During a concert in Portland, Ore. on Thursday night, Fiona Apple was heckled by a fan toward the end of her set, and reportedly broke down while performing her final song.
According to Stereogum, Apple -- who is touring with Blake Mills -- was chided by the unnamed attendee because of her appearance.
After close to 90 minutes of Apple and Mills trading off songs and, as they put it, “working sh-t out,” someone in the first balcony yelled out, “Fiona! Get healthy! We want to see you in 10 years!”
Apple, understandably, looked aghast, then hurt, then furious. She unleashed a torrent of vitriol at the unseen member of the peanut gallery. “I am healthy! Who the f-ck do you think you are? I want you to get the f-ck out of here. I want the house lights on so I watch you leave!”
That might have been the end of it -- the house lights did come on, and the shouter did eventually depart -- but the anonymous commenter decided to get one last shot in: “I saw you 20 years ago and you were beautiful!”
After that remark, Apple sang “Waltz (Better Than Fine)" through what Stereogum called "sobs." Following the concert, Apple fans commented on the incident via Twitter (warning: foul language ahead):
This isn't the first time Apple has dealt with hecklers during her recent run of performances. During a fashion event in Tokyo this past September, Apple told the apparently verbal crowd that they were "rude," and asked them to "shut the f-ck up."
Many outlets, including The Huffington Post, reported that Apple walked off stage before the end of her Tokyo set, but the singer refuted those claims in a post on Questlove's OkayPlayer website:
if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, if you could tweet to the twits who call themselves journalists (example Chris Martins of sit-and-Spin Magazine) that I FINISHED MY SET!!! I did my job, and they should do theirs too–They all miss the fact that there is a difference between the back-of-the-room-chatter that is simply annoying,–and the operatic drunken blather, or the heckling that is really just INTERRUPTING that makes it impossible for us to do our jobs. I hope your readers are already hip to the fact that they are consistently lied to… no apologies. -Fiona.
For more on Apple's Portland concert, head to Stereogum.
