There are always going to be assholes at shows trying to start fights.
In the world of aggressive music, people might act out. Luckily though, our favorite musicians are on our side and are out to call out bullies who try to throw their weight around.
With that in mind, we’re looking back at the musicians who helped take control of what could have been bad situations. Although some of these could have been settled by security stepping in, it’s satisfying to see artists stand up for their fans.
Whether it’s a musician giving an unruly crowd member a verbal beating as they’re being dragged out or actually getting into a scrap in the middle of the crowd, there are a lot of different ways musicians stand up for their fans. Here are some of our favorite ways musicians deliver justice.
DAVE GROHL COMES TO DANCE
Throughout Foo Fighters’ time in the spotlight, Dave Grohl has proven himself as one of the nicest guys in rock. Despite being one of the most famous rock stars in the world, Dave never acts like it.
Nothing about a Foo Fighters show should be dangerous, and Dave had no time for fighting at their 2011 iTunes Festival performance. It wasn’t long into playing ‘Skin and Bones’ when Grohl saw a man beating someone up in the crowd and told everyone to get quiet real fast.
Dave called out the guy for wailing on the fan, saying ‘you don’t fucking fight at my show, look at me…get the fuck at of my show right now.’ After the security took care of him, Dave added that ‘you don’t come to my show and fight, You come to my show and fuckin dance.’
Even when the crowd tried to praise Dave, Dave wasn’t looking for a pat on the back, shrugging off all of the cheers, saying ‘You guys came to have fun. That guy can fuck off.’
It’s never fun having to kick someone out of a concert, but only someone like Dave Grohl could take this entire scenario and make it look like the coolest thing in the world.
BRUCE DICKINSON PICKS ON SOMEONE HIS OWN SIZE
Every concertgoer of short stature has had to deal with that one person that’s much taller than them blocking their view of the band.
During an Iron Maiden show, Bruce Dickinson got upset at one of the bigger guys in the crowd who was roughing up some fans at the front and decided to deal with the situation. As the band continues playing, Bruce lets the guy have it, saying ‘why don’t you pick on someone your own fucking size’ and pointing directly to him saying, ‘you are the problem here.’
While security normally deals with these kinds of things, Bruce wasn’t necessarily thrilled with the way the bouncers were handling things, referring to the asshole as, ‘The fucking guy that the bouncers are too scared to take on because he’s bigger than they are.’
The guy tries to defend himself saying the girl that he was messing with pinched his arm. Bruce fires back, ‘If your arm was a little less fuckin obese, she wouldn’t have been able to pinch you, get out of there you motherfucker.’
No matter if it comes down to a case of ‘well-he-started-it,’ someone like Bruce is damn well gonna finish it and keep kicking ass.
STAIND’S AARON LEWIS FIGHTS GROPER
No one should have to worry about getting sexually assaulted at a show, and Aaron Lewis had absolutely no time for it.
While playing a show at Kansas City’s Rockfest, Staind’s Aaron Lewis called out an audience member for groping a female crowdsurfer. Aaron stopped the show saying ‘alright, listen up you fucking assholes, that little girl is 15 fucking years old and you pieces of shit are molesting her when she’s in the crowd. Your mothers should be ashamed of themselves. You should be beaten down by everyone around you.’
Lewis then addressed the crowd, ‘if I ever see that shit again, I will point you out in the crowd and have everyone around you beat your ass.’ Even though Lewis might go off at the drop of a hat these days, we’re always here for him standing up for his fans.
BLACK VEIL BRIDES CHALLENGE YOU TO PLAY THEIR INSTRUMENTS
There is no band on this planet that is safe from trolls wanting to tear them down. It’s not often that you have those same trolls confront you directly though, and Black Veil Brides’ Andy Biersack knew how to deal with them properly.
At a 2015 show in Vancouver, one troll spent the night screaming at the band, that they were a copycat Motley Crüe and they wanted Memphis May Fire to come back out.
Andy didn’t take it on the chin that night, singling out the troll in the crowd and even challenging the guy to come up on stage to play their guitars. Before the guy can respond, Andy jumps into the crowd, launching himself into the pit when security restrains him from tearing the guy to shreds.
