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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Music

SXSW 2011 mishaps: DFA1979 riot, OMD fans injured, and Screeching Weasel members quit after frontman punches a woman in the face (with video)

Posted by Joel Weiss on Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 7:14 AM

Every year, South By Southwest coverage seems to include stories of concert-goers turned away by tiny venues and the occasional ensuing police intervention. Here are several noteworthy incidents from the recently wrapped SXSW  ’11 edition, which includes Screeching Weasel frontman Ben Weasel punching a woman in the face.

click to enlarge dfa1979 cover
reports that overcrowding outside the not-so-secret reunion show for Toronto duo Death From Above 1979 led to gate-crashing and a riot. Cops and security restored order and the band eventually finished their set, but only after...

mounted police arrived and, in a show of force, rode straight through the crowd using mace and tasers to divide them and, in the case of one blonde female officer, hand-beating a particularly aggressive rioter.

Video of the cops' arrival, Ben Weasel's poor decision-making, and details of the OMD mishap after the jump.

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>>>As a concertgoer, one of my most irrational, paranoid fears is heavy equipment falling on the audience. This happened just prior to rejuvenated New Wave act OMD's Friday night set. A camera boom fell on the crowd, injuring four. Billboard reports:

"I think we need some help up here," OMD lead singer Andy McCluskey said before taking the stage, Bright Antenna label rep Scott Shumaker, who witnessed the incident, told Billboard. The camera boom, which had been sweeping above the heads of the crowd during the previous acts, collapsed into the audience before the first note was played...

The band delayed its set until the situation stabilized. "OMD is a class act," @Twitroyd wrote. "They were about to start when this happened and decided to leave the stage till it's all okay."

"'Shall we play or wait for the lawsuit?' OMD joked before realizing it was serious," Jason Cohen tweeted. "Medics on scene, crowd being cleared"

[image-2]>>>Screeching Weasel's SXSW ended with frontman Ben Weasel punching a woman in the face. Between bad audio and the far-away vantage point, it's tough to tell from the longer video posted on punknews.org which came first — her ice-cube-throwing or his misogyny. Either way, Ben Weasel spent the weekend in full-on mea culpa mode.

I want to apologize to both the club owner and audience member involved for my actions during our show at SXSW on Friday night. While their actions were outside of my control, my regretful reaction is wholly my responsibility. Whatever my feelings are about fans crossing the line like that, I wish I could have that moment back and deal with it in the same spirit as I did the preceding 60 minutes. Since I can't, an apology is all I've got and I sincerely hope those people will accept it. Up front, I wish to say that I am sorry to the fan and any others who were involved. As a husband, father, and a musician on the public stage, I understand that it is my duty to always take responsibility for my actions in a socially acceptable way, and most especially in the face of confrontation.

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Death From Above 1979, "Little Girl," 2004

Follow Joel on Twitter @lifeindeadtime

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