Jay Reatard comments on chaos in Toronto

Acclaimed Memphis–based garage rocker Jay Reatard posted the following message regarding a recent Toronto performance. The Reatards and Lost Sounds member commented:

Last night's show in Toronto got completely fucked up. The Silver Dollar holds 190 people but Craig Laskey the promoter let 350 people in there. That's cool if there's some sort of security or crowd control – we don't need people getting so wild they jump on stage and smash our gear – but that's exactly what happened. Right when we started playing someone pushed the monitors right on top of Stephen and on to his pedals – breaking them, people were throwing beer bottles at us, a someone jumped onstage and smashed my pedals, another guy took a full pitcher of beer and dumped it all over the rest of my pedals, and then threw it right at my Flying V, breaking the pickup and the input electronics. After three songs all our gear was smashed and unusable. Even when shit gets that crazy at Circle Jerks show there's at least some security but when I asked Craig Laskey about it before the show he told me "I thought you guys were a garage band." When we couldn't play anymore I hung out and talked to people, refunded people's money out of my own pocket, and tried to borrow gear and finish the set a bit later but Dan Burke wouldn't get off the stage, too busy talking trash about me.

I'm getting really sick of shit like this happening. We'll come back in Toronto soon and do a free show to make it up to the real fans in Toronto. And we'll steer away from greedy promoters who don't have any control of their shows and who don't care about doing right by the audience.