The Stars of Twilight

A shit load of things went wrong at the hard rock cafe in Vegas last night. Here's a letter from Jodie, about what happened. Everything is true and if you support Jackson Rathbone or any of the members from 100 Monkeys, please read this and pass it on.


(Jodie's letter)

100 Monkeys At The Hard Rock Las Vegas
This is not going to be my official Vegas blog, this isn't going to contain the *wonderful* moments that happened with 100 Monkeys, this blog is just here to tell you all the SHIT the guys went through last night while playing the Hard Rock Cafe on the strip in Las Vegas.

NEVER SEE A CONCERT THERE.
NEVER EAT THERE.

They do not deserve your patronage.

100 Monkeys were supposed to take the stage at 1145p and apparently were supposed to be off the stage at 130a. The sound crew was apparently having the worst case of technical difficulties known to man because after the first opening act, The Rooks, the next band, Imagine Dragons, was literally on stage fucking with their equipment and trying to hear themselves in the monitors for 35 minutes. They still had not started their set when the Monkeys were supposed to take the stage.

[We had seen the 100 Monkeys soundcheck earlier in the day and it went on without a hitch, everything was fine -- a few adjustments were made, of course, but it was all fine... what could have possibly gone wrong?]

Imagine Dragons was very professional; they started the set even though they couldn't hear themselves in the 2 front monitors just because it was getting so late. They were worth the wait, they were fantastic. (More on them in the official blog.)

After each song the lead singer of Imagine Dragons would ask to be able to hear himself more citing that he "had no vocal on the stage", meaning that he couldn't hear himself at all -- that's an extremely important thing to a live performer in order to create the best show possible.

They wrapped their set and shortly after the boys took the stage, tuned their instruments and did their usual, "we'll be back in five," kinda deal...

They didn't end up going on stage until right about 1230.

They were constantly asking for more vocal, more vocal, more vocal - less bongos, less bass drum, more vocal.

It came time for the improv song and Jerad went down the line, he looked at me and my friends and I had decided before the show what we were going to ask them to sing, "Lipstick On My Collar". They took our suggestion...

About halfway through the performance and after asking during the performance for more vocal Jackson grabbed the mic stand -- now, I can't be completely positive but I think it was a combination between not being able to hear himself, being frustrated about not being able to hear himself and getting into the performance - he broke the mic stand. He slammed the base of it against the stage several times until the bottom of it broke.

After that he held the stand without the base until he became frustrated with that and tossed it aside.

It wasn't long after that - 145a that the guys said they were going to take a quick break and then come back on for their encore.

Before the guys came back on 2 guys came up on stage and started breaking down a few things, grabbing the broken mic stand and said that the guys would not be coming back out. A lot of people had left when they left the stage for the first time and this pushed out a lot of the others -- I knew that the guys were going to break down and pack up their own equipment, so we stayed put where we were in the front row.

Jackson's beer was setting by a mic stand and by the foot pedals for the guitar, when one of the guys was taking a cord apart, he knocked over the beer and soaked their control board for the guitar pedals. He didn't care, I grabbed the beer as quickly as I could, but a lot spilled very quickly.

When someone asked this guy on stage why the guys weren't coming back out he said, "because the band is being a bunch of assholes." I promptly stopped that shit right there and I snapped back, "don't call them assholes, if you're pissed about the mic stand maybe your sound guys should know what the fuck they were doing - it's just a fucking mic stand and you shouldn't be pissed at them for it, I'll pay for it if it's that much of a hassle to you, just don't fuck with the band." He stood there and just kind of stared at me.

A few minutes later they came back on stage and Jackson announced that they were not allowed to do their encore; that "the Hard Rock Cafe will not let 100 Monkeys play anymore" saying that he was so very sorry and thanks for coming out.

Jackson and Jerad came over to us, thanking us over and over, holding our hands and apologizing to us/the fans.

We got a moment to talk to Jackson about what happened with the Hard Rock - he said they were giving them a hard time from the moment they got here. He said to go online and make it known about what really happened. Johnson said they were upset, but just wanted to get out of there.

Jackson was so visibly upset, trying to control it, but this had made all of them so mad - he was standing on the left side of the stage when the rude guy started with him - Jackson looked & pointed to us and said, "[they] saw everything," and then I said back to him, "we are going to support 100 Monkeys; we're taking their side. That guy spilled your beer on your equipment." He asks me, "which guy, this guy?" I nodded. Jackson looks at the guy and starts to "rawr", he then quickly asked for his name - he replied (it was something with an "M") and then he extended his hand to shake Jackson's. Jackson walked away.

I pulled Jerad aside amongst the chaos and told him that the guy had spilled Jackson's beer. He lifted up the board and there was beer all under it. He asked who it was, I pointed and Jerad bolted over to him, asking his name, asking what the fuck...

Ultimately, I heard that the Hard Rock was mad because the guys were supposed to be off at 130 - however, they could have played had Imagine Dragons gone on stage on time. (The Hard Rock's fault; not theirs.)

The boys told us they had planned another 30 minutes of songs, but were asked to leave.

They were mad because Jackson broke the mic stand. (He wouldn't have done so had the sound been working properly, I firmly believe that. I don't think he was just *that* into the improv song about lipstick.)

The boys were banned from ever playing the Hard Rock Cafe Las Vegas again (not sure about the other Hard Rock's, but I would assume that they wouldn't want to associate themselves with the Hard Rock any longer) - but even if they weren't it left such a nasty taste in their mouth that there's no way they would ever want to go back.

At the end of the night, after all of this shit that had gone down - instead of 100 Monkeys leaving and the Hard Rock Cafe being happy to get rid of them, someone I talked to said she overheard a conversation with one of the employees of the Hard Rock and Marty (the "bananager") in which the Hard Rock was demanding that 100 Monkeys PAY. Pay for damages, pay because the DJ that was supposed to go on stage after the Monkeys couldn't - PAY.

Fuck. That. Fuck. You.

If you were at the show last night, please write or call the Hard Rock and DEMAND that they apologize to 100 Monkeys.

I love all of those boys with so much of me - it felt amazing sticking up for them and helping them out when they needed it.

Jodie

For the original letter, please read Jodie's Blog.