Smith St Band Frontman Wil Wagner Slams Perth After Fight Disrupts Show

Wil Wagner, the frontman of The Smith Street Band, has long been a vocal force for good within the punk and wider music communities as an avid activist for community radio, gender equality and gig etiquette, among other issues.

However, after an incident at last night's show in Perth, at the Capitol, Wagner has found himself the subject of criticism from punters in attendance over his handling of a fight that broke out during — ironically, given the song's message — Death To The Lads.

According to our reviewer, "Wagner abruptly stopped playing mid-song when, to the side of stage, one punter decided to start throwing punches. What ensued was a lot of frustration and swearing from Wagner, who screamed at security to kick the guy out.

"An excited, agreeable roar from the crowd was then diminished when Wagner continued on to say, 'I just fucking want to play one show, without fucking idiots,' and 'You wonder why no fucking bands come to Perth.' … The atmosphere dwindled and a lot of boos and moans were heard after that."

So impacted was Wagner's mood that, a few songs later, he raised the issue again to "lecture the crowd on gig etiquette".

"He continued and dramatically said, 'For once in my life, I want to play a fucking song to fucking good people.' He continued, stating the only thing he will think about all night now is someone tried to start a fight and if there's always going to be people at shows causing trouble, then the band will have to break up. There wasn't too much coming back from that, and the crowd thinned out."

The chain of events — and Wagner's handling of them — have also been addressed on Facebook, where punters have turned to express their disappointment in the path of the evening. 

"As much as I am a fan of deterrents to violence, deterring violence WITH violence at your show tonight was completely and utterly pathetic," one fan wrote to the band. "To see a guy fighting in the crowd, and to crumble to the point of trying to fight him in return, completely nullifies every point you were trying to get across in all your statements."

"While it's all well and good to be passionate against violence," he continued, "I feel you abused your standing by taking an authoritative stance and pleading your case to the crowd, in full knowledge that the opposing party was silenced, and couldn't do the same."

His sentiments were echoed by others who attended the gig, with one writing, "That was tough to hear," in regards to Wagner's comments about Perth, while others took pains to demonstrate that a few bad apples shouldn't spoil the entire batch: "We love ya, and we were all supporting you in getting rid of that one shit bloke and not a single one of us watned to have that kind of person in our company. I know that almost every other person at your gig made friends within the crowd and hugged it out with strangers whilst screaming your lyrics at the top of our lungs … That's the side of the Perth fan base that should be remembered, not the singular fuckwit that destroyed your guys' night."

Others still clearly hold no ill will towards the band, instead offering purely apologetic messages. In the words of one: "Sorry that the few ruin it for the many in Perth. We love you Smithies, please keep coming to visit us."

Sadly, this is far from an isolated incident at punk (or, really, any) shows — in fact, the band's contemporaries and Poison City label-mates in Camp Cope recently overcame a similar situation in Brisbane, though the ultimate result was a little more positive.