Graz, 03. August 1995
Translation via Online-OCR + DeepL:
"Show almost cancelled
The Open-air on the Ö-Ring narrowly missed being cancelled. The reason was the behaviour of a man from the gendarmerie's mobile task force.
The catastrophe did not take place by a hair's breadth. An officer of the mobile task force of the Styrian gendarmerie almost caused the Stones to cancel their show at the Ö-Ring, and it happened that way: In principle, the officers of the mobile task force were not supposed to enter the backstage area, i.e. the private lounge of the Rolling Stones. This is even stated in the regulations for the Stones' show at the Österreich-Ring, because already at Bon Jovi four officers of this group did not want to leave the private area and caused a twenty-minute delay of the show. This time it was worse. A member of the brass ensemble, a black musician, did a few rounds on his moped in the backstage area. The police officer obviously didn't like that at all. He stopped the musician and wanted to remove him from the dressing room area. Assurances that he was a musician and had a backstage pass were of no use. "You stole a pass," said the officer, who also made it clear that he obviously had difficulties in dealing with people of a different skin colour. When Keith Richards joined in and heard the story, he winced. "Racists!" he yelled, raging and retreating. He didn't want to go on stage. For an hour, promoters and bandmates talked down to the guitarist, and one apology followed another. Finally, Richards did go on stage and the show started an hour late. The biggest security risk - just imagine what happens when 90,000 don't get what they expect - was thus a single gendarmerie officer. Will that be enough for promotion? V.R.
Keith Richards freaked out completely. (Lohr)"
The Austrian OCR-Text:
"Show fast geplatzt
Das Open-air am Ö-Ring ging knapp an einer Absage vorbei. Auslösender Grund war das Verhalten eines Mannes der mobilen Einsatztruppe der Gendarmerie.
Die Katastrophe fand nur um Haaresbreite nicht statt. Ein Beamter des mobilen Einsatzkommandos der steirischen Gendarmerie hätte fast die Stones zur Absage ihrer Show am Ö-Ring veranlaßt, und das kam so: Im Prinzip sollten die Beamten der mobilen Einsatzgruppe den Backstagebereich, also den privaten Aufenthaltsraum der Rolling Stones, nicht betreten. Das steht sogar in der Verordnung für die Stones-Show am Österreich-Ring, da schon bei Bon Jovi vier Beamte dieser Gruppe den Privatbereich nicht verlassen wollten und eine zwanzigminütige Verzögerung der Show bewirkten. Diesmal war's ärger. Ein Mitglied des Bläserensembles. ein schwarzer Musiker, drehte im Backstagebereich ein paar Runden mit dem Mofa. Das gefiel dem Einsatzbeamten offenbar ganz und gar nicht. Er stoppte den Musiker und wollte ihn aus dem Garderobenbereich entfernen. Beteuerungen, daß er Musiker sei und einen Backstage-Paß habe, nützten nicht. „Du Paß gestohlen", sagte der Beamte und gab auch sonst zu erkennen, daß er offenbar Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit Leuten anderer Hautfarbe hat. Als Keith Richards dazukam und die Geschichte erfuhr, zuckte er aus. „Rassisten!" brüllte er, tobte und zog sich zurück. Er wollte nicht auf die Bühne gehen. Eine Stunde lang redeten Veranstalter und Bandkollegen auf den Gitarristen ein, und eine Entschuldigung folgte der anderen. Schließlich ging Richards doch auf die Bühne und die Show begann mit einstündiger Verspätung. Das größte Sicherheitsrisiko - man braucht sich nur vorstellen, was passiert, wenn 90.000 nicht das bekommen, was sie erwarten - war somit ein einziger Gendarmeriebeamter. Ob das für eine Beförderung ausreicht? V.R.
Keith Richards zuckte völlig aus. (Lohr)"
Aaah, this version of the story sounds a bit more plausible.
However, I can't praise Keith here for his behaviour:
Some decades ago, I discussed a problem with my now deceased friend Jim Callaghan, then head of the Stones security as some here might remember. He replied with a grin: "Look, that's not a problem! Do you want to know what a problem is?" He pointed to the packed stadium and said: "Look at this crowd and imagine what could happen when for one reason or another the show would have to be cancelled! Can you imagine the riot it could cause? Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop these masses of people. All we could do is reach our cars and leave as quick as possible!"
Keith should have known this, too. You simply don't risk a desaster like that with possibly many people hurt or even worse.
