Wow, I love all these great stories and am especially jealous of the guys here that were able to get picks during a show. After literally 100's of club and arena shows over 40 some years, I have yet to get a pick as a souvenir...although I was able to get 3 drum sticks. The first two I got at a Dictators show in 1977 at the Starwood in Hollywood. The Dictators were, in my opinion, a missing link between Punk and Metal/Hard Rock with lots of energy. I was standing in front of the stage when the late great Richie Teeter cracked a stick and threw it down in front of his kit in disgust. Luckily for me, the stick hit at an angle and came right at me. I was able to quickly get my hand up and snag it on the fly, which brought a big smile and a thumbs up from Teeter. After the encore, most people filed out but about 7 of us remained on the floor screaming for more, which they obliged 2 more times...as they came out for the third encore, the lead singer came to the front of the stage and asked "who are you guys?". Afterwords, they came out and chatted with us for awhile, and brought out another drumstick for me to have a pair. Great night.
The other time was in San Diego with the Scorpions. I had seats about 35 feet from the stage and off to the left. Klaus Meine came over to our side of the stage and lofted a stick in our direction. Never thinking it would reach us, we all stood up and stuck up our hands...couldn't really see anything but felt the damn stick hit me right in the palm as it bounced off. Pissed, I told my wife if that ever happened again, I wouldn't drop it. Well, about 2 min later, here comes Klaus again and throws another one. What are the chances that he was good enough to throw it that far and that accurately? Well, this time it hit me in the hand and I caught it. I'll have to dig those sticks out of wherever they're stashed...probably some box in the garage along with many negatives I shot of bands in the 70's and early 80's including a young Lita Ford with the Runaways and during her first solo tour.
Here's some Dictators for you to hear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q8Mb0cz258