Nach dem PARKWAY DRIVE eine ausverkaufte Show in Bisbane/Australien gespielt haben, gab es diverse Handgreiflichkeiten zwischen der Polizei und den jungen Fans (es handelte sich um eine All Ages-Show). Die Band veröffentlichte aufgrund dieser Zwischenfälle ein längeres Statement, dass man sich auf jeden Fall zu Gemüte führen sollte, da es einen erneut an diversen Obrigkeiten und ihrem Verstand zweifeln lässt. Hier das Statement:
"Ok, so it seems some shit needs to be cleared up after our shows at
the Arena in Brisbane last week. It seems like people can�t keep
their mouths shut when it comes to talking about events they have
no idea about, so I�m going to shed as much light as I can on events.
Both shows at the Arena were all ages and sold out , with 1200
people being let into the venue. That�s a lot of kids. Every band
played well, kids had fun, and it was basically like any other show
we�ve played. There was a police presence at the show (this is a
requirement for all ages events in Brisbane due to liquor licensing
laws, which we knew about before the show and had no problem with)
which we didn�t notice until people started being ejected from the
show for doing whatever. We freaked out a bit when we saw kids
being arrested and what not but once we had shit explained to us we
let them do their job.
So basically we had no problem with the way the show was being run
until we saw the way some of the security was handling some of the
kids. If a kid is �crowd surfing� or on top of someone for whatever
reason, I highly doubt the safest way to help them down is in an
arm or head lock. This was an all age�s show. The majority of the
people there were under 18. These are kids, not raging fucking pub
drunks. They need to be helped over the barrier not dragged out in
some kind of choke hold.
Anyway, given all these facts we still played the show like we did
any other. We had fun. Kids had fun. I haven�t heard of any major
injuries, which is amazing considering how many kids were there. No
one jumped off the speaker stacks or stage, unlike at the KSE /
Lamb of God show. Yes, I yelled at kids to mosh and run in circles.
No, I didn�t tell kids to �hurt someone� or any other bullshit, and
I especially did not provoke an violence of any kind, be it verbal
or physical towards the police or security staff. Yes I did tell
kids to look after one another and stay safe, as I always do at shows.
In the end the show finished. We we�re stoked. The police went
crazy out side for some reason. We�re not too sure about that one.
We we�re inside packing up. All I saw was kids being herded down
the street by dogs while I tried to find my little sister, then
being told to �get the fuck back inside� by some helpful officer.
The next day we arrived to play again. We had a security meeting
with the venue manager, the security, and the police, in which we
were informed that the previous show was the most out of control
show they had had at the Arena EVER. It seems a lot of 16 year old
kids with long fringes dressed in black are far more scary towards
the crew of middle aged, largely built bouncers / security
officers than we had previously thought possible. They told us to
tell kids to calm down. The police told us that when kids go crazy
we should �play slower�. Thanks for that one. Anyone who was there
on the second night will be able to remember EVERY BAND going out
of their way to ask kids to respect the venue, the security and the
police and to take care of each other. So that�s it. Bit of an anti
climax. We didn�t kill anyone. We didn�t incite a riot. We played
in the same way we always have and will. If anyone still want to
blame us for anything, go for it, but you�re a fucking moron. I
guess the one thing we all learned from this is if you want to
scare the shit of a team of security dead heads, just make sure you
weigh less than 60 kg, dress in black and have a fringe than
impairs your vision in any way possible.
For the record there were so many great security guys on duty both
nights who were actually really good with the kids as well as us.
This is not an attack on the venue in anyway, it simply states what
we saw and experienced over the two nights we played. Winston and Luke|Parkway Drive"
