Well, it turns out that packed Smash Mouth gig in South Dakota earlier this month has now helped to result in over 100 positive cases of COVID-19, making the performance viral in every sense of the word. Can’t help but imagine we all saw that one coming, right?
Back on August 10, the band-turned-meme-turned-band (?) performed at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in the US, where it was believed a large crowd of apparently mask-less fans flouted the event’s supposed social-distancing rules to see them perform.
As per Brooklyn Vegan, the North and South Dakota health departments have now linked 57 cases of COVID-19 to this year’s annual motorcycle rally, which has pushed the total number of positive cases past the 100 mark. AP reported that eight other states have found positive cases from the rally, including Minnesota, Wisconsin Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming and Washington.
Yikes.
During the performance, Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell was filmed yelling “we’re in this together. Fuck that COVID shit!” to punters, which has certainly come to bite them in the ass barely three weeks later.
Big ol’ yikes.
Back over in California, Smash Mouth has shared some of the fan mail they’ve been receiving off the back of that ill-fated performance, including a picture of a ripped-up copy of their 1997 album, Fush Yu Mang, accompanied with a very cranky handwritten letter calling the band “motherfuckers” and “selfish”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEMzuQLlE_6/
Look I know that we all need a little change in this year, but playing a packed-out show in the middle of a global pandemic with no known vaccine just yet is absolutely not it, mates.
