Photo by Tom Spray
Sacramento noise-rap duo Death Grips were supposed to play Royale tonight, but like their shows last year at T.T. The Bear’s Place and the Sinclair, it ended up getting cancelled.
Why?
Because the Death Grips show scheduled to go down tonight at Royale wasn’t really a show at all. After Pictureplane’s scheduled opening performance, fans of the band would be treated to a giant suicide note displayed on stage, a single drum set up, and one of the band’s handlers backstage pressing “play” on pre-recorded music. No word on whether it would have been an actual compact disc or an iPhone.
Neither Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett or Zach Hill would appear on stage or play or sing or jump around or anything. So not only would Death Grips not be performing, but they wouldn’t even be at the venue. Or in the city.
Bowery pulled the plug on the show over the weekend when they learned of the set-up, and apparently Death Grips’ booking agents and managers had no idea this was what the band passed off as a live performance until the shit hit the fan at Lollapalooza, where fans destroyed the band’s equipment and got really agitated at the perceived “no show.”
Since the Lolla incident, an appearance at Osheaga Festival in Montreal and gigs in Baltimore and New York, in addition to the Boston date, have also been nixed.
According to the band’s Facebook, they have a gig August 24 at Los Angeles’ FYF Fest, but who knows what will happen.
NOTE: For those bummed about missing Pictureplane, he’ll be DJing at the SVVIM party tonight at Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge.