10 Times Musicians Were Injured By The Crowd

#10: David Bowie

Some people believe that David Bowie’s distinctive eyes come from a form of heterochromia. However, this is not true. He ended up with two different coloured eyes when a schoolmate punched him in the face over a girl they both fancied. Jump forward to his final tour in 2004, and some idiot in the crowd decided to throw a lollipop directly at the Thin White Duke. Unfortunately, it somehow landed directly on his bad eye, lodging itself in the socket. Bowie was understandably shocked and briefly cursed the fan out, but, being the rock legend that he is, he proceeded to finish his set. A consummate professional, right up to the end.

#9: Bebe Rexha

Most people attend concerts to have a good time, but you’re always bound to get a few weirdos. During a 2023 Bebe Rexha performance in New York, a fan decided to throw his phone at the singer - striking her directly in the face and immediately causing her to double over. His reasons? Well, he claimed that he thought it would be a funny thing to do. He later changed his story to say that he wanted to throw her the phone so she could take a picture with it and return it later. Both excuses make no sense, and Rexha ended up with a black eye as a result of his stupidity.

#8: Lou Reed

On the long list of altercations between fans and musicians, Lou Reed certainly has one of the strangest. During a solo performance of The Velvet Underground’s classic “Waiting for the Man” back in 1973, Reed was accosted by some random dude, who proceeded to bite him on his backside. Yes, you heard us correctly. Apparently, the attacker shouted the word ‘leather’ before chowing down on the singer. If you’re wondering what possessed this person to do such a thing, you’re not the only one! Thankfully, security was able to remove him before anything else happened.

#7: Brendon Urie

Whether you enjoy Panic! At The Disco singer Brendon Urie’s music or not, you gotta respect how he handled his band’s Reading Festival performance in 2006. After getting struck by a bottle to the head mid-song, you can visibly hear Urie’s vocals quickly trail off as he lost consciousness. Yeah, the bottle legitimately knocked him out. What makes the whole thing even better, in our book, is that he eventually got back to his feet and finished the show. What was the motive? It’s still unclear, but the band would go on to call the gig one of the best they ever did!

#6: Noel Gallagher

Oasis were playing at V Festival Toronto in 2008, when some random dude stormed the stage and proceeded to shove guitarist and primary songwriter Noel Gallagher to the floor. He obviously didn’t see this coming at all, falling awkwardly on his guitar - breaking several ribs in the process. The danger was immediately quelled by the security team and Liam Gallagher even tried to land a cheeky little punch as the attacker was escorted away. He later pleaded guilty to assault and was sued by the band after they were forced to cancel several subsequent appearances.

#5: Steven Tyler

We could’ve picked a 1978 incident where Steven Tyler got hit by a bottle that caused him facial injuries, but it turns out something even worse happened one year prior. In 1977, Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry were both struck by a firework that some dimwitted fan let fly off in the stage’s general direction. Tyler suffered a burned cornea and Perry’s hand was injured, forcing them both to immediately go to the hospital. Why do fans enjoy throwing things at Aerosmith so much? We don’t know for sure, but there was an undeniable pattern emerging in the late 70s.

#4: Mick Jagger

The last thing any singer expects while in the middle of a performance is to get hit by a chair. However, in a move that was pulled straight out of the WWE playbook, a concert attendee at a 1966 Rolling Stones gig in Marseille decided to lob a chair at Mick Jagger. As for the reasoning behind this move, your guess is as good as ours. The damage to Mick’s face was thankfully just a black eye, although he was forced to spend some time in hospital to recover. We’re sure that’s the type of incident that can leave a performer feeling a bit paranoid from that point onwards, but fortunately, this was a one-off occurrence.

#3: Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa ended up spending six months in a wheelchair following an on-stage assault at a London show in 1971. Supposedly, the man in question was the boyfriend of a woman who claimed that she was in love with Zappa. So he decided to push the legendary musician off a twelve-foot-high stage into the orchestra pit. Rumours immediately spread that Frank had been killed in the fall, but he lived. He did suffer a myriad of injuries though, including a broken leg, jaw, a few cracked ribs, a fractured skull, and damage to his larynx that forever impacted his singing voice.

#2: Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop, the famously rebellious leader of The Stooges, stepped a little bit too far out of line in 1974 when he was dealing with a particularly tough Michigan crowd. With many bikers in attendance, it didn’t take long for them to start insulting Iggy and his band. Instead of shying away from confrontation, Pop decided to try and beat them with his music, launching into a 45-minute version of “Louie Louie” with altered lyrics designed to offend bikers. After that, he launched himself into the crowd to start a fight with one particularly mouthy heckler and was quickly beaten to a pulp by the entire gang. It should be pointed out that he did, in fact, return to the stage to finish the show.

#1: Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole was truly one of the defining voices of his generation and a unifying force in a difficult time for race relations in the United States. In 1956, Cole performed to a Birmingham, Alabama crowd, but did not realize that a group of Ku Klux Klan members had planned to storm the stage and attack him. They succeeded in doing so two songs into his set, pulling him offstage and causing a minor injury, but thankfully, their larger plan was foiled by the police. Cole made his way back to the mic and received a rapturous 10 minute standing ovation.

But what collision between musicians and the crowd sticks out in your mind? Let us know in the comments below.