There’s a lot that can go down in a crowd during a concert, and it’s a bit more noticeable as an artist on stage looking into the audience. You’ll see fans singing or rapping lyrics back to you, the occasional moshpit, or someone during their best to record a moment during the show. On the flip side, it’s not always smiles and good moments that you’ll see in the crowd. Let Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder tell it as he recently threw a fan out of a show in Zurich after he saw them hit another person during the performance.
It all went down as the band played “Animal” from their 1993 album Vs. and other people at the show caught the whole ordeal on camera. “Turn the lights on, please,” Vedder said to the venue’s stage crew. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey — I saw the whole thing! I know, it was annoying you. You were bummed out ‘cause he was filming the whole time. Has it been the whole show or just now? Just now when I came over? Was it the whole time? Yeah, you film like everyone.”
He continued, “The thing is, I know it upset ya, but you can’t fuckin’ hit him in the back of the head either, even though you’re a woman. I appreciate the fact that you can be strong.” Vedder concluded by requesting that the woman be removed from the show. “Quit hitting him, you’re out of here,” he said. “Violence is not allowed. I’m sorry ma’am, there’s no violence allowed. You could’ve waved to me, I was lookin’ right at you. Sorry about that, it’s just not cool. We’re not hittin’ people here. Sorry.”
You can watch Vedder kick out the fan in the video above.
