Rock Bands Trick One Another, Provide Treats to Fans

Musicians are generally a mischievous, fun-loving bunch. One of their favorite days of the year for pulling pranks and recalling those who have Punk’d them over the years is April 1. But Halloween also has been a popular day for rock ‘n’ roll shenanigans, or at least an opportunity for rockers to take the stage in some pretty rad costumes. We’ve collected five of our favorite Halloween tricks and treats committed by an eclectic array of artists from jam bands to headbangers.

1. Korn

Nu-Metal pioneers Korn celebrated Halloween about a week early in Grand Prairie, Texas at the 2013 Freakers Ball. Flaunting their penchant for funk, vocalist Jonathan Davis and bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu took the stage dressed as Rick James and Bootsy Collins, respectively. Meanwhile, guitarist Brian “Head” Welch wore lipstick, eye makeup and an Oktoberfest waitress dress. One of the other guys in the band donned a zombie mask with multicolored hair, and it’s hard to tell what the other masked dude was trying to be – maybe Slipknot percussionist Chris Fehn?

2. Billy Corgan

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is not well known for his thigh-slapping sense of humor. But in 2008 he inserted his tongue firmly in cheek when he put together the group’s Halloween show. Dressed in a Japanese Kimono and a variety of wigs and hats, Corgan led his band through a set that included classics like “Today,” as well a few unexpected covers. The most appropriate was Bobby Boris Pickett’s “Monster Mash,” but Kenny Rogers’s “The Gambler,” The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” and the McCoys “Hang on Sloopy” were also entertaining.

3. Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl is such a spirited, entertaining guy that there was no way the group was going to perform its Halloween show for the HBO series Sonic Highways without some hijinks. The Foos were playing in Nashville’s Ryan Auditorium and to mark the occasion they donned black metal corpse paint before they took the stage. Then the band played a 26-song extravaganza that included covers of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” (with Zac Brown), Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” and Cheap Trick’s “Stiff Competition.” What, no Impaled Nazarene?

4. Phish

Every Year at its Halloween show Phish covers another artist’s album in its entirety. In 1995 rumors spread that that the band would perform Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Phish fueled the fire by playing snippets of “Black & White” and “Beat It” at shows leading up to the Halloween gig in Rosemont, Illinois. During the first set of originals at the Rosemont Horizon guitarist Trey Anastasio told the crowd that someone in the band’s entourage was listening to the album Phish was going to cover later that night, and the band briefly broke into “Beat It.” Then, before Phish took the stage for its cover set, snippets of songs by Michael Jackson played over the loudspeakers. When the band stepped under the lights it began the show – a full performance of The Who’s Quadrophenia. Though their expectations were thwarted, most crowd members were hardly disappointed.

5. Faith No More

Back in 1990, when Faith No More were MTV darlings riding high on the rap-rock smash “Epic” the band was booked to open for Billy Idol. The move made metalheads snarl like Billy Idol in pretty much every photo for which he’s ever posed. But the bands had a blast. In Seattle on the final night of the tour, Idol’s stage crew dumped forty pounds of dead fish on Faith No More during its set. The move was a reference to the fish flopping around in the video for “Epic.” Vocalist Michael Patton reportedly reacted by stuffing handfuls of fish inside his shorts. Then Faith No More retaliated with an epic prank of its own. As Idol performed the last song of his set “Got to Be a Lover,” FNM took the stage naked save for masks or t-shirts over their faces, and danced around in a conga line. It was enough to remove the smirk from Idol’s face and replace it with a wide grin.

No video of the event exists, but here’s another show from the same tour, in which Patton took the stage dressed like Madonna.