Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme is being accused of breaking the law at Manchester Arena over the weekend by smoking on stage. Homme admitted to the crowd at the QOTSA show that he was ‘a little drunk’ on stage.
Smoking in all enclosed work places – including music venues – has been banned in England since 2007 and is enforced by the Environment Agency – although venues are also keen to police it as they could also be fined for any breach. They could also lose their licence. The arena has reported the incident to QOTSA management.
@qotsa in Manchester, love Josh Homme ? ? ?@ManchesterArena #QueensOfTheStoneAge #QOTSA #Manchester pic.twitter.com/cOMJiEwpDK
— Abby (@abby_coralie) November 20, 2017
In a statement, a spokesman for the arena said: “It is very disappointing and regrettable that the artist chose to smoke on stage during their performance in Manchester.
“This was an individual decision taken by the artist, despite us making it very clear to their management that it is illegal to smoke in any area of the arena.
“We are extremely vigilant in ensuring our venue remains a no-smoking environment and our extensive front of house ‘no smoking’ signage is duplicated throughout our backstage area.”
Do you believe Homme should apologize, or that he was just trying to bring rock and roll back?
