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Billed as one of the most explosive acts on this year’s Parklife lineup, Crystal Castles have been busy adding to that notorious reputation when their set at the Sonar festival over the weekend crashed and burned into an onstage brawl with festival staff.
The drama first came to our attention here at ITM HQ thanks to some reactionary messages on the Twitter account of Little Boots. The UK superstar – who’s also heading down here for Parklife – was watching Ethan Kath and Alice Glass of Crystal Castles’ set when the mayhem broke out. “Woah just watched crystal castles at sonar, sound was awful throughout kept cutting out so at te end alice started trashing the stage…then the sound guy tried to rugby tackle her so ethan jumped out and punched him! Massive!” she explained in her first two Tweet before adding later “Ok just spoke to alice apparently it was her who socked him one ha ha”.
Poorly punctuated Tweets aside, the melee has seemingly been confirmed by Tweets from other festival goers as well as by some early footage from the festival that’s appeared on YouTube. In the video – which we’ve included at the bottom of this post – we get a look at the beginning of the brawl; as Crystal Castles finish their set with a thrashing, almost epileptic finale, singer Alice Glass begins to dismantle the drum kit and throw it across the Sonar stage before a stage hand restrains her, which is evidently what starts the tussle.
For anyone who’s caught the band’s violent live show before, it’s a wonder how such an altercation with venue and festival officials hasn’t happened sooner. We only hope that the Parklife staff don’t do something foolish like forget to chill the band’s wine because clearly shit will go down.
Missed all the Parklife details? Check them out at our festival pages!
sammyk says...
gold
The3rdPlumpDj says...
oh god!! do we really want this 'rockin roll' bullshit... i dont want to pay $140 to watch these fucking clowns toss around on stage (not that i will)... i do like the parklife line up but these 'new age indie' bands suck balls... FUZZY... STICK TO DJS!!
Middy1986 says...
they were sic at PlayGrounder Weekender....ppl r in for a treat at Parklife
i_have_ADD says...
hahah that was awesome
manuka says...
i hate musos like this - think the world revolves around you = no (attention whores)
polite_society says...
heh. last time i saw them, they didn't seem to be able to get any sound from the mic at all, and alice started smacking it on the stage and yelling at the sound guy. i have the feeling she had probably already pissed off the sound guy before the show, and he was just doing it to piss her off. was still a pretty good show, though.
discotheque says...
Crystal Castles are thieves and nothing but prima donnas. Refer to this: http://www.thetripwire.com/news/2009/04/15/crystal-castles-leave-fans-hanging-cancel-dallas-show-amid-controversy-get-called-prima-donnas/
dn-ul says...
i saw them twice this year, once last. can not wait for there show,hopefully they do a sideshow
mikeylol says...
Jog on Hipster scum
rilstix says...
Judging from the dozen or so articles I've seen in past couple of years, Crystal Castles are the most stuck up douchebags of all time. Fail.
kidMC says...
so castle is another name for meth...
patrout says...
They were amazing at Splendour at the Grass and at the Metro, very awesome show.. loud, glitchy, awesome.
rhysmerritt says...
fucking love crystal castles to death. that was awesome.. saw them at metro and they were fantastic. cant wait to see them again
Flnz says...
Didnt really know who they where when i saw them at Playground Weekender, but friedns were fans so we went and had a look. They were fucken terrible. Im ususally someone wo can get into the music of any live act, regardless of genre, but it did absoloultey nothing for me. Screaming and strobe light do not maketh a band IMO
BMoney says...
Hek yeah!! More memorable moments like that during shows pls!! Dance needs more of stuff like that for Sure
KEEK says...
i was there. they are fuck wits. that delayed the appearance of the wizard.
cainhayward says...
yer.....kinda saw them last time they were in melbourne, and they sucked, but they were good the first time around