Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/FilmMagic
Death Grips walked off stage without finishing their set at a show in Fayetteville, Arkansas over the weekend after the group's MC Ride was pelted with items thrown by people in the audience. Eyewitness reports at the JJ's venue report both a phone and multiple glowsticks being thrown at the frontman, with the latter prompting him to leave the stage and not return. Footage from the night can be seen below.
One fan on Reddit shared what they saw go down at JJ's. “Someone threw a phone at them and Ride threw the mic on the ground and walked off and back," they wrote. "Someone threw a glowstick that hit him in the chest and he walked off, back and waiting for more. Another glowstick was thrown and they left. Fair is fair."
The incident speaks to two trends in the music world. Firstly it's a continuation of audience members throwing things at performers, something that left pop star Bebe Rexha requiring medical attention when a phone hit her during a New York show in the summer. Similar incidents involving Harry Styles and Kelsea Ballerini followed soon after.
Death Grips, however, occupy a specific part of the musical landscape and have been become favorites of a particularly online fanbase who, some have suggested, prefer making memes about the music than actually listening to it. The group's recent tour has resulted in some unusual behavior, including rumors of people urinating on the floor, holding up phones displaying episodes of Family Guy during the performance, and others arriving in fancy dress linked to memes based on Death Grips's music. Their tour continues
so apparently at the death grips show in AR tonight they just left midset because kids kept throwing shit at them. what is with ppl acting like this? bands are not robots and getting pelted with shit hurts. if you were moshing like youre supposed to this wouldnt happen pic.twitter.com/jNS01z7Ssg
— Rodney (@SkinnyTuna) October 14, 2023
