Musicians are no strangers to hostile crowd members, and Melbourne rapper Illy is just the latest to experience bad behaviour after he was forced to cut his set short after being bottled at a gig in regional Victoria.
Illy had been performing at the Kay Street Entertainment Complex in Traralgon, Victoria, over the weekend. According to FasterLouder, Only five songs into his show, a glass narrowly missed his eye after being thrown at him from the crowd.
Illy immediately cancelled the remainder of his set to ensure the safety of both himself and his crew members, leaving hundreds of fans disappointed but rallying behind the rapper.
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“I owe basic respect to myself, and to the people I share a stage with. They’re fam. There has to be a zero tolerance for that shit,” wrote Illy on Facebook following the incident.
“If me or my crew get hurt and have to cancel shows, there’s a group of people I’m responsible for who are directly effected. It’s bigger than just me. We’re on stage to smash, but not at the expense of personal safety. If that hit me square in the eye and broke, who knows? It wasn’t far off.”
“The venue has said that it was plastic,” he added on the comment thread. “The cut and black eye suggest it was either glass, or the heaviest plastic cup I’ve ever seen. A few comments in this thread are saying they had broken glass around them, so I’m not sure. ”
The Traralgon date was the last stop of a Victorian regional tour that also took in Bendigo, Ballarat, Warrnambool, and Barwon Heads; a regional touring circuit that is no stranger to Illy as his tour’s regularly include a number of regional dates.
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Illy has already revealed plans to reschedule the abandoned gig for a later date. “We are already trying to reschedule a Traralgon show with the venue, that your tickets from last night will be valid for at no extra cost,” said the rapper. “From my side of it, I’m pushing for that. I know if it happens it’s a bit of a mission for some, but it’s the best I can do.”
“Appreciate all the love and yea I repeat, this is nothing against Traralgon, and we are going to do our best from our end to reschedule the gig.”
You can read Illy’s full statement on the incident below.
Last night was pretty interesting..
I got to Traralgon hours before the show, warmed up, went on, got 5 songs in. As usual. Then someone threw a glass that hit me about an inch under my eye. At that point, I ended the show.
Couple things about it all..
I’m lucky enough that I get to do what I love for a living. I never lose sight of that. If you follow me on here you should know, and not in some bullshit “thank the stars and moon” pseudo hippie way, but in a genuine, real world way, that I’m thankful as fuck to the people who support me. I do as much as I can to pay that support back.
But bottom line, I owe basic respect to myself, and to the people I share a stage with. They’re fam. There has to be a zero tolerance for that shit. If me or my crew get hurt and have to cancel shows, there’s a group of people I’m responsible for who are directly effected. It’s bigger than just me. We’re on stage to smash, but not at the expense of personal safety. If that hit me square in the eye and broke, who knows? It wasn’t far off.
The vast majority get exactly where I’m coming from, and reading comments from people who’ve driven ages to be there, paid for hotels etc really fucks with me. I apologize to you guys, and everyone who missed out because of one fuckwit. It takes a lot for me to not put you guys first, but this was one of those times. In fact, it’s the first time in my music career.
Anyway, Traralgon I’ve got bulk love for you. This doesn’t reflect badly on the rest of you. So, we are already trying to reschedule a Traralgon show with the venue, that your tickets from last night will be valid for at no extra cost. From my side of it, I’m pushing for that. I know if it happens it’s a bit of a mission for some, but it’s the best I can do. Will keep you posted.
Anyway, that’s all there is to say about that. Shit happens, shit gets dealt with, we move on.
There’s enough negativity these days. Let’s get back to the positive.
Big love, illy al.
