A Danzig performance in Austin, TX this weekend drew a whole lot of negativity after the iconic artist's set was cut short following his delay to the stage. Back in the summer Glenn Danzig announced a handful of "legacy" concerts that would tackle all parts of the singer's career, from the Misfits to Samhain to his solo work, but fans didn't get the chance to hear all that much at Fun Fun Fun Fest last Friday night (November 4).
The musician showed up onstage around 9 p.m., 45 minutes after his scheduled 8:15 slot, and was apparently up in arms when he was told that he and his crew needed to keep to the event's 10 p.m. curfew. Needless to say, Danzig didn't take kindly to the suggestion.
As you can see in the live video below, he told the crowd, "We want to do a lot more songs for you but they're telling us that they're gonna shut our power off in five minutes. But don't blame me! We're here to play motherfucker. We came halfway across the country to play for you guys ... Whoever's in charge, whoever the fuck you are, why don't you come out here and tell all these people that you want us off in five minutes?"
He continued, "I guess they've never heard of a thing called a riot before."
Despite egging the crowd on, Brooklyn Vegan reports that not much more than a few bottles were thrown after the lights were turned on.
But while Danzig played up the victim card, letting his fans know that promoters were to blame for the affair, a Fun Fun Fun Fest organizer Graham Williams released a statement explaining the metal lord was less than cooperative and threatened to cancel the gig all day.
"Those that are hating could NOT be more wrong," Williams wrote. "Yes, someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn. Stop by his house in L.A. with some kitty litter in trade for your refund, but we still had to pay him and he didn't deserve it after what he pulled."
The promoter goes on to list a number of Danzig's gripes, from a head cold to un-ideal weather conditions. Of the former, Williams said they tried to make Danzig feel as welcome and comfortable as possible, but he acted contrarian to every solution offered.
Williams wrote, "He says he doesn't feel like playing. says 'i got a deathbug. if i go on stage and get sick, i'll die. i'm not getting sicker for this show' (NOTE: he totally looks and seems fine... no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what i can tell). we get the Dr and he says he can do a b12 shot or anything he needs if he feels bad .. danzig says he only treats illnesses naturally, so won't do that."
Williams caps the note by saying Danzig pulled the ultimate con job, and feels bad that fans fell for it.
"They went on almost and hour late due to the HANDS DOWN biggest rock star moment we've ever dealt with and then he tries to start a riot and blames the fest, the city, the cops and everyone, but himself. goes backstage and tries to fight a few ppl and get in the van and leaves. the end... we're bummed to. we wanted to hear Skulls."
You can read the full unedited note below:
Hi. I book the fest. Those that are hating could NOT be more wrong. Yes, someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn. Stop by his house in LA with some kitty litter in trade for your refund, but we still had to pay him and he didn't deserve it after what he pulled. Here is how it went down... check the timeline:
-glenn flies in this morning and says he has a cold and doesn't want feel like playing the show. he demands french onion soup and vitamins brought to his hotel suite. he wants to soup now and wants it hot. we get it.
-glenn says it's freezing in austin and he can't go on. says it's going to be 28 degrees tonight and he won't perform (keep in mind, it's currently 71 and sunny with a night forecast of maybe 50+). he says we have to move the show/festival inside if we want him to play (obviously, that's not possible).
-we rent stage heaters (no other bands, public enemy, mcd, passion pit, etc need or want heaters on stage... it's warm up there and not cold out) for glenn per demand, as well as bring in an onsite doctor to make him happy and be there if his cold doesn't go away.
-agents and managers assure us he's going to play now.
-glenn's band/crew arrive before him in the afternoon and load gear. they said it all works, they get up the danzig banner, check lights, are happy.
-glenn arrives at 7:45 (half hour before showtime, they go on at 8:15 exactly and have a 90 min set... park curfew by the city/police is 10pm sharp)…when he arrives, he says he's not going to play. says he doesn't like how the banners are hung on stage and doesn't like the lighting or stage size (all this was advanced in email and phone well in advance and the band/crew loaded in mid day and were happy with it and said it would work... stage wasn't small at all). he wouldn't leave his trailer to go look at the stage, though, so the lighting company drew up specs for him to look at of the stage lighting 50 feet from his trailer and brought it to him to look over and prove him wrong.
-in the meantime, glenn's bodyguard gets pushy (literally) with murder city devils manager and tells them they can't have their friends watch MCD from stage and wants them to cut their set. kicks them off stage and gets physical with the band and stafff….oh, also danzig says he's just as big as slayer and slayer is playing a bigger stage on sunday and that's bullshit and wants to play the same stage slayer is playing…or won't play. makes him look bad.
-it's now 8:15 and time for them to go on. the band is ready, corpse make ups done, guitars tunes. glenn says he's not playing and that it's too cold outside. he said big stages should have windscreen so wind can't blow on him from the side. the stage managers then goes and gets tarps and tarp the entire side of the stage so now wind will hit him.
-it's now 8:40. we explain that it's cutting into the set and he's going to have cut the 90 min set if he doesn't play soon, as park curfew is 10. he says he doesn't feel like playing. says "i got a deathbug. if i go on stage and get sick, i'll die. i'm not getting sicker for this show" (NOTE: he totally looks and seems fine…no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what i can tell). we get the Dr and he says he can do a b12 shot or anything he needs if he feels bad…danzig says he only treats illnesses naturally, so won't do that. we finally get him to agree to play and have already informed his crew that it's only 60 mins (9pm at this point) and they start cutting some songs from the set list, so they can still do misfits, but obviously didn't cut enough. -they went on almost and hour late due to the HANDS DOWN biggest rock star moment we've ever dealt with and then he tries to start a riot and blames the fest, the city, the cops and everyone, but himself. goes backstage and tries to fight a few ppl and get in the van and leaves.
the end...
we're bummed to. we wanted to hear Skulls."
