Lincoln Center Gets Punked

The first night of a free punk-rock event held at Damrosch Park at NYC’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Jan 3-4 was either a success or a mess, depending on who’s talking.

The New York Post reported the two-day Rock & Roll Circus, reportedly patterned after Mick Jagger’s 1968 event of the same name, turned into a “mini-riot” Jan. 3 during Brooklyn-based band Japanther’s set when about 100 people allegedly rushed the stage.

One 18-year-old girl was quoted by the Post as saying, “ I thought I was going to die in there” when fans began crowd-surfing.

The concert, which drew about 1,000 people, was held in the tent used by the Big Apple Circus, which co-produced the event.
However, organizers told Rolling Stone that Japanther’s fans were just being themselves, not violent.

“A mosh pit started. It’s a Japanther show. They’re kids, they get crazy,” co-producer Adarsha Benjamin told RS. “The security didn’t deal with it, and they got really aggressive. They called it a riot, but it really wasn’t a riot, it was a mosh pit. It was punk rock and people don’t know how to handle it.”

The situation reportedly calmed down when security escorted some of the rowdy folk away from the premises.

Also on the bill were Ariel Pink, The Pharmacy, Voxhaul Broadcast, Saint Motel and Aska and Nick Zinner of Big Apple Circus.