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Riots! Urine! Deckchairs!

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Last week we selected our favourite festival moments of the last few years - but not every festival performance ends in triumph. Here are some memorable occasions when the mud-caked masses have fought back…

50 Cent, Reading 2004

Not even getting shot nine times could prepare Fiddy for the barrage of piss-bombs hurled at him by disgruntled rock fans impatient for a headline performance from Green Day. “Is that the best you got?” bellowed the muscle-bound rapper, moments before a deckchair – yes, a deckchair – hurtled past his head. That was the final straw, and 50 Cent promptly left the stage - having cannily fulfilled the minimum 15 minutes contractually required for artists to collect their appearance fee.

My Chemical Romance, Download 2007

Who pays good money to go to a festival, hangs around all day for the headline act to come on, enduring the hellish crush down the front, purely so they can shout “WANKERS!” at an emo band? Metal fans, that’s who. According to My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, some of the bottles thrown on stage contained human faeces. Still, all part of the fun, eh?

Panic! At The Dicso, Reading 2006

Frontman Brendon Urie’s image as a sharp-suited emo dandy took a knock when he was hit square in the face by a bottle, barely seconds into their main stage performance. ”You can’t take me out!”, roared the 19-year-old, before proving his never-say-die rock credentials with a polite set of dainty, harpsichord-inflected emo pop.

Limp Bizkit, Woodstock 1999

200,000 people losing their minds to Limp Bizkit’s route-one rap-metal onslaught is an undeniably impressive spectacle… but the super-size moshpit soon erupted into a full-scale riot. In the aftermath, several rapes were reported. “There are no motherfucking rules out there,” bellowed Fred Durst from the stage. He was proved depressingly right.

The Stone Roses, Reading 1996

Q will never forget the sight of thousands of punters fleeing the main stage in droves, fingers in ears, faces contorted with horror, as Ian Brown turned in the most off-key vocal performance this side of Pop Idol: The Out-Takes. And, er, who invited Yazz onstage to dance with them?

2:55 PM | 21/06/2007

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  • My Chemical Romance at BDO Auckland 2007.
    First, they told the moshpit to 'move back from the stage because people are getting crushed' and then the lead singer's microphone cut out closely followed by those of the rest of the band ... a painful half a minute later sound was restored ... but only to the mosh.
    Good effort, guys.

    Posted by Kelsy at 10:13 AM | 22/06/2007 | Report Abuse

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