Watch out for that..!!

Twice have I now seen a band walk off halfway through a headlining set, if I don't include Axl Rose. The first time was a few years ago was when My Chemical Romance were caught up in a proverbial monsoon of plastic bottles, and the second was a few days ago.

The last two years my friend and I have attended Bloodstock Open Air, a cosy, well billed three-day metal festival in the heart of the UK. On the Saturday, following what could only be described as an undescribable set by Blind Guardian, Cradle of Filth were due to close out the night with 80 minutes of black-with-polka-dot metal. Cradle are a band I have never particularly minded, but bearing in mind Satyricon, Enslaved and Abgott also feautured on the weekend bill, any Cradle of Filth fans in the crowd were pretty much there to exclusively see Dani Filth, backed by his usual revolving door - which made what happened next all the more interesting. Roughly 35 minutes into the set, this happened:

"Cradle Of Filth were forced to cut their set short after guitarist Paul Allender was hit by an object thrown by a member of the audience, resulting in Paul being unable to finish the performance and requiring medical attention." - http://www.cradleoffilth.com/notes/Bloodstock_Statement

This wasn't immediately obvious to the crowd, much of whom assumed some unneccessary, but typical tantrum had occured over nothing, and they were just being a bunch of arseholes, but no, Paul Allender had genuinely been hurt and apparently taken to hospital having been struck quite brutally on the back with this foreign object. Like Cradle of Filth or not, it's a sad day when such events take place, and I think the remainder of their statement sums up how a lot of people felt. 

"Bloodstock are disappointed that one selfish ticket holder soured an amazing day and a stunning performance by the closing headliners, and hope that the rest of the fans in attendance will enjoy the rest of weekend with the camaraderie and unity that has made Bloodstock Open Air the great festival it is."

Until it emerged that what hit Allender was in fact, a gobstopper.

Now call me cruel, but it was then for the remaining festival and all 8 hours of the hungover drive home on the Monday that my friend and I proceeded to construct an entire mythology around incidents where Paul Allender might be struck by a gobstopper. Together we came up with material for a full sketch show based on an unlucky Paul Allender being hit by gobstoppers along with several other ideas such as The Paul Allender Annual Calender, featuring a writhingly arched pose for August. But as an amateur piss-taker, what really enraged me was the lack of irony to be drawn from such a combination of elements - throwing a gobstopper at Paul Allender is like throwing a toothbrush at Stevie Wonder, and didn't make nearly as much sense of perhaps a gobstopper being thrown at Dani Filth. Or even a dildo.

So as Paul Allender recieved treatment in a unknown local medical facility, we made the best of the situation, we got back to our tent earlier, began drinking and joking earlier and that was that. But then I think why such an event occured. Cradle of Filth have always been known to ruffle a few feathers on the way and their musical style certainly doesn't sit well with some (or most) metal fans. I'm pretty sure the band were not attacked for their offensive t-shirt designs and am in fact 99% sure a gobstopper was launched (purposely at Paul Allender or not) because some individual hates their musical style and theme and rather than retreating to the campsite for the evening, or polishing the night off with any selection of disgusting van-vended foods, decided to ruin the day for those Cradle of Filth fans, who god bless them, were looking forward to the set since they were announced many months ago. This is precisely what happened to My Chemical Romance the first time, and whilst no-one was really hurt and the festival bookers were taught a valuable life lesson; a lot of people cried themselves to sleep.

With that in mind, and ultimately drained of any other comical ideas surrounding Paul Allender being struck with a gobstopper I thought, "what if some meat-head metal fan who thinks singing about Lord of the Rings and fairytales isn't "kvlt" hung around to throw a gobstopper off André Olbrich of Blind Guardian" and I got mad as hell. I've missed more than half the set of one of my favourite bands in the world, who I have ever had the chance to see live until now, missed the fucking "Bard's Song", missed "Imaginations from the Other Side", one my favourite guitarists ever - who has never said a bad word about anyone - is lying in agony, the rest of the band are sitting about wondering why they fucking bother and I have to mope back to my smelly sleeping bag, pissed off, with an emptiness that can't be filled by a greasy burger or cock-like hot dog, MEANWHILE, some evil prick is sitting around making awful jokes that start with "André Olbrich walks into a candy shop, right?.."

So whilst my real point here may be one of morality, respect and etiquette I'd just like to make it clear that when the Progressive Nation Tour comes my way in October, and if you really exist karma... please... spare me.

