WILCO - TWEEDY PUNCHES STAGE INVADER MID-GIG

TWEEDY PUNCHES STAGE INVADER MID-GIG

WILCO frontman JEFF TWEEDY was forced to punch a fan who stormed the stage during a Springfield, Missouri gig on Monday (16OCT06) night. The THEOLOGIANS star was half an hour into the band's set at the Shrine Mosque venue when a man evaded security, ran up to the rocker and kissed him. A fearful Tweedy, not knowing what the fan's intentions were, immediately punched him away. Concert promoter PAT HAGIN says, "It's not a venue that does a lot of shows. They're nice people but the security was not what we would normally want to see I guess. And I'm not blaming it on them or anything. "This guy came across the front of the stage, and I think Jeff just kind of shoved/punched, pushed him out of the way. "If somebody jumps on stage with you, its one thing if they're off to the side or they look passive, but when they're actually attempting to make themselves part of the show, it's pretty startling. This guy (the fan) was an idiot. "There's this video of KEITH RICHARDS taking his guitar to somebody getting on stage (in 1981), it wasn't certainly anything like that. But Tweedy certainly has a right and a need in my mind to feel safe onstage. "It really wasn't that big of a deal. He was just trying to establish ownership of the stage. There wasn't any hard contact or anything like that. "We got him off the stage. There was no harm done, though. No blood or anything like that." Ex-PANTERA guitarist DARRELL 'DIMEBAG' ABBOTT was gunned down while on stage with his band DAMAGEPLAN in December 2004 during a performance in Columbus, Ohio. Gunman NATHAN GALE shot Abbott five times and killed three other people.