The lyrics to Andrew W.K.'s hit "Party Hard" are simple enough:
"When it's time to party," he says, "we will party hard."
That's exactly what his fans did during a Saturday gig at the London festival Visions. According to NME, fans began to invade the stage once that contemporary rebel rouser began. While that was not enough to completely halt the show, Andrew W.K. proceeded to rile them up by counting down from 100 before the set's final song.
This maneuver prompted a larger number of people to leap onstage, and when the countdown reached its conclusion, the mass of bodies reached a fever pitch; they tore down a video screen, and then unplugged Andrew W.K.'s microphone and piano.
With that, the show ended.
Couple that crazy event with the fact that Fat White Family had to cancel their appearance due to an illness in the band, and one could say Visions had a bad weekend. But there were bright spots: Joanna Gruesome stepped in to cover for FWF, and Perfume Genius finished off the day with zero reported crowd-control issues.
In its second year, the one-day festival also featured street food, vintage clothes, designer fashion and a tattoo exhibition. No word yet on whether Andrew W.K. will be invited back for round three.
The 35-year-old Californian rocker has not released a full-length album since 2009's Gundam Rock, but he still finds plenty of ways to entertain. Perhaps his most notable recent contribution to pop culture has been a running advice column in the Village Voice called "Ask Andrew W.K."
