Spiritbox's Courtney LaPlante Kicks Alleged Violent Fan Out Of US Show

"This show is not gonna continue until we make sure everybody out there is safe," LaPlante told the audience.

Courtney LaPlante, lead vocalist of the Canadian heavy metal band Spiritbox, has made headlines after kicking an alleged violent fan out of a show in Phoenix, Arizona last week (15 July), with footage of the incident now circulating online.

Spiritbox performed at the Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre last week, opening for Evanescence. Pausing before performing the band’s Grammy-nominated single Soft Spine, LaPlante claimed there was somebody in the crowd “hurting everybody.”

“Zev [Rose, drummer] is taller than us, and he’s up on the kit, and he sees some fucker right now,” LaPlante said in video footage you can watch below, via The PRP.

She continued, “This show is not gonna continue until we make sure everybody out there is safe. So, I need you guys to be tattletales: who’s the fucking freak that’s hurting everybody? Point him out… Point him out. He went that way? Well, guess what, fucker? We all saw you, and we know where you are. Your ass is gonna get kicked the fuck out.”

After pointing out that the alleged unruly punter would be kicked out of the show, LaPlante turned her attention to people who may have been hurt in the audience.

“Hey, are you OK, bud?” she asked. “I know that you didn’t mean to draw attention. I’m sorry to draw attention to you, but that’s fucked up, OK? This isn’t the damn gold medal karate match, OK? This is a rock’n’roll show. Alright, it looks like security’s got him. Let that be a lesson to anybody out there who fucks around tonight.

“Because our security, they’re very nice and they love you guys. But they have let me know that if they have to, they will baptise a motherfucker and they will tune you up. Because what’s most important is safety, right? So, if anybody falls down, what are you going to do? You’re going to pick them up, OK?”

You can watch the video below.

Spiritbox continue to open shows for Evanescence across the US this month and head to the UK and Europe in September, where they’ll be joined by special guests Jinjer and Dying Wish.

The band visited Australia for the first time in March 2023, appearing at the inaugural edition of Knotfest Australia and holding their debut performance on our shores at Melbourne’s Forum.

They haven’t been back since then, and fans have been waiting to hear songs from their new album, Tsunami Sea, live.