SXSW 2011: Odd Future insult and shortchange fans
AUSTIN, Texas --- Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All has built a reputation as hip-hop's most transgressive act, the new underlords of twistedness.
But in their penultimate concert at the South by Southwest Music Conference early Sunday morning at Buffalo Billiards, the hip-hop collective flipped off their fans, barked at the sound engineer and then walked offstage after performing only 15 minutes. Confused fans, many of whom had waited for hours and paid $20, hung around for a few minutes, perhaps anticipating an encore. But Odd Future was gone for good.
In previous performances at the conference, the group had been lauded for its high-energy onslaught, a furious, stage-diving, speaker-climbing, water-bottle-throwing spectacle awash in sweat and testosterone, and vulgar tales of gore, debauchery, cannibalism and deviant sex all presented under the guise of humor and over-the-top entertainment, a gleeful "up-yours" to the grown-ups. Or something like that. I'm willing to give the group a second chance -- a few snippets of lyrics in the three songs they actually performed suggested a knack for complex, internal rhyme schemes and a hint of introspection that might provide a context for all those horror fantasies. "Friction ... contradiction ... it's my composition." Well, yes, that about sums up what it feels like to be a teenage street kid from Los Angeles, which is what most members of Odd Future are.
But even teen rebels should know better than to insult their fans. When Johnny Rotten addressed the final audience the original Sex Pistols would ever play for in 1978, he asked, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" He walked off and the band broke up. I doubt Odd Future will break up (though it would be the ultimate rebellious gesture in a career founded on doing the "wrong" thing at all times), but they sure cheated their fans on this night. At the very least Odd Future owes them a refund.
Haha you do not get it. At all.
Posted by: Treekeeper | March 20, 2011 at 03:03 AM
sucked in ahahaha i dont give a (expletive) cause i wasnt at the show
eat a (expletive) greg
Posted by: greg | March 20, 2011 at 03:51 AM
yeah, they do.. i dont know the specifics of why they left but i know they really care about their fanbase no matter what..
their still VERY immature and its hard to blame them due to their age, but they come off as punks alot of the time lol
their very talented and bringing back a new type of energy into hip hop though, theres no denying that. i hope they can learn from this.. whatever happened.
Posted by: fdajfdalkfjladf | March 20, 2011 at 05:10 AM
It looks like they also stole one of our wireless microphones.
I'm all for some on-stage debauchery, but insulting your sound guy and destroying his equipment is like pissing off someone who prepares your food.
Even the night before, a punk band was destroying their instruments and abusing their mics... But they had the sense to make sure it was only their equipment they brought and placed in harms way.
A band who has no concern for their fans or people they work with shouldn't be on stage.
End of story.
Posted by: Christopher Henderson | March 20, 2011 at 05:26 AM
Imagine that... A hip hop group acting direspectful to their audience, and performing a lousy, short set that wasn't worth the money. Who'd a thunk?
Rock is dead... Long live rock.
Posted by: Shaun | March 20, 2011 at 09:24 AM
What about the other 6 shows they did at SXSW? I heard that they were pretty amazing at the Thrasher party and the Mess with Texas show.
Posted by: Chip | March 20, 2011 at 10:51 AM
Oh please one hip hop group acts like a bunch of idiots and you throw the whole genre under the bus give me a break. There's been countless rock acts who have done the exact same thing
Posted by: Shaun is an idiot | March 20, 2011 at 12:04 PM
Syd is their sound manager and is the only girl part of Odd Future and the "Syd shut the **** up" line is part of the song YONKERS. And flipping off the crowd? Have you ever looked at videos of their concerts? The fans flick off Odd Future the whole time, its a sign of affection for them. Your too old to get it.
Posted by: Josh | March 20, 2011 at 01:00 PM
hell yeh shaun rap is crap lol!!!!
idiot.
Posted by: dicktown | March 20, 2011 at 01:03 PM
A bit of investigation finds, on twitter, heartfelt apologies by OF and their management, and descriptions of problems with the security hired by the venue. All make a point of praising Billboard and making it clear that the venue, rather than the organizer, was responsible for the difficulty. This took me three minutes.
Posted by: Ben | March 20, 2011 at 02:12 PM
(expletive) need ta get their facts strait nd stop talkin bad on ofwgkta b4 tyler come nd kill you all (dada) ofwgkta4L
Posted by: paul kiddd | March 20, 2011 at 04:39 PM
greg kot's a lazy writer
Posted by: mark | March 20, 2011 at 06:15 PM
haha bad reporting. some dude has already made the comment about how tyler has said it wasnt billboards fault on his twitte. when you go to an odd future show u expect to see chaos. not (expletive) with their arms folded. they bring energy and if you dont wana respond to that energy then dont be there. i'd have smashed (expletive) in the mouth if i saw them standing still. its not just a show its an event. you gotta go crazy.
Posted by: JRG | March 21, 2011 at 06:53 AM
I change the station every time they play those guys on Sirius XMU. Can't stand it.
Posted by: thedudeabides | March 21, 2011 at 08:49 AM
The Billboard showcase was never going to be the best place to see them, but more in a more natural environment such as the Fader Fort. The official showcases are great but make it very difficult to judge an upcoming band not performing in front of their home grown audience.
Posted by: M Boogie | March 21, 2011 at 05:17 PM
They are juggalos. Black Juggaloes plain and simple
Posted by: thatpimprod | March 22, 2011 at 12:17 PM
Don't believe the hype.
Posted by: brt | March 22, 2011 at 10:52 PM
Odd Future don't respect their fans?
Watch this then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgE48Xplcxo
Warning: Alotta (expletives) in this lol but hes passionate
Posted by: Decapitatah | March 25, 2011 at 07:55 AM
@thatpimprod
OddFuture is nothing like icp in any kind of way icp and all jugalos are ignorant and stupid Thats just ridiculous that you would compare them to OddFuture
Posted by: oRION | April 30, 2011 at 05:39 PM