Royal Headache, who made headlines over the weekend after their Sydney Opera House performance was halted by fans and police storming the stage, have now commented on the incident. Speaking to The Guardian, frontman Shogun explained why the band cut their set short.
As Tone Deaf reported yesterday, the band was in the middle of performing fan favourite ‘Down The Lane’ when fans began climbing up on stage. By the time the band was midway through their next song, 60 fans had gathered on the stage at the Joan Sutherland Theatre.
This prompted security and police to take the stage and disperse the crowd, leading to a standoff between the band, fans, and the cops. The band did eventually complete a shortened set, with Shogun now telling The Guardian that he decided it was “best to drop a song or two”.
The decision, he said, was out of concern for the band’s fans. “I didn’t want to see the police start breaking people’s arms and faces. I could see it could easily go in that direction because drunk rock’n’roll fans are dumb and police are even dumber,” he said.
Meanwhile, an Opera House spokesperson has revealed that the police in attendance on the night were not called by Opera House staff. “The police were not called by the Opera House. Police officers were already on site conducting routine patrols,” they said. “They became aware of the security response and joined them.”
Adam Lewis, promoter of the Secret Garden Festival and a host on FBi Radio, was one of the fans who rushed the stage on Saturday and gave The Guardian his two cents on what actually happened on the night.
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“On the Facebook event beforehand people were saying, ‘Are we really going to stay in our seats?’. The aisles were packed already and the step from the aisle to the stage is about a metre high so people just started stepping up,” he said.
“Security didn’t really stop anyone so people streamed up pretty quickly. It was a momentum thing. It was all pretty good-natured but started getting a bit gnarly when everyone was up there and people were slinging around beers.”
Thankfully, no injuries or arrests were reported on the night of the band’s performance, which was part of a Repressed Records showcase. However, NSW Police are yet to comment on the incident. See footage of police breaking up the crowd below.
