Watch Citizen Tangle With Security At House Of Blues Show

Michigan/Ohio-bred five-piece Citizen got a little too close for comfort with venue security at a House Of Blues show in San Diego at the weekend, with frontman Matt Kerekes following in Parker Cannon's footsteps when bouncers apparently became a little overzealous in their handling of the crowd.

Captured in a fan-shot video uploaded to YouTube (and another to Instagram), the altercation can be seen to arise during one of Citizen's songs as guards begin to push back against the young crowd (the gig didn't have any barricades). Kerekes pulls aside a guard to have a lengthy exchange during the song, before — at about the 1:20 mark, if you want to get right to it — something happens and all hell breaks loose. The song stops, people start jumping on each other and throwing punches — it's a total mess.

There is some dispute over the exact catalyst for the altercation (people in the crowd who have since posted about it swear it was all security's fault, but they would, honestly), and the video doesn't exactly clear that up, but what we do see — and what has been highlighted ad nauseum by those in attendance — is Kerekes not standing even a little idly by while bouncers get physical with his band's fans.

The venue has remained tight-lipped about the incident, despite some needling posts from punters on its Facebook page, but the band has offered some post-brawl reflection, indicating that, with the dust settled, all has been squared away — but we still don't know what caused it all to fall apart in the first place.