Spinner

Phoenix Cut Set Short in Chicago

As part of Chicago local radio station XRT's Big Holiday Show with headliner the Flaming Lips, Phoenix were set to dazzle the crowd at All State Arena Friday night with chestnuts from their acclaimed record, 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix', when the station's spokesperson gave the crowd some disappointing news: Phoenix's touring drummer, Thomas Hedlund, had a family emergency and would not be in attendance for the show.

Because of this last minute snafu, Phoenix opted to play a brief acoustic show without him instead. The crowd appeared crestfallen and confused, but the alternative would have been no show at all. The four-piece lined up on the bare bones stage and played four stripped down songs before abruptly ending their set.

Lead singer Thomas Mars profusely apologized to the attendees, some of whom booed, and assured them they were receiving something special.

Despite performing in a mid-sized stadium, the minimalistic show worked to the band's advantage giving their songs a more intimate feel. They opened with a pretty and downtempo version of 'Lisztomania,' then followed it with 'One Time Too Many' from 'Wolfgang' predecessor 'It's Never Been Like That.' A subdued version of breakthrough song 'Everything is Everything' -- the complete antithesis of the original -- featured Mars singing alone with just one guitarist by his side. The song was so quiet the crowd could be heard chatting over it.

Phoenix ended their all too brief yet memorable set on the ubiquitous '1901' and engaged the crowd long enough for them to shout out the lyrics to the chorus.

It remains unclear if the emergency will affect any of Phoenix's upcoming shows, but we send best wishes their way.

All the AOL Music info you want to know

50 Cent, Street King: Rapper Visits…

The Boombox

AP Photo/World Food Programme, Rose Ogola NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Rapper 50 Cent…

Grammy Acceptance Speeches: Watch 30…

AOL Music Blog

FilmMagic, Getty, WireImage It's been a busy week for God. Besides helping…

Earl Sweatshirt Returns, Releases New…

The Boombox

YouTube.com Ironically, Earl Sweatshirt was one of the most visible members…

See all AOL Music »

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

10 Comments

Filter by:
Joe

I was there, and I was booing. I bought the ticket for the sole purpose of Phoenix, and hearing them play songs acoustically was just awful. Their songs are not meant to be played like that, and I would have much rather them not perform at all, then ruin their songs like that.

December 20 2009 at 11:17 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

Flaming Lips FTW

December 13 2009 at 8:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Heather

I was there. I booed. They deserved it. Drummer's family emergency shouldn't have anything to do with entire band going acoustic and copping out on a show. Drummer was not there and dealing with his family emergency - understandable. Rest of the band? No excuse. The acoustic show was not "special." Was played with no energy and no heart. They're slated to play in LA tonight - see if the drummer still has "family emergency" or not.

December 13 2009 at 7:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Heather's comment
stevek

Really? They deserved it? You know all of the facts of what happened to them? I wish I was as well-connected and informed as you seem to be.

December 14 2009 at 9:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tom

They played a full set in San Diego on Saturday.

Not sure what the family emergency was but either they got a new drummer or he showed up at that show.

I didn't boo, but am disappointed. That was a horrible event by XRT, cost far too much for far too little.

December 14 2009 at 6:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Garin Pirnia

I unfortunately did hear some people around me boo. I agree. It was better than nothing. The songs they did play were fantastic, but it just left me wanting more. Sigh.

December 12 2009 at 5:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Garin Pirnia's comment
Pete

I was there as well, I think everyone was totally bummed as I am sure Phoenix was too. If you think about it from their point of view, you're opening up for the friggin' Flaming Lips, who I think saved the night, and you can't perform 100%, its got to be a big let down. I just hope they can come back to Chi-town soon and rock out!

December 13 2009 at 2:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kmr

I was there. No one booed. It was a disappointment, but what can you do? At least we got a couple songs.

December 12 2009 at 5:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to kmr's comment
Doug

I was there and heard a handful of boos, but they were really quickly drowned out by massive cheering.

December 12 2009 at 6:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
stevek

I was there, too, and I heard a couple of idiots booing, but 99.9% of the people did not boo. I was very disappointed, of course, as Phoenix was the primary purpose I attended, but it still was an awesome show.

If you're going to blog/report, please try to do so accurately.

December 12 2009 at 7:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply