ASBURY PARK -- "Guys, I have no idea what to play, the wheels came off 30 minutes ago," laughed Anthony Raneri, frontman of New York rock outfit Bayside and one-fifth of the stripped-down Where's The Band tour -- a troupe of popular singers from established punk and emo groups performing solo acoustic tunes.

Well, that's what was supposed to happen.

And for an hour Tuesday night in Asbury Park, things went smoothly as Raneri, The Get Up Kids' Matt Pryor, Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano, Hot Rod Circuit's Andy Jackson and revered New Jersey native Chris Conley of Saves The Day shared the stage. The five singers -- all in their mid-30s -- traded jokes, sipped beers and took turns at the microphone strumming songs seminal to the pop-punk and emo movements more than a decade ago.

The highlight of the night to this point, ironically, was Conley's revisit of the pop-punk favorite "You Vandal," as Pryor and Jackson sang backup and the crowd wailed along. For fans of the early-2000s punk scene, this was a dream come true.

But a few minutes later, Conley turned on the crowd -- around 500 fans inside the new House of Independents venue -- who he believed were too chatty during one of Jackson's solo performances.

"Shut up, you're bumming me out," he yelled into a microphone, with worse language, as Jackson sang.

The crowd felt the tension, and continued to talk a bit during Pryor's next song, with Jackson shushing them during the singer's soft, lesser-known ballad.

Next up was an ostensibly inebriated Conley -- he'd sucked down a shot of brown liquor on stage minutes before -- who chose not to sing at first, but then took a microphone and berated the audience for chatting, told them to "shut the f--- up and listen," and compared them to bad kids in a classroom. While Pryor and Raneri tried to calm the singer down, he instead insisted on performing an unhinged, a cappella rendition of his old tune "Three Miles Down," in effort to somehow rectify the situation. Some of the crowd nervously sang along, while others exchanged glances that said "what is going on?"

Conley, 35, finished the song by swooping a blanket, or tarp of some sort, across his body like "Phantom of the Opera" and sat back down.

Conley's gesture, right, to the crowd was less than friendly in Asbury Park Tuesday night. (Courtesy of Michael Capko)

The rest of the singers looked on with annoyed surprise, and Pryor quickly hopped to the microphone, rolled his eyes, and poured into "Action & Action," one of his most popular tunes likely reserved for later in the set, to try and win back the crowd.

Conley flailed in his seat behind Pryor, drumming along on the side of his guitar. The unstable frontman stormed off stage soon after and didn't return for the set's final 90 minutes.

The remaining singers followed him off once Pryor was finished, admitting they needed a group meeting. Some fans had seen enough and left for the night.

Alkaline Trio's Andriano quickly came back out, likely under realization that if the stage was left empty, the show would soon be over for good. He began his band's favorite "Every Thug Needs A Lady" and Raneri was soon back on stage as well, followed by Jackson and Pryor.

The foursome spent the rest of the night stumbling through their respective tunes, and trying hard to keep the mood light. Raneri played a pleasing rendition of Death Cab For Cutie's calling-card "I Will Follow You Into The Dark," and Jackson called his stage mates "beautiful people" over and over, and thanked Conley for sticking up for him, in hopes of clearing the air.

But was the crowd too loud at this acoustic show? Were they being disrespectful?

In a word, yes. But Conley, a professional who has performed thousands of gigs over the last 20 years, completely lost his cool.

And this show might have been doomed from the beginning anyway.

Each of the five singers is typically the frontman of a loud, fast punk-style band, and fans are accustomed to seeing them in such a setting. And after each guy sang a song -- sometimes a hit, sometimes an obscure tune -- he'd relinquish the attention to someone else. The constant shift of energy negated any chance to establish a groove, and the guys' banter between songs -- while funny -- also bred the more casual environment. It almost felt okay to talk.

That being said, the audience was far from innocent. Yelling Saves The Day song titles at Pryor and Raneri after the incident was just moronic, and while each performer kept a smile and thanked the crowd for sticking with them till the finish, it seemed as though they too couldn't wait for this nightmare to end.

Bayside singer Anthony Raneri tried to pick up the pieces after Conley's tirade. (Stephanie Maksin | For NJ.com)

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier. Find NJ.com on Facebook.