As the Foo Fighters performed in Christchurch, a man stripped fully nude.
As the Foo Fighters performed in Christchurch, a man stripped fully nude.
One keen Foo Fighters fan is taking off on social media, with images of the nude concertgoer, taken by fellow crowd members at the band’s latest concert yesterday, circulating on Instagram.
While the Foo Fighters didn’t have a surprise for their fans at their Christchurch show last night, it appears one of their fans had an X-rated surprise for them, which later led to his arrest.
The band — made up of Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear, Rami Jaffee and Josh Freese — have just completed the second show of their three-date New Zealand tour.
And while they were performing at Christchurch’s Apollo Projects Stadium, a fan stripped completely naked in the mosh pit before security and police intervened to arrest him.
In a statement to the Herald, a police spokesperson said, “A 27-year-old man was arrested following an incident of indecent exposure at the concert last night. He was dealt with via alternative resolution, no charges were laid.”
They said in general concertgoers were “well behaved”, adding that three people were “arrested for disorder incidents (in addition to the arrest for indecent exposure) and 23 people were evicted from the venue for varying reasons, principally relating to intoxication”.
A man could be seen completely nude at the Foo Fighters' Christchurch show. Photo / Instagram @radiohauraki
Before the man’s arrest, many punters snapped images of the naked concertgoer, including one that was posted to Radio Hauraki’s Instagram page. The image shows the back of the man standing on another concertgoer’s shoulders appearing to mimic playing a guitar.
The caption of the photo reads, “Foo Fighters looked epic”, sparking comments like “legend” and “rock out with your ...”
Concertgoer Glenn Dwight told the Herald: “It’s impressive that a concertgoer managed to shoehorn that rugby rite of passage “streaking” into a Foo Fighters concert. Luckily, he didn’t do it during Everlong as that might have been false advertising. As he was not there forever (thanks Red Badge) or long! Maybe the Pretender?”
ZB journalist Claire Sherwood said the show of exhibitionism was the talk of the concert, with many people discussing the act while leaving the stadium.
“I didn’t see the guy at all but heard all about it as I walked to my car after the show. A group of young guys were laughing about it, with one saying it was ‘an impressive effort’.
“The funniest exchange was one of the young guys saying the flasher had nothing to be proud of, and his mate responded with, ‘Come on! It wasn’t exactly a warm night. Cut the guy some slack’. To be fair, he was right, it wasn’t exactly a warm night.”
Elevated above the crowd, the naked fan played air guitar. Photo / @foofighterslive
While there have been numerous streaking events at New Zealand sports games — including a man streaking at the Alexandra bowls tournament, there are rarely streaking events at concerts — and while the law doesn’t consider public nudity an offence, an individual who “within view of any public place, intentionally and obscenely exposes any part of his or her genitals” could face charges such as indecent exposure or performing an indecent act.
A representative for Frontier Touring declined to comment on the incident, saying it was a police matter.
Lillie Rohan is an Auckland-based reporter covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2020. She specialises in all things relationships and dating, Kiwi concert and TV shows you simply cannot miss out on.
