Music History Events: Stage Mishaps
June 12, 2015 Dave Grohl falls off the stage and breaks his leg during a Foo Fighters show in Gothenburg, Sweden. He gets medical attention but returns to finish the show, propped up while someone holds his leg. The rest of their European tour is cancelled while he gets surgery, but the tour resumes on July 4 in Washington, DC, with Grohl performing from a custom-made guitar throne.
June 7, 2009 After performing the Poison hit "Nothin' but a Good Time" at the Tony Awards, Bret Michaels has a run-in with the set, and the set wins. He cuts his lip and fractures his nose in the incident.More
February 1, 2004 Justin Timberlake punctuates the Super Bowl halftime show by tearing away part of Janet Jackson's costume, revealing her right breast to a massive audience that quickly reaches for their TiVos for a replay. Both artists blame it on a "wardrobe malfunction," but while Jackson gets blacklisted, Timberlake is welcomed back by the music industry and the NFL after a series of apologies.More
December 29, 2002 Creed play a disastrous show in Chicago, leading four fans to sue the band, claiming lead singer Scott Stapp was either medicated or drunk, and "unable to sing the lyrics of a single Creed song." Stapp denies that he was drunk and claims rolling around on stage was an "Artistic Moment." The case is thrown out of court.
September 9, 1992 During a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Nirvana plays "Lithium," ending in a grand finale where bassist Krist Novoselic tosses his instrument high into the air. When he tries to catch it, he misses, and the bass whacks him in the head. Still, it's a pretty awesome performance.
August 8, 1992 Opening for Guns N' Roses at a show in Montreal, James Hetfield of Metallica is injured by the pyrotechnics, which burn the entire left side of his body. Metallica can't continue, and Guns N' Roses cut their set short after just 15 minutes when Axl Rose leaves the stage, upset over monitor problems. A near riot ensues at Olympic Stadium as fans are not pleased.
August 13, 1990 While warming up for an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed when a lighting tower falls from the stage and onto his back. He remains a quadriplegic for the next nine years until his death in 1999.
October 11, 1981 Opening a show for The Rolling Stones at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Prince gets booed off the stage. The Stones have good intentions in bringing in a rising star, but his act isn't a good fit for this crowd, and when he opens his trench coat to reveal bikini briefs, it gets ugly. Prince never again performs as an opening act.
June 18, 1978 Grace Slick takes the stage with Jefferson Starship at the Lorelei Festival in Hamburg, Germany, in a state of drunkenness. After she taunts the crowd with comments about Nazis and World War II, the crowd riots, destroying much of their equipment. Slick does not return to the band until 1983.
October 10, 1977 An audience member throws an M-80 firecracker on stage at an Aerosmith show at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The explosion injures lead singer Steven Tyler's cornea and guitarist Joe Perry's hand. The next year, Tyler is hit in the face with a bottle when they play the arena.
April 20, 1976 George Harrison, who is good friends with Eric Idle, joins Monty Python on stage at the comedy troupe's show at New York's City Center. Dressed as a Canadian Mountie, Harrison joins the chorus for "The Lumberjack Song." No mention is made of Harrison's appearance, and few in the audience recognize him. The next night, Nilsson shows up to perform the same feat, but with disastrous results, as he falls into the audience and breaks his arm.
November 20, 1973 After Keith Moon passes out at his drum kit, The Who pull a fan from the audience to take over.More
August 25, 2007 While singing his 1968 hit "Fire" on stage in Lewes, England, Arthur Brown catches on fire after wearing his customary tinfoil hat with a small fire burning in the center.
June 28, 2007 Rod Stewart receives ten stitches in his leg after slipping onstage in Manchester, England.
April 28, 2005 Eddie Montgomery of country duo Montgomery Gentry seriously injures his left wrist during a show in Asheville, North Carolina, after he falls to the arena floor from a speaker cabinet onstage.
June 19, 2004 An audience member hurls a lollipop on stage while David Bowie is performing in Oslo, Norway. The lollipop wedges itself in David Bowie's left eye (which already has an enlarged and frozen pupil following a childhood fight). Bowie halts the concert to remove the lollipop. Luckily, he escapes serious injury.
October 9, 2003 Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O, a very frenetic performer, is hurt when she tumbles off the stage at a show in Sydney and a monitor lands on her head. After one more song she's taken to the hospital, but two days later she performs from a wheelchair when the band return to the same venue for a festival.
May 3, 2002 Doug Firley of Gravity Kills drops a keyboard on his hand, shattering the bones in his right ring finger during a show in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
April 29, 1998 While performing "Mama Kin" at a show in Anchorage, Alaska, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith loses control of his microphone stand, which hits him in the leg. He falls, tearing his ACL. This forces the band to postpone the rest of their tour while Tyler recovers from surgery.
January 26, 1977 Opening for Bob Seger at a show in Tampa, Florida, Patti Smith falls off the stage, tumbling into the orchestra pit 15 feet below. She suffers a head injury and breaks her back, leaving her in traction. During her extensive rehab, she starts working on her next album, Easter.
June 23, 1975 At a stop in Vancouver on his Welcome To My Nightmare tour, Alice Cooper falls from the stage and breaks six ribs.
February 2, 1973 Emerson, Lake and Palmer keyboard player Keith Emerson injures his hands when a rigged piano explodes prematurely during a San Francisco gig, leaving him with minor cuts and a broken fingernail.
May 3, 1972 Scottish rock guitarist Les Harvey, age 27, dies onstage during a Stone The Crows concert when he's electrocuted by a ungrounded microphone standing in a pool of rainwater.
November 5, 1970 Long since retired from touring with his group, Brian Wilson joins The Beach Boys on stage at the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles only to suffer inner ear damage in his good ear from an excessively loud sound system. After losing his balance a few times, he is helped backstage.
May 10, 1969 The Turtles and The Temptations perform at the White House for President Richard Nixon's daughter, Tricia. Things don't go so well for the Turtles' Mark Volman, who falls off the stage five times.
June 10, 1966 Steve Marriott of Small Faces collapses while performing on the British show Ready Steady Go!, forcing the band to cancel a week of shows.
November 19, 1965 At the Glad Rags Ball in London, The Who's lead singer, Roger Daltrey, storms off stage in the middle of a set plagued with PA problems. Rumors of a Who breakup spread quickly throughout London with most of them naming Boz Burrell (ofKing Crimson and Bad Company) as Daltrey's possible replacement.
May 25, 1965 Dave Davies of The Kinks falls and injures himself on stage in Cardiff, Wales, forcing cancellation of the group's tour.
April 12, 2015 Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine breaks her foot leaping off the stage at Coachella. For the next several weeks, she sits during performances, per doctor's orders.
February 25, 2015 Madonna falls down a set of stage stairs during her performance of "Living For Love" at the Brit Awards when the cape she is wearing doesn't release properly when pulled by a dancer. She gamely gets up and finishes the performance, later reassuring fans that she is fine, and that "love really lifted me up."
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