Attacker Rushes Stage at Run the Jewels' SXSW Show
The Music portion of Austin’s South By Southwest festival doesn’t even officially launch until Tuesday (the same day that SXSW Interactive wraps), but already chaos has erupted at the annual entertainment festival’s early private shows.
The most bizarre incident took place Monday afternoon at the invitation-only Spotify House, during a packed set by Run the Jewels, the critically acclaimed hip-hop super-duo of El-P and Killer Mike. The pair had only played a couple songs when an attacker bumrushed the stage from the back and began swinging punches at the MCs, effectively stopping the show as Mike and El-P pinned the man to edge of stage and threw him down. (WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.)
It got nastier from there, as the stage-crasher attempted to get back up, and Run the Jewels’ security knocked him back to the ground. (WATCH THE AFTERMATH HERE.)
Mike was clearly furious, screaming expletives as the perpetrator was dragged from the premises. “Your mother should be ashamed you were born,” he spat, as he led the booing crowd in a chant of “F--- boi, f--- boi!” (SEE THE NSFW RANT HERE.)
The show went on as planned, with Run the Jewels not missing a beat. “This is our stage, and we don’t play… No f--- bois, no negative energy will ruin our day, because we are R T motherf---ing J!” Mike proclaimed.
They powered through an explosive set, despite the fact that Mike seemed injured. “You all say a prayer for my goddamn shoulder, so I don’t have to go home early,” he remarked at the end of the concert.
It’s no wonder that RTJ’s entrance music was Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” Their trooper attitude was on full display Monday.
Another band with a show-must-go-on philosophy was the Flaming Lips, who played Spredfast’s Sunday night SXSW Interactive party with opening act Future Islands. The Lips’ otherwise epic set was marred by a 20-minute delay when a fire alarm went off inside the Moody Theater, but when the band was finally able to resume, frontman Wayne Coyne had a great sense of humor about the whole incident.
"Was it too much marijuana smoke?" he asked, noting that the venue is dedicated to pot enthusiast Willie Nelson and located on Willie Nelson Blvd. "Willie and Miley are so high backstage, that’s what set the smoke detector off," he joked, referring to (unfounded) rumors that the Lips’ good pal and frequent collaborator, Miley Cyrus, would perform with the band. When Wayne wondered aloud who smokes stronger marijuana, Willie or Miley, the band’s multi-instrumentalist Steven Drozd answered, "Miley gets her pot from Willie.”
Well, at least Wayne’s famous habitrail-style audience bubble-roll went off without a hitch.
Another snafu, albeit a more amusing one, took place earlier in the night at the Spredfast showcase, when Future Islands singer Sam Herring, known for his crazy, undulating dance moves, ripped his skinny jeans right at the crotch — and kept right on dancing, without missing a beat. That’s rock ‘n’ roll for you. And it’s not even Tuesday yet.
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