Quote
retired_dogQuote
IrixQuote
child-of-the-moon
Neue Zeit, Graz, 03. August 1995
Translation via Online-OCR + DeepL:
"Show almost cancelled
The Open-air on the Ö-Ring narrowly missed being cancelled. The reason was the behaviour of a man from the gendarmerie's mobile task force.
The catastrophe did not take place by a hair's breadth. An officer of the mobile task force of the Styrian gendarmerie almost caused the Stones to cancel their show at the Ö-Ring, and it happened that way: In principle, the officers of the mobile task force were not supposed to enter the backstage area, i.e. the private lounge of the Rolling Stones. This is even stated in the regulations for the Stones' show at the Österreich-Ring, because already at Bon Jovi four officers of this group did not want to leave the private area and caused a twenty-minute delay of the show. This time it was worse. A member of the brass ensemble, a black musician, did a few rounds on his moped in the backstage area. The police officer obviously didn't like that at all. He stopped the musician and wanted to remove him from the dressing room area. Assurances that he was a musician and had a backstage pass were of no use. "You stole a pass," said the officer, who also made it clear that he obviously had difficulties in dealing with people of a different skin colour. When Keith Richards joined in and heard the story, he winced. "Racists!" he yelled, raging and retreating. He didn't want to go on stage. For an hour, promoters and bandmates talked down to the guitarist, and one apology followed another. Finally, Richards did go on stage and the show started an hour late. The biggest security risk - just imagine what happens when 90,000 don't get what they expect - was thus a single gendarmerie officer. Will that be enough for promotion? V.R.
Keith Richards freaked out completely. (Lohr)"
The Austrian OCR-Text:
"Show fast geplatzt
Das Open-air am Ö-Ring ging knapp an einer Absage vorbei. Auslösender Grund war das Verhalten eines Mannes der mobilen Einsatztruppe der Gendarmerie.
Die Katastrophe fand nur um Haaresbreite nicht statt. Ein Beamter des mobilen Einsatzkommandos der steirischen Gendarmerie hätte fast die Stones zur Absage ihrer Show am Ö-Ring veranlaßt, und das kam so: Im Prinzip sollten die Beamten der mobilen Einsatzgruppe den Backstagebereich, also den privaten Aufenthaltsraum der Rolling Stones, nicht betreten. Das steht sogar in der Verordnung für die Stones-Show am Österreich-Ring, da schon bei Bon Jovi vier Beamte dieser Gruppe den Privatbereich nicht verlassen wollten und eine zwanzigminütige Verzögerung der Show bewirkten. Diesmal war's ärger. Ein Mitglied des Bläserensembles. ein schwarzer Musiker, drehte im Backstagebereich ein paar Runden mit dem Mofa. Das gefiel dem Einsatzbeamten offenbar ganz und gar nicht. Er stoppte den Musiker und wollte ihn aus dem Garderobenbereich entfernen. Beteuerungen, daß er Musiker sei und einen Backstage-Paß habe, nützten nicht. „Du Paß gestohlen", sagte der Beamte und gab auch sonst zu erkennen, daß er offenbar Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit Leuten anderer Hautfarbe hat. Als Keith Richards dazukam und die Geschichte erfuhr, zuckte er aus. „Rassisten!" brüllte er, tobte und zog sich zurück. Er wollte nicht auf die Bühne gehen. Eine Stunde lang redeten Veranstalter und Bandkollegen auf den Gitarristen ein, und eine Entschuldigung folgte der anderen. Schließlich ging Richards doch auf die Bühne und die Show begann mit einstündiger Verspätung. Das größte Sicherheitsrisiko - man braucht sich nur vorstellen, was passiert, wenn 90.000 nicht das bekommen, was sie erwarten - war somit ein einziger Gendarmeriebeamter. Ob das für eine Beförderung ausreicht? V.R.
Keith Richards zuckte völlig aus. (Lohr)"
Aaah, this version of the story sounds a bit more plausible.
However, I can't praise Keith here for his behaviour:
Some decades ago, I discussed a problem with my now deceased friend Jim Callaghan, then head of the Stones security as some here might remember. He replied with a grin: "Look, that's not a problem! Do you want to know what a problem is?" He pointed to the packed stadium and said: "Look at this crowd and imagine what could happen when for one reason or another the show would have to be cancelled! Can you imagine the riot it could cause? Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop these masses of people. All we could do is reach our cars and leave as quick as possible!"
Keith should have known this, too. You simply don't risk a desaster like that with possibly many people hurt or even worse.
