EXODUS: CHILDREN OF WORTHLESS GUARDS
Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 10:55am by Axl RosenbergSo apparently there was an incident at Exodus’ show in Mokena, Illinois last week. The story goes that security ejected a kid who did a stage dive, prompting the band to stop right in the middle of “Children of a Worthless God,” the best song off their latest album, The Atrocity Exhibition. I have to wonder if the guards would have their own version of the story, but until one emerges, it would seem that, yes, throwing a kid out of the show for doing a stage dive is pretty douchey.
Watch the video below and decide for yourself…
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/x8fNB0kaAgE" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
-AR
Best song off the album, or best metal song of this decade? Exodus just keeps adding to their legendary status. What a fun, fucking awesome band.
Fat singers are funny.
I was at this show. Honestly, at first this little incident was cool and all “metal” and shit, but after a while, it just got annoying. Ultimately, why do I fucking care if some 15 year old dope wants to stage dive? I’d rather hear another fucking song, which it took Exodus fucking forever to do b/c of this nonsense.
An otherwise great show, though.
I respect that. That was cool. The odd thing was that those were all less stage “dives” and more like… stage “drops” or something. They barely even jumped, they just kind of leaned over and fell into the crowd. Weird.
I was at the next night’s show in minnesota and this band absolutely slays live. Rob gave me a shot of patron and during toxic waltz lee fuckin’ atlus pulled me on stage and gave me his guitar to hammer on. after the show lee was telling me how pissed he was about the security gaurds from illinois. basically fuck metallica, fuck megadeth, fuck anthrax…exodus is thrash.
I don’t know. I assume the place has a rule against stage diving, and if so, it’s probably for liability reasons. If some stupid kid can’t follow the rules, he should be kicked out. If the place gets sued because someone gets hurt from it, is it worth it? Maybe I just feel like that because I don’t get the stage diving thing. If I was in the crowd, I wouldn’t want somebody jumping on top of me. Plus, especially after what happened to Dimebag, I suspect the tolerance for audience members going on the stage is pretty low.
Now that I’ve watched the video, I gotta say that I definitely don’t respect that at all. Basically those guards are there to keep people safe in a pretty hectic environment. So to stop the show and basically incite the crowd against the guards is pretty wrong in my opinion. That’s cool the band doesn’t have a problem with it, but that’s not really how it works. Maybe I’m just not metal enough!
I agree, DM Dave. Like some poor mope really gives a shit if the kid can stage dive or not. Guy’s gotta job to do just like Exodus does. The clip above shows the fun part, though. The part where we’re all standing around waiting for Exodus and the guy with his finger on the mic on/mic off button to figure their shit out was very very very un-metal.
It’s cool that Exodus didnt care if the kids were enjoying themselves, but as DMD and Wayne said, the rules are there to keep people safe. I was at a Mastodon concert a year ago and some asshole was slinging water bottles at Troy Sanders and they kicked him out, with good reason. And that little kid that was up there? Hell, hes so small that some crazy fucks could have trampled him. Then what? All in the name of stage diving I suppose…
Who’s been to a show at Europa in Greenpoint, Brooklyn? The bouncers there have a tendency to violently eject ANYone who so much as jumps up onto the crowd from the floor. It is sickening to watch… It’s one thing, as a few have pointed out above, to remove someone for not following the venue’s posted rules (for liability reasons and whatnot– this is America where everyone gets sued for everything all the time), but it’s another thing altogether to eject a bunch of kids using unnecessary force for acts MUCH less dangerous than stage diving.
DMD — the official MetalSucks wet blanket (see Dallas Coyle’s bit for further proof).
I have to laugh at all of the “metalheads” talking about adhering to rules and “keeping safe.” Loosen your panties, boys…How you can take the security guard’s side without being able to see what the hell is going on?
It appeared as if there were plenty of stage-divers before and after the one kid got tossed. Who knows, maybe the security guard decided to show how big his dick is and toss out a scrawny little punk.
After way too many shows in my life, I’ve certainly seen my fair share of roided out goons working the stage and throwing kids out for no reason whatsoever.
As for Exodus…more power to ‘em!! That dickhead security guard would not even have a job if it weren’t for bands like Exodus. Rob Dukes and gary Holt earn serious kudos for sticking up for their fans.
Major props to the band for doing that. If they’re cool with it, theres no reason for security to take matters into their own hands.
no one is metal enough for the almighty EXODUS!
L666 makes a good point. It is a bit odd that there were like 5 kids who stagedived and only one got booted. Something tells me that kid was the one who decided to show how ‘extreme’ he was by trying to punch the bouncer.
Though I don’t think DMD is being a wet blanket, I’d call it being a realist. People are sue happy in this country and virtually every venue has rules against this sort of thing. If you wanna break the rule; go for it. Just don’t piss and moan and expect the band to stop playing for your ass.
Also, the whole Dimebag incident has made me think that letting random people hop up on stage is decidedly less cool than it used to be. If that’s being a wet blanket, sorry but I’d rather not lose another musician who makes music I love because some asshole has some odd vendetta against them.
Remember, the Alrosa Villa had a metal barrier erected especially for the Damageplan gig the night Dimebag was assassinated. Who knows, maybe if the barrier wasn’t in place, fewer people might have been murdered.
As for no stage-diving at venues, clubs may get sued but they almost never lose those cases. Most post warnings preventing such behavior and place liability on the divers. They almost always hold up in court.
Furthermore, most metal bands negotiate with the venues as to what type of activity is allowable at their gigs. And even though only 2/5 of the BBB-era line-up of Exodus exists, they are still worthy of a high level of respect. In other words, most clubs will cater to their wishes. So, if they want stage-diving, they will get stage diving. If not, they will go to another club that will bend over backwards to accomodate them.
Believe me, that boneheaded bouncer’s objective was probably not the safety of the club’s patrons, but rather another sad, but typical display of meatheadosity.