Vegas Bar Calls Off Show Due To Threats Of Violence

Adam / Wikipedia via Flickr – Life of Agony
https://www.flickr.com/photos/asw909/4045748523/

Beauty Bar Las Vegas canceled a May 19 performance from Life Of Agony when management and the bands learned a fan may have been plotting an incident of mass violence.

“Imagine knowing exactly the moment that you’re going to die. I know exactly that your favorite song will be playing. By your favorite band. It’s just too perfect,” a woman wrote to a friend in text messages in the days leading up to the concert, according to KTNV-TV. 

She also wrote messages like “I have the means, motives, and brains,” “Vegas will lose its luster after me,” and “Who knows? Maybe I will start a movement. Another me-too movement. But this time in which women feel empowered enough to become serial killers.”

Police got wind of the text messages and the woman was arrested for terroristic threats on the morning of May 17, but she was out on bail before the concert was scheduled to take place, according to KTNV-TV.

“We were lucky that metro [police] had the foresight to get a hold of my husband let him know, and we were able to get a hold of the bands and let them know,” Beauty Bar Las Vegas owner Roxie Amoroso told Pollstar. Once everyone was informed, it was decided that the show should be called off.

“A little update on the Las Vegas show cancellation,” Life Of Agony wrote on its Facebook May 19. “Safety for our fans is always our number one priority, so once we were notified by law enforcement about a possible threat to the venue, we felt it was in everyone’s best interest to cancel the show as a precaution, since the investigation was still active. We plan to reschedule a new date at a later time once it’s resolved.

“The band is very disappointed that we couldn’t play, but we are also very thankful that everyone is safe and sound.”

The arrested woman is a teacher at a local high school and has been placed on administrative leave. 

At Pollstar Live! this year SHO Services co-founder and CEO Ross Hollman stressed the importance of individuals speaking out the moment they identify potential for a dangerous situation.

“I think that ‘If you see something, say something,’ that’s been around for a long time, we see it in airports, it was in the subways in New York long before it was adopted nationally,” Hollman said. ““It’s been so beaten to death for so long that no one is really paying attention to it. So how do you reframe that in such a way that people are living that without hammering home a message that, in my opinion, [people] have a little bit started to ignore?”

The International Association of Venue Managers, American Airlines Center, and the Dallas Independent School District announced last week they were launching an outreach program for active shooter prevention training, titled “See, Say, Do Something.”

 

Beauty Bar Las Vegas’s next show will feature Agent Orange May 24. Life of Agony performs with Powerflo tonight (May 22) at Brick By Brick in San Diego.