Until recently, Scottish rockers the View, best-known for the 2007 UK hit “Same Jeans,” had been on hiatus since 2017. Since then, frontman Kyle Falconer released a pair of solo albums. Last year, the View got back together and played a few shows, and they’ve got plans to release a new album called Exorcism Of Youth in August. But apparently, something within the band needs to be exorcised, since last night’s Manchester show ended shortly after Falconer beat up bassist Kieren Webster onstage.
As the Manchester Evening News reports, fans at Manchester’s Deaf Institute filmed the one-sided fistfight — which, according to Setlist.fm, went down just after the band finished their song “Skag Trendy.” The videos of the fracas aren’t terribly clear, but in one of them, you can see Falconer going off, seemingly without warning.
In the video, just as the song ends, Kyle Falconer reaches over and whaps Kieren Webster in the back of the head. Falconer then throws down his guitar and punches Webster, grabs him, and kicks him in the face before punching him in the back of the head a couple more times. Webster doesn’t retaliate before the bandmates are pulled apart, and Falconer gets in another punch during the confusion.
According to the Manchester Evening News, one fan reports that Falconer returned to the stage after the fight and told the crowd, “Sorry. If you want, Kieren can come and finish the set. The problem with this band is that he wants to sing the songs and he can’t.” Falconer then played a solo-acoustic version of “Face For The Radio,” and that was it. They didn’t even play “Same Jeans.”
The View were scheduled to play London tonight, but that show won’t happen. A statement on the band’s Twitter says that the show is postponed and that “our promoter is working to resolve the situation.”