I tried many times to see Death Grips in the last year and a half. I flew to Hopscotch Festival in North Carolina – and they cancelled. I tried to see them in Boston – they cancelled. I tried to see them in Boston AGAIN – rescheduled indefinitely (this time I believe it was the venue’s fault). Finally I was going to see them this summer, still holding onto a ticket I had purchased almost a year prior, and that was canceled too. Still, it’s hard to imagine the confusion felt by the people at Bottom’s Lounge in Chicago the night before Death Grips’ schedule Lollapalooza show (which never happened). With simply a recording of the band’s music playing over the PA, an empty drum set on stage, and an apparent suicide note from a fan as the backdrop, the crowd turned violent and angry, smashing the drums. Then and now it never struck me as an act of antagonism; most of all it reminded me of John Cage’s 4:33, another piece of music often misinterpreted as pointless. This is not silence or non-performance, you’re a part of it and whatever happens, that is the performance.