1982 London, Ontario Concert Tirade Article

From a 1982 edition of Rolling Stone magazine:

John Cougar turns on fans

John Cougar raised a bit of a ruckus in London, Ontario on August 30th when, in front of 14,000 fans, he reportedly launched into an obscenity-laced tirade against the concert's promoters, flung rented equipment into the packed audience -- allegedly injuring two young women -- and stalked offstage. "It was just unbelievable," said Don Jones, one of the three promoters who had contracted Cougar to play between sets by Del Shannon and the Beach Boys.

All seemed fine until midway through Cougar's set, when, according to Jones, "the guy just snapped. He started into this little preach about how 'the promoter has ripped you off. You've all come to see me. Fuck the promoter, he's an asshole.' He went on and on."

Cougar concluded his set by hurling a $3,200 drum kit, rented by the promoters, into the audience ("A couple of girls were hurt by the cymbals," Jones claimed); kicking in one of the Beach Boys' monitors ("They were disgusted; they wanted to pull the plug on him"); and breaking a mike stand before fleeing.

Later, Cougar said he felt the promoters were "ripping off the kids" by forcing him to play a shortened set on "tickertoy" equipment. "Before I got on the bill, the Beach Boys had sold 2,000 tickets. So here are kids paying fifteen dollars to see me play thirty-five minutes." Cougar says he intends to play a free concert later this year for the Ontario crowd. Jones, however, vows that he will do his utmost to ensure that Cougar never plays in the area again.