The rest of Black Veil Brides were there for their frontman, taunting the troll too, and getting involved. As the band got back up onstage, the troll was quickly carried away, with the rest of the crowd cheering the band on as they played their next song.
It’s one thing to air your grievances on Reddit, but seriously, what did you think was going to happen here, dude?
LAYNE STALEY DEALS WITH NAZI
A rock show should be an inclusive place, and Nazis have no place here, especially in the world of grunge.
Halfway through an Alice In Chains show back in 1993, a crowd member started making Nazi salutes. After pointing him out in the crowd, Layne Staley motions for the audience to get him closer to the stage.
Once the guy is on stage, Staley decks him in front of the crowd. Security drags the Nazi off, while Staley yells into the microphone, ‘Fucking Nazis Die.’
Well after the fact, the fan initially tried to press charges against Staley for assaulting him, but that didn’t hold much water outside of the concert. After the show, the fan’s brother, who was with him that night, said that the guy deserved what he got. Staley clearly agreed.
ARCHITECTS CALL OUT GROPER
Mosh pits can be dangerous, but no one should ever have to worry about sexual assault. Architects singer Sam Carter made sure of that during a show in the Netherlands.
Carter brought the show to a halt to call out a disgusting individual who decided to grope another fan towards the front of the stage, saying “I’m going over in my mind whether I should say something or not. I saw a girl crowdsurfing over here and I’m not going to point the piece of shit out that did it, but I saw you grab at her boob and that is disgusting. There’s no place for that shit.”
The crowd may have applauded, but Carter wasn’t done, saying “if you feel like doing that again, walk out there, fuck off and don’t come back.”
Sam should be commended for pointing out disgusting behavior when he sees it. A metal show might seem dangerous for the uninitiated, but there’s no place for sexual assault ever.
AXL ROSE KICKS OUT SECURITY
It’s not always punks in the crowd trying to start shit at shows. Sometimes it’s security. Axl Rose might be a loose cannon, but he stood by his fans when Guns N Roses were on the Chinese Democracy tour circuit.
While Rose has been known to sometimes be a bit of a bully himself, he had his heart in the right place when he saw a kid get his ass handed to him by a security guard just for crowd surfing. Right in the middle of ‘You Could Be Mine,’ Rose brought everything to a halt to chew out security, reprimanding them for not doing their job properly saying:
“What the fuck’s wrong with you guys down here? What…the guy’s having fun so you’re going to beat him up?”
This squashed the issue, and everything was smooth sailing after. Points for Axl.
EDDIE VEDDER STOPS THE SONG WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT
Calling out a crowd bully is one thing, doing it while keeping a song going is another. Right in the middle of Pearl Jam’s punky song ‘Lukin,’ Eddie Vedder spotted a fan in the audience that was being overly rude to a woman in the crowd. Vedder stopped the song on a dime and yelled at the fan, telling him to clear out of the crowd.
Vedder checked in that the woman was okay, giving props to her other half for getting some shots in. Vedder picked the tune right back up and closed out the song with ease.
CORPSEGRINDER IS HIS OWN SECURITY
Cannibal Corpse is the wrong band to fuck with.
While it could have been an accident when George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fishergot got hit with a bottle during a Cannibal Corpse show, he had no patience for the anonymous thrower, saying “I swear to God if I saw who threw it, I’ll kill your fucking mother, I’ll fucking kill your father and make him fuck your dad mother.”
Corpsegrinder is out for blood in this clip, inviting anyone else to throw something at him saying “you don’t need to worry about security. I’m my own security” before going into the next song.
Even when he’s yelling at a crowd, everything that comes out of Corpsegrinder’s mouth could be a Cannibal Corpse lyric.
COREY TAYLOR’S IMPROMPTU SINGALONG
Corey Taylor doesn’t need a mask on his face onstage to keep kicking ass.
During a 2011 tour promoting his most recent book, Slipknot frontman Corey would hold Q&A sessions for fans as well as jam out some acoustic tracks. One overeager fan decided to get a little too close though and swiped some of Corey’s guitar picks, which led to him getting thrown out of the venue.
Corey took the whole thing in stride once the crowd told him what actually happened, where he says ‘Wait…he stole my picks, oh you motherfucker.’ Corey then launches into ‘Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye’ as the dude gets kicked out.
We’re all here to have a good time, and Corey knows how to keep things light.
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