Richmond, VA got a little too spicy on Wednesday night, September 24, when a Turnstile show at Brown’s Island turned into an impromptu pepper-spray taste test courtesy of local law enforcement.
During the encore of “Birds,” fans were doing what fans at Turnstile shows always do—stage diving, climbing up, and basically ignoring the invisible “rules” security tries to enforce. Bassist/vocalist Franz Lyons was even seen pulling people up to the stage, clearly encouraging the chaos. Unfortunately, one officer apparently mistook the punk-rock ritual for a riot and decided to deploy pepper spray directly into the crowd.
Yes, nothing quite says “I have no idea how concerts work” like gassing teenagers who just wanted a chance to jump around with their favorite band. Gold star for community relations, folks.
The spray hit not only fans clinging to the barricade but also managed to drift onto the actual band, with Lyons seen shielding his eyes. Audience members scrambled to flush each other’s faces with bottled water while at least one teen required medical attention. Others woke up Thursday still feeling the burn—literally.
Richmond Sheriff Antionette Irving has since confirmed that her office is “reviewing” the incident, which is PR-speak for “we’re trying to figure out how this looks so bad on camera.” And yes, there’s plenty of footage. Fans wasted no time uploading clips to YouTube, where the debate rages on: should cops even be allowed near punk shows if they can’t handle a stage dive?
Despite the incident, many attendees insisted the show still ruled—minus the part where they got chemically maced for loving music too hard. Turnstile, their management, and promoter The Broadberry have yet to comment, possibly because they’re still trying to blink the pepper out of their eyes.
