Napalm Death Gig at London Museum Cancelled for Fear of Damaging "Historical Fabric of the Building"

Published Mar 20, 2013

Classic grinders Napalm Death are still a sonic force to be reckoned with, so much so that an upcoming gig at London's Victoria and Albert Museum has now been called off over concerns that the band's music could potentially damage priceless art pieces and even the building itself.The free show was supposed to take place this Friday (March 22) as a collaboration with the V&A's ceramic artist in residence, Keith Harrison. The quartet were apparently to play through a specially constructed clay PA system built by Harrison that would "explode" during the show. Museum officials quashed the experimental performance this week, though, explaining that Napalm Death's oppressive vibrations could, in theory, wreck any number of nearby artifacts by displacing them from the walls and ceilings."It is with regret that we have taken the decision to cancel the one-off Napalm Death performance," officials wrote. "This was due to take place in the Europe Galleries which are currently being refurbished and a further safety inspection has revealed concerns that the high level of decibels generated by the concert would damage the historic fabric of the building."Vocalist Barney Greenway has since said that he's not surprised that the concert was called off, considering the act's "crippling sound.""[The V&A] had been making noises. They started asking the sound guy fairly nervously: 'What will the volume be like?' He was like, 'What can I tell you? They make a lot of noise. He didn't know what would happen to the plates," he told the Telegraph . "Apparently there was some suspended china thing around the stage. Obviously if we cranked [the music] out and it detached from the ceiling, that would be embarrassing."The grind pioneers' latest album is 2012's Utilitarian