Editor’s note: After last Thursday’s debacle-riffic Lady Sovereign show, we heard from just about every county. Something about the Lady’s non-performance seemed to push buttons left and right. What follows, then, is a compilation of what came in over the transom in the wake of one of the more hilarious onstage meltdowns we’ve ever witnessed. Enjoy.

After the jump, a special report from J. Gabriel Boylan, an exclusive Quicktime movie and more reader response.

J. Gabriel Boylan reports: What a town! Where else could Lady Sovereign’s total meltdown at Silk City last Thursday night have provoked pretty much every single person in the room to start hollering, and not merely booing, but clearly trying to communicate with the young and quite diminutive woman, and help her through the tough times. Oh, and then others were telling her how much she sucked. More on that later, but first some setting of scenes. Silk City was full. There was no room for latecomers at the inn, and cheek by jowl all sorts of hip folks and not so hip folks stood around waiting. The doors were two hours late, there was some opener, that dj or whatever, who sounded like some jazz hip-hop Chicago post rock shit. There was apparently chanting of both “E-A-G-L-E-S” and “USA.”
Around 12:20 Lady Sov emerged from the bowels of Silk City and launched into “Blah Blah Blah,” or at least the hint of that song. She could barely be heard, and the beats weren’t all that loud either. Then she stopped. After some minutes of her exhorting the crowd to support her hatred of the sound system, back her up that “it’s shit, innit?”, which they did, and say how she really wanted to play, she bailed. Now, it’s always interesting to see crowds in this town react to something on this level, but the combination of taunts, pleas, insults and barnyard noises produced by Lady Sov’s early exit was kind of sublime. I mean, no one has even heard of this woman, but from some of the taunts it was clear that this detail was unimportant. One woman close to where I was standing got up on a barstool and belllowed “LYRICS, come on! Give us some of those dope LYRICS,” while one of the frattier fellows in the place called out “Yo, the sound system suucks, but you should spit anyway.”
Lady Sov may have come around if only she knew that “salnd” is just how dudes from the NEAST say “sound.” Still others cried out “Primadonna!” and “This is lame,” while others exclaimed “You suck anyways” and much was made of the Lady’s young age. Finally, there was a brief chant of “Bulllllllllllll-Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit,” and I fully expected an E-A-G-L-E-S chant too, and of course it came, and then people started filing out.
Others still watched that stage door for magic, and for those who waited another 45 minutes or so, Lady Sovereign rewarded them by getting on stage for five minutes, during which she attempted to sound check, declared the sound system shit again, apologized, knocked over a speaker, and looked like she was going to cry. R5’s Sean Agnew got on the mic to apologize too at one point, and said something about a mailing list and another show in a few months, but folks were a lot less kind to him even than they had been to Lady Sov. I stayed a while longer, had a few more drinks, and sort of watched everything come to an end.
Upon leaving, I found Lady Sov outside. She was even shorter than I first had thought, and also cuter (all it takes is that cockney accent and the track suit is like a whole new deal), and proclaimed that she had no options, and that she was coming back soon to play a free show, a great show. I believe her, and honestly, I’m not even that mad. Her new album still kicks ass. And I’ll bet you five guineas if given the chance I could turn that cockney flower girl/grime mc into a proper lady!

Thank you, Mr. Boylan. Next up is what we’re referring to as the smoking gun – a reader-submitted video of the freakout:

Lady Sovereign’s Thursday Nightout Grimey Wigout [Quicktime, 3.5mb]

And now, some more reader response:

Dear Philebrity,
A couple years ago, while living in New England, I heard about the ruthlessness of Philadelphia fans as sports commentators recounted the “boos” and jeers the Eagles fanbase showered on their own team.† I was shocked and confused by this; “Why so harsh?” I wondered.
†
Since moving to the Delph 18 months ago, I’ve pondered this question and I think I finally figured out where this animosity comes from: loyalty.† Last spring I witnessed Ryan Adams berate the Electric Factory audience for not showing him respect.† A nearby fan responded, “Shut up and sing, asshole!”† He promptly†walked off stage and did not return for an encore.† Everyone cursed him and his lack of respect for us, the venue, and our fair city.
†
Last night at†Silk City, I sensed the same loyalty.† As Mr. Flatt notes, some of the hipsters did “boo” the venue.† I’m not sure where he was standing though, but it certainly wasn’t near me.† I heard people yelling, “This is Philly!† Fuck you!,” “Don’t insult us!,” and as I was leaving during Lady Sovereign’s heckling, “You’re not getting paid to talk so shut up!”† Most people were pissed at her, not Silk City, not Sean Agnew, and not the soundman, even though Lady Sov instructed us to “Beat the hell out of him.”
†
My face is clean-shaven, I didn’t drink a PBR last night, and†I don’t wear skin-tight jeans or vintage hats but I did feel a bond between the hipsters and myself: we waited for at least an hour in the cold and close to two more before she came out and this is all we got?† Screw her for not showing us any respect.† This is Philly.
†
Sincerely,
Ethan Moitra

We shoulda known.† The doors opened almost 2 hours late.† The dj/openers played til 12:30.† Lady Sov came out did most of her first song (“blah, blah, blah”) and then the shit finally went down.† In a rage over the shitty sound Lady Sov proceeded to berate, shove and generally be very nasty to the speakers and mic.† The sound from the stage did suck though it did sound fine from the dj booth.† After about 10 minutes of this she split.† Her DJ hung out and continued to play for about 20 minutes and then left the stage too.† Most didn’t think she would come back.† After about a third of the crowd did leave she went back on stage.† Unfortunately, it was only because she feared we didn’t get her point earlier about the sound system being insufficient.† She did five more minutes of her shtick, dropped the mic and walked out for good.† The crowd at this point was less than understanding and seemed glad to see her go.

The funny thing was most people there had never even heard Lady Sov prior to the show.† The girls next to me only read about her that day.† They left still not knowing and will probably never bother.

(Those involved say the doors opened so late because most of the time was spent trying to upgrade the sound system and convince her to do the show.† What a fucking waste of time.† Maybe Def Jam could afford a sound system for her to tour with and save us all the aggravation.)

Jim Bear

Related: Lady Sov Freakout On Badminton Stamps

This entry was posted on Monday, December 5th, 2005 at 9:18 am.