Bushleaguer @ Nassau 2003

josevolution wrote:

Cosmo wrote:

slightofjeff wrote:

When you are at war, as the United States was on that day, and there's a dude on stage stomping the mask ofyour country's president, what are you supposed to think?

Right are wrong, the reaction that some had in the crowd -- particularly if they'd had loved ones killed in the attacks less than two years earlier -- is understandable, if not completely rational.

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We are still at war. Those same people should be upset when they see pictures of President Obama with Hitler moustaches drawn on... you'd think... right?

I agree but it has nothing to do with Nassau ...

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Well, I remember 2003 when that actually happened (and the earlier event in Denver).
The gist of the arguements were:
On one side... the song is about President Bush, not about American troops or victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The other side was primarily... we should stand by the president in time of war... regardless.
I'm wondering... do those on the latter side still feel this way... in 2011? Or does partisan politics come into play?

Cosmo wrote:

josevolution wrote:

Cosmo wrote:

...
Well, I remember 2003 when that actually happened (and the earlier event in Denver).
The gist of the arguements were:
On one side... the song is about President Bush, not about American troops or victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The other side was primarily... we should stand by the president in time of war... regardless.
I'm wondering... do those on the latter side still feel this way... in 2011? Or does partisan politics come into play?

Good question?? Did you support Bush? If not your question is partisan itself. Bush or Obama could cure freaking cancer and someone would still find something to complain about.

Is the version of this from the movie the same one on the soundtrack? On the cd it kind of seems like the boos have been edited out but you can clearly hear it in the movie.

First off, the band has every right to play this song when ever, and where ever they want to. Also people have a right to boo if they don't like it, they don't have a right to throw things at the artist though. If you don't like it that much leave.

That being said, the Denver situation had already happened so people should have known what to expect, especially if you were in the 10C and had even bought Riot Act. It should have been no surprise for anyone that this happened. If you were a casual fan than OK, I can see that you would have been caught off gaurd. I in no way see the connection between the song and 9/11, the song is about Bush, not 9/11, and if anything the song is more "american" in it's freedom of speech than "unamerican". I hate bush and pretty much the entire GOP agenda, and while I think it's far from PJ's best song instramentally, lyrically it's genious!

Shame because the band was on fire before the song

As a new yorker who lost people on 9/11.....it was just horrible timing to play the song

pjfan021 wrote:

i can definitely understand why they/ed chose to play it. I think that in hindsight especially people who booed that show felt it was about being un-american when it really feels like he was pissed off that the president used 9/11 to go to war with a country that had nothing to do with what happened...i think ed felt that the same people in that audience who lost people were being used as an excuse to go off to war losing more american lives in the process...good people lost a lot of lives because of that event and here's the solution; lets sacrafice more lives and money to accomplish nothing. I think ed was ahead of the curve on this one. just my two cents

Well said!!

slightofjeff wrote:

I would imagine the vitriol was directed less at the song -- I'm sure most in the crowd didn't even know what it was about -- and more at the vaudeville act playing out in front of them.

You stomp the head of a sitting president, in a time of war, you leave little to the imagination.

from O'reilly's mouth to the PJ board.

except when it's Obama....

I just watched two different videos of the performance, and not once did Eddie "stomp" on the Bush mask. You wanna show me where that happens?

I hope there was no selective editing in any videos you saw. I'm not sure what you are actually watching, but I was just to the right of Ed in the 100's in fan club seats and it was pretty damn clear he stomped on the mask. I also think that that was the moment that sent some fans into more of a frenzy. It also pissed me off the most because you could feel that things had changed in the crowd already and that just pushed it further.

I hope they did not edit that shot out of the PJ20 video because that wouldn't be a true representation of what happened. I would think that they probably just don't have the video of that angle. I haven't seen it yet so I can't say what was shown.

I will say one thing I have been a PJ fan since the beginning, I would have felt the same way if it was an Obama mask, even though I don't love the guy either. It was just a stupid thing to do. Some of you seem to think that it was some kind of "fun" moment. As others have said, put it in the context of that moment. Just after Iraq started....alot of service man also from long island.... Bush had high approval ratings at that time, even in New York. Many towns on the island lost a significant amount of fireman, police man, people. It just was seen as a punch in the mouth to a wounded area. Period. The fact that some of you from Long Island who could not understand the why of the moment, that is hard to believe. It stuck out for PJ because it surprised them and was the most visceral negative reaction they had from their own fans.

Either way I have moved on from that, but I was a part of that moment and as I said earlier it was the most uncomfortable I had ever felt at a concert, because it felt dangerous.

As I said before in this same thread, I an not from the New York area so I don't really know. But if there were PJ fans there who were very offended by this and left the show, well it seems pretty easy to me, get rid of your fan club membership and anything having to do with the band and cut them out of your life forever, it doesn't seem that hard to do.

I to do not really care what political views that, musicians, actors, sports figures or ANY famous people have and don't really care to hear about it in public or at their shows, when and if it does happen a take it with a grain of salt and move on with my life. I mean hell I'm ah huge Deadhead, saw Grateful Dead over 165 times, when I found out Ann Coulter was a Deadhead I almost puked! Then I thought about it, she must be like me, because she is about as conservative as they come and if she likes the Grateful Dead, then she probably doesn't care about their views on the world either, she just likes their music.

And for the record, I don't think it should have been done, especially in the NYC area, I may not have liked Bush, but I am of the opinion that you can not like the president or his views, but you can still respect them enough not to do things like that. The 1985 Chicago Bears just had a reunion @ the White House because Obama is a big Bears fan and one of the players, I think Dan Hampton refused to go because he doesn't like Obama, to me that's also disrespectful to turn down an invite to the White House. Or look @ Hank Williams Jr. and his remarks, he got whacked from MNF, so yes you have freedom of speech, but some times people like Eddie Vedder and Hank Williams Jr have to suffer the after affects when other people don't like it.