Rock Band Apologizes After Going Viral for Live Concert Urination on Fan

By Daniel S. Levine

Brass Against, a cover band that performs unique takes on songs by Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Black Sabbath and other groups, apologized on Twitter Friday after a viral video showed their lead singer urinating on a fan during a performance. In the middle of a performance of Rage Against the Machine's "Wake Up" at the Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida Thursday night, Sophia Urista urinated on a willing fan's face. A video of the disgusting scene went viral.

"We had a great time last night at Welcome to Rockville. Sophia got carried away. That's not something the rest of us expected, and it's not something you'll see again at our shows. Thanks for bringing it last night, Daytona," the group tweeted on Friday. The statement was also posted on the group's Instagram page.

Video of the incident shows a male fan laying on the ground with a camera mounted on his head. Urista told the man to get on the ground, and she pulled down her pants to urinate on his face. While she pulled her pants back up, the fan got up and spit back at the audience. The festival was live-streamed on Twitch, but the stream reportedly stopped when Urista pulled her pants down. The scene was also shown on large video screens on either side of the stage.

The incident quickly earned Brass Against more attention than they anticipated. After one critic complained to them that Urista's behavior led to the Twitch stream being cut, they responded in a now-deleted tweet, "We're truly sorry. Not who we are as a band." In other tweets, the group assured Twitter users they will never do this again. "We hear the suggestions and won't be doing that again, but no assault occurred there," they wrote to one person. In another message, the group said the man knew he was going to be urinated on. "Several comments made about peeing prior to it actually happening. Invited to stage," they wrote. Urista also cleaned up her mess after they left the stage, they wrote.

Urista has not publicly commented on the situation herself, but the incident has raised her profile. The singer, who performed on The Voice in 2016, now has over 62,000 followers on Instagram. According to Brass Against's website, she will be joining them for their 2022 European tour, when they will open for Tool.

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