Modified On October 18, 2006
Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy saw a fan emerge from the shadows during a set at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, MO, the other night, says the website Pitchfork:
According to an anonymous Pitchfork reader, Tweedy punched a rowdy fan in the face about 30 minutes into Wilco’s set yesterday evening. “So some dude jumps on the stage,” the reader claims. “After he gets on stage (who really does this at a Wilco show?), he runs up to Tweedy to give him a fat smooch on his cheek.
“Tweedy… grabs the dude by his throat. While clinching to his throat, Jeff hauls off and decks him with a punch/open hand slap/shove to the face and [the] dude skirmishes away. Tweedy later apologizes (sort of) and hurries to the point of the set where they bow out before the encore.”
Pat Hagin, managing partner of the firm that promoted the show said:
This guy [the fan] was an idiot. There’s this video of Keith Richards taking his guitar to somebody getting on stage, it wasn’t certainly anything like that. But he [Tweedy] certainly has a right and a need in my mind to feel safe onstage.
Read the entire account on PitchforkMedia.com.