American group Wavves have been forced to cancel their entire UK tour after singer Nathan Williams gave a disastrous performance at the Primavera festival.
As far as first impressions go, Wavves current European tour probably hasn’t gone the way they wanted it to. Signed to cult independent label Fat Possum, the band had scheduled a raft of European shows which will now have to be cancelled.
Led by Nathan Williams, the band’s slacker rock has already won a devoted following, many of whom were in attendance at Barcelona’s Primavera festival at the weekend. Held in the beautiful Spanish city, Primavera has built a reputation as one of Europe’s premiere events.
None of which explains what happens at Wavves’ show. With the pressure on, Nathan Williams spent the duration of hit slot strumming random chords on his guitar, making frequent complaints about the sound.
Mocking the crowd during the set, engineers eventually cut the power to the stage. As the band left, drummer Ryan Ulsh poured a cup of beer over the singer’s head.
Bizarre and infuriating, it comes as the band bask in the glow of the critical praise lavished on second album ‘Wavvves’. In a statement Nathan Williams claimed that he had consumed a large quantity of drugs just before going onstage.
Williams told fans on the band’s blog:
“I’m sorry to everyone who has put effort into this and to everyone who supported me. Mixing ecstasy, valium and xanax before having to play in front of thousands of people was one of the more poor decisions I’ve made (duh) and I realize my drinking has been a problem now for a good period of time.”
The blog post has since been removed. As a result of the Primavera disaster the band have flown home, cancelling their entire UK tour in the process. Due to begin on June 21st, the tour dates will be re-arranged later in the year.
In one of those coincidences that only real life can script, Wavves release new album ‘Wavvves’ today (June 1st).
The dates affected are as follows:
June
21 Oxford Jericho Tavern
22 London Luminaire
23 Bristol Cooler
24 Manchester Deaf Institute
25 Glasgow Captains Rest
26 Leeds Cockpit
27 Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
28 Nottingham The Social
