Gavin Adcock seemingly halted his set to confront a Nickelback crewmember in a fiery exchange Saturday.
The rising country music star claimed he rose to the defense of his father against Nickelback’s sound guy in post Sunday to social media. The incident took place at the Rock the Country festival in Anderson, South Carolina, according to Taste of Country. The situation flared up when a crew member allegedly got into a confrontation with Adcock’s father.
Footage posted to social media appeared to show Adcock jumping off the stage and quickly heading toward the commotion, where Nickelback’s sound guy had allegedly tried to have the singer’s father removed from the venue.
“Hey, let me tell you something real quick” Adcock said. “Hey buddy, you’re gonna lose your goddamn job, you stupid ass bum. You better fuck off back there.”
No physical altercation took place and security deescalated the scene quickly, according to the footage.
Adcock later addressed the moment on Instagram. “My dad taught me to stand up for what’s right — and especially to stand up for your own. That’s exactly what I did,” he said.
Adcock alleged that Nickelback’s sound guy was upset about an empty drink left on the soundboard — a drink that didn’t belong to Adcock’s dad, but to his acoustic guitar player’s mom.
“Sound dude comes around the corner, sees the drink, slings it off the soundboard — it’s empty, by the way — and goes to cussing out my acoustic guitar player’s mom,” Adcock said in a video message shared on Instagram.
“My dad hears it probably five to ten yards away, steps over, gets in the dude’s face, basically tells him, ‘You better back up, dude. People from the South don’t act that way.’”
The country singer claimed that the sound guy “goes over and gets on his phone like a little snake. I said, ‘he’s about to do some bullshit.’”
“I’m up there singing ‘A Cigarette,’ and he gets security to come down there, and I see them — they’re about to grab my dad. And I just run down the alley and tell them, ‘Nah, you ain’t kicking me out — he’s the one causing problems.’ So security got him, took him on his way.” (RELATED: Chris Stapleton Makes ‘Sesame Street’ A Little More Country)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – JUNE 05: EDITORIAL USE ONLY. Gavin Adcock performs on the Chevy Riverfront stage during day one of CMA Fest 2025 at Riverfront Park on June 05, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images)
Fans rallied behind him, praising his loyalty and the way he handled the situation.
Nickelback has not publicly addressed the matter.