-Ross Main

Posted Aug 18 2009, 05:29 AM by Dayeth

Comments

slaytanic1 wrote re: Watch out for that..!!
on Tue, Aug 18 2009 3:25 PM

This "gobstopper" was apparently just over the size and weight of a golf ball. It was thrown with some force and hit him in the lower middle back. It would have fucking hurt. If it had hit him in the temple it could well have finished him off. Think you should check through the facts a bit more before making light of the situation.

I wasn`t able to make Bloodstock this year but if I had I`d have been pissed about this as I like Cradle a great deal. I happen to like Blind Guardian and Enslaved a lot as well ( Satyricon have bored me for years )...I concur with your eventual comment that this sort of thing is bang out of order...if you don`t like a band fuck off and do something else instead of spoiling it for others. From reading the Bloodstock board it seems a lot of people have actually warmed to Cradle after this and their press release shows them in a very good light. Dani Filth`s 10 year old daughter was side stage as well as a disabled fan in a wheelchair...would you have been making jokes if one of these had been hit by the stuff being thrown at the band?

amadman6933 wrote re: Watch out for that..!!
on Wed, Aug 19 2009 10:45 AM

saw limp bizkit get booed off stage after 3 or 4 songs back in 03 on summer sanitarium with metallica. my buddy hit durst with a bottle of water. when durst says things like, "fuck all you," and, "mancow (local radio dj) can suck my dick," and putting that sentence of the big scream, retaliation is inevitable. such a fucking tool. and it was when borland had left the band. what a terrible performance. go wack off into ur red hat.

this shit is terrible tho. if someone is yelling profane things at you trying to enrage you, then it's warranted. but one of these big ass flying objects is borderline criminal, especially if he was crippled somehow from it. everyone needs to grow up a bit.

Dayeth wrote re: Watch out for that..!!
on Wed, Aug 19 2009 10:52 AM

Yes I've made light of the situation for comic value, perhaps even retaining information on the physical properties of the gobstopper (I saw them, they are most definitely bigger and heavier than a golf ball). The funny part was... that it was a gobstopper though.

I think a rant about how this sort of thing needs to stop and is unacceptable would be utterly obvious and a pointless waste of webspace, of course it should, so this whole piece is a self-criticizing reaction from two perspectives and is a little more insightful than "omg someone could have died, so don't throw stuff."

Maybe Dani Filth shouldn't come out with "If you’re going to throw drinks at us at least make sure they’re full,“ if his 10 year old daughter is standing stage side, because it obviously got translated into "if you're going to throw stuff at us, make sure it's a large piece of dense candy".

Cradle of Filth walked away with probably more respect than they would have somehow, I don't believe the injury has caused permanent damage and the disabled fan (and other human beings that were not mentioned) hanging around lived to tell the tale. Could have been worse, but wasn't.

lee wrote re: Watch out for that..!!
on Fri, Aug 21 2009 11:56 PM

I saw Isis freak out and leave the stage when their amp blew twice and they were getting heckled.

You have to admit "gobstopper" makes the whole thing slightly funny.

jacksonlefteye wrote re: Watch out for that..!!
on Sat, Aug 22 2009 11:24 AM

over here in the states, "gobstoppers" are actually a brand-name candy with very small ball-bearing sized candies...this is what was funny to me until you explained the UK gobstopper

the one you described in your comment is called a jawbreaker over here, those extremely dense, hard candies almost the size of a tennisball that ive never even see anyone attempt to eat...why?  because they're too big for your mouth and you'd have to lick it like a mental patient for months to get it down to bite size; if someone hit you directly in the spine with one of those...you'd be having some troubles too

i'm not a big fan of cradle myself, in fact they're a metal sideshow and i wouldn't mind if they quit altogether, but i don't see the point in trying to injure one of their members while on stage, that's just fucking stupid

funeralthirst7 wrote re: Watch out for that..!!
on Sat, Aug 22 2009 9:30 PM

it's pretty damn selfish of that fan to do something like that.although if it was thrown at a band like brokencyde i might be willing to forget about it

Rev wrote re: Watch out for that..!!
on Sun, Aug 23 2009 7:07 AM

Sure, it'd probably hurt to get drilled with one of those things, but I highly doubt the jackass in the audience put Randy Johnson-esque velocity behind the thing.

I've been hit in the face with a 2 x 6, dropped a marble vanity top on my foot, and been hit in the chest by a pallet that had somehow been turned into a projectile...and continued to do my job. If a then-22 year old kid can push through that type of pain to earn 12 bucks an hour, a professional guitarist should be able to handle getting hit in the kidney with a piece of candy. Especially if thousands of people were depending on the performance and paid good money to see it.