Last night's show in Toronto got completely fucked up. The Silver Dollar holds 190 people but Craig Laskey the promoter let 350 people in there. That's cool if there's some sort of security or crowd control - we don't need people getting so wild they jump on stage and smash our gear - but that's exactly what happened. Right when we started playing someone pushed the monitors right on top of Stephen and on to his pedals - breaking them, people were throwing beer bottles at us, a someone jumped onstage and smashed my pedals, another guy took a full pitcher of beer and dumped it all over the rest of my pedals, and then threw it right at my Flying V, breaking the pickup and the input electronics. After three songs all our gear was smashed and unusable. Even when shit gets that crazy at Circle Jerks show there's at least some security but when I asked Craig Laskey about it before the show he told me "I thought you guys were a garage band." When we couldn't play anymore I hung out and talked to people, refunded people's money out of my own pocket, and tried to borrow gear and finish the set a bit later but Dan Burke wouldn't get off the stage, too busy talking trash about me.
I'm getting really sick of shit like this happening. We'll come back in Toronto soon and do a free show to make it up to the real fans in Toronto. And we'll steer away from greedy promoters who don't have any control of their shows and who don't care about doing right by the audience.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Dear Toronto,
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63 comments:
Not your fault Jay. The venue was definitely overcrowded. Hope to see you back to Toronto soon! Much love
Yeah, totally not your fault. On top of all the beer spillage and gear smashing, I was amazed at how long you went on with that mic constantly being knocked around. I know it's punk rock, but fuck, you'd think people would keep some distance so they could hear you sing.
And Dan Burke's a fuckin' wanker. I doubt anyone was listening...
Can't wait to see you guys come back and play a better venue.
Very true... a shame that it got out of control the way it did, and a shame your stuff was messed up that bad. I was sooo anxious to see you play again, so was a huge bummer to see it unfold how it did.
Can't wait for you to come back, and yeah, the real Jay fans need to appreciate what you're doing.
you are a sellout pansy
i like sellouts
Hey man, it was completely out of control and I'm glad you bailed when you did - there was a lot of broken glass on the ground, and people could have ended up pretty cut up.
Hope you can get your gear fixed, hope to see you back here soon.
All this without even mentioning some jackass running on stage and pulling the plug on your guitar... that's really shitty that it ended that way. It seemed inevitable, though with the way things were arranged there.
that fucking sucks. i guess kicking a kid in the face wouldn't have done much good.
THERE IS A VIDEO OF IT UP ON YOUTUBE.COM JUST TO LET YOU KNOW. IT'S LABELLED SOMETHING LIKE "JAY REATARD FREAKS OUT"
Dan Burke is the Flavour Flav of garage rock.
Sorry, U.S spelling Flavor Flav!
that's terrible but obviously not the band's fault - glad you guys weren't hurt. looking forward to shooting your ny shows next week!
I wish I would have been there. I don't even know you or even heard your music but had a wild dream about you the night before. This would have sealed the deal for me!
i hear you're a dick in real life
To Anonymous @1:22 PM,
I see you're a pussy on the internet.
I saw you guys in Ottawa two nights ago and it seems something messed up there as well.. too bad you had a string of bad nights but the set rocked anyway. Forget these guys, and don't forget, Canada sucks, no matter what anyone says. I live here. It sucks.
yeah man, there was nothing you guys could have done. obviously there were alot of people there who didn't give a shit about hearing any music. by the third chord my own beer was all over my face. and if dan burke was that drunk toothless old bastard then fuck him. sorry about your guitar and pedals man, thats really not cool.
hope to see you back soon with a better crowd.
Unfortunate about the lack of security. What's even more unfortunate is your lack of professionalism. Seems to be a re-occurring theme with you. Such a disgrace to music and the industry. You should have been charged with assault there's no doubt. Even better, I'll make sure I'm at one of your next shows and we'll see who falls flat on their ass. Get ready Retard, it's on!
save some money and buy 5 of these instead of assholes fucking up all of your good guitars!
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ELECTRIC-V-GUITAR-VINTAGE-WHITE-CUSTOM-SALE_W0QQitemZ160230627736QQihZ006QQcategoryZ2384QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262
then smash away on hippies!!
Yeah, too bad about your gear, man. I also ended up with my own beer on my face within about 20 seconds. I also took a bottle to the jaw. Sh*t was just outta control. Dan was not cool about the whole thing. He tried to cover his a$$ but seemed too wasted to do it properly. Good luck with the rest of the tour guys! The three tracks you guys played kicked ass. Thanks. Looking forward to your return.
yeah...
Dan Burke's a crackhead.
it's funny calling someone a crackhead when they're really not... but then there's dan burke
it's funny calling someone a crackhead when they're really not... but then there's dan burke
That was awesome when you punched that dude in the fucking face jay!
