Stephen Pearcy Apologizes for Intoxicated Ratt Show: ‘No Excuse for My Behavior’
Last night's performance by Ratt at the Paramount in Huntington, N.Y., was marred by lead singer Stephen Pearcy struggling through the show. Today (Sept. 27), he apologized to the fans, citing a mixture of pain medication and alcohol as the contributing factor.
"I want to apologize to Ratt fans for last night’s performance and especially to those that were at the show," he wrote on Facebook. "I am dealing with a pain management issue due to a bad knee that is scheduled to be replaced in January. And last night I made the critical error of adding alcohol to my pain meds while on stage, and it destroyed my performance. Again there is no excuse for my behavior. I sincerely apologize to Ratt fans, my band, Live Nation, my friends, and family."
As you can see in the fan-shot video posted to Twitter and YouTube that we've embedded below, Pearcy is clearly having difficulty. In one clip, he needs the background vocalists to carry the bulk of "Nobody Rides for Free" while he is sitting down on the drum riser. In another, he appears to be keeping himself upright with the help of a microphone stand, during which bassist Juan Croucier, the only other original member in the current lineup, informs the crowd of Pearcy's condition.
"Let me just say something, all right?" he said. "In case you guys didn't notice, Mr. Stephen Pearcy is in a lot of pain. But tonight, we said there's no way, there's no way we're canceling this show. Because we love you guys. We love each and every one of you, and thank you so much for coming down. We promise we'll be back, without the injury, okay? Thank you so much for your understanding. We're gonna keep going and do our best."
Ratt kicked off their current tour back in July, unveiling what they called a "new breed" of the band. The current lineup consists of original members Pearcy and Croucier, guitarists Jordan Ziff and Chris Sanders and drummer Pete Holmes.