Best known for the theme song to Shrek and – as a result – early naughties anthem All Star, Californian alt punk group Smash Mouth also had a career of playing aggressive ska punk before they reverted into the nonthreatening child-friendly sounds that soundtrack a film about an ogre. For most of their careers, they’ve stayed largely under the radar. Until now.
Over the weekend at the Taste of Fort Collins street festival in Colorado, lead singer of the band Steve Harwell showed that he’s still punk, but in the strangest way. While some festivals might give out some branded sunglasses or water bottles to punters as gifts on entrance, apparently Taste of Fort Collins gives loaves of bread. Just go with it, this story gets more strange.
So what does one do with free loaves of bread at a festival? Well, one punter did what I’m sure many of us would want to do with their loaves, and began throwing it at the band in the middle of their set. Front man Harwell got real angry real quick, swearing and challenging the bread-tosser to duke it out. He then left the stage before being restrained by security leaving the rest of the band awkwardly trying to fill the void in the set by busting out their most well known song, All Star. Consequently, it wasn’t long before the set was quickly wrapped up.
Thank god it finished early, I don’t want to think about what that fight might’ve looked like:
But seriously, throwing stuff at bands isn’t cool. Let them perform in peace without having shit thrown at them for doing their job. If you don’t like what’s happening on stage, take advantage of your surroundings and find something else to occupy your time with. No one, not even Smash Mouth deserves to have stuff thrown at them. Especially bread.