Glenn Danzig won some brownie points showing off his softer side in 2010 when he was spotted buying kitty litter, but one year later those points expired after his behaviour at the Fun Fun Fun Festival in Austin, Texas.
Vitamins, French Onion Soup and a Wendy’s Chicken Sandwich
Glenn Danzig arrived in Austin the morning of the show. He reportedly told festival organizers it was too cold, he had a cough and he wasn’t going to play. According to Rolling Stone Magazine, he then demanded vitamins, french onion soup and a Wendy’s chicken sandwich. According to the festival promoters they had to negotiate with the frontman for hours, ensuring they provided him with on-stage heaters, and an on-site doctor to tend to his cough.
Following those intense negotiations, they were assured by his managers the show would proceed as planned. Danzig was scheduled to take the stage at 8:15 pm that night, but as showtime approached, he refused to take the stage citing the weather again, his cough and his general disappointment with the stage setup despite the fact it was approved months prior to his performance and okayed by his stage crew the day of the show.
Danzig Finally Takes the Stage
Danzig would eventually give in and take the stage 45 minutes late at 9 pm. There was a 10 pm curfew, which meant he would only be performing for an hour.
Upon taking to the stage, Danzig told the crowd that he was “effing freezing”. Despite his unhappiness with everything, he still played a 16-song set according to setlist.fm, but the reaction on Twitter from the attendees was brutal with some comments comparing it to Danzig karaoke.
Austin’s Curfew is Enforced
At 10 pm when the promoters had to enforce the city’s curfew, Danzig had only made it through two Misfits songs, disappointing many fans who travelled from long distances to attend the show. Danzig encouraged the crowd to riot. While many screamed for the musician to continue on with his performance, no riot ensued and countless fans took to social media to express their anger and disappointment while some defended Danzig.
Here’s a clip of what went down the night of the show as the curfew approached.
“I guess they’ve never heard of a thing called a riot before, but we’ll play as long as they f***in’ let us.” – Glenn Danzig
“… We wanted to do a lot more songs for you but they are telling us we have to shut our power off in 5 minutes. Don’t blame me… We came halfway across the country to play for you guys. Whoever is in charge, whoever you are, why don’t you come out here and tell all these people that you want us off in 5 minutes?… You wanna hear more right?… I guess they’ve never heard of a thing called a riot before, but we’ll play as long as they f***in’ let us.”
“Yes, someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn.” – Festival Organizer
One of the festival organizers took to Facebook following Glenn Danzig’s performance to express his displeasure. He posted the following, “… Those that are hating could NOT be more wrong. Yes, someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn. Stop by his house in LA with some kitty litter in trade for your refund, but we still had to pay him and he didn’t deserve it after what he pulled.”
“Glenn says it’s freezing in Austin and he can’t go on. Says it’s going to be 28 degrees tonight and he won’t perform (keep in mind, it’s currently 71 and sunny with a night forecast of maybe 50+). He says we have to move the show and the festival inside if we want him to play. Obviously, that’s not possible.”
The organizer would go on to say that they brought in stage heaters despite the fact that no other bands required them. Arriving 30 minutes before stage time, Danzig wouldn’t leave his trailer to go look at the stage despite the fact that it was 50 feet from where he was sitting, so the lighting company had to draw up the specifications for him to review in his trailer.
“… Danzig says he’s just as big as Slayer…” – Festival Organizer
In the same statement, the organizer would claim, “Glenn’s bodyguard got pushy (literally) with Murder City Devils’ manager and tells them they can’t have their friends watch from stage and wants them to cut their set. Kicks them off stage and gets physical with the band and staff. Oh, also Danzig says he’s just as big as Slayer and Slayer is playing a bigger stage on Sunday and that’s bs and wants to play the same stage Slayer is playing or won’t play. Makes him look bad.”
The organizer would go on to say that 15 minutes prior to stage time, the band was ready, the corpse makeups were done, everything’s tuned and Danzig claims he isn’t playing due to it being too cold outside and tells the organizers that the stage should have windscreens so he is protected from the wind. The stage managers proceeded to cover the stage with windscreens and it had now been 25 minutes past his set start time.
“…If I go on stage and get sick, I’ll die.” – Glenn Danzig
Danzig tells the organizers that he couldn’t go on stage telling them, “I got a death bug. If I go on stage and get sick, I’ll die.”
“He totally looked fine and seemed fine – no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what I can tell.” – Festival Organizer
The organizers would claim, “He totally looked fine and seemed fine – no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what I can tell. We get the doctor and he says he can do a B12 shot or anything he needs if he feels bad. Danzig says he only treats illnesses naturally, so he won’t do that.”
Following the whole debacle, Glenn Danzig almost got into a fight backstage with some people and left the gig. The organizers slammed the singer for trying to make them appear to be the scapegoats and for Danzig not taking responsibility for his actions.
The night following his performance, The Damned played and goofed on Danzig during their set. Other artists did the same. Slayer took it one step further, posting a photo on Facebook of french onion soup, with the caption, “Great show tonight @FunFunFunFest. Got everything we needed.”
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