The Riverfront Times reports that a Kings of Leon show has ended in St Louis after just three songs.
After finishing Taper Jean Girl, the third song of the set, the band left the stage and refused to return citing concerns for their safety.
The band’s drummer Nathan Followill tweeted to explain the sudden end to the show: “So sorry St. Louis. We had to bail, pigeons shitting in jareds mouth. Too unsanitary to continue… Don’t take it out on Jared, it’s the fucking venues fault. You may enjoy being shit on but we don’t. Sorry for all who traveled many miles.”
The reporter from Riverfront Times also noted that the opening band, the Postelles, had dedicated a song “to our bassist, who just got shat on.”
As no explanation was offered to the punters from the stage mass confusion ensued, with the angry crowd booing, chanting and breaking bottles.
The band has issued a detailed explanation of the incident:
An infestation of pigeons living in the rafters of the Verizon Amphitheatre in St. Louis, MO, forced the Kings of Leon to walk offstage after three songs last night. Even though opening bands The Postelles and The Stills came offstage complaining of getting riddled with large amounts of pigeon excrement, the Kings of Leon decided to carry on regardless. The band felt it would be unfair to the fans to cancel the show at that late moment.
“I’m surprised they stayed on for as many songs as they did,” said Andy Mendelsohn of Vector Management. “Jared was hit several times during the first two songs. On the third song, when he was hit in the cheek and some of it landed near his mouth, they couldn’t deal any longer. It’s not only disgusting—it’s a toxic health hazard. They really tried to hang in there. We want to apologize to our fans in St. Louis and will come back as soon as we can.”
When the band arrived earlier in the day, the venue warned management that there had been a significant pigeon infestation problem with summer shows over the years, but they were doing all they could to fix it.
“We couldn’t believe what The Postelles and The Stills looked like after their sets,” said Jared Followill. “We didn’t want to cancel the show, so we went for it. We tried to play. It was ridiculous.”
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