Ever Made a Banner for a Concert?

Seeing the "Sevendust has arrived!" banner at Rocklahoma over the weekend got me thinking: have you ever created a homemade banner to show support for a band during a concert?

I haven't.

I think it would be cool and is definitely a throwback to the 80s. Just think of all those RATT and Bon Jovi videos that show the homemade banners created out of old bedsheets and finger paint. Glamtastic!

Thing is, nowadays there are a zillion restrictions on what you can and cannot take into a venue so it's hard to say if a banner would even be allowed. Rocklahoma allowed it because that is a camping venue and the rules are more relaxed. I'm not sure the result would be the same at Madison Square Garden. 

So, what do you think of homemade banners? If you've made one and have a picture, I'd love to see it!

Comments

[bryon]

We did banners for a couple of shows back in the day. A good friend of mine is a brilliant artist, and we stayed up all night doing a full bedsheet-sized banner for the 1993 Aerosmith (Get a Grip) show.

We also made a more traditional paper sign for Slaughter, when they opened up for Cinderella on the Heartbreak Station tour. The sign said "Vinnie Vincent Sucks Ass", which was a reference to the fact that Mark Slaughter & Dana Strum were kicked out of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion a few years earlier. Dana Strum acknowledged our sign during their set, which was kind of cool.

The more memorable thing about the sign, though, was getting interviewed by a local newspaper reporter after Slaughter's set. He asked us a few questions about it in a very professional way and then went on to speak to other people. The next day in the paper, we were referred to as a group of 'young idiots' (or something close to that), which we all found hilarious.

[kari]

Funny story about this....My friend and I did the Texas Tour (Dallas, Austin, Houston) on the Def Leppard Slang Tour back in 1995 (or maybe 96, can't remember) and we stole a sheet from one of the hotels and spray painted a banner. It said DEF LEPPARD ROCK OF AGES, ROCKIN' & ROLLIN' (or something like that). ANyway, it took 4 people to hold it up and I just remember during ROCK OF AGES hearing Joe Elliot scream F*** YEAH and then people came up to us after the show saying they saw it from the lawn...The really funny part about this story is that the spray paint went through the bed sheet and got on the linoleum(sp?) in the bathroom. My genious friend, and with the help of an Adam Sandler song, says, We Need Turpentine. SO, yes, we had to go to walmart, got carded for turpentine (i guess they were worried with kids sniffing at that time) and sure enough, it came off (ha ha). I kept that thing for years and finally got rid of it.

I made another banner the second time I went back to Cabo for Sammy's Bday Bash in 1998 and ofcourse at that time, if you threw a banner up on stage all Sammy's famous words were "HANG IT UP" and by the time of the bday bash the whole club would be filled with Banners hanging up in the Cabo Wabo.

I'm not creative in the least bit so I was always jealous of those ppl that had KICK ASS banners!

[bumblefootboy]

i did back in 1994 for motley crue. my friend and i had some lousy seats , so just before the concert started, we went to the front row and when the concert started, the crowd surrounded us and trapped us in the front row. during the concert , we threw the banner on stage and john carobi held it up for the crow to see and everyone cheered. after the concert , we were talking to the tour manager and told him we were the ones who made the banner and all we wanted were backstage passes. about 30 min later, he can back with backstage passes. we met the crue and hung out until 400 am . what a great time. i remember it , like it was yesterday.

[damnp78]

Wow ! ^^^^ Awesome story !

[Lucas Serpa]

The first time that Skid Row came to Brazil (1993 - I was only 11 years old) I made one saying "You make my youth gonne wild". My brother tryied to put me in the crowd but I haven't age enough to attend... I remember that I started to cry whem my brother said that to me!!!! I tryed to see them in the Hotel but as you can see in the band's videos their visit here was insane...

[Gary]

Bumble,
How fucking cool is that?!! It makes me wish that one of us had went the banner route back in the day.I've been to probably 75 concerts during my life, but we never did the banner thing (I blame it on a "chronic" problem we all had back then...LMFAO)

[Kenny Ozz]

Never mad a banner. But we did make a sign for then-Warrant drummer Mike Fasano. It was a huge neon green poster board that just said "SACK". LOL.

If you know Fasano, sack is his nickname because he can cover an entire beer can with an, um, certain part of his anatomy. And is known to do it on the bus and backstage to unsuspecting groupies' beverage cans.

