Pigeon-Gate – Why Kings Of Leon Were Right To Abandon Their Gig

Kings Of Leon abandoned a gig at the weekend (July 23) after being beset by pigeon droppings. Here, Daniel Balk of support band The Postelles defends the band’s actions

The first clue we had that something was not quite right was when we were sound-checking. Our drummer Billy was setting up his drums, and a baby bird fell out of the rafters and died. That kind of thing doesn’t usually happen. It freaked us out.

Then when we went on, the scale of the problem became obvious. Pigeons were shitting everywhere. Our bass player John had to clean his amp because it got totally smashed with this stuff. He spent the whole gig ducking, trying to get out of the way of the droppings. Fortunately he’s quick on his toes.

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Footage of the incident. You can see Caleb wipe his face at the end

The problem was made even worse by the heat – it was 110 degrees out there, so you can imagine how unpleasant it was.

After we played we went out to the mixing desk, in amongst the crowd, to watch Kings Of Leon – but at that point the birds just started going even more crazy. After three songs the band quit the stage and 15,000 people were left wondering what was going on. It was a little scary, to be honest. There was a lot of anger.

But I can totally understand why the band did what they did. You simply could not play in those conditions. And it’s potentially dangerous: you get bird shit in your mouth, you’re gonna need medical attention.

This is not something Kings Of Leon would have done lightly. They’re great guys, very humble, and I’m sure they’ll come back and repay their fans. They’re an amazing rock and roll band. They just didn’t want to get hurt.

As for us, we’re just happy to be a part of this strange little footnote in rock history. It’s pretty amazing how much attention this story has got. It’s pretty hilarious I guess, and certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I hope so, anyway.

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