Tyler Joseph, the lead singer for the band Twenty One Pilots, was attacked by excited fans as he attempted to crowd surf at the BBC Reading and Leeds Festival. Video footage of Joseph’s frightening ordeal surfaced on social media. As the Twenty One Pilots drummer Josh Dun bursts into a drum solo, Tyler leaps into the crowd. One video shows a fan grabbing Joseph’s mask and the crowd surging and dropping Tyler. Another shows Joseph eventually making it to a high rise platform, his shirt torn to shreds. According to Hollywood Take , Joseph’s shoes were also stolen , though it is difficult to make out in the video.
#RespectTylerJoseph You can’t keep abusing him like this. But everyone keep in mind, it was outsiders.. pic.twitter.com/PUFv7dIIib
— Nia™ (@spaceguyhowell) August 27, 2016
A video shared on Twitter shown from the airing of the concert on BBC shows Joseph at the end of the scary two minute crowd surf, standing on top of the tower and bluntly saying, “We’ve gotta be done. Josh, that’s it.”
For those asking what happened. This is not okay to do to ANYONE. Concerts don’t excuse physical assault. pic.twitter.com/9PkgNyR5B1
— Rebzy (@odetosymphonies) August 26, 2016
It’s unknown if that is the point that Twenty One Pilots had truly wanted to end their set or if Tyler Joseph was just simply too rattled to continue.
Fans of Twenty One Pilots immediately took to Twitter to share their support for the frightened singer with the hashtag #RespectTylerJoseph. Several people pointed out a tweet from Tyler himself in February in which he discussed how much he wanted to keep fans safe at the Twenty One Pilots concerts.
I’LL CRY, HE IS SO CUTE WITH US, YOU SHOULD SHOW RESPECT TO HIM #RespectTylerJoseph pic.twitter.com/tAKIcQ9qcx
— Adri (@stoplouis_) August 27, 2016
Twenty One Pilots is a musical duo, formerly a trio, based out of Ohio. Tyler Joseph is the lead singer and keyboardist and Josh Dun is the drummer. Both Tyler and Josh play a variety of other instruments as well. The musical genre of Joseph and Dun has been difficult to categorize with their unique sound, though Twenty One Pilots is often confused to be part of the Christian genre due to their overt Christian ideologies in their song lyrics.
Thought Twenty One Pilots has been on the music scene since 2009, their popularity has grown exponentially since 2013. In 2016, Dun and Joseph won Top Rock Artist and Top Rock Album at the Billboard Music Awards for their most recent project Blurryface .
According to a review by Technique , Twenty One Pilots had been giving an outstanding, riveting, and entertaining show up until the point in which Tyler started his scary crowd surf. Joseph was praised for his amazing vocals and both Dun and Joseph were applauded for the unique experience they brought to the stage including a moment in which Tyler Joseph went over the crowd in a giant red hamster ball.
Dun had gone on Twitter earlier today expressing his excitement over playing at a festival that he and Joseph had admired growing up.
tyler and I are going to play at Reading festival today. we used to watch sets from Reading on tv, pause/study/rewind and watch again.
— spooky jim christmas (@joshuadun) August 26, 2016
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are musical festivals that take place simultaneously in England each year. Similar to Woodstock, Lollapalooza, and Coachella, the festival draws in top notch talent combined with up-and-coming bands. Though the Red Hot Chili Peppers were considered to be headliners of the 2016 festival, Twenty One Pilots has been on the rise and their performance was anticipated to bring a huge draw — and it did.
Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun and the Twenty One Pilots social media gurus have yet to comment on the scary situation.
[Photo by Raphael Dias/Getty Images]