For New York fans of UK duo The Kills, Monday night started out as just another evening of stripped down post-rock in the tight-jeaned-jammed environs of the Music Hall Of Williamsburg.
Then it got dark (darker than the Kills sonic aesthetic, that is). Actually, first it got sweaty, then it got tense, then it got crazy.
The story (via) comes straight from almost the horse's mouth, a front row fan named Aaron Richter who happens to be a staff member at self-titled. According to Richter, the trouble began when a seemingly drunk dude started holding up two fingers at Kills' member Jamie Hince. This, as any anglophile can tell you, is a Very Bad Thing in the UK—the equivalent of our middle finger. Hince, hopped up on the adrenaline of a live show, and also filled with a regular dose of dignity, began pointing and gesturing to the fan. Hince then commences jabbing his guitar head at the fan. And then, according to Richter:
"...Jamie aggressively grabs the dude by his shoulders to pull him onstage. I grab the guy’s legs to help out, assuming it’s all fun and games. But everything got weird as soon as he got on the stage. First he looked like he was going to pass out—sorta just barely there. The song ends. Alison [Mosshart, vocalist] starts saying, “Who is this guy?” And the dude gets up and spreads his arms to walk over toward Alison. She freaks and scurries away. The stage crew tries to grab the guy, but Jamie gets him first and throws him up against the speaker stack."
Hince proceeded to throw the dude back into the crowd as the band launched into a Captain Beefheart cover. Self-titled reports that Kills management are a bit concerned about possible legal consequences. Also, the perp (that's cop talk) is French. Perp being the drunk fan, not Jamie Hince. Actually, they're both perps. And of course there are even some people who think this was all a set-up.
So, what have we learned today? One, don't ever heckle a band in offensive hand signals native to their home country. And two, if you ever meet the Queen, for Pete's sake, do not hold up two fingers to her.