Very sorry to hear the news about Frank Beard of ZZ Top. I met him once with Dusty Hill after a gig in London at the then Hammersmith Odeon and he was a lovely man. He will be sadly missed.

It's festival time of year and there are some huge concerts out there right now. Which was the biggest you have attended - how many attendees?

A legendary rock and roll story about Billy Idol. I went to schol with his brother, Bone Idol! In 1989, British rock star Billy Idol took his infamous reputation to new heights—or depths—during a wild, drug-fueled bender in Bangkok, Thailand. Renting out the penthouse of the prestigious Oriental Hotel, Idol embarked on what would become a three-week-long party that spiraled out of control. Fueled by an endless supply of drugs—pot, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, opium, quaaludes, and reds—and surrounded by women and motorcycles, the rocker lived out a real-life fever dream that quickly turned into a nightmare for the hotel staff and management. The suite was trashed, furniture destroyed, and walls damaged, with the total bill for property destruction alone topping \$250,000. Despite repeated warnings from hotel officials and pleas for him to vacate the premises, Idol refused to leave. His erratic behavior escalated daily, and the scene in the penthouse was reported to be so chaotic and out of control that traditional methods of eviction no longer worked. After nearly a month of non-stop partying and destruction, the Thai authorities had had enough. In a final, bizarre twist, the military was summoned to intervene. Idol, still defiant and reportedly in an altered state, was shot with a tranquilizer dart. Only after being sedated and strapped to a stretcher was he finally removed from the premises—literally carried out of his own party. This notorious episode solidified Billy Idol’s place as one of rock and roll’s most excessive and untamed personalities. While he would go on to reflect more soberly on this period in later years, the Bangkok penthouse saga became one of the most outrageous tales in rock history. Idol's near-mythical hedonism, captured in this moment, was emblematic of a time when excess was not just expected of rock stars—it was practically demanded. The incident remains a striking reminder of how far some celebrities were willing to go to live up to the wild persona their fame had created.