At the Drive-In Discuss Notorious Big Day Out 2001 Walk-Off

In a live interview with editor Rod Yates at the Rolling Stone Live Lodge 2017, Texas punks At the Drive-In reminisce on their infamous mic-drop at the 2001 Big Day Out. Just three songs into what was shaping up to be a killer set, the band called time on the show due to the violence that was erupting in the crowd. Later that fateful day, during Limp Bizkit's set, a fan, Jessica Michalik, was sadly crushed to death in the crowd.

[@tristanedwards7302]

Super iconic performance in the modern history of music, Cedric's speech included. I feel he was completely justified in what he was saying given what happened to that girl the same night.

[@thestrongprevail3039]

Were his racist comments towards whites justified

[@derrickmillion]

@@thestrongprevail3039 yeah

[@spormlastname267]

DerrickHazeMusic, typical.

[@derrickmillion]

@@spormlastname267 indeed!

[@morrisalanisette9067]

@@derrickmillion the thing is when you justify racist mentality you justify it in all ways. so when people are proud of that, you should realize that. but you can't be anti-racist while also being okay with one form of racism, which inherently does promote the way of thinking. personally, i don't care if people are racist so I just find it funny. The whole trend of that one type of racism makes me feel like humanity is more similar than they think. And that's kind of lovely. because a world where everyone is racist is much better than a world where there is just a basket of deplorables. we need more unity after all

[@johnnyscifi]

Cedric had an Ian MacKaye moment, and i dont fault him for it

[@usualdosage7287]

They looked up to fugazi, you can tell by their moves they were inspired by Guy Picciotio

[@ben-was-taken]

can you elaborate on what you are referencing by having an Ian MacKaye moment? I'm not trying to be rude I just don't know what you mean.

[@loosescrew472]

@@ben-was-taken ian by the time fugazi got started absolutely despised moshing and crowd surfing since he saw it as useless and stuck in the hardcore punk ways, so during shows he would stop playing if it started. i think that’s what the person means by ian mackaye moment

[@taffysaur]

@@loosescrew472 lol what a Prima Donna.

[@Liquid_Alchemy]

So much love for that band. Cedric is wise beyond his years.

[@Yeomannn]

you have a warped and perverted definition of wisdom

[@aligboyakasha]

Well put by them. Emotional moments caught on camera are tough whether you're a rock band or athlete.

[@Cagstok]

Based on their performances, Cedric was clearly both.

[@thomasrainbow]

I have a lot of respect for Cedric

[@shaneharrington3655]

The best guys.

[@ahjoostdedahbehigpu6749]

I was there and there were no fights during their show. At the start of the show when Cedric said he doesn’t want to see what happened during Mudvayne to happen during their show. I assumed there had been some fights and all the crowd seemed to agree with Cedric at that point. Cedric then had a problem with the crowd surfing. I’m glad he admits he could have handled it better because he really antagonised the crowd that day. I think they played 5 songs all up. They walked off after some idiot threw a massive boot at them and that is fair enough. There are videos on KZbin showing 3 songs but it was actually 5. Some arrogant crowd surfers started lifting a girl up on a boogey board during the next song down the front to antagonise the band. Pity, it was one if the most energetic and manic gigs I’ve been to.

[@PerryCarbonell]

dude i was right behind the person that pulled a surfboard out and girl started surfing it. Unfortunately this was the final straw, after repeated ATDI warnings, that broke the proverbial camel's back and they walked off. To this day it was the best 5 songs Ive ever seen. And no I didnt know the guys that pulled the surfboard

[@bringbackthebifffootyfight4251]

BDO 2001 was nu metal central so its not surprising that the vibes were abit more on the crazy side. ADTI also being quite a heavy band would have attracted alot of Limp Bizkit and Mudvayne fans so its no surprise that the mosh would have gotten crazy. Thats the thing with festivals. You have a mix of die hard fans and alot of "part time" fans who are there just to check it out, and others who just dont care about the songs but just want to mosh. So Cedric was correct to admit that he was naive to think he could control that massive festival crowd, because about 50% would not have been die hard fans that had no idea about their "no moshing/crowd surfing" policy. I crowd surfed during their gig at Festival Hall in melbourne in 2017 and they didnt say anything. But the security were on my ass more that night about it, more than they ever have been at any gig i have been to in festival hall. So its possible they still are abit iffy about that kind of stuff, but instead of telling the crowd, they let security handle the crowd control instead these days.

