Detroit Venue Addresses Controversy After Alleged Neo-Nazi Black Metal Show Cancellation

Detroit’s Harpos Concert Theatre, a historic venue on the city’s east side, is facing intense backlash following a controversial concert held this past weekend. Allegations have surfaced that several bands on the lineup were associated with neo-Nazi ideologies, sparking public outrage and even drawing a police response.

Venue owners Krystle Dzajkovska and Ruzvelt Stevanovski claimed they were unaware of these affiliations until calls flooded in during the event. According to Stevanovski, the promoter behind the show intentionally concealed details about the bands and avoided public promotion, only revealing the venue’s location to ticket holders shortly before the event began. The flyer for the event can be found below.

The event, titled “A Night of Black Metal and Carnage,” featured seven bands: Grand Belial’s Key, Crucifier, Blue Hummingbird on the Left, Lurid, Nexul, Genocidal Rites, and Perversion. The last-minute release of the venue’s address left little opportunity for the venue to vet the lineup or intervene ahead of the performances, leading to confusion and further criticism of the event’s handling.

After being alerted to the accusations, Harpos Concert Theatre shut down the event during the second band’s set, with Detroit police intervening and citing licensing violations. The venue owners, have since issued a public apology, acknowledging their failure to properly research the lineup and vowing to ensure such a mistake will not happen again.

“Our name is at stake,” Dzajkovska said. “It makes more sense for us to, even though it’s not our event, check and see exactly what we’re booking.”

Meanwhile, the Detroit Fire Department identified additional violations that must be resolved before the venue can secure a valid business license and reopen. DFD Fire Marshal Don Thomas commented:

Upon arrival at the business in question, the fire marshal division noted multiple egregious life and fire safety violations, including padlocked doors, blocked exits, and no emergency lighting. This is unacceptable. A total of 24 violations were written by the Detroit Fire Department.

Stevanovski asserts that he had all the necessary licenses to operate the business but did not have them readily available or displayed when officials arrived.

The venue’s statement read:

On Saturday January 25th, there was an event held at Harpos Concert Theatre that needs to be addressed publicly. The community has demanded answers, which is rightfully deserved, to which we intended on providing. Starting off, I would like to issue our deepest apologies to the community on behalf of myself (Krystle Dzajkovska), Ruzvelt Stevanovski, and Harpos Concert Theatre. While the events on January 25th do not reflect our values, or that of our community, we are truly sorry and are holding ourselves and others involved accountable. We at Harpos are deeply committed to fostering an environment of inclusivity, respect, and equality for all. We want to unequivocally state racism has no place in our business or community, and we stand against all forms of racism.

We were not given certain information during the process of booking this event that could have prevented this from happening. After reflection on our end, we realize that although we should have asked for more and done more research, we feel that by design, they deliberately failed to provide such information. We feel manipulated throughout the entire process and will continue to address where we need to improve.

For the event held on Saturday January 25th, we were not made aware ahead of time that some of the bands were in any association with Nazi/Neo Nazi, White Supremacy, and/or Nationalist Socialist black metal. If I were made aware of this ahead of time, this event would have never happened. This was the first time this event organizer has done an event at our venue. In the process of the event organizer booking this event with Harpos, this information was never given. It was communicated that it was just a Black Metal Festival, which Harpos has had many in the past.

As far as the event location being hidden. It was not Harpos’ that kept the location of the event from the public. This was per the request of the event organizer explaining that this is the way he does his metal shows; he sells tickets for the event and the location is only disclosed to the ticket holders the day of the event. I did not assume that the reason for this was due to the nature of the band(s). The event organizer also stated for us not to promote on our website, Facebook, or Instagram, and that he would handle his own promotion for the event so that the location wouldn’t be disclosed. This was not our decision. This is also the explanation as to why we were not aware of the circulating hate driven flyers with the red markings clearly indicating the nature, which was different from the original flyer. We were not tagged in those original posts.

On January 25th, the day of the event, before the event started, we were still not aware. Once the event started, that’s when we became aware of the nature of the bands from an internet post and calls. Once we were made aware of the situation, the event was shut down immediately. At this time the second band was performing and there were 5 remaining. The event did not continue. Also, Harpos did not call law enforcement to the venue, the police officers came to the venue on their own due to the threats made online, which we were unaware of.

Although this event was not booked by Harpos and was booked by an outside event organizer, I am still the owner of the venue and I take full responsibility and accountability for not doing my due diligence. I foolishly did not follow up as intensely as I should have. This is not who we are or what we represent. As a Black venue owner, I fully understand that hate and racism comes in all forms and skin tones. However, my race/ethnicity is no defense or excuse for my ignorance of not knowing. Since we took ownership in 2017, I have always been devoted to promoting inclusion of all nationalities at Harpos and would never intentionally jeopardize the trust that I’ve earned with the community. I intend on doing everything I can to gain back that trust. Harpos has a rich history and I now realize I need to do more to address concerns about vetting bands and doing more research. I have an immense amount of improvement to do and I need to do better for the sake of my business and my community.

The outrage and anger is completely understood and shows that there is still some humanity left in this world and that there are still individuals out there that will stand up against what is wrong and hateful.

Hate and racism is not something that I or Harpos stand for, encourage, or promote and I would never knowingly or intentionally hold this type of event at my venue with the risk of losing the support of my community and my venue. This is not who we are, this is not what we represent.
We truly thank all our loyal patrons over the years and all the memories we share. We look forward to making more for years to come. 

Sincerely,
Ruzvelt Stevanovski and Krystle Dzajkovska
Owners Harpos Concert Theatre

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