Sometimes going to concerts while female feels more risky than entertaining, especially if you decide to crowd surf, subsequently making yourself vulnerable to handy attendees. However, bands who call out this kind of behavior can lead by example and make shows much more safer for female audiences.
On Friday night during a show in Amsterdam, U.K. metalcore band the Architects did just that when they announced that there was no place for that behavior.
In the now-viral clip from the show’s broadcast, Sam Carter, the band’s frontman, is seen stopping their performance at the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands to call out a man he had seen groping a crowd surfer.
“I’ve been going over in my fucking mind whether I should say something about what I saw in that last song. And, do you know what, I am going to fucking say it,” Carter said. “I saw a girl, a woman, crowd surfing over here. And I’m not going to fucking point out the piece of shit who did it, but I saw you fucking grab at her boob.”
“I saw it. It is fucking disgusting and there is no fucking place for that shit,” he continued. “It’s not your fucking body, it is not your fucking body, and you do not fucking grab at someone, not at my fucking show. So if you feel like doing that again, walk out there, and fuck off and don’t come back. Let’s keep this going. Let’s keep this a fucking safe place for everybody, and let’s have a fucking good time.”
People have thanked Carter on Twitter for speaking up.
https://twitter.com/LZA/status/898649403124088832
@samarchitects thank you for saying something, it makes me so happy to see that people are talking about this issue instead of ignoring it
— cait (@prayfordistance) August 19, 2017
Gigs should be a safe place for everyone to go to & love the music x
— Stephen Holt (@StephenEHolt) August 19, 2017
Carter could have done the women of the venue one better by straight up pointing out the assailant and having security remove him, but fans have suggested the possibility on Twitter that while he saw it happen, he didn’t have a clear idea of what the groper looked like. Other fans responding to the video suggested that Carter passed on identifying the man to prevent the crowd from rioting and beating the shit out of him/.
Glad you spoke out, but better would have been you pointing out the sexual assaulter & having them thrown out & arrested.
— Peaches Mon Cherrie' (@shazamarama1) August 19, 2017
More than words.
https://twitter.com/crggle/status/898834292419067905
To be fair, if he'd pointed him out the guy prob would've been beaten. Now, not to say he didn't deserve a slap, but it might've started sth
— Amy :) (@AmyToTheK) August 19, 2017
Watch Carter and the Architects call out the groper below:
https://twitter.com/3FM/status/898632375772602368