Someone in the crowd at a rock show was grating cheese over everybody and no one is quite sure why

Cheese being grated in a crowd — (Image credit: TikTok)

If you thought the surprising study on straight men playing extreme metal or the inexplicable decision of someone to throw a dead rat on stage at a Full Of Hell show was going to be the weirdest thing in rock music you read about this week - friends, we have some spectacular news for you.

Social media was awash last night with video footage of a fan grating cheese over their fellow concert goers at a rock show in California that took place over the weekend. The bizarre moment, which happened during Swedish rockers Viagra Boys' set at Desert Daze festival at Moreno Beach in Lake Perris on Saturday night (October 1), was caught on camera by a variety of concert goers, with no clear explanation from anyone as to exactly why in the hell it was happening.

Chris DeVille, Managing Editor at Stereogum, first broke the 'news' when he Tweeted: "I’m told someone in the front row for Viagra Boys at Desert Daze had a block of cheese and was grating it onto people’s heads."

The story was soon confirmed by Viagra Boys fans who were at the show and had taken photos and videos of the cheese-grating debacle.

Watch footage of the incident yourself below courtesy of a TikTok video which has now amassed hundreds of thousands of views. You know you want to.

@starvemykids
sharp cheddar at the function
♬ Easy Lovers - Piero Piccioni

The Desert Daze festival took place over three days and featured sets from the likes of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Tame Impala, Beach House, Show Me The Body, The Armed, Jpegmafia, Divide & Dissolve and many more. As far as we're away, no other dairy products were harnessed during those sets, by artist or crowd.

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.