Musicians Who Were Injured On Stage

Being a famous singer is a pretty enviable gig. From going on tours around the world and playing for thousands of adoring fans to going home to multimillion-dollar mansions, there sure seem to be a lot of perks involved. But did you know this dreamy rock star lifestyle comes with some danger? 

Performing can spell disaster. And despite famous musicians being larger than life to us, they aren't infallible. Some of your favorite music stars have ended up injured in a pretty unlikely place — the stage. Many famous faces have gotten hurt while under the spotlights, and you might be surprised who has fallen victim while performing. From young pop stars like Harry Styles to older rock legends like Mick Jagger, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to these freak accidents ... and sometimes they're at the hands of their own beloved fans. 

Ava Max had a scary run-in with a fan onstage in Los Angeles in June 2023. The incident took place while Max was mid-performance when an individual rushed the stage and slapped her across the face. It was caught on camera by fans, and the video shows that the individual was instantly removed by security. The video also shows that following the assault, the singer was ever the professional who continued dancing for a time before leaving the stage. 

Following the shocking slap, Max took to Twitter to speak to her fans, explaining, "He slapped me so hard that he scratched the inside of my eye. He's never coming to a show again [two angry face emojis] thank you to the fans for being spectacular tonight in LA though!!" Unlike Bebe Rexha's incident, it doesn't appear that the man who slapped Max was caught or apprehended.  

It's hard to believe the legions of diehard Beatles fans would ever attempt to harm them, but that's exactly what happened in 1964. It may have been George Harrison's fault, as he said "jelly babies," known stateside as jelly beans, were his favorite candy during a 1963 interview. And fans sure took that anecdote to heart during their first concert in America, when all four members of the popular British band were hit with jelly beans.

The Associated Press at the time wrote (via Beatles Daily), "While they banged out their hit songs, the audience tossed jelly beans at the stage ... Among the jelly beans were peanuts, combs and apparently anything else that came readily to hand." Harrison would later tell a New York reporter of the incident, "... that night we were absolutely pelted by the f***ing things. They don't have soft jelly beans there, they have hard jelly beans." 

Harrison went on the explain that he and the rest of the band were performing on a circular stage, so they were being bombarded on all sides. "Imagine waves of rock-hard little bullets raining down on you from the sky ... Jelly beans are a bit dangerous, you see ... Every now and again, one would hit a string on my guitar and plank off a bad note as I was trying to play," he added. Who knew candy could cause such havoc?

Harry Styles was wrapping up a performance in Los Angeles back in 2022 when he was pelted in the eye by a skittle courtesy of an overzealous fan. Fan videos caught the injury on camera from multiple angles. It happened just as Styles finished his song "As It Was" during the November tour stop. Someone in the audience chucked a piece of the popular candy in the pop star's direction, catching him right in the eye and causing him to double over. 

Ever the professional, the former boy bander continued on after the incident and played his final song, "Kiwi," despite the uncomfortable event. And since they made the news in an unfortunate way, the candy brand weighed in on social media the following day, tweeting, "Didn't think I needed to say this: Please don't throw Skittles."

Back in 1992, James Hetfield, the frontman of Metallica, had a very scary encounter on stage. But instead of water bottles or crazy fans, he was faced with fire. The band was performing in Montreal, Canada, amongst a lot of pyrotechnics when the lead singer ran right into a 12-foot flame as they played their song "Fade to Black." The singer reminisced about the scary incident on VH1's "Behind the Music" years later, explaining, "I'm a little confused on where I'm supposed to be ... And then pyro guy doesn't see me, and ... a big colored flamed goes right up under me. I'm burnt. My arm, my hand, completely down to the bone. The side of my face. Hair's gone ... I watched the skin just rising, all these things going wrong." 

His bandmate, bassist James Newsted, also reflected on the near-tragedy on stage, explaining to People (via Louder), "If he had been breathing in, he would have been dead."

When someone says "break a leg" before an artist takes the stage, they don't really mean it. But that's exactly what Dave Grohl did during a 2015 concert that took place in Gothenburg, Sweden. The frontman was performing with his group the Foo Fighters when he fell off the stage and ended up breaking his leg. Despite the painful injury that occurred only two songs into the band's set, Grohl made a surprising promise to the audience, according to the BBC, telling fans, "I think I just broke my leg ... I'm going to go to the hospital. I'm going to fix my leg. And then I'm going to come back." 

Members of the crowd reported to BBC that the band played covers while Grohl was seeking medical attention, with fan Keiron Brennan explaining to the outlet what happened next. "He appeared after an hour to continue the concert, sitting in a chair with his leg bandaged ... It was surreal to see him perform on stage with a medic holding his leg ... He was just phenomenal." Later that night, the band tweeted a picture of the x-ray of Grohl's broken leg, writing, "Thank you Gothernburg. That was amazing."

In 1977, Patti Smith was performing her song "Ain't It Strange" in Tampa, Florida, when she learned just how dangerous a fall from stage could be. The musician, who was known for her wild dancing, opened up about that night in a 2012 issue of Uncut magazine (per Ultimate Classic Rock). Though she was known for wild stage dancing, she shared, "I didn't whirl around as much as usual, but when I hit the monitor with my foot, it was half hanging over the lip of the stage ... We needed more space and light, and we didn't get it, and I had an accident. Those are the practical aspects of it." The drop was a massive 14 feet, and Smith was met by unforgiving concrete, resulting in multiple breaks and one of the most serious injuries on the list. 

"It was a bad fall. I fractured my skull, several vertebrae in my neck, my back, my tailbone. I broke some teeth. It was serious. And I still have certain repercussions — I never got my full eyesight back. I don't have the range of movement that I used to," Smith told The Guardian in 2016. 

Kelsea Ballerini had a scary incident take place at a concert in June 2023. The country darling was performing in Boise, Idaho, when she was struck in the face by an object (via KTVB). Following the hit, the singer ultimately left the stage before returning and giving a speech, as per Yahoo: "Can we just talk about what happened? ... All I care about is keeping everyone safe. If you ever don't feel safe, please let someone around you know. If anyone's pushing too much or you just have that gut feeling, just always flag it. Don't throw things. You know?"

The item thrown was later identified as a bracelet, and Ballerini took to Instagram Story (via Yahoo) to address the incident, writing, "Hi. I'm fine. Someone threw a bracelet, it hit me in the eye, and it more so just scared me than hurt me. We all have triggers and layers of fears way deeper than what is shown, and that's why I walked offstage to calm down and make sure myself, the band and crew, and the crowd all felt safe to continue. That's all I ever want, is for shows to feel like a safe place for us all." She also added to the end of an Instagram post's caption about the tour, "ps- i'm fine, let's just do a better job of keeping each other safe at shows. ily."