SXSW 2011 Incident
Death From Above 1979 reunion show
Photo by cbc.ca
When we left off, I had just introduced the fact that yes, there was in fact a riot at the “secret” Death From Above 1979 reunion show.
You’ve probably read about it by now, and, if you haven’t, let me direct you to the piece I wrote about it a few hours after it happened. Mine is not, by any stretch, the only piece written on what happened. However myself, CBC Radio 3’s Lana Gay and a dude from Houston named Craig Hlavaty were the only people to write on it immediately.
My colleague at Spinner, Jonathan Dekel (also of Neon Windbreaker) also wrote a piece the morning after.
Many if not most of the pieces that came after ours were based on a lot of hearsay and, well, ours. Like the Nirvana show at Foufounes Electriques in 1991, everyone wished they were there, and, in the next while, a lot of people who weren’t there are going to claim that they were. It seems a lot of publications are doing this type of thing these days too.
So yes, there was a riot at the Death From Above 1979 show.
Why?
The back of Beauty Bar is fenced in and holds about 220 people. There were way more than 220 people who knew about and wanted to attend the show. This fact, plus the special nature of the show (the first DFA1979 show in five years), a lot of booze, the general adrenaline rush SXSWers get, and, to be honest, the less-than-stellar work of the venue volunteers/security (like, don’t antagonize a massive group of excitable, inebriated people by screaming and swearing at them for just trying to get a look at their favourite band) led to a big ol’ mess.
Fences were shaken, and then pulled down. Beer cans and cups full of ice were thrown (one hit me in the chest). Tasers were used. Pepper spray was used (I think my Citeeze colleague Stefane Campbell got hit). Police on horseback chased a mob of people out of an alley. The show stopped, and we raucous, rioting masses outside (oh, yeah, I wasn’t inside at the show, I was outside bearing witness to the chaos like a good pleb reporter) were told to cease and desist or else the show would be stopped then and there.
It was around this time that I left. I had injured myself coming down from a high place I tried to see the show from, and my foot and forearm were already turning different shades of blue, black and purple.
But at the end of the day, I can always say I was there.
I have the scars and bruises to prove it.
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