Ha!

Sack freaking rules.

[HypedSound]

No banners in my lifetime, but at Ozzfest the crowd lit the lawn on fire during Sabbath's set. Biggest trash fight I will ever witness filled the night sky. Good times.

[SixxAddict]

I made a banner for Crue Fest 2 last summer, and they let me in with it! :D Hand drawn and everything - with Sharpies!

[Metalboy!]

Cool, xcept Vinnie Vincent duzn't suck. Slaughter duz. Pop Sell Outs. And I should know. I listen to them all the time!

Vincent is a forgotten genius. Slaughter and Strum are glorified has-beens by comparison.

I'll put up Vinnie Vincent's work against Slaughter's any day. Vincent's stuff is vastly superior.

He's like a frickin' supersonic jet compared to Slaughter's little Lear Jet.

Now, I never payed much attention to banners being displayed, but I remember shows like G'n'R waiting for Axl or waiting for The Toxic Twins to take the stage at a "Rocks" era show and seeing a lot more interesting things to display than mere banners.

But I should also add this is a very cool subject and I love all of the stories.

[billy jack]

I HAVE MADE SEVERAL IN MY TIME . WHEN I WAS A KID FIRST GOING TO CONCERTS IN 1979 I MADE A VAN HALEN ONE ON THERE FIRST TOUR WENT TO A RADIO STATION THEY WERE DOING A INTERVIEW AND SHOWED IT . WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THERE AND THEY CAME OUT SMOKED WEED WITH US SIGNED IT AND HOOKED US UP WITH PASSES FOR THE SHOW . THIS WAS VAN HALEN 2 TOUR . IT WAS AWESOME . ONE OTHER TIME ME AND MY BUDDYS WERE ROAD TRIPPIN AND SEEING IRON MAIDEN ON THE TEXAS TOUR AND WE TOOK A BED SHEET MADE A BANNER AND HUNG IT IN THE WINDOW OF THE HOTEL FACING THE VENUE . AND 2 OF THE MEMBERS OF IRON MAIDEN KNOCKED ON OUR DOOR WHILE WE WERE PARTYING BEFORE THE SHOW AND WANTED THE BANNER . WE ENDED UP GIVING IT TO THEM A WEEK LATER IN NORMAN OK . THAT BANNER WAS IN THERE TOUR BOOK AS WELL . GREAT TIMES

[Sweet Lou]

November 27, 1981 a day I learned what "class" was. Sabbath were back in town with Ronnie James Dio. I was still a HUGE Ozzy fan, but I dug "Mob Rules" and "Heaven and Hell." Before the show I took one of my parents over-sized white bath towels and drew/painted the sabbath logo on the front. However, on the back I took the "Mob Rules" spray paint logo and scribed "WE STILL LOVE" OZZY (Ozzy was written in HIS logo). We were in the front row and I decided to wait for "MOB RULES" and then BOOM I tossed the towel. Ronnie grab the towel and held up the SABBATH side and was smiling like a kook. He turned the towel around showing the "WE STILL LOVE OZZY" side. As the song ended he looked right at me and "young man, we still love Ozzy too!" and proceeded to hang the towel over Vinny's kick drum. After the show I was handed 2 passes to meet the band. I thought it was gonna be a complete ass reaming, but alas RJD wasn't that kind of cat. He thanked ME for staying a Sabbath fan, at which point I told him the ONLY reason I still was because his Raindow days RULED and unlike most kids, I wasn't into them because of Ritchie Blackmore, but because of him. I asked if he would sign the towel that was now in the meet room and he told me NO. He said it was stuff like that that kept him grounded and HE was keeping it. He asked if I would like one of HIS towels. I took it and he wrote, "Sweet Lou, LONG LIVE ROCK N ROLL and I LOVE OZZY TOO, Ronnie James Dio" THAT was one of the coolest pieces of memorabilia I have, not to mention the lesson learned that evening. Not all the "Gods of rock" are dicks, but sometimes the fans can push them to be. Thank God Ronnie wasn't one of them LMAO!

[BKC & MKC]

We made a bed sheet and glow in the dark paint banner for a Bon Jovi concert. My 74 year old mother is a HUGE fan. It read I'm 74 and rockin the floor to Bon Jovi! She even wants to be buried with it!