Quote
rolling1us
Respect for Keith.
No idea if the story is true but Keith's reaction is plausible and true to his character , i think
Quote
DoxaQuote
retired_dogQuote
IrixQuote
child-of-the-moon
Neue Zeit, Graz, 03. August 1995
Translation via Online-OCR + DeepL:
"Show almost cancelled
The Open-air on the Ö-Ring narrowly missed being cancelled. The reason was the behaviour of a man from the gendarmerie's mobile task force.
The catastrophe did not take place by a hair's breadth. An officer of the mobile task force of the Styrian gendarmerie almost caused the Stones to cancel their show at the Ö-Ring, and it happened that way: In principle, the officers of the mobile task force were not supposed to enter the backstage area, i.e. the private lounge of the Rolling Stones. This is even stated in the regulations for the Stones' show at the Österreich-Ring, because already at Bon Jovi four officers of this group did not want to leave the private area and caused a twenty-minute delay of the show. This time it was worse. A member of the brass ensemble, a black musician, did a few rounds on his moped in the backstage area. The police officer obviously didn't like that at all. He stopped the musician and wanted to remove him from the dressing room area. Assurances that he was a musician and had a backstage pass were of no use. "You stole a pass," said the officer, who also made it clear that he obviously had difficulties in dealing with people of a different skin colour. When Keith Richards joined in and heard the story, he winced. "Racists!" he yelled, raging and retreating. He didn't want to go on stage. For an hour, promoters and bandmates talked down to the guitarist, and one apology followed another. Finally, Richards did go on stage and the show started an hour late. The biggest security risk - just imagine what happens when 90,000 don't get what they expect - was thus a single gendarmerie officer. Will that be enough for promotion? V.R.
Keith Richards freaked out completely. (Lohr)"
The Austrian OCR-Text:
"Show fast geplatzt
Das Open-air am Ö-Ring ging knapp an einer Absage vorbei. Auslösender Grund war das Verhalten eines Mannes der mobilen Einsatztruppe der Gendarmerie.
Die Katastrophe fand nur um Haaresbreite nicht statt. Ein Beamter des mobilen Einsatzkommandos der steirischen Gendarmerie hätte fast die Stones zur Absage ihrer Show am Ö-Ring veranlaßt, und das kam so: Im Prinzip sollten die Beamten der mobilen Einsatzgruppe den Backstagebereich, also den privaten Aufenthaltsraum der Rolling Stones, nicht betreten. Das steht sogar in der Verordnung für die Stones-Show am Österreich-Ring, da schon bei Bon Jovi vier Beamte dieser Gruppe den Privatbereich nicht verlassen wollten und eine zwanzigminütige Verzögerung der Show bewirkten. Diesmal war's ärger. Ein Mitglied des Bläserensembles. ein schwarzer Musiker, drehte im Backstagebereich ein paar Runden mit dem Mofa. Das gefiel dem Einsatzbeamten offenbar ganz und gar nicht. Er stoppte den Musiker und wollte ihn aus dem Garderobenbereich entfernen. Beteuerungen, daß er Musiker sei und einen Backstage-Paß habe, nützten nicht. „Du Paß gestohlen", sagte der Beamte und gab auch sonst zu erkennen, daß er offenbar Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit Leuten anderer Hautfarbe hat. Als Keith Richards dazukam und die Geschichte erfuhr, zuckte er aus. „Rassisten!" brüllte er, tobte und zog sich zurück. Er wollte nicht auf die Bühne gehen. Eine Stunde lang redeten Veranstalter und Bandkollegen auf den Gitarristen ein, und eine Entschuldigung folgte der anderen. Schließlich ging Richards doch auf die Bühne und die Show begann mit einstündiger Verspätung. Das größte Sicherheitsrisiko - man braucht sich nur vorstellen, was passiert, wenn 90.000 nicht das bekommen, was sie erwarten - war somit ein einziger Gendarmeriebeamter. Ob das für eine Beförderung ausreicht? V.R.
Keith Richards zuckte völlig aus. (Lohr)"
Aaah, this version of the story sounds a bit more plausible.
However, I can't praise Keith here for his behaviour:
Some decades ago, I discussed a problem with my now deceased friend Jim Callaghan, then head of the Stones security as some here might remember. He replied with a grin: "Look, that's not a problem! Do you want to know what a problem is?" He pointed to the packed stadium and said: "Look at this crowd and imagine what could happen when for one reason or another the show would have to be cancelled! Can you imagine the riot it could cause? Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop these masses of people. All we could do is reach our cars and leave as quick as possible!"
