Music

A Queens of the Stone Age fan interrupted the band's set and got what he deserved

by Mark Teo

We’ve long assumed that bands despise it when over-enthusiastic (and usually inebriated) fans climb onstage, paw at band members, and try to grab their microphones. Those invasive fans, though, often pay good money and are attempting to show their affection—and most bands are too polite to react. But as it turns out, Queens of the Stone Age aren’t most bands.

In a video that has been making the rounds, Homme was seen violently tossing a fan off stage during “The Vampyre of Time and Memory.” After a man attempted to sling an arm around the venerable singer—it all goes down at the 1:16 mark of the video—Homme snaps.

“I don’t care if you love me, you can stand right there, dude,” Homme says after tossing the fan. “I’m here to play for you, not jerk you off, you fucking douchebag. That guy’s the luckiest guy in here, because all I want to do is kick his ass.”

Next, Homme says that he intends concerts to be a communal experience—with limits. “We’re talking about being together, I want to do something together, but I don’t want this asshole to get onstage. Fuck this guy. Long live us, but fuck this guy.

“You can tell I’m getting more mellow as I get older,” he says, to a laughing audience.

Here’s the video in its entirety.

In related news, Action Bronson was also at his stage-tossing best last week. And while Bronsolino has power-slammed plenty of over-eager fans before, he recently took the time to make another fan’s dreams come true—namely, by manhandling a dwarf and tossing him into the crowd. Call him the anti-Homme.

Of course, Bronson and Homme’s actions lead to the next question: How interactive can shows get? Do artists have the right to toss fans offstage, or do fans have the right—or pay for the right—to immerse themselves in the concert experience?