Band’s spot of bother over ‘spliff’
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ROCK band Space received a visit from the police on stage after a spectator wronglyy claimed one of them was smoking a cannabis ‘spliff’.
The group were approached by four officers, who ascended the steps to where they had been performing their set for the massive Widnes Vikings versus Warrington Wolves rugby league clash crowd at Select Security Stadium on Lower House Lane.
Cheshire police said a search took place and nothing was found.
That did not stop social media from lighting up with rumours the band had been removed for smoking ‘weed’.
Parody Twitter account @SinbadBrookie even showed them some support, and tweeted ‘Hahaha, is right lads!’
The seasoned musicians took it in good humour.
Their official Twitter account tweeted ‘Misunderstanding. All Good. Top Night’ with a smiley emoji, and replied to @SinbadBrookie with ‘Nothing to see here, move along’.
A video clip circulating online shows lead singer Tommy Scott approaching the police officers and smiling and shaking his head while carrying a hot drink online.
Space hit the charts in the 1990s during the Britpop heyday with a string of hits such as Neighbourhood and Female Of The Species Species.
The band provided the pre-game entertainment and performed a smaller set at half-time, when their encounter with the police took place.
They took the misunderstanding in their stride, with band manager Mark Cowley branding it ‘all in a day’s work’.
He told the Weekly News: “Basically somebody mentioned to a police officer that they thought one of the band, Phil the bass player, was smoking what looked like a spliff.
“Four police officers attended the stage and asked two of the band to go with them to have a chat – Tommy (Scott) and Phil (Hartley) – they immediately dismissed Tommy and continued to chat to Phil, after searching Phil they realised it was a mistake and he was in fact smoking a cigarette. “They sent him back to the stage. “The police were very professional and polite. “All in a day’s work.” A Cheshire police spokeswoman said: “At around 9pm on April 13, police at the rugby club in Widnes were asked to attend an area of the stadium where there was a strong smell of cannabis. “A 39-year-old man was searched. “Nothing was found, and no arrests were made.”