Dude...you didn't talk about that in your blog...Jay Reatard is a fucking animal...it was awesome!
the video doesn't even tell the whole story. if i'm not mistaken the same lil shit jumped up on stage earlier in the song too and knocked some cables out of jay's pedals. too bad there wasn't a punch in the face for every shit disturbing asshole in the room.
what were soccer hooligans doing at a rock show anyways. i didn't know my city possessed such degenerates! now because of these couple tossers i gotta go to Montreal to see the rest of the show. weak.
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude lemme build a pedal or two for ya! It'll be worth it! ;D
I'll shoot ya my email if you're interested.
heres the video i found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zOA8i9UnEQ
thats pretty fucked up of that little douche if you ask me. silly canadians! come back to seattle where we only fuck ourselves up! not the bands!
say what you will about the whole affair, Dan Burke's line about the "alamo of clubs" is fucking priceless.
Jay, last night you did the right thing. the silver dollar is fucked! Dan Burke made things unsafe for everyone, not just you guys. he has no credibility as a promoter. when demons claws played here a bunch of months back, at the tiger bar, they thanked the venue that he didn't show up. he's a scumbag.
as professionals you shouldn't have to deal with shit like that and i hope you come back and book a show with solid promoters who treat you guys and all your fans to the great show we were all expecting.
we love your music.
we need your music.
come back to toronto and we'll do this thing proper.
JAY REATARD FOREVER!
total. pussy.
You're not good enough to be an asshole like this. You're barely a blip on the radar. Five years from now we'll by like "Reatard who???". Just the way it goes chum.
i dont understand why people keep calling this a pussy move, their gear was fucked up because of idiot people who dont know how to control themselves - why would they play on?
Check out the youtube videos of it, im surprised they even made it through 3 songs.
I saw the show last night in Montreal and it was fucking amazing, too bad some jerks had to ruin it for the Toronto fans.
no one attacked jay. there were too many people. maybe the dude got thrown on stage, maybe he was trying to escape crazy fans, who knows. the only violence that took place was from jay directly. i didnt notice any retaliation. the guy jay hit was trying to push people back from the front. circumstances.
DAN BURKE WASN'T THE PROMOTER FOR THIS SHOW... talk all the shit you want about him, but this wasn't his show it was put on by ATG Concerts / Craig Laskey.
He still got up on stage and made an ass of himself...
the show was unfortunate and some of the crowd's actions were out of line (too busy?), but i dont think that excuses jay's actions of striking the closest person to him. the guy jay punched didn't cause shit or break anything. i was right there. he was enjoying the show, and trying to escape rowdy drunkards. i saw that guy and jay and the band talking to hime afterwards and it looked like they were giving him free shit. guilty consciences?
Last time you played here in Oct 2007, at Silver Dollar & Adrift, it was an amazing time. So sorry this time everything went to shit. There are a lot of real fans who would hate it if this was taken as a reflection on Toronto as a whole. Come back soon. Just don't let Laskey/Burke or anyone at the Dollar try to book you.
I don't know if the club was in fact overcrowded or not (didn't seem like 350), or if the show would have been any more memorable had Jay actually finished the set, all I know is you had to literally wait twenty minutes to be served a fucking beer-that sucked worse than the six foot tall assholes shuving into me making those beers I just waited twenty minutes for spill to the ground.
Question-if all the equipement was smashed up too bad to play (as Jay said) why were the remaining members of the band still up on stage after you stormed off? looked like they had as much clue as to what had just happened as the rest of the audience did. Shit happens, people have their breaking point-I await your return to Toronto.
man this is ridiculous i mean if someone broke my gear i would just politely ask them to pay for it
by the looks of that kid he probably got punched in the face a couple of times in his life
stop whining
i mean if i paid a cover to see a 3 song set by reatard it be well worth it
this guy writes some of the greatest songs. i mean take this blog most of these songs are throwaways you gotta be joking there pure brilliance
imagine if message boards were around when gg were alive
when did punk become ridden with whining little fags
Sorry assholes broke your shit, Jay.
That's never cool.
I watched the youtube videos and think you handled it well. Sooooo fucking badass.
the Montreal show was badass. hopefully Toronto works out again sometime... cheers!
is that song w/ the chorus always wanting more always wanting more such a useless bore always wanting more.......on the new 7"
cpc gangbangs were rad. jay is lame. i bet this happens all the time to him because he's begging for it.
^if Jay is so lame why are you on his blog asshole?
ooooo good logic... probably to express his views. I got no beef with jay, but let people say what they want.
JAY RULES.
Idiots don't.
See you in Fort Wayne (hint).
