Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard ripped out his in-ears, threw down his guitar and then knocked out his mic stand before walking off stage at a gig last week, leaving everyone to wonder what was going on.
A video clip was making the rounds on the Internet and judging from the clip it looked like Ben was having some issues with his equipment. Many fans in attendance also reported that a fight had broken out in the audience near the front of the stage as well. Death Cab For Cutie bassist Nick Hamer recently spoke to Billboard and he says that both the fight and Ben’s technical issues contributed to his reasons for leaving.
“It’s kind of a non-story really. It got spun as we left the stage mid-set. It was the last 20 seconds of the last song and all of Ben’s equipment failed at the exact kind of unrelated moment there was a giant fight in front of us. We would’ve finished the song but we’re all feeling a little skittish after Orlando and things were just—we weren’t sure what was happening,” Nick told Billboard. “Suddenly, there was this moment in the crowd where we don’t see this kind of energy happen in front of us. It’s kind of scary, so we stop as a band thinking somebody’s hurt or something’s happening, but that also just happened to coincide with the same other thing that was happening with Ben and all of his gear problems.”
Fans in attendance did note that the band and Ben returned to the stage for an encore after Ben originally walked out.
