Chiodos Warn Overzealous Fans to Be Careful at Their Shows

In November 2008, Chiodos were playing before a packed, capacity crowd at New York City's Nokia Theater. In the balcony, a young fan was screaming every lyric, leaning over the railing and thrashing about like a madman. If I've ever seen someone possessed by music, it was this kid. He kept hanging over the railing and pointing at the stage as he screamed his lungs raw.

He tempted fate too many times, because in the blink of an eye, he tumbled over the side of the balcony and landed on his head, about 15 feet below. I was sure he broke his neck, back, legs and several other appendages. He was swallowed by the crowd and I couldn't tell if anyone even helped him up. A mere 10 minutes later, he was back on the balcony as if nothing had ever happened and continued to flail about and fell over a second time.

That's a fan.

When recounting this tale to Chiodos, the band expressed concern and a theory as to why fans go so buck wild at their shows. "I think we display ourselves on a personal level, and especially with the lyrics that have been written in the past and stuff," keyboardist Bradley Bell told Noisecreep. "It's really easy for a lot of people to relate to. With that demographic of age, people are looking for more things to hold on to with a deeper meaning and they can find that in our band."

While the band was flattered by that type of rampant passion, drummer Tanner Wayne said, "Be careful," while bassist Matt Goddard warned, "Don't get yourself hurt."

Bell continued, "I always felt bad when I heard people got hurt and stuff, but it's awesome that they're willing to let themselves go and just be themselves. And the more energy we receive from them, the more we can put into the shows."%VIRTUAL-globalVideoEmbed-{"videoIds":"517722939","width":"400","height":"346"}%