Gawker is reporting the following rumor:
The Occupy Wall Street protesters camped out in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park are buzzing over a big secret musical guest scheduled to play this afternoon at around 4pm. We hear that it’s Radiohead, who are in New York for a couple concerts.
It makes sense: Radiohead’s lead singer Thom Yorke has a history of lefty anti-globalization protest. What do you think: Are the millionaires from Radiohead authentic enough to be the bards of revolution? They’re certainly capable of mobilizing people: When their New York show sold out in minutes they almost caused a Twitter riot.
Hmmmm… Again this is just a rumor. Stay tuned…
UPDATE: This has been confirmed.
UPDATE AGAIN: Radiohead’s PR agency, Nasty Little Man, just tweeted the following:
RADIOHEAD IS NOT PLAYING WALL STREET TODAY nor were they ever confirmed to do so.
Very weird. From Gawker:
However, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman insists the show will go on and that organizers have email confirmation that Radiohead will be playing an acoustic set at 4pm. “What we think is happening is they don’t want a lot of people to come,” he said. “Trust me, we have confirmation.” CNN is now reporting that the show is happening as well; what might happen if Radiohead doesn’t show up could be more interesting than if they did.
UPDATE 2:19 PM ET: From Gothamist:
A source with MoveOn.org also maintains that Radiohead WILL play, and that the band’s management has “officially” denied any performance because the band wanted this to be “only for the protesters.” A spokesperson for the Mayor’s office has not responded to requests for comment, but police have put in new barricades at Wall Street and Nassau.
The possibility of a big, disorganized free concert calls to mind the great Drake shitshow concert at the South Street Seaport last year, and the Justin Bieber mall riot!
We’re getting the sense that Radiohead may have wanted to show up unannounced and play for the demonstrators, but someone connected with the protest leaked it to Gawker to get the publicity they’re now savoring.
UPDATE: 3:15 PM ET: From Radiohead:
We wish the best of luck to the protesters there, but contrary to earlier rumours, we will not be appearing today at Occupy Wall Street
UPDATE: 3:55 PM ET: From Gothamist:
Patrick Bruner, the Occupy Wall Street spokesman who earlier confirmed the concert, emails, “I got hoaxed. Radiohead was never confirmed. Completely our fault. Apologies. The band were victims in this hoax as well.”
What a complete mess this turned out to be.
(thanks to Dave)
