The Eagles of Death Metal were playnig a show at the Opera House in Toronto on May 7, when some sort of altercation broke out and someone got their ear bitten off. Whether or not it was Mike Tyson style, I'm not sure, but Aux.TV reports a few sides of the story, and we'll start with General Manager of the venue, Athena Ellinas-Towers.
“I didn’t witness anything, but there was a confrontation between two individuals. It was brought to my attention by the medical attention. The one gentleman that instigated the whole thing was arrested and charged. I’m not sure of the charges; I just saw him being arrested. The police haven’t followed up with me yet. We called them because this is a serious offence.”
“A customer picked it up, because I didn’t know where it was. She put it on ice and we gave it to the ambulance when they arrived. I asked the police to follow up with me but they never did. This is a first, let’s say. I didn’t actually believe it when someone came up to me and told me what happened. It’s just bizarre.”
Apparently the show was a bit of a shit show too, according to Will Schatz, sound guy for the venue. Schatz says that he didn't really see it because he was too busy dealing with assholes.
“I missed all of that so I don’t really know what, how, or why,” he explains. “The same time that happened someone threw a drink on the sound board. Liquid got in the board and disabled four faders. I was busy trying to keep the console working so the show wouldn’t stop. That was the craziest Toronto crowd I have ever seen. Not the usual sleepy Toronto crowd.”
“It happened at the same moment that Jesse [Hughes] went on the balcony to play guitar so lots of people missed it,” Schatz continues. “All the stories I have heard were different degrees of two guys fighting. One guy was crazy and bit the other dude’s ear off. Then it turned into stories of a brawl where a guy got his ear bit off, then stories about the ear being walked on until someone was able to get it in a cup of ice. It keeps getting more and more exaggerated.”
Concertgoer Alan Cross also tells the story.
“Some guys just got into a fight in front of us and the one guy bit off the other guys ear. I am not joking. It was the most fucked up thing I have ever seen. We had to get security to pick up his ear in case they can fix it. Just sharing because it happened right where we were all standing.”
Look, I didn't think we'd have to make this PSA, but don't bite people's fucking ears off please. It's just a show, and it's probably some drunk dickhead. Just flag security down.
