Smash Mouth story time:
At the ‘height’ of their career, Smash Mouth and Harwell were responsible for one of the funniest and most bizarre concert experiences of my lifetime.
Smash Mouth performed at Universal Studios during one of the Mardi Gras theme nights. The concert took place at an outdoor stage just after the nightly parade.
They were terrible. Smash Mouth refused to play either of their one hit wonders, instead they chose to struggle through a bunch of unknown songs. The crowd grew more and more agitated as the set list wore on. Eventually, enough was enough.
Freshly armed with Mardi Gras beads, the audience switched from booing to hurling the beads at Harwell. It wasn’t just one guy. Beads were flying at the band from all corners of the audience. In defiance, Smash Mouth continued to play whatever shitty song they were on about while actively dodging incoming bead fire.
Finally, Harwell took a string of beads center-mass. That was it. The crowd emerged victorious. The horrible Smash Mouth music stopped. Harwell ran off stage with the band following close behind. Beads continued to rain in from the crowd as Smash Mouth made their escape.
But it wasn’t over. Chants of “All-Star” echoed through the audience-turned-angry-mob. The people wanted their pound of flesh, in the form of a early 2000’s radio pop song. Someone backstage convinced Smash Mouth that running away from their fans was a bad look. The band returned several minutes later and angrily performed ‘All-Star’. The beads continued to rain in, and the band played on.
TLDR: I watched Smash Mouth get pummeled with Mardi Gras beads during a shitty, halfhearted performance.
