“Here’s another one you don’t wanna hear. And frankly, neither do I.”

November 25, 2014 7:00 PM

The Disastrous Show That Made The Replacements Legendary "Stinson’s remarks, as well as a series of other unexpected antics, placed the band’s show at Chicago’s Grant Park on July 4, 1991 as one of the most legendary concerts in history as 50,000 screaming fans bore witness to the very live and public breakup of one of rock & roll’s most underrated bands."
posted by mkelley (8 comments total)

Theoretically, how might one compare this show to the Oasis appearance on MTV Unplugged where Liam quit the band minutes beforehand and spent the entire show heckling from the balcony?
posted by Madamina at 7:46 PM on November 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

March 18, 1982 - XTC's Andy Partridge walks off the stage in Paris during their first song Respectable Street, never to play in front of an audience again.
posted by bobloblaw at 8:09 PM on November 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

As most Twin Cities music fans can tell you, the odds of a Replacements show turning into a disaster was about 50/50.
posted by Ber at 9:04 PM on November 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was there, with some friends and a cooler full of beer camped out on a blanket on the grass. I don't remember too many details, but at the end of the show we all thought we had heard that the band said they were breaking up.
posted by trigfunctions at 9:19 PM on November 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

one of rock & roll’s most underrated bands

What The World Famous said already. To which I would add, I've always liked me some Replacements, even loved them once or twice, and maybe on a genuinely good night, they transcended all concerns live ... but on record, their entire career feels like an exercise in "not quite nailing it".

I was a very skeptical fly-on-the-wall at an Oasis gig on their first North American tour and walked away genuinely impressed. They didn't move much but they sure rocked that small room.
posted by philip-random at 11:14 PM on November 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Does anybody know what happened? Was this planned, or did something happen during the show to set them off? I feel like there's something important missing here. From the description, it sounds like the roadies literally replaced them one by one in the final song, which is about as perfect an ending as you could imagine but would probably require the roadies to have some inkling of it beforehand.

Man, this kind of story bugs me, when it misses such an obvious point.

Although in chasing that answer down the rabbit hole I did find out that Sheriff had a #1 hit in 1989 four years after they broke up, with a song they released in 1983. Rock & Roll, baby.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 12:58 AM on November 26, 2014

I hadn't heard the story in this much detail before, so I kinda feel pained to point out that The Replacements were candidates for legend a long time before 1991. It sounds like the main difference between this and some other notorious shows was that less falling over was involved and it happened in front of a festival crowd of thousands rather than a bar audience of hundreds.

Also maybe because the last Replacements album really was a Westerberg solo project with the other 'Mats being used as session men; the band had permanently split a couple years earlier but were duct taped together by their contractual obligations. So this Chicago show was more like the bonds being loosened in front of a live audience, once the minimum number of required songs were performed to fulfill the terms of the deal with the devil.
posted by ardgedee at 3:38 AM on November 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

I believe they are accurately rated.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:32 AM on November 26, 2014