It is not easy to fall off the stage, and when this happens you need to have a good dose of luck and cheek to resume the show.
Madonna and Katy Perry are absolutely two world champions, especially Ciccone who performs in a flight backwards of several meters, risking also the strangulation due to the coat remained attached to the neck. Katy Perry, the blue-toothed English fairy, also deserves a special medal, also because if she goes looking for them
In Oct 1994, on their Division Bell tour, Pink Floyd played the first of a 15-night run at Earls Court, London, England. Less than a minute after the band had started playing “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” a scaffolding stand holding 1200 fans, collapsed, throwing hundreds of people 20 feet to the ground. It took over an hour to free everyone from the twisted wreckage, ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital treatment. Six were detained overnight with back, neck and rib injuries. To read the full article click here Source thisdayinmusic.com
That was not the end of the story, however. The re-scheduled concert had traumatised fans being sat in exactly the same seats they’d had on the first night – giving them even more cause for complaint as it was reported that Earls Court were not giving due attention to claims for compensation for damaged clothing, time off work and medical bills. One good thing about this re-scheduled show for those in block 9 was that they were all given special t-shirts to ?commemorate? the incident and were all invited backstage after the show to meet all the band. The last word went to Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, who announced on stage: “If I were you, I’d sue somebody. Er, not me, though…”
In June 2000, Pearl Jam took to the stage in front of a crowd of about 50,000 people at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. The crowd pushed towards the front of the stage, sparking a stampede that crushed people near the front. The band repeatedly asked the crowd to move back but they did not comply.
Some people slipped and fell in front of the stage and were trampled to death. People were climbing on top of each other to get air. In total, eight people lost their lives. Devastated by the tragedy, Pearl Jam considered calling it quits.
On a lighter note, its not just the paying punters who are at risk.
Steven Tyler was airlifted to hospital after falling off stage during a gig at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota in 2009. The 61-year-old Aerosmith singer fell from a catwalk onto a couple of fans, he suffered neck and shoulder injuries.
And during a concert in 1999, Michael Jackson suffered severe bruising after falling over 50 feet when a bridge collapsed during a concert at Munich’s Olympic stadium. Jacko was singing “Earth Song” at the time of the accident.
As the leader of the band you have to keep your wits about you at all times. The stage can be a dangerous place for ‘accidental trips’.
During his 1975 Welcome To My Nightmare tour in Vancouver, Canada, Alice Cooper fell from the stage and broke six ribs.
Ryan Adams broke a wrist after falling during a gig at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool in 2004. A fan said, “One minute he was on the stage and the next he had disappeared. He went down with a thud and we couldn’t believe he was trying to continue singing?”.
Pete Townshend suffered ears problems since Keith Moon made is drum kit exploding, by using too much gunpowder.
Fee Waybill of The Tubes, broke a leg after falling from the stage at the Hammersmith Odeon, London in 1978, whilst wielding a chainsaw during the bands set. A chainsaw? Well serves him right. Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford fell off a motorcycle he was riding onto the stage at the end of a show this year in Brazil.
Pink was rushed to hospital during a concert in 2010 after she was injured falling off a stage when an acrobatic stunt went wrong. The singer was performing in Nuremberg, Germany, when she donned a harness which was supposed to lift her over the heads of the audience. Pink was not correctly strapped into the device and was sent crashing into a barricade.
After singing “It’s been a lovely cruise, I’m sorry it’s ended” singer Jimmy Buffett crashed off the stage after his final Sydney concert and was rushed to hospital with a head injury. Shocked fans at the sell-out concert were urged to leave the auditorium by Buffett’s Australian tour manager as the 64-year-old entertainer lay on the floor in front of the first row of seating waiting for paramedics and an ambulance to arrive.
In 1969, The Rolling Stones hired Hells Angels to provide security at the Altamont Speedway event in California. They traded the Angels $500 worth of beer in return for controlling the crowd.
The Rolling Stones played the free festival along with Jefferson Airplane, Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Stones fan Meredith Hunter was stabbed to death as the group played. It’s claimed Hunter was waving a revolver. One other man drowned and two men were killed by in a hit-and run accident, (you wouldn’t expect to be killed in a hit-and run at a gig).
A concert by The Who at The Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, during their 1979 North American tour turned to disaster when 11 members of the audience were trampled to death after a stampede to claim unreserved seats.
So, lets finish with the tale of the self-inflicted head bash seen around the world during the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, when Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic threw his bass in the air and failed to avoid the descending guitar.
