Some poor, unsuspecting Lamb Of God fans in South Carolina USA rocked up to what they thought was a metal show last weekend, only to be greeted by… hymns, Advent candles and a family-friendly Christian Christmas concert.
Thanks to a glorious fuck-up on StubHub, a December 20 event at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium was mistakenly listed as a Lamb Of God gig. In reality, it was Andrew Peterson’s long-running religious spectacular Behold The Lamb Of God: The True Tall Tale Of The Coming Of Christ – a wholesome, very reverent retelling of the birth of Jesus that is, in every possible universe, the polar opposite of groove metal.
“This why StubHub sucks” – Randy Blythe
To make it even more cursed, this wasn’t just any stop on Peterson’s tour – it was the final show of a 13-date family-friendly Christian Christmas run. A screenshot of the StubHub listing quickly went viral, and honestly, it’s easy to see how metalheads unfamiliar with Peterson’s project might’ve thought, “hell yeah, Lamb Of God Christmas special” and smashed that buy button without a second thought.
After the backlash, StubHub fronted up with an apology, promising full refunds under its FanProtect Guarantee: “We acknowledge the listing for the December 20 event at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium was misleading and apologize for the confusion this caused… Anyone who purchased tickets under the impression this was a different performance is encouraged to contact us — we’ll honour a full refund”.
Lamb Of God themselves hadn’t even played live since November, which should’ve been a dead giveaway — but when you see your favourite band’s name next to a venue, sometimes logic leaves the building faster than a wall of death.
Frontman Randy Blythe handled the whole thing with peak dad-humour energy, posting on Instagram: “We usually play @groundzerovenue NOT Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. This why StubHub sucks. Merry Christmas, Spartanburg”.
And in case you thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime divine intervention – nope. Back in 2014, the band’s logo was accidentally used on promo material for a religious Easter event in Virginia.
So this Christmas, please spare a thought for the metalheads who turned up ready to scream along to Laid To Rest and instead found themselves politely clapping through a heartfelt celebration of the Nativity.
Thoughts and prayers.
Further Reading
Watch Lamb of God Tear Through New Songs In Quarantine Session
Ex-Lamb Of God Drummer Chris Adler Breaks His Silence On His Departure From The Band
Watch This Contestant On Germany’s ‘The Voice’ Smash A Lamb Of God Classic
