Twisted Sister Crew Member Unloads on Festival That Pulled Plug on Dee Snider
Twisted Sister left the recent Amnesia Rockfest with an unforgettable list of complaints. A new report (which has since been taken down), posted by tour assistant Terry Sapp at the band's official site, outlines a series of mishaps – capped by a performance that he says was cut short when festival personnel literally pulled the plug on Dee Snider.
"This festival sucked donkey balls – big hairy brown donkey balls," Sapp said (via BraveWords). "The fact that Twisted Sister sounded as good as they did was ENTIRELY due to your faithful and diligent road crew and a rock 'n' roll band that never quits, never gives up and plays with 200 percent every single time."
It started, Sapp noted, with the ride over to the Montebello, Quebec, festival site from the hotel – which, apparently because of a local ordinance, took more than two hours. "There is some regulation for bus drivers that dictates that if you have more than 10 passengers, you cannot drive through the Ontario city limits," Sapp said. "We’re a rock bus – so of course, we went to (what else?) 11."
Various standard rider requests for this farewell tour went unfilled, capped by the lack of dressing areas for their 23-member entourage. They were given just a single room to accommodate the crew and band, including Snider. Adding insult to injury: Twisted Sister's name was misspelled incorrectly on the door. The performance space was no better, Sapp added. He refers to it as "the TEENY TINY Jagermeister stage – aptly named, because it made me want to throw up."
Access to the stage was available only by boat, making the entire process a hassle, Sapp said. Help finally arrived in the form of a friendly local hotel and a longtime fan that donated dressing and rehearsal space, and the day seemed to get back on track.
But then Twisted Sister endured various sound issues before finally being allowed to play for only 45 minutes once they finally took the stage at Amnesia Rockfest. Sapp claimed they offered to play longer but to no avail. "The tour is called 'Forty and F--- It,' referring to the number of years Jay Jay [French], Eddie [Ojeda] and Dee have played together," he said. "Apparently, the festival production thought 'Forty and F--- It' was the stage time."
After that, Sapp said organizers cut power to the stage. "That’s right, kids. Here is Twisted Sister, playing for the last time EVER in Canada, and not only would they not give us the respect of playing the last song (which lasts two minutes), but they cut Dee off as he was saying 'Thank you and good night!,'" Sapp noted. "We can put up with terrible production. We can put up with lousy catering. We can put up with s---ty dressing rooms, dirty toilets, small stages and poor treatment of us, the crew. But to disrespect the band by pulling the plug on the last single note without even letting them say the words 'good night' is unbelievable."
UPDATE: Amnesia Rockfest founder Alex Martel has issued a statement regarding this matter. You can read it here:
“I was extremely disappointed earlier today to read the comments made by Twister Sister’s blogger after their show at Amnesia Rockfest 2016. We contacted the band’s team as soon as we became aware of these comments, and they immediately decided to remove the blog post outlining their dissatisfaction. However, I think it’s important that we set the record straight to prevent misunderstandings. In the 11 years of the festival, I have never seen anything like this. No member of the Twisted Sister camp contacted me at any point during or after the festival to express any concerns -- we are always open to constructive criticism and improvement. I could tell the other side of the story. I could explain how running a festival with 130 bands over two days works and how our entire team makes serious efforts to accommodate them all, rather than giving priority to a single band. I could mention that all the logistical information was sent to performers weeks prior to the event to ensure there would be no surprises about our hospitality, production or the site’s geographic location. I could also name the hundreds of bands who are satisfied with their experience at Rockfest year after year. Even though I strongly disagree with their claims and the way they chose to share their views, I still have tremendous respect for this legendary band and I wish them the best in their future endeavors.”
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