NEED TO KNOW
- A recent All-American Rejects gig on their House Party Tour was shut down by the cops
- The alt-rock band was playing in the backyard of a house near the University of Missouri in Columbia on May 18.
- Mark Fitzgerald, the Columbia Police Department’s assistant chief of police, confirmed to CNN that the sergeant “allowed the band to play a final song before they ended the concert”
A recent All-American Rejects gig had an unexpected ending.
In the midst of playing in the backyard of a house near the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. on May 18, the alt-rock group’s gig was shut down by police.
In footage shared by the band on their official YouTube channel, the “Swing, Swing” band were delivering an electric performance of their 2005 hit “Move Along” when toward the end of the track, bandleader Tyson Ritter exclaimed, “Alright guys. Whoa, whoa whoa. We’ve gotta stop it.”
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty
“The cops just shut us down,” he added.
After his announcement, the crowd appeared to “boo” in unison.
“Sorry, y’all. We just got kicked off campus,” Ritter, 41, then told the crowd, who could be heard chanting “f— the police.”
After the actor and singer disappeared from the band’s lawn stage, he returned to tell fans, “They said we can play one more f—— song!”
“I haven’t done this in a long time, but I’d really like to thank the local police for letting us f—— keep carrying on. Holy s—. How often do you get a blessing from an officer? Well, I guess we’ve got one more song for you, and I’ll give you 1 million guesses to guess which one. You might recognize it,” Ritter said before performing their 2008 classic “Gives You Hell.”
At the end of the song, Ritter thanked the crowd and told fans to “get home safely because the man let us keep playing,” referring to a police officer.
On Wednesday, May 21, Mark Fitzgerald, the Columbia Police Department’s assistant chief of police, told CNN that the band, their security and fans were “very cooperative” with officials even though they were “in violation of several local ordinances.”
Joshua Applegate/Getty
According to Fitzgerald, the responding officers “listened to a couple of songs” before the patrol sergeant detailed the rules with the band and their security team.
Fitzgerald confirmed that the sergeant “allowed the band to play a final song before they ended the concert.”
“The Sergeant told me that he knew exactly who the band was and listened to them a lot while he was in college,” he added, per the publication.
Fitzgerald noted that “the police department would be happy to have the All-American Rejects return and play in Columbia, hopefully with the proper permits and approval.”
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The Rejects kicked off their House Party Tour at the University of Southern California on April 30, just one week after they released their latest single “Sandbox,” ahead of their first full-length album in 13 years.
Thus far, the band has played at Phoenix Innovation Park at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, a farm in Ames, Iowa and in Los Angeles.