[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Grojlach: Sorry if the "drunk country fans" comment offended you in any way (which was loosely, though naively inspired by Ronstadt being a country singer attracting country fans, and the feeling that you'd have to be pretty drunk to respond in the way the audience did), I realise it might not even be accurate, for several reasons; my apologies for that.

No problem. I don't know if Linda Ronstadt is still considered a "country artist" or not, but either way, I didn't take any real offense at the statement - just trying to avoid overly broad generalizations.

Originally posted by Grojlach: If she was deliberately sabotaging her performance, then she probably would have tried to rub her political views in her audience's faces from the beginning; though neither of the two articles seemed to mention other incidents during the concert that led to this mess. The impression I got was that her little dedication speech (which, according to someone on that other forum, included calling Moore a patriot and encouraging people to go and see F9/11; and though I haven't found a source for that yet, it sounds plausible) was all that sparked the anger in part of her audience.

I did a Google Search and got about 4-5 articles on the first go. I haven't had a chance to actually read any of them yet, but I will browse them later to see if any of them give a different account.

I do agree completely with you that the fan reaction was entirely over-the-top if the comment is as innocent as it has been reported (and so far, that does seem to be the case). As I said before, I wouldn't have been offended by the remark and probably would have just blown it off myself - and I certainly am not a fan of Mr. Moore's. Of course, had she dedicated the song to President Bush, she probably would have gotten a standing ovation - so the criticisms about interjecting politics into performances (my own included) ring of a double standard. I think the audience would have been well within their rights to loudly "Boo" Ronstadt and to even walk out if they felt so inclined. If they were upset enough to walk out, I don't think it is entirely unreasonable to ask for a refund (although that it is also a bit hypocritical since they got to enjoy the majority of the show before walking out - a bit like eating all of your food at a restaurant, then refusing to pay because you didn't like the food) - but there is NO justification for the vandalism. Even if Ronstadt had given a 15 minute rant about Bush and finished by yelling "Moore in O4", that still wouldn't have justified the vandalism.