Every year, South By Southwest coverage seems to include stories of concert-goers turned away by tiny venues and the occasional ensuing police intervention. Here are several noteworthy incidents from the recently wrapped SXSW ’11 edition, which includes Screeching Weasel frontman Ben Weasel punching a woman in the face.
reports that overcrowding outside the not-so-secret reunion show for Toronto duo Death From Above 1979 led to gate-crashing and a riot. Cops and security restored order and the band eventually finished their set, but only after…
mounted police arrived and, in a show of force, rode straight through the crowd using mace and tasers to divide them and, in the case of one blonde female officer, hand-beating a particularly aggressive rioter.
Video of the cops' arrival, Ben Weasel's poor decision-making, and details of the OMD mishap after the jump.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.