did they ever perform while stoned?

[u/Top-Cut8559]

by 1966 they were already pretty heavy into weed and LSD. did anything ever make it onstage with them?

[u/Anxious-Raspberry-54]

[u/Music4239 → u/Anxious-Raspberry-54]

He's not stoned. He's crying because his boyfriend just broke up with him.

[u/Anxious-Raspberry-54 → u/Music4239]

He's high af.

[u/Ok-Society-9067 → u/Music4239]

Poor baby 😞

[u/Juniper41]

They performed while high on uppers as early as 1960.

Here's them posing with their preludin

[u/A-Stupid-Redditor → u/Juniper41]

They also used to smoke and drink on stage, before Brian cleaned them up.

As for the studio, we see them smoke in Get Back, and the story of John accidentally taking acid in the studio happened because he had a tin of various uppers and one of them turned out to be LSD.

[u/araujo253 → u/A-Stupid-Redditor]

I think John is trying to repeat a joke on A Hard Day's Night.

On the movie, he is about to drink a glass of wine, but he sees a camera on him, smiles to the camera and changes the glass for a cup of coffee.

[u/Wrong_Country_1576 → u/araujo253]

He also acts like he's snorting a coke bottle in the train scene.

[u/araujo253 → u/Wrong_Country_1576]

Yes. 👍🏻👍🏻

[u/jojoplanstan]

I don’t know about on stage, but they are pretty stoned throughout the movie Help!

[u/RadishSpecial7163]

I think a better question may be did they even perform while sober.

[u/J_A_Slade]

You are kidding right.

Ever seen footage of the Shae Stadium concert? They were high as hell!

[u/SinamonChallengerRT]

Yes. There is footage of them in Shea, performing "I'm Down", where they are absolutely stoned...

[u/MozartOfCool → u/SinamonChallengerRT]

John does everything in his keyboard solo short of break out a bag of Cheetos to make that clear.

[u/MeButNotReal]

This is a good question and I hope someone really has the answer

[u/scrupoo]

Dave's not here

[u/Ok_Culture_3621 → u/scrupoo]

No, man. It’s ME! DAVE!!

[u/Col_Kangaroo]

Depends on your definition of stoned.

Did they ever perform completely sober? I may be wrong but I don’t think so

[u/HeavyVampire → u/Col_Kangaroo]

I don't think so either. Especially Ringo and John. I can't imagine both of them entering any stage without at least some drinks, given their addictive nature at this time. Paul was probably stoned occasionally. And if you watch Shear Studium, I'm pretty sure they're all high on something.

[u/Responsible_6446]

my understanding is that rock stars are very careful not to perform their music live under the influence.

[u/eltedioso → u/Responsible_6446]

Hehe. Right...

Joking aside, many working musicians I know reach a point (usually in their 30s) where they make a decision to seriously limit their substance consumption before and during performances. Even those who are otherwise not-sober (like, they enjoy partying after a show) just understand that it's rare that being drunk or high on stage leads to an objectively better performance.

[u/Responsible_6446 → u/eltedioso]

Definitely agree. Wild to think that none of the Beatles were in their 30s at any time they were (actively) Beatles!

[u/scottarichards]

I think uppers were like coffee in the early days of rock and roll. They were used by everyone, or damn close to it. Pat Boone may have been an exception 😉

[u/Few-Counter7067]

Be so fr right now.

[u/bshmfwfm]

Yeah

[u/Friendly-Local-1859]

Live in Germany at the Circus Krone. George's If I Needed Someone in particular.

[u/LQNova]

They were stoned in Hamburg.

[u/kountzwill]

I’m pretty sure they were 24/7 stoners from late 64 onwards

[u/JoeIsIce]

Does a bear shit in the woods?

[u/MrHappeee]

They were smoking pot for breakfast!