Keith should have known this, too. You simply don't risk a desaster like that with possibly many people hurt or even worse.
"Either these cats cool it, man, or we don't play"...
Keith seems to have this weapon in his arsenal, and he is not afraid in using it. Once he threatened to cancel a whole tour (LICKS TOUR), since he was so mad about Mick's knighthood. I wonder if he really has ever been that serious, or just playing with the strong card he knows he has. As far as I know the threat has never been materialized (although he has sapotaged some Stones meetings and sessions by not turning up).
But I guess it had been quite a situation - keeping Callaghan's remark in mind - if there'd been announced: "We are sorry to say, but the show's been cancelled due to a policeman insulting our back-up singer with a racist manner, and Keith Richards has declined to play. Have a safe journay back home." How would have that 90 000 crowd reacted to that...
But I still respect his reaction. That crap needed to be called out. But probably it was a bit over-done (I guess the bandmates, especially one in particular, were not that pleased). But then again, he probably he knew what he was doing and knew that he would get his will through: that the racist idiot didn't have any other option than to apologize to Bernard.
- Doxa
Quote
retired_dogQuote
DoxaQuote
retired_dogQuote
IrixQuote
child-of-the-moon
Neue Zeit, Graz, 03. August 1995
Translation via Online-OCR + DeepL:
"Show almost cancelled
The Open-air on the Ö-Ring narrowly missed being cancelled. The reason was the behaviour of a man from the gendarmerie's mobile task force.
The catastrophe did not take place by a hair's breadth. An officer of the mobile task force of the Styrian gendarmerie almost caused the Stones to cancel their show at the Ö-Ring, and it happened that way: In principle, the officers of the mobile task force were not supposed to enter the backstage area, i.e. the private lounge of the Rolling Stones. This is even stated in the regulations for the Stones' show at the Österreich-Ring, because already at Bon Jovi four officers of this group did not want to leave the private area and caused a twenty-minute delay of the show. This time it was worse. A member of the brass ensemble, a black musician, did a few rounds on his moped in the backstage area. The police officer obviously didn't like that at all. He stopped the musician and wanted to remove him from the dressing room area. Assurances that he was a musician and had a backstage pass were of no use. "You stole a pass," said the officer, who also made it clear that he obviously had difficulties in dealing with people of a different skin colour. When Keith Richards joined in and heard the story, he winced. "Racists!" he yelled, raging and retreating. He didn't want to go on stage. For an hour, promoters and bandmates talked down to the guitarist, and one apology followed another. Finally, Richards did go on stage and the show started an hour late. The biggest security risk - just imagine what happens when 90,000 don't get what they expect - was thus a single gendarmerie officer. Will that be enough for promotion? V.R.
Keith Richards freaked out completely. (Lohr)"
The Austrian OCR-Text:
"Show fast geplatzt
Das Open-air am Ö-Ring ging knapp an einer Absage vorbei. Auslösender Grund war das Verhalten eines Mannes der mobilen Einsatztruppe der Gendarmerie.
Die Katastrophe fand nur um Haaresbreite nicht statt. Ein Beamter des mobilen Einsatzkommandos der steirischen Gendarmerie hätte fast die Stones zur Absage ihrer Show am Ö-Ring veranlaßt, und das kam so: Im Prinzip sollten die Beamten der mobilen Einsatzgruppe den Backstagebereich, also den privaten Aufenthaltsraum der Rolling Stones, nicht betreten. Das steht sogar in der Verordnung für die Stones-Show am Österreich-Ring, da schon bei Bon Jovi vier Beamte dieser Gruppe den Privatbereich nicht verlassen wollten und eine zwanzigminütige Verzögerung der Show bewirkten. Diesmal war's ärger. Ein Mitglied des Bläserensembles. ein schwarzer Musiker, drehte im Backstagebereich ein paar Runden mit dem Mofa. Das gefiel dem Einsatzbeamten offenbar ganz und gar nicht. Er stoppte den Musiker und wollte ihn aus dem Garderobenbereich entfernen. Beteuerungen, daß er Musiker sei und einen Backstage-Paß habe, nützten nicht. „Du Paß gestohlen", sagte der Beamte und gab auch sonst zu erkennen, daß er offenbar Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit Leuten anderer Hautfarbe hat. Als Keith Richards dazukam und die Geschichte erfuhr, zuckte er aus. „Rassisten!" brüllte er, tobte und zog sich zurück. Er wollte nicht auf die Bühne gehen. Eine Stunde lang redeten Veranstalter und Bandkollegen auf den Gitarristen ein, und eine Entschuldigung folgte der anderen. Schließlich ging Richards doch auf die Bühne und die Show begann mit einstündiger Verspätung. Das größte Sicherheitsrisiko - man braucht sich nur vorstellen, was passiert, wenn 90.000 nicht das bekommen, was sie erwarten - war somit ein einziger Gendarmeriebeamter. Ob das für eine Beförderung ausreicht? V.R.