I love Jay Reatard and I love his songs. That being said... his recount of the night is plainly exaggerated to anyone who was there and not trying to fill their mouths up with his cock. I was directly beside the stage and watched the entire drama unfold in front of my eyes.
Sure there were beers flying and people on stage but I have a hard time swallowing the gear was "smashed and unusable" after four songs. I also didn't see one beer bottle thrown on stage - just an empty pitcher and one water bottle. Hell, the guitarist from CPC Gangbangs STABBED his guitar with an empty beer bottle and proceeded to blow everyone's mind for the last two songs.
Sorry Jay! Your "apology" is full of hyperbole and misdirection. The place should never have been as full as it was (Craig Laskey has always been a squirrly lying motherfucker - he still owes me $150) but don't make shit up or make shit sound worse than it was to cover the fact that you just weren't in the mood to deal with it.
You could have easily given the crowd a chance to back off and pull itself together. I know Toronto crowds well enough, they certainly would have complied (we like being told what to do). Punching dudes in the face and walking off after 4 songs was totally irrational, in my opinion.
Nevertheless, I don't want my money back. The night of dramatics was well worth my $11.
Can't wait to see you perform a FULL SET, Jay. Hopefully next time you'll be able to deal with your fans in a way that DOESN'T make you look like an asshole.
And by "beers flying", I meant the collection of spilled beers and pitchers by the goofs above who thought they could drink a pint in the front lines of a punk concert without spilling a drop on themselves.
Wow, this whole thread just proves what everyone else in the world knows all too well. Toronto as a city rules but it's too bad it's full of SHITTY people. This happens at every show IE Brutal Knights Hits & Misses Xmas party at Sneaks or ANY Career Suicide show...
Honestly, what did you expect him to do? Could've handled it better? By doing what exactly? Yeah, 'cause "garage rock" apparently means you're allowed to get treated like shit.
A blip on the screen? Who do you think he is, Panic At The Disco? You're an idiot. This fucking thread is full of idiots.
just come back to Toronto soon please!
"man this is ridiculous i mean if someone broke my gear i would just politely ask them to pay for it
by the looks of that kid he probably got punched in the face a couple of times in his life
stop whining
i mean if i paid a cover to see a 3 song set by reatard it be well worth it
this guy writes some of the greatest songs. i mean take this blog most of these songs are throwaways you gotta be joking there pure brilliance
imagine if message boards were around when gg were alive
when did punk become ridden with whining little fags"
you can't even spell and refer to people that frustrate your views as fags. can you even define brilliant?
you dork, its punk rock. if you are gonna play music like that, expect mayhem. so what if your shit got fucked up. well guess what, so did that guys face.
A truly unfortunate series of events. Better luck on the rest of your tour.
Video of the shenanigans: http://bridgingtheatlantic.blogspot.com/2008/04/jay-reafund-punches-kid-dan-burke.html
you know, it has to be said, that craig laskey, is one of the best promoters in the world, and he lives and books some of the best bands and live music shows in toronto. yours happens to be the exception to the rule. youtube also tells a different story to the silver dollar night, and about your band. nice kick in the face to the kid who jumped on stage in vegas, when he did nothing aggressive beyond hopping on stage to probably want to dive off again. same with the kid you punched in the face in toronto. craig took control of the situation - that evidence is also on youtube - as the promoter he made sure you got paid, even after bailing on your own show, and he was the one who made sure that the crowd got their money back. and they should have got their money back - and out of your pocket dude - you didn't finish the show! if you look at photos of the night, it's hardly the motley crew you claim is there:
http://www.formertransformer.com/gallery/1439/
your post blaming the promoter(s) is absolutely super lame, and so is your band. maybe that's why people threw shit at you. you get what you give.
actually the kid jay punched was waiting for the show to go on. i really dont think he even cared. jay's no amateur boxer.
Here's my two cents. Jay Reatard has been playing "punk" forever [like 10 years]. He's made good music in good bands. Now, a record got reviewed by Pitchfork, and all these hipster nerds that don't know how to party show up. They don't really like music. Jay gets mad and punches them. Awesome.
Jay,
Are you going to do a free show in Tempe Arizona too? We missed you here. I've seen you in the past and was excited to see you again, but when I heard you weren't playing, I didn't even care to see the black keys.
You're great. Your songwriting is awesome, your performances are insane and fuck all these people saying shit. I would be pissed if my equipment got all fucked up too.
So, come back to Tempe. A Jay Reatard / Wong's show would be better than a Black Keys show anyway.
maybe all the hipster nerds just wanted to see cpc's, cause they're fuckin rad!Pink Noise were rad too.
jay, this is for you:
http://www.formertransformer.com/photos/12313.jpg
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