What do Limp Bizkit, Cold, and Cypress Hill have in common? Outside of being big at the turn of the millennium, this trio (among others) got into some hot water when they embarked on a Napster-sponsored tour on this very day in 2000.
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Limp Bizkit headlined the summer tour with Cypress Hill and Cold supporting, and the file-sharing service Napster sponsored it. For those who forgot or were maybe too young to remember, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Napster was a file-sharing service that made it easy to collect one’s favorite songs from their favorite musicians.
Unfortunately, the company got into a lot of trouble for their product, as it made it possible to more or less download and listen to music without paying the artist or their label. There was a whole lot of drama involving Napster around the time of the Back To Basics Tour, so the bands involved in the tour got quite a bit of criticism. Still, according to those who got to attend the Napster tour, it was incredibly fun.
Even Though the Back to Basics Tour Was Controversial, Fans Really Loved It
It’s not entirely surprising that Limp Bizkit’s frontman, Fred Durst, was okay with Napster sponsoring the tour. Durst has been quite an outspoken advocate of file sharing for years. That’s a pretty sharp turn from Metallica, who sued Napster for distributing their music.
The Back To Basics Tour, according to recollections from those who got to see it in person, has since become more well-known for being inventive and chaotic, instead of the controversy involving Napster. For most of the stops on the tour, Limp Bizkit did ground-level performances with only a metal cage separating them from the audiences. They also did a number of free shows on the tour. Overall, it was a very “for the fans” venture, and many have talked about it fondly in the years since.
“The setup with the fence and the band being ground level with the crowd was pretty cool,” said one fan.
“During the show people were climbing the cage and jumping off into the crowd,” said another. “At one point Fred [Durst] was climbing the cage.”
The Napster tour may have stirred controversy with other musicians, but the fans really got to experience something incredible.
Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns
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