[Updated] A quick addition to the Odd Future story. Amy Harris – one of the photographers’ whose camera was struck by Left Brain – was interviewed by MusicPix.net. You can see her account there, along with photos by Steve Mitchell of his swings at Harris and photographer Chris Schwegler.

In the fifth photo, Left Brain is kicking over an empty video tripod. OffBeat‘s Aaron LaFont was in the pit, and he remembers the tripod being brought out and set up empty in front of center stage 10 minutes before the set started. No one returned to it before the set started or was at it when Left Brain started swinging at the pit. This led him to the same question I had when I first got this story: Was this a planned publicity stunt? As photographer Skip Bolen pointed out, many Voodoo artists had some form of photo pit restriction, and it’s not uncommon for some artists to close the pit entirely. If Odd Future genuinely felt photographers were undeservedly closer to them than their fans are – a valid point of view –  they could have prevented photographers from being there. LaFont wondered if the unmanned, camera-less tripod was a prop there for the kicking.

I was there, but I couldn’t see in the pit. I can say that some of Left Brain’s account of what happened doesn’t jibe with my memory. The band’s official explanation says, “After telling the photographers to clear out multiple times – as they’ve done before – Vyron (Left Brain) took a swipe at a few cameras, not people.” Unless “Fuck photographers!” is code for “Get out of the pit,” there were no warnings.

 

Updated November 4, 10:15 a.m.

DrivenByBoredom.com has yet another account/take that extends into an interesting take on concert photography.