[@chazmanchazman3927]

I dont care At the drive inn frist album rocks....the work truck cd player ate it. I hated that fuckn truck.

[@DerricktheWhite]

Damn it

[@chanbara8683]

thats not there first album thats the first time u heard them when they got finally reconised after years of playing to noone

[@spormlastname267]

Chanbara86, what was their first album?

[@travisobrien1533]

@@chanbara8683 No one even named an album, how do you know he doesn't mean their actual first album?

[@nclsrfn]

That fucking work truck cd player.

[@youngsuit]

People getting hurt is never cool

[@blurstblurstblurst6635]

Hey Rolling Stone, could you please upload the rest of the Q&A? I was there. It went on for about an hour and the whole thing was quite interesting. Were the rest of the questions published in magazine?

[@filaprintzau9275]

#ripjessica 🖤💙 .. ❤🇦🇺

[@dyldo1783]

Where’s the rest?

[@joeyclemenza7339]

ATDi where ALWAYS in the right for protesting against the bro-culture of music at the time. you gotta remember, this was only two years removed from Woodstock 99, when bro-culture essentially imploded... It's just too bad that a moment like this derailed one of the most legendary bands of all tiem.

[@nawdude4292]

Just came from a clip of him saying how punk should be mainstream and i had to comment that when the masses get their hands on anything they ruin it. And here he is talking about exactly what I'm saying. The medium is the message and if people don't have good taste enough to search past what's played on the radio then fuck em cuz those people don't question anything so they deserve what they get

[@bs7021]

I saw their solo gig at The Metro in Sydney during their Big Day Out tour. There was none of that "bro culture". The crowd were super respectful to each other and there was such an awesome vibe. Glad to have caught 1 and a half of their shows that tour ...

[@user-mz9ml6kz8w]

Fuk Australia big day out fukn KZbin won't let me see any of the shit I asked it for what a dumb fukn one alryte I give up on the whole thing fuk off then!!!!

[@papadelta9485]

i like how cedric is dressed like his 2000/2001 era

[@essaywhu]

Similar to what Cedric was saying, I got into my only fight as an adult while watching the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and it was because halfway through their set all these people started showing up for the next act which was Tool. It was in San Diego. The crowd was so thick my girlfriend wasn’t even standing on her own feet at times but we couldn’t get out of it. There was no escape. This idiot came up beside me and started pumping his fist into the air and hit me in the head with his elbow. I yelled at him that there would be trouble if he did it again. He did it again like 20 seconds later so I laid him out and started chasing after him, struggling to get through the crowd, yelling obscenities at him, and while I was trying to get to him to continue the fight, some huge seven-foot tall dude picked him up off the floor by the neck of his shirt and the back of his pants and just tossed him backwards behind him. I just nodded and told the dude “Thank you” and went back to trying to protect my girlfriend against this crazy crowd. I had my guard up the whole time because I thought I might have to deal with him again. When the YYYs finally finished we were able to get out of there but our clothes were soaked of sweat from all the body heat and it felt like we had just jumped into a swimming pool. The concert wasn’t over but we were done and went back to the hotel. When I looked at the paper the next day, a lot of people had gone by ambulance to the hospital because they had been crushed, but I don’t think anyone died luckily. That was probably the most unsafe I had ever felt in my life other than maybe a car accident or something.

[@ericpalmer3588]

These rock and roll punks are super sensitive, mature and insightful. Love it

[@eldiablo3794]

Since when do bro meatheads listen to mudvayne??

[@spormlastname267]

What’s a do bro?

[@eldiablo3794]

@@spormlastname267 what??

