Hershey, PA - Tour Diary

Joe Elliott - 8th November 1992 KERRANG! Tour Diary Quotes

Good morning. It's 12,00-ish actually, so it's really good afternoon! We're on the Starship Intercourse, piloted by the intrepid Captain Kirk (hence the pilot's name!) and I'm tucking into a turkey sandwich when all of a sudden I get the most unbearable chest pain I've ever had!

A heart attack at 33? Surely not...

I can hardly move. I'm not particularly freaked out cos I'm not actually dead, but I've got to say I'm a little concerned.

As we rise into the air, the pain starts to move into my side, and by the time we land, it's under my shoulder blades. I'm thinking I've got trapped air. Good. Sit on the bog for half-an-hour and well... you know the rest! But Malvin, the tour manager, insists I got to the hospital for a check up. So here I am at 3.15pm, wired up to every machine in the place, being checked for everything except measles.

As I suspected, the ticker is in good shape, but my chest x-rays show up a cloudy patch at the bottom of my lungs. The doctor tells me it's possible pleurisy.

Pleurisy!? Sounds pretty heavy to someone who's hardly ever ill, but 16 tablets a day should clear it up in about a week. Great! But what about tonight's show? I'm moving much easier than four hours ago, but I can hardly play the sex god looking like Igor!

I get to the venue at about 5.30 and try (with emphasis on the 'try') to get ready with some warming-up. Now I can't move the top half of my body very well, which basically means all the top notes are way out of my reach. That's only about 60 per cent of what I sing!

It's 8.15 pm now, and on we go. I let out an almighty scream, punch the air, and bang! My chest feels like Meat Loaf just sat on it and I nearly collapse, but what's the old showbiz line? 'The show must go on'...

Bollocks! I never felt so much like just saying, "Sorry folks, I'm outta here!", but like a twat I don't, and we carry on, business as usual. I've got to admit that it did start to ease up towards the end. I guess there's no accounting for adrenalin. But I sang totally from my throat tonight, just to avoid my chest. I sounded like shit, and I've got a nasty feeling I've seriously damaged my vocal chords.

By Kerrang! 1992.

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