A photo posted by verified account (@evian_christ) on Apr 21, 2015 at 8:01am PDT
The relationship between the event and the performer is paramount. Without the performers, there is no one to play the gigs and without the events, the performances have nowhere to play. This relationship hit a rather large snag over the weekend at Leeds Festival in the UK when DJ Evian Christ was locked up in cage by festival security for an extended period of time. In a long essay posted on Facebook today, the Kanye West collaborator shared his side of the story about what he was doing backstage (he is an artist) and why he was detained.
According to Christ, he was attempting to find the parking lot where his family was waiting for him to take him out of the festival. Security sent him in various directions before he asked for a car to take him to the parking lot.
This is where the story becomes strange. "The driver takes issue with me immediately and removes the pass I'm wearing that identifies me as a performing artist, asks my name ("Joshua Leary") and then tells me that my pass says something different ("Evian Christ")," explains Christ. "I inform him that Evian Christ is my artist name, and that i also have a real name, but he appears unsatisfied by this explanation and keeps the pass."
They drive past the parking lot and head to an area where he was put into the cage and held on suspicion of trying to "break into the festival without a ticket." Police threatened to arrest him for various reasons and security informed him he was being held indefinitely until he could prove he was not trying to "break into the festival." Eventually he was set free by a senior member of the security staff without much of an apology.
He canceled his scheduled date at Reading Festival as a result.
In an interview with NME, festival organizer Melvin Benn gave a very different side to the story. "Evian was found in a not very good state in the woods, without being able or willing to disclose who he was. He was effectively held till we knew who he was. He certainly wasn't prevented from performing under any circumstances. It was his decision not to perform, not the festival's."
The event occurred on Friday, Aug. 28 and was publicized at the time when #freeevian trended on Twitter as he was held in the security. He had played a set at the BBC Radio One Dance stage earlier in the day.
reading fest cancelled (sorry) cuz leeds put me in a cage #freeevian pic.twitter.com/sArsBnR8fg — evian christ 2015 (@evian_christ) August 28, 2015
