Editing Keith Emerson (section)

====Theatrics====
[[File:Keith Emerson (1980s).jpg|thumb|upright|Emerson in the mid-1990s]]

In addition to his technical skills at playing and composing, Emerson was a theatrical performer.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/arts/music/keith-emerson-70s-rock-showman-with-a-taste-for-spectacle-dies-at-71.html |title=Keith Emerson, '70s Rock Showman With a Taste for Spectacle, Dies at 71 |first=Ben |last=Ratliff |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=B7 |date=11 March 2016}}</ref> He cited guitarist [[Jimi Hendrix]] and organist [[Don Shinn (musician)|Don Shinn]] as his chief theatrical influences. While in ELP, Emerson continued to some degree the physical abuse of his Hammond organ that he had developed with The Nice, including playing the organ upside down while having it lie over him and using knives to wedge down specific keys and sustain notes during solos. He also engaged in knife throwing using a target fastened in front of his Leslie speakers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Macan |first=Edward |date=2006 |title=Endless Enigma: A Musical Biography of Emerson, Lake and Palmer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXoIAQAAMAAJ |location=[[Chicago]] |publisher=[[Open Court Publishing Company]] |pages=24–26 |isbn=978-0-8126-9596-0}}</ref> He was given his trademark knife, an authentic Nazi dagger, by [[Lemmy Kilmister]], who was a roadie for The Nice in his earlier days.<ref name="Cider">{{cite book| first= Stuart| last= Maconie| year= 2004| title= Cider With Roadies| edition= 1st| publisher= [[Random House]]| location= [[London]]| isbn= 0-09-189115-9| page= 53}}</ref>

Emerson toned down his theatrics with the organ when ELP used more stage props for their shows. While touring ''Brain Salad Surgery'' from 1973 to 1974, at the end of the show, a sequencer in Emerson's Moog Modular synthesiser was set running at an increasing rate, with the synthesiser pivoting to face the audience while emitting smoke and deploying a large pair of silver bat wings from its back.<ref>Macan, ''Endless Enigma'', p. 332.</ref> The same tour featured one of Emerson's memorable live show stunts with ELP, which involved playing a piano suspended as high as 20 feet in mid-air and then rotated end-over-end with Emerson sitting at it. This was purely for visual effect, as the piano was fake and had no works inside, leaving Emerson to mime playing.<ref name=greglakepiano>{{cite web |url=http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/05/18/keith-actually-hurt-himself-doing-it-inside-emerson-lake-and-palmers-amazing-rotating-piano-stunt/ |title=Inside Emerson Lake and Palmer's Amazing Rotating Piano Stunt: 'Keith Actually Hurt Himself Doing It' |author=Something Else! |date=18 May 2013 |website=somethingelsereviews.com |publisher=Something Else! |access-date=13 March 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815185726/http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/05/18/keith-actually-hurt-himself-doing-it-inside-emerson-lake-and-palmers-amazing-rotating-piano-stunt/ |archive-date=15 August 2014 }}</ref> Emerson was introduced to Bob McCarthy, former circus employee on Long Island, New York who demonstrated the stunt piano for him at his home. It was used for shows at [[Madison Square Garden]] in December 1973 and the [[California Jam]] in April 1974, which was filmed. Emerson said: "After that every TV show I did came the question&nbsp;... Keith, how do you spin around on that piano? I'd say what about my music?{{'"}}<ref name=shasho>{{cite web |url=http://www.classicrockmusicwriter.com/2014/09/keith-emerson-interview-master-of.html |title=Keith Emerson Interview: 'Master of the Keyboards & Moog Synthesizer' – New 'Live CD' with Greg Lake |last1=Shasho |first1=Ray |date=26 September 2014 |website=classicrockmusicwriter.com |publisher=The Classic Rock Music Reporter (Ray Shasho) |access-date=12 March 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203015734/http://www.classicrockmusicwriter.com/2014/09/keith-emerson-interview-master-of.html |archive-date=3 December 2015 }}</ref> The stunt caused Emerson to suffer multiple finger injuries and a broken nose.<ref name=greglakepiano /> He wished to use it at the band's reunion concert in 2010, but was forbidden by the [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|local authority]] who said that the plans did not meet health and safety standards.<ref name=shasho />