Alice in Chains Invite Fan to Play Drums on ‘Would?’ in Charleston
It’s a dream that many music playing fans would love to accomplish, so how did Kurt Friedenberger end up playing drums onstage with Alice in Chains during their recent show in North Charleston, S.C.? He wore a t-shirt asking to do so. Alice in Chains’ resident blogger Baldy relayed the events to readers, stating, “Today’s lesson is about following your dreams. And persistence. And about getting lucky. All of these things were on display in Charleston, S.C. (Sept. 20), and it was inspiring (or entertaining at least).”
He continued, “Just like every other night, the band played a show. And just like every other night, there were a bunch of people in attendance. But unlike every other night, there was a guy out in the crowd holding up a t-shirt that said ‘Let me play drums on Would?!’ To his credit, he kept holding that shirt up throughout the show. And it paid off. The band had played the entire show, taken a break, came back out for the encore, played the first two songs of the encore, and were down to their last song. Which happened to be Would?.”
“That’s when Sean [Kinney] came out from behind his kit, went up to Jerry’s microphone, and told the guy to come up on stage,” relayed Baldy. “They threw a set of headphones on him so he could hear Mike [Inez] and Jerry [Cantrell] and William [DuVall], and after a quick warm-up to prove he could actually play, they were off to the races. Mike stepped up onto the drum riser and began the intro, Jerry joined in, and then it was drum time. He started in at the right time, and although he had a couple of shaky moments, overall he did pretty good. Sean stood off to the side watching, while Jerry, Mike and William all kept looking back at him or going up on the riser to make sure he stayed in time. Then towards the end of the song, for one terrifying moment, it all stopped. It didn’t last long, but there was a second there when everyone thought our fill-in drummer had run out of gas, but a split second later he was back at it. He made his way to the end of the song, and the crowd went nuts.”
The blogger concluded, “Back in the old days, it wasn’t terribly unusual for Sean to bring people up from out in the crowd to attempt a drum solo or try and play a song. We talked about that on the bus after the show, and as Jerry said, ‘No one ever made it all the way through. They’d always get nervous and flame out.’ But one brave soul in Charleston, S.C. made it all the way to the finish line. So kudos to you sir. You’re an inspiration to people everywhere that are armed with only a blank white t-shirt, a sharpie, and a dream. But I should mention that this little story is in no way to be taken as an endorsement or encouragement of that kind of request. This dude caught the band in a good mood and got lucky after all. Don’t think that just because this guy hit paydirt that the band is suddenly going to start granting every request that’s scribbled on a shirt and held up at the show. Holding up a sign asking William to contribute to your 401K or for Jerry to come to your house and meet your sister doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. But I suppose it never hurts to try.”