Black Lips flee from a scandalised India

We could say it was only a matter of time before their true onstage avatars spilled over. The Black Lips concert in India came to a screeching halt in Chennai’s Sir Mutha Venkata Subbarao Concert Hall on Friday, Jan 23. Indie band Black Lips had played a relatively sober tour till then. The quartet infamous for its onstage antics, were in the middle of much anticipated Campus Rock Idol tour, in foreign-act-starved India.

With mooning, nude acts, snogging, pissing and vomiting being a part of their act, the band had assured worried sponsors and also stated in interviews, that they would tone down the nature of their stage show. Yet, sans a very warm reception in Pune (where crowds pelted them with plastic bottles), and an unenthusiastic sit down concert in Mumbai, by the time the band reached Chennai, they probably threw caution to wind.

While mixed reviews came about what exactly went down in Chennai, the ongoing consensus seems to be that the band did get onto stage slightly inebriated. The crowd apparently absolutely loved the show, as the band even pointed out on their blog. Then Cole Alexander (guitars) and Ian Saint Pé (guitars) started making out, mooned the crowd, forgetting, as they turned around to pull their trousers up.

With furious organisers and Chennai’s cops behind them, Black Lips literally fled the country, and escaped via a mid night flight. On the their blog the band says:

“Dear fans, Unfortunately, we have had to flee the country of India due to having our whole tour canceled and having to escape being held by police for indecent exposure during our most raukous set in Chennai at the Campus Rock Idol showcase.” They go on to say, “they tried to get security to restrain us until the Tamil police arrived. We locked the door while they were kicking and banging on it. Meanwhile, we slipped out the other emergency exit.”

Taking the decision to flee the country, Black Lips drove across the border to catch a flight, when they heard that conditions in Chennai’s jails were not exactly very friendly, or hygienic. Pretty much summed up by them: "This was a cultural clashing shit storm.” However, the band does add that they enjoyed performing in India, and add an encouraging note to future rock bands who would perform in India.

Ok, wrong country to pull these tactics, but there's a very valid argument for freedom of creativity. A band just having fun, eh? (Let's just hope self-appointed moral police aren't reading this.)