Garbage is a rock band that formed in 1993. Garbage recently performed at the Good Things Festival in Melbourne, Australia. At the show, lead singer Shirley Manson ranted onstage about a beach ball being thrown at the stage. Manson also took to Threads after the incident, stating, “I make NO APOLOGIES whatsoever for getting annoyed at beachballs at shows. I joined a band because I HATED THE FUCKING BEACH…” Unfortunately for Manson, this statement didn’t age well. Fans didn’t respond kindly to the lead singer’s rants. Many felt disappointed by her sentiments. As a result, Garbage’s next show in Brisbane looked just like the beach, as several concertgoers brought their own beach balls to pass around during the show in protest. This display ultimately got Manson’s attention.

According to Consequence, Manson issued an apology to the people who feel “joy” from hitting beach balls around at shows. She even went so far as to compliment the “glorious” beach balls in a joking manner. She also pointed out that this drew more headlines than the Palestine crisis. In a statement to the Brisbane crowd, she expressed her shock that “there’s been more fuss made about me offending beach balls than there has about 20,000 Palestinian kids who are now fucking under the dirt.” It is surprising that this much of a reaction was gained from Manson‘s stance on beach balls at shows, given the magnitude of lives lost in Palestine. However, from an objective standpoint, this is a huge victory for concertgoers that double as beach ball enthusiasts.

Photo credit: Owen Ela