Almost everyone has heard about the weird little meltdown that Nathan Williams had at Primavera Soud festival that took place this weekend in Barcelona. The storyline definitely had an arc and if you need to catch up here you go:
Problem: According to Pitchfork, “Still unsatisfied more than 15 minutes into their scheduled 2:20 a.m. set time, Nathan finally succumbed to shouts from the restless crowd and began lifelessly strumming his guitar in what appeared to be totally random chord progressions. As drummer Ryan struggled in vain to find a tempo for Nathan’s seasick improvisation, the music slowly turned into a half-speed, instrumental approximation of the Wavves ballad “Weed Demon”– a song which, on record, doesn’t have a drum part.
After five minutes of directionless strumming and arbitrary snare hits, Nathan dodged the evening’s first bottle and decided to wind the aimless tune to an abrupt close. Then, rubbing his hands against his face, he declared in annoyed resignation, “All right, hi everybody, we’re Wavves,” and launched into an off-key version of “Summer Goth.” The band’s playing improved steadily until hitting a sort-of stride with a sloppy rendition of the song everyone had come to see, “So Bored”. For a brief moment, the crowd was rapt, singing and pogoing along, earning the band a fleeting moment of goodwill.
But things declined quickly from there, as between songs, Nathan began ineptly mocking the crowd (“Ooooooh, I’m on ecstasy!”), going off at length about his preference for California over Spain, and eventually telling them the festival was “one of the coolest things we’ve been part of in a while,” dripping with sarcasm. Finally, fed up with Nathan’s petulant behavior, Ryan ran out from behind his drumkit and poured a full cup of beer over Nathan’s head. The act would be met with their most enthusiastic applause of the evening.
At 3:00 a.m. sharp, having dodged their share of bottles and even a shoe (neither Nathan nor Ryan was hit, although Nathan likely made impact with some unlucky attendee upon forcefully returning the latter object back to the crowd), the show mercifully came to a screeching halt: Ryan ran offstage, throwing his drumsticks at Nathan. Infuriated, Nathan screamed into the mic, “Come back here, motherfucker, we’re not done yet!” Immediately, stage crew appeared, breaking down Ryan’s kit. “Fuck!” Nathan shouted, “Stop doing that!” They didn’t, so Nathan decided the show must go on. Helplessly, he strummed his guitar again, clearly intent on playing another song. But as he stepped back to the mic, he realized it had been cut. As the crowd booed, the house lights came up, and a defeated Nathan Williams threw his hands up and left, along with the few remaining attendees.”
Further Complication: “A day after spectacularly melting down onstage at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival, Cali noise-poppers Wavves have canceled tonight’s show, at Lisbon’s ZBD Gallery. Reportedly, the venue posted word of the cancellation just one hour before the show was set to begin. The venue’s announcement of the cancellation is in Portuguese, but Babelfish tells us that “health reasons of the vocalist” are to blame.
Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber, who is currently at the Primavera Festival, reports that Wavves missed their flight from Spain to Portugal. The band’s reps have yet to comment.”
Explanation: from Wavves’ blog, “I think in the back of my head I knew I wasn’t exactly mentally healthy enough to continue to tour the way I have been since February. Honest truth is this has all happened so fast and I feel like the weight of it has been building for months now with what seems like a never ending touring and press schedule which includes absolutely zero time to myself. I’m sorry to everyone who has put effort into this and to everyone who supported me. Mixing ecstasy valium and xanax before having to play in front of thousands of people was one of the more poor decisions I’ve made(duh) and I realize my drinking has been a problem now for a good period of time. Nothing else I can do but apologize to everyone that has been affected by my poor decision making. I made a mistake. Not the first mistake I’ve made and it for sure wont be the last. I’m human. Don’t know why I chose the biggest platform I could imagine to lose my shit, but that’s life. You live and you learn.”
Whatever will become of his mammoth EU tour?
05-30 Vigo, Spain – Mondon
06-01 Porto, Portugal – Rio
06-02 Bordeaux, France – Saint-Ex
06-03 Paris, France – Point Ephmere
06-04 Basel, Switzerland – Hirscheneck
06-05 Lausanne, Switzerland – Buzz Club
06-06 Milan, Italy – Vitamin C Days Closing Party
06-07 Munich, Germany – Babalu
06-08 Nuremberg, Germany – K4
06-10 Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser
06-11 Oslo, Norway – Garage Bar
06-12 Gothenburg, Sweden – Vasagatan
06-13 Malmo, Sweden – Debaser
06-14 Copenhagen, Denmark – Loppen
06-15 Hamburg, Germany – Molotow
06-16 Berlin, Germany – Festaal Kreuzberg
06-17 Cologne, Germany – Tsunami
06-18 Utrecht, Netherlands – Ekko
06-19 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
06-21 Oxford, England – Jericho Tavern
06-22 London, England – Luminere
06-23 Bristol, England – Cooler
06-24 Manchester, England – Deaf Institute
06-25 Glasgow, Scotland – Captains
06-26 Leeds, England – Cockpit
06-27 Cardiff, Wales – Clwb Ifor Bach
06-28 Nottingham, England – The Social
07-03 Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
07-15 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
07-18 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
Tags: wavves
