DJ Gig Shut Down for 'Inciting a Riot'

Cops have no sense of humor, or proportion

Porter Robinson is no stranger to a gig gone wrong. "It's not often you have someone in a gas mask spraying you in the face with some sting-y, painful, white solution," he quipped to inthemix last year for our Disaster Gigs series (you'll want to read the full account over here.) As if a fire extinguisher to the face wasn't enough, over the weekend the young gun has seen another set go awry: last night, police at a Californian festival cut Porter's set short, accusing him of "inciting a riot".

The trouble started at Santa Barbara's Matador Music Festival, where Porter had the headline slot. His set was due to run through until 11.30pm, but according to WRR it wasn't yet 11pm when Santa Barbara police decided it was time to shut things down – halfway through his mega-hit Language, no less. "The cops cut me 35 minutes short and shut down this show halfway through Language. Really sorry to everyone to paid to see this show," the always level-headed producer began in a series of tweets. "I got on the mic and said "guys, the cops are shutting us down in 5 minutes. Gonna play Language. Don't get mad, stay positive. The cops cut the power two minutes after that, claiming that I was 'inciting a riot' by explaining the situation to the crowd. The sheriff told me he was going to arrest me and seize all of my equipment 'as evidence'. Vindictive tyrant is embarrassed about the truth."