Oh dear . . . . . . the end was in sight

Jefferson Starship crashes

Grace in Germany 1978

On this day in music history: June 17, 1978 - Jefferson Starship play the second of two concerts at The Freilichtbühne Loreley (Loreley Open-Air Theatre) in St. Goarhausen, West Germany, when the gigs goes horribly wrong. Touring in support of their then latest album “Earth", on the first night (June 16, 1978), the band fails to appear, causing angry fans to ransack the stage. The second night is even more of a disaster, when lead singer Grace Slick shows up extremely drunk and belligerent. Slurring her words and singing off key throughout, she begins to berate the audience calling them "Nazis” and taunting them with the phrase “who won the war?”. The incident touches off a riot, with the enraged audience causing over a million dollars in damage to the venue (which ironically had been originally constructed just prior to World War II by The Third Reich for cultural events) and the bands equipment. Highly embarrassed by her actions, Slick voluntarily quits the band, not returning until early 1981 when Jefferson Starship records their album “Modern Times”.

As showtime neared, Slick tore into an alcohol-fueled tantrum, throwing bottles, refusing to get ready for the concert and demanding more booze from room service. By the time the band got onstage, she was in no condition to perform. The show was filmed for the German music program 'Rockpalast,' but the episode never aired. Maybe because Slick began taunting the audience, repeatedly asking, "Who won the war?" She also called them Nazis and gave the 'Heil Hitler!' salute onstage."I'm in Germany and I'm gonna get back at them for Dachau, or some dumb drunken decision," Slick recalled in Tamarkin's book. "That's what that night was about: dumb, drunken decisions. So they started walking out, but they kept coming back, like, Maybe she'll do something really hideous and we will have missed it. A freak show." Starship's publicist, Cynthia Bowman, remembered that "you could just see all the life drain out of the group. It was just a horrible, empty, bad, dark night."

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