[@spormlastname267]

El Diablo can a big burly man not listen to mudvayne? DubudubDUB DubudubDUB DubudubDUB DubudubDUB DubudubDUB Dig!

[@eldiablo3794]

@@spormlastname267 You are an idiot. I was defending mudvayne and their fans by calling out Cedric for trying to stereotype mudvayne fans when he said theyre "bro meatheads" like mentality.. as in he was trying to stereotype and say that their fans are like meat head jock "bro" type of people who only went there to beat people up in the pit, when in actuality mudvayne fans are far from those type of people. You dumbass. "Burly men" can listen to mudvayne all they want too, but that's not who he was describing.

[@spormlastname267]

El Diablo, wow. Salty.

[@steven_uk]

Maybe ask him to be more specific in regards to the fact he said "Are you all typically white people?", and that he seems to hate "bros". If a band had mentioned "typically black people" or "thugs", their career would be over.

[@dpclerks09]

Maybe try to understand the upbringing you experience as a Mexican growing up in Texas, specifically pre-2000. Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know anything about that. You have no clue what you are talking about, unfortunately for you. Texas was stolen from Mexico, there is a DEEP DEEP history that you do not understand and know nothing about. It's intergenerational trauma across the board, for all parties involved.

[@calstonjew]

Rolling Stone is gay.

[@nyranstanton203]

A 6 yr old shouldnt be anywhere near or a 60 yr old shouldnt be anywhere near the middle of a large crowd at a concert. Its nobody's fault, not the orgnanisers , not the bands. If you dont have the strength and the size to be in the middle of a ginormous crowd. You should be up in the stands or something or at the back with the food stalls.

[@FondlingReply]

Jessica Anna Michalik (7 January 1985 - 31 January 2001) was an Australian girl from Sydney, born to Polish immigrants,[1] she died as a result of asphyxiation five days after being crushed in a mosh pit during the 2001 Big Day Out music festival during a performance by headlining act Limp Bizkit.[2][3]

[@chanbara8683]

u r extremly ignorant for saying that..the whole idea behind a crowd divider is that noone has to do any unnessary worrying and besides...CANT Handle it?? she wasnt 6 either or whatever if ur making a example..but she was 16 and a girl we r supposed to protect the women and children..and for u to act like she should have been tough maybe she wouldnt get crushed..dude shame on u..ur a fucking small minded dumbass piece of work i will give u some advice READ bc knowledge is power...And Music and i quote Steven Tyler(Aerosmith) (snesgamecalled ResolutionX) Music is the Weapon think about it. have a crappy rest of ur day.

[@EmilyRose0]

16 not 6 you idiot!

[@gmnicho]

The mosh wasn’t that bad, the crowd wasn’t huge. Cedric was simply an a…hole. And then to carry on with the whole white people and sheep bulls..t was just plain wrong. We were there and excited to see them, they were a great band. It’s no wonder they imploded a few months later.

[@TRSMGSTO]

A girl died bro, how in the world

[@bringbackthebifffootyfight4251]

@@TRSMGSTO She didnt die in the pit at ATDI. She had a heart attack during Limp bizkit later in the night in a different part of the venue. It was in the main arena with about 50 thousand people. Rammstein had played an hour long set before hand, so that had catered to metal heads who were also there to see limp bizkit. Rammstein finished and then Limp bizkit came on straight after. The crowd went wild and the show had to stop many times. Not because of crowd surfing, but because too many people were rushing to the front and caused a massive crowd crush. The girl collapsed in the pit, and she was removed unconscious and spent 6 days in hospital before she passed away. Yes maybe Cedric could have his "I told you so" moment but I really think this was a Sydney problem. Even though LB bailed before they had to play in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth I highly doubt there would have been the same issues in those cities.

[@Nega-Tim]

@@bringbackthebifffootyfight4251L + Ratio

[@gonerkid]

white fragility strikes again

[@jaylewis6565]

Really dumb thing to call them bros. I been to both shows the at the drive in shows pits were way more violent

[@Dodgertown_76_Fungo]

🤣