Vampire Weekend‘s latest trip to Australia as part of the Falls Festival lineup nearly ended on a sour note when a low-flying flare was launched on stage.
Bringing in the New Year at the Lorne leg of the festival, Vampire Weekend, specifically bassist Chris Baio, were lucky not to be injured when a flare was hurled at the stage while the band played ‘A-Punk’ off their 2008 self-titled debut. Footage of the incident has emerged showing the New York four-piece not skipping a beat as the blaze rages behind them.
“The conspiracy is that someone tried to kill Baio,” frontman Erza Koenig told Triple J Drive hosts Veronica and Lewis.
“We’ve seen multiple camera angles, and we’re slowly piecing it together,” added Thompson. “Someone lit a flare and threw it straight out into the crowd, and it hit someone in the head. Then you see that person pick it up and hurl it directly at Baio,” says the drummer.
“It missed Baio, fortunately, and it landed in a tangle of wires,” he continued. “And then they wasted a whole fire extinguisher on it, but because it’s a flare it wouldn’t go out. Then our badass guitar tech Andre reached in and grabbed it, and put it in a champagne bottle.”
The rest of the 2013-14 Falls Festival went down flare-free as Solange Knowles, The Roots, London Grammar, Neil Finn and MGMT took to Lorne, Marion Bay and a debut leg at Byron Bay.
Get amongst CraveOnlineAU on Twitter and Facebook for daily sport, music, entertainment and gaming news.
