Eels frontman, Mark Oliver Everett, was reported been punched in the face during his concert in Vienna on April 21st, and the pugilist was none other that his opening act ‘Puddles Pity Party’, dressed as a angry and menacing clown and fooling around on stage before hitting Everett! This is what you can read on the Eels Facebook page, describing exactly what happened:
‘Ten minutes after the house lights went up signifying the end of the EELS' Vienna concert last night, as the crew dismantled the stage the band came back to perform "Dog Faced Boy" and new composition "Go EELS!" The merriment was cut short when disgruntled opening act "Puddles Pity Party" jumped on the stage to punch EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett aka E in the face and take his guitar from him. E, who suffered a bloody lip and two chipped teeth is seen spitting blood at the 4 minute mark of the video. "Puddles and I have been butting heads over the length of his set for the entire tour," says E, speaking through his chipped teeth today, "but this was a new level of unprofessionalism. That was his last show with us. He has been fired from the tour." See the angry seven foot clown's rampage at the link below.
You can watch the entire thing below, and I assure you it wasn’t staged at all! The Eels had this time adopted the Adidas jumpsuits, they had a monkey-faced girl as a go-go dancer (also from Puddles Pity Party) and the scary crowned clown turned hooligan just in time for the big finale,… the band was even thrown off stage by security. The oh-so-real punch occurs around 3:40 of the video,… publicity stunt? May be, but this has always been part of the Eels’ gimmick. I once met Mark in a bookstore in my neighborhood, and he was walking with a cane, so I asked him if he has had an accident, he just sneered at me and simply said ‘No, I’m fine!’