On the rare occasions I’ve had to deal with the press on a story I have inside knowledge of, I have found the press to get the story completely long.
I wasn’t at last nights gig but Woody Fuller certainly was.
Here is the new york post story:
“Lincoln Center went lowbrow last night — hosting a free punk-rock concert that turned into a mini-riot.
About 100 fans of the Brooklyn-based band Japanther rushed the stage during the Rock N’ Roll Circus in Damrosch Park at 11:30 p.m., said the event’s co-producer, Jessica Resler.
“People were crowd-surfing and jumping on each other. It was like, what the hell just happened?” Resler said.
A teenager who went to see her favorite band with two pals said she was scared to death.
“Oh, my God, it was crazy. I was off my feet for a whole minute. I thought I was going to die in there,” said Jessica Schmidt, 18.
I thought my friend was going to get trampled because he fell and hit his head pretty hard.”
The event, which attracted more than 1,000 people, took place in the tent that normally houses the Big Apple Circus, which helped produce the event.
Circus security quickly responded, and within 20 minutes, threw out the clowns before anybody was seriously hurt or arrested.
Japanther played only three songs before the show was unceremoniously shut down.
Jim Roper, director of concessions, said everything had been mellow until Japanther’s hardest-core fans arrived.
“It’s not my job to be shoving around a bunch of crazy fans,” he said.
“We put out the lights and stopped the show.
“But they wouldn’t stop moshing.”
Now here is how we reported it:
“Finally, what everyone had been waiting for, Japanther, singing into telephone mics, are up to bat. A drummer/guitar duo from BK, who are punk, and brought a great crowd of their punk friends to come party. They stopped their first song 2 mins in, claiming they weren’t getting enough energy from crowd. Again, the front are of the circus floor gets flooded with people. Big Apple Circus security were freaking the f out!! They are pushing people, throwing official press passed photographers from their perches and eventually stopped the show, because it was getting a bit too rowdy for their liking. C’mon people! We are having a free punk show in a circus tent, and you’re upset and concerned about people acting weird, wild and participating in some weak moshing. It’s a concert in a fucking circus tent for Krustys sake! However, watching an obese 50+ year old square, enter and attempt to break up the moshing was quite amusing. They got so mad they turned on the lights and cut the speakers and mics and ended the most anticipated set 30 mins early. They demanded all the animals ge
t out of the circus tent. Japanther was not having it, and began to pack up all of their things. After some cheers from the crowd, they decided to stay. And to try and make all parties happy, move their drums and other equipment right net to where the seats began in the circus tent. And they started again.. not 7 minutes go by and punk moshers aer punching security guards in the face and pouring beer on them, and they’re were several all out brawls between security and non-security. This show was over. Time for us to leave.
Which sounds more likely to you?