Keith Richards zuckte völlig aus. (Lohr)"
Aaah, this version of the story sounds a bit more plausible.
However, I can't praise Keith here for his behaviour:
Some decades ago, I discussed a problem with my now deceased friend Jim Callaghan, then head of the Stones security as some here might remember. He replied with a grin: "Look, that's not a problem! Do you want to know what a problem is?" He pointed to the packed stadium and said: "Look at this crowd and imagine what could happen when for one reason or another the show would have to be cancelled! Can you imagine the riot it could cause? Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop these masses of people. All we could do is reach our cars and leave as quick as possible!"
Keith should have known this, too. You simply don't risk a desaster like that with possibly many people hurt or even worse.
"Either these cats cool it, man, or we don't play"...
Keith seems to have this weapon in his arsenal, and he is not afraid in using it. Once he threatened to cancel a whole tour (LICKS TOUR), since he was so mad about Mick's knighthood. I wonder if he really has ever been that serious, or just playing with the strong card he knows he has. As far as I know the threat has never been materialized (although he has sapotaged some Stones meetings and sessions by not turning up).
But I guess it had been quite a situation - keeping Callaghan's remark in mind - if there'd been announced: "We are sorry to say, but the show's been cancelled due to a policeman insulting our back-up singer with a racist manner, and Keith Richards has declined to play. Have a safe journay back home." How would have that 90 000 crowd reacted to that...
But I still respect his reaction. That crap needed to be called out. But probably it was a bit over-done (I guess the bandmates, especially one in particular, were not that pleased). But then again, he probably he knew what he was doing and knew that he would get his will through: that the racist idiot didn't have any other option than to apologize to Bernard.
- Doxa
All good and well, but cops are cops, and like all human beings, some are more friendly than others, some excuse when they realize they wrongly accused you of something, some who seem to think they're "sitting on a high horse" so to speak simply don't.
Bernard's story reminds me of something that happened to me when I was working in a recording studio until early in the morning and despite being offered a bed in the studio owner's home decided to drive home because of an important business date next afternoon. However, I had to stop my journey after a while because I nearly fell asleep and ended up at a lonely highway parking place. Stopped the car, locked doors and windows and immediately fell asleep. Next I noticed some 2 or 3 hours later were two people by my car, one knocking at the windows, shouting "Police! Take your hands up slowly and come out of the car!" repeatedly - while the other guy, standing a bit more distant, aimed a gun right into my direction. As they wore no uniforms and looked unshaved, sweaty and all in all suspicious, surely not like policemen, I repeatedly asked to present me their Police ID's - what they not only declined but made them even more aggressive. I finally gave up, really thought these were robbers instead, but thought I'd better lose my car and belongings than my life by trying to quickstart my car and escape the situation, left the car, was searched by one while the other searched my car...
Turned out that the same morning, a bank office in a town close to the highway was robbed and the robbers fled in a car that looked similar to mine. I received no apologies whatsoever, not even for their behaviour to deny me their Police ID's that could have relieved the situation. What could I do? I contacted my lawyers afterwards to find out if there was something that could be done, at least trying to get an apology. They advised me to leave it alone, as frightening as this situation appeared to me, because almost inevitably it would end nowhere, not least because they were two and I was alone, so they could state whatever they want...
And, needless to say, I could not even play the "racism card" because I'm white. You see, shit like this can happen to everyone, no matter of the colour of your skin - and, like I said, police is police, like all human beings some are friendly, some not so much, and some are downright a..h... (or racists) when they have you in their focus.
Yes, it's nice that Keith was loyal to his friend Bernard, but concerning the bigger picture I think that Spud sums it up nicely in his previous post:
"Yep, typical Keith...shoot first, ask question later.
His support for Bernard was admirable....but he didn't take a minute to consider the thousands of folks who now wouldn't catch their last bus home !
Goodness knows what Mick said"
Well, I can only imagine what Mick said... Enough already!