Strange, somewhat mysterious Chicago artist Willis Earl Beal broke through with his XL debut Acousmatic Sorcery last month. Since then, he's been touring the world and winning over new fans all over the place. The shows haven't all gone smoothly, however, as evidenced by a recent performance in the Netherlands that ended in Beal getting arrested.
Pitchfork points to a story in RTV Utrecht reporting that Beal was arrested following his performance at the Le Guess Who? Festival on Saturday (May 26) in the Netherlands. The story reports that Beal allegedly kicked a homeless man in the face during the performance and was arrested immediately after.
While Beal's representatives have yet to respond, and it's unclear whether or not he's still in police custody, a video of the show has surfaced. While Beal left the show before performing his final song, he did say, "Because of a few bad apples, we all miss out on one more glorious, fantastic, lovely performance. I love you, and I even love the guy whose face I kicked in. I love him, too. He's a good guy! He's just drunk, a little."
An audience member screamed something out, to which Beal replied, "You come up here and say that to me, prick." The clip can be viewed below. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.
UPDATE: Beal has since been released from police custody and will continue his tour as planned.
Pitchfork points to a story in RTV Utrecht reporting that Beal was arrested following his performance at the Le Guess Who? Festival on Saturday (May 26) in the Netherlands. The story reports that Beal allegedly kicked a homeless man in the face during the performance and was arrested immediately after.
While Beal's representatives have yet to respond, and it's unclear whether or not he's still in police custody, a video of the show has surfaced. While Beal left the show before performing his final song, he did say, "Because of a few bad apples, we all miss out on one more glorious, fantastic, lovely performance. I love you, and I even love the guy whose face I kicked in. I love him, too. He's a good guy! He's just drunk, a little."
An audience member screamed something out, to which Beal replied, "You come up here and say that to me, prick." The clip can be viewed below. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.
UPDATE: Beal has since been released from police custody and will continue his tour as planned.