Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy apologizes for sloppy Paramount performance

Ratt lead singer Stephen Pearcy sang half his set seated... — Ratt lead singer Stephen Pearcy sang half his set seated on the drum riser icing his bad left knee during his Sept. 26 gig at The Paramount in Huntington. Credit: David J. Criblez

By David J. Criblezdavid.criblez@newsday.com DavidJCriblezSeptember 29, 2018

Ratt lead singer Stephen Pearcy has publicly apologized for the hair metal band's lackluster show Wednesday at the Paramount in Huntington that their fans won’t soon forget.

“I want to apologize to Ratt fans for last night’s performance and especially to those that were at the show. 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," said Pearcy the next day in a statement on the band’s official Facebook site. "Again, there is no excuse for my behavior. I sincerely apologize to Ratt fans, my band, Live Nation, my friends and family.”

Pearcy initially emerged on stage at 9:47 p.m. singing the opening song, “Wanted Man” drunk and limping in pain.

By the time the band got to “Way Cool Jr.” Pearcy was slurring his words and messing up the lyrics. He spent half the set leaning on front row security guards having the crowd sing the words and the other half sitting on the drum riser icing his left knee. Fans were shocked as Pearcy didn’t even sound like himself at all. His voice was unrecognizable.

Bassist Juan Croucier tried to cover for his band mate stating to the crowd, “In case that you guys didn’t notice, Mr. Stephen Pearcy’s in a lot of pain. But, tonight we decided, there’s no way we’re cancelling this show because we love you guys. Thank you so much for coming down and we promise we’ll be back without the injury.”