Guitarist walks off stage mid-gig to stop alleged sexual harassment

A guitarist has been praised after he walked off stage mid-gig to stop what he thought looked like sexual assault in the audience.

Circa Survive guitarist Brendan Ekstrom said he saw a woman repeatedly rejecting the advances of a man at a concert in US city of St Louis.

Thinking "flirting doesn't look like that," he stopped playing and walked off stage to confront the man.

He explained his actions to his fans on Twitter, writing: "Quick note to those who were at the show last night. I've been doing this for 20 years and I've never walked of stage during a song before.

"For almost a whole song I watched a guy stand a row behind a girl flirting and then trying to kiss her. It was hard to tell what was really happening. At times she seemed OK with his advances but after the second time of watching her push his face and hands away and try to turn back to watch the show I asked the security guard to go check on them.

"He couldn't see what I was pointing to and it was still happening. I left the stage and walked straight for them, my mind an emotional blur. Security followed me. The man seemed dumbfounded when I showed up as if nothing was wrong. I don't know what happened after. I went back to stage to finish the show. Security took it from there."

He added: "I didn't see them again after that. Maybe they were removed or just moved. Maybe they were in a relationship. Maybe they weren't. Regardless what I saw from stage was disturbing to me and completely removed me from the mindset I need to be on stage.

"It wasn't cute. It was alarming. I'm almost forty and flirting doesn't look like that. Maybe It's that I have a daughter or that I'm older."

Mr Ekstrom said he may have acted that way because he had seen a video before the gig in which a young man attempts to flirt with a woman who repeatedly refuses his advances by pressing his body against hers.

He added: "I really don't know but it made me furious to watch a girl forcibly remove someone's hands from her body multiple times.

"I still don't feel great about how I handled this situation. I borderline blacked out in some weird rage mode. it makes me nervous to think about how I would handle situations like this in the future especially if it was with someone I knew or cared about especially if it is my daughter.

"I don't really know what to say about it all. I'm sorry to my band for not communicating the situation better and leaving them standing on stage confused.

"And I'm sorry to fans who were equally confused and saw a bit of an unusual show."