I WAS RIGHT THERE!! This all happened in front of me. I had no idea what was going on. He did not actually throw a bottle. What happened was he was arguing with the sound guy, sound guy flips him off, gibby flips him off back, sound guy flips him off, Gibby picks up bottle, 2 security guards jump on him and drag him off the stage. The audience started jeering and booing very loudly. Paul politely apologized and they played " The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave " and then went into a few minutes of feedback while the strobes and smoke and surgery films continued. After they left the stage, the booing got louder and louder the next 10 mins or so ( the surgery films and smoke is going this whole time and the lights are out ). Then Genesis from Throbbing Gristle gets up on the stage and starts yelling at the audience to shut up. Another security personel comes and removes her as well. Finally, after almost 15 mins they brought the house lights back on and cut off the films and thats when the booing turned into screaming and protesting and bottle throwing. There was an incredible 2 minutes of the security standing on the stage glowering at the audience as they threw a
barrage of poland spring bottles and cups directly at them. The security was treating everyone ( including the surfers ) like absolute shit even before they started to throw bottles. I saw security guards picking fights with audience members, not the other way around. It was absolutely insane. They pummled 2 guys to the ground for throwing glass beer bottles which was the closest it actually got to a riot. I sat leaning in a dark corner for as long as I could watching the madness unfold until a security guy found me and forcibly made me exit the room. Went out, stood in the street as long as I could and before long the same security guys were kicking people off the street. Everyone started leaving when the cops arrived about a half hour after the concert ended
On my way to the subway station I ran into Paul Leary. He told me Gibby was actually arrested and his wife was on her way to bail him out but I'm hearing lots of reports that it was one of Gibby's classic pranks, I still don't know who to believe. I've never left a concert so confused in my life. Paul asked me if I knew how to get to the " Beauty Parlor " but I guess I heard him wrong and he was actually saying " Beauty Bar " which is where he Gibby and Genesis showed up for an after party around 2 am. I would've been there if I'd known
. I was actually at that moment trying to think of a reason to skip my 1:45 train home to stay in nyc because i was enjoying myself so much
Anyway, that's my crazy story about the BHS concert at Webster Hall. Wish I was making it up but it's all true. On my mother's grave. And I have a crumpled poster I found on the floor of the pit to remember it by.
I'm waiting for someone to post actual footage of the incident/aftermath on youtube.