Photo by Gerry Nicholls for Blunt Mag: Iconic 90s band Garbage at Good Things Festival in Brisbane on Sunday, where singer Shirley Manson eventually apologised for her beach ball tirade.

Imagine being an international rockstar and telling a mosh-pit filled with thousands of your Australian fans in the heat of summer that you “HATE THE BEACH!”

And that you also hate beach balls.

That’s what Garbage front-woman Shirley Manson told sizzling crowds at this year’s Good Things Festival in Melbourne, after an unsuspecting concert-goer, Ben O’Brien, brought an inflatable beach ball to her show.

Call it main character syndrome, narcissism, menopausal rage, or woke-ism, but somehow Shirley made the entire three-day event about her.

The saga continued to plague the Scottish singer in Sydney and Brisbane, where fans encouraged each other to bring beach balls to her shows, in a sign of solidarity for their fellow punter.

Pictured: A fan on Instagram tells Shirley her beach ball rant was “disrespectful”.

What we know about the beach ball saga:

• Festival-goer Ben O’Brien attends Good Things Melbourne 2025 with a beach ball.
• Garbage singer Shirley Manson spots the inflatable ball from stage, saying it’s distracting.
• Her rant descends into a feminist tirade, where she threatens her fan with physical violence.
• On Instagram the next day, she intimates she “did not lose sleep” over the incident.
• Festival-goers in Sydney and Brisbane rally on social media, encouraging fellow punters to take beach balls to her next two shows.
• Machine Head and Stand Atlantic provide their own inflatables for their shows at the festival.
• Shirley eventually apologises, deflecting the issue to the war in Gaza.

Shirley Manson’s abusive tirade over a beach ball

“Big guy with your big fucking beach ball”, Shirley says in a video shared by Stereogum, during Good Things in Melbourne.

“Oh, I’m so scared of you, so thrilled by you! What a fucking douchebag! Fucking dudes, wow…

“You’re a fucking middle-aged man in a fucking ridiculous hat. And you’re a fucking fuck-face.

“And I want, literally, to ask people to fucking punch you in the fucking face. But you know what? I’m a lady, so I won’t.

“But truly, I would love to send my crew over to fucking mess you up. But you know what? I won’t because I pity you because you’re a small man with a small dick.

“Goodnight, angel face.”

She later posted on Instagram: “Continue listening to Spotify and toss your stupid beach balls around like you are 10 years old.

“I love the musical community, and I want to respect their artistry. I am so tired of folks taking music for free and treating us all like circus performers.

“Musicians have had enough. And we’re fed up of not getting fucking paid properly and fed up of having to play for douchebags like you.”

‘It went dark’: Garbage fan Ben O’Brien says he was ‘afraid’

Ben told BLUNT Magazine his mates gave him the name “Gig Pig”, and he’s spent the last 30 years going to festivals and gigs, including “20-odd Big Day Outs in a row”.

“It went dark – absolutely went dark,” he told BLUNT about the moment he was caught in the cross-fire of Shirley’s verbally-abusive charade.

“I felt hurt that one of my artists I’ve loved for over 25-30 years had singled me out and made me feel very small. And a bit afraid…”

But Ben doesn’t want Garbage fans to turn on the singer. Or throw things at her.

“I don’t want you throwing beach balls at Shirley – she’d hate that. She’d probably walk off stage.

“If anyone does bring a beach ball, just wave it in the air like I did and have fun.”

At her Brisbane show, Shirley eventually apologised to her fans.

“If a beach ball brings you joy, for that I apologise. If I upset you about your blessed beach balls, I humbly apologise.”

She then diverted the conversation to the war in Gaza.