Charlie “Erwan” Dodson of Ganja White Night took to X, formerly Twitter, yesterday to address an instance in which a fan-thrown drink struck his partner-in-wobble, Benjamin “Bamby” Bayeul, during the Belgian bass duo’s recent headline performance at Radiance NYE.
Dodson explained that with around 30 minutes left in their set, he noticed an issue with Ableton that would require him to close and reboot the program to finish the performance.
“Once I began the reboot, Ben [Bayeul] was trying to keep the energy high in the audience by asking everyone to make some noise and didn’t want to try and explain there was some sort of technical issue on my side that was taking a while for me to sort out,” Dodson wrote.
It was during this “long and awkward pause” that a full can of Red Bull was thrown on stage and struck Bayeul in the chest, an act that “hurt Ben physically” and “just killed the whole vibe,” in addition to spilling the drink all over the expensive equipment.
Though they continued the set, Dodson added, “We’ve always had a really strong connection with WI and IL, that area of the country has been with us from the beginning so seeing all this misunderstand is the absolute worst feeling, up until that point of the set we were actually have such incredible time.”
Unfortunately, Ganja White Night isn’t the only act to experience this crude behavior from fans while on stage.
Audiences throwing objects at musicians was an oddly hot topic throughout 2023: Pop vocalist Bebe Rexha was rushed off stage with a black eye after a cell phone was thrown from the crowd. Fans threw drinks at Cardi B, vapes at Drake and one concert-goer even launched a bag containing their mother’s ashes at P!nk.
Even Chris Lake was subject to the same fate at a gig in September, seen wiping previously airborne beverage from his face and the decks.
Dodson’s timely message has been met with support from fans online, many sharing wise reminders that “our favorite performers are just humans with real human emotions.”
Hey Erwan here. Let me explain exactly what happened and why I am explaining it too instead of Ben who usually would. At Radiance NYE, about 60 minutes into the set, I noticed an issue in Ableton in the final 30 minute block of the performance. I leaned over to tell Ben there was…
— Ganja White Night (@GanjaWhiteNight) January 3, 2024
Featured image from Ganja White Night.
