DEFTONES FANS RIOT: “ANYTHING GOES! IT’S THUNDERDOME!!”
There’s a powerfully bittersweet scene in the Iron Maiden documentary Flight 666 in which a Costa Rican metalhead spends a few post-entry/pre-show moments lamenting the misfortune of Third World metalheads. He states:
When I was like 14 or 15, I heard Iron Maiden for the first time. [I thought,] ‘Oh, this is amazing! I-ron Maiden! Can you just imagine to see them live? Oh, [what a] shame — we live in the ass of the world.’ … [So, today’s concert] is once in a lifetime! I have a friend who quit his job to be here today!
Though the show is hours away, the guy’s voice cracks with emotion and his gestures signify rising euphoria. He’s happy for himself and and those like him who waited most of their lives for the chance to see Maiden pound “the ass of the world” later that night. Intense, right? Now, swap out Maiden for the Deftones, Costa Rica for Thailand, and a full-tilt ass-pounding for a 90-minute delay followed by an outright cancellation. Yeah, then swap out euphoria for angry rioting:
Angry concert-goers hurled chairs and broke windows Tuesday night after the Deftones called off their show at Bangkok’s Thunderdome claiming the arena’s electrical power was unsafe. Organizers announced at around 9.30pm that the 8 pm show was cancelled, prompting an angry outburst by some fans who were waiting outside.
A few hundred fans ‘started throwing bottles at the stadium building, breaking windows and vandalising tents and beer booths outside the venue. Some of the tents were set on fire,’ said police. Nobody was injured or detained.
Hmm. I risk sounding like a jackass here, but maybe the term riot is not appropriate for this. Cuz when I think of a riot, I see blood, fire, and beatings, like Detroit ’67 or Watts ’65, not a few hundred dingleberries launching folding chairs into a pile and toppling disposable beer tents (video here). My junior high school was scarier than this. You’d think a place called the Thunderdome could host a decent fracas.
-ADF
The Deftones’ tour continues tomorrow in Honolulu. Dates here.