The musician showed up onstage around 9 p.m., 45 minutes after his scheduled 8:15 slot, and was apparently up in arms when he was told that he and his crew needed to keep to the event's 10 p.m. curfew. Needless to say, Danzig didn't take kindly to the suggestion.
As you can see in the live video below, he told the crowd, "We want to do a lot more songs for you but they're telling us that they're gonna shut our power off in five minutes. But don't blame me! We're here to play motherfucker. We came halfway across the country to play for you guys ... Whoever's in charge, whoever the fuck you are, why don't you come out here and tell all these people that you want us off in five minutes?"
He continued, "I guess they've never heard of a thing called a riot before."
Despite egging the crowd on, Brooklyn Vegan reports that not much more than a few bottles were thrown after the lights were turned on.
But while Danzig played up the victim card, letting his fans know that promoters were to blame for the affair, a Fun Fun Fun Fest organizer Graham Williams released a statement explaining the metal lord was less than cooperative and threatened to cancel the gig all day.
"Those that are hating could NOT be more wrong," Williams wrote. "Yes, someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn. Stop by his house in L.A. with some kitty litter in trade for your refund, but we still had to pay him and he didn't deserve it after what he pulled."
The promoter goes on to list a number of Danzig's gripes, from a head cold to un-ideal weather conditions. Of the former, Williams said they tried to make Danzig feel as welcome and comfortable as possible, but he acted contrarian to every solution offered.
Williams wrote, "He says he doesn't feel like playing. says 'i got a deathbug. if i go on stage and get sick, i'll die. i'm not getting sicker for this show' (NOTE: he totally looks and seems fine... no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what i can tell). we get the Dr and he says he can do a b12 shot or anything he needs if he feels bad .. danzig says he only treats illnesses naturally, so won't do that."
Williams caps the note by saying Danzig pulled the ultimate con job, and feels bad that fans fell for it.
"They went on almost and hour late due to the HANDS DOWN biggest rock star moment we've ever dealt with and then he tries to start a riot and blames the fest, the city, the cops and everyone, but himself. goes backstage and tries to fight a few ppl and get in the van and leaves. the end... we're bummed to. we wanted to hear Skulls."
You can read the full unedited note below:
Hi. I book the fest. Those that are hating could NOT be more wrong. Yes, someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn. Stop by his house in LA with some kitty litter in trade for your refund, but we still had to pay him and he didn't deserve it after what he pulled. Here is how it went down... check the timeline:
-glenn flies in this morning and says he has a cold and doesn't want feel like playing the show. he demands french onion soup and vitamins brought to his hotel suite. he wants to soup now and wants it hot. we get it.
-glenn says it's freezing in austin and he can't go on. says it's going to be 28 degrees tonight and he won't perform (keep in mind, it's currently 71 and sunny with a night forecast of maybe 50+). he says we have to move the show/festival inside if we want him to play (obviously, that's not possible).
-we rent stage heaters (no other bands, public enemy, mcd, passion pit, etc need or want heaters on stage... it's warm up there and not cold out) for glenn per demand, as well as bring in an onsite doctor to make him happy and be there if his cold doesn't go away.
-agents and managers assure us he's going to play now.
-glenn's band/crew arrive before him in the afternoon and load gear. they said it all works, they get up the danzig banner, check lights, are happy.
-glenn arrives at 7:45 (half hour before showtime, they go on at 8:15 exactly and have a 90 min set... park curfew by the city/police is 10pm sharp)…when he arrives, he says he's not going to play. says he doesn't like how the banners are hung on stage and doesn't like the lighting or stage size (all this was advanced in email and phone well in advance and the band/crew loaded in mid day and were happy with it and said it would work... stage wasn't small at all). he wouldn't leave his trailer to go look at the stage, though, so the lighting company drew up specs for him to look at of the stage lighting 50 feet from his trailer and brought it to him to look over and prove him wrong.
-in the meantime, glenn's bodyguard gets pushy (literally) with murder city devils manager and tells them they can't have their friends watch MCD from stage and wants them to cut their set. kicks them off stage and gets physical with the band and stafff….oh, also danzig says he's just as big as slayer and slayer is playing a bigger stage on sunday and that's bullshit and wants to play the same stage slayer is playing…or won't play. makes him look bad.
-it's now 8:15 and time for them to go on. the band is ready, corpse make ups done, guitars tunes. glenn says he's not playing and that it's too cold outside. he said big stages should have windscreen so wind can't blow on him from the side. the stage managers then goes and gets tarps and tarp the entire side of the stage so now wind will hit him.
-it's now 8:40. we explain that it's cutting into the set and he's going to have cut the 90 min set if he doesn't play soon, as park curfew is 10. he says he doesn't feel like playing. says "i got a deathbug. if i go on stage and get sick, i'll die. i'm not getting sicker for this show" (NOTE: he totally looks and seems fine…no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what i can tell). we get the Dr and he says he can do a b12 shot or anything he needs if he feels bad…danzig says he only treats illnesses naturally, so won't do that. we finally get him to agree to play and have already informed his crew that it's only 60 mins (9pm at this point) and they start cutting some songs from the set list, so they can still do misfits, but obviously didn't cut enough. -they went on almost and hour late due to the HANDS DOWN biggest rock star moment we've ever dealt with and then he tries to start a riot and blames the fest, the city, the cops and everyone, but himself. goes backstage and tries to fight a few ppl and get in the van and leaves.
the end...
we're bummed to. we wanted to hear Skulls."
