Stage injuries

[And I]

I was in a....uh...."joke core" band about 13 or so years ago. All six of us were drunk as skunks. One of the guitarists was especially drunk; he punched me (and then dumped a full pitcher of beer on my bass rig). It left a red mark on my forehead, but it broke his wrist.

Damn... Let it be known that if beer is purposefully spilled on my bass rig, blood will be purposefully spilled from the perpetrator.

 

[crucislancer]

I think the worst that has happened to me on stage was getting whacked in the head by the singer. Usually the bad stuff happens to everyone else.

1996: My band was opening up for Vinnie Moore in Newburg, NY. At the end of our show, me and guitar player jumped off stage and ran through the crowd, which is what we did at every show. At one point, I jumped off one level of the dance floor onto a level that was about a foot lower. The tiniest, stupidest, most low impact jump possible. But I landed funny. Stood up and my knee was squishing around in all directions. Hopped back to the stage and finished song sitting on edge of stage. Nobody knew anything had happened until I didn't get up to help move gear. Torn ACL. Lousy!

This happened to the guitarist in my band, about a year earlier than yours. During load in he jumped off the stage and limped about for a few minutes but seemed to be ok. First song of the set, he goes into his solo, sticks his right foot out to tap a pedal, his left knee gives out and he goes down. He tried to get up a couple of times but can't. We stop the song and assist, and he tells me "I think I blew my knee out". I mention something about getting him to the hospital and he says "No. Give me some Advil, a shot of scotch, and a chair". So, we did. He finished the set in a chair, and rocked the place that night. We had another gig the next night, which he played, but this time from a rocking chair. He also tore his ACL.

 

[Bassnomer]

I haven't gotten seriously injured that I can remember, but I've gotten some meeeean leg cramps from being in the metal stance on stage.

 

[Engle]

How many here have gotten clocked with a mic? You know, some drunk crashes against the stand and you end up with a face full of SM58?

Back when I played punk rock (The real hardcore stuff circa 1984), I got a face full of SM58 playing a house party 2 days after getting front dental bridges. That was some glue they used...the bridges are still in place

I'm pretty good at damaging my hands while setting up for gigs. I carry band-aids in my cases.

 

[kojack]

Gigging in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, mid 80s. I jumped off a 3' tall drum riser and nearly castrated myself when I landed on a guitar stand. There used to be a video of the gig, but I could never bring myself to watch it.
Cheers,
Chuck

 

[saltydude]

Tripped over plenty of stuff and made an ass of myself mid performance but fortunately no major injuries yet.
I always manage to injure myself the day of or before, typically in the form of a laceration to the hand or fingers.

 

[two fingers]

I have never seen an injured stage.

I have seen some staged injuries. They resulted in worthless jerks getting disability checks until they were caught.

 

[ihixulu]

I once jumped off a drum riser not accounting for the pipes hanging down from the ceiling. Landed flat on my back, somewhat stunned, but people said I kept playing. My head wasn't right the next day: had quite a lump and I think I may have been concussed. Rock and roll...

 

[PauFerro]

I started getting this burning sensation in my upper thigh at a gig. I went to the doctor, and apparently, the standing position puts pressure on a nerve that is near my gut and thigh. That problem has now generalized to sitting down, etecetera -- unless I go out and walk for an hour a day. That makes it go away.

But being on stage for 3 hours in the same position, minus breaks, made the problem obvious. Not really a stage injury, but it sort of fits the topic. The other thing that happened was I have almost hit other musicians in the face with the headstock of my bass. Not good!

 

[Wavy]

Not me, however about ___ decades ago I knew a bassist who was more into wearing makeup and acting cool than practicing.

Saw him one day after a gig, with a bloody, scabby, too-small-to-be-a-goose-egg... more like an ostrich egg, across most of his forehead.

Apparently he was tossing his bass around and smashed himself in the face with it.

 

[BeowulfKingsley]

One was on a stage at a local bar...stage was about 5 feet high. I had a pint of beer in my hand and I slipped offstage. The beer hit the floor before I did...and I put out my hands to break my fall. I had a LOT of broken glass stuck in me. I was picking it out of my palms for weeks.

 

[bdplaid]

While practicing last night i was jumpin around like a squirrel on meth (my usual deal) and sprianed my ankle. Finished the song but man! Lead guitar said he did the same think when he rolled a foot on a stomp box at a show. Had to finish the set in pain!
I am looking for some good stage injury stories from you old salty gig captains!

OK, here you go...

Story #1:
We were playing a beauty contest of some sort at a large local club. The stage was 2-tiered, with me and bass amp on upper tier. We take a break so said contest can take place. I was coming off the stage and had to jump down from the second tier to the floor of the club. Unbeknownst to me, bass cable had wrapped its mother-loving self around my ankle, so when I jump, I am pulled fully horizontal in mid-air, and landed on my side, breaking 2 ribs. Additionally, the amp gets pulled over, with top 2x10 cab falling off onto my bass, bending the A tuner such that it could not be tuned. Fortunately, it stayed in tune, even all night.

But man, those ribs hurt for a long time.

Story #2:
Different band, somewhat heavy rock. Guitarist is not just a squirrel on meth, but a human likely actually on meth.

We are rehearsing in his basement which has a very low ceiling; actually, no ceilings, just low floor beams for the upstairs. Guitarist get so wound up in his solo, he jumps while doing it, forgetting he is under one of the beams. Knocks himself out cold. I don't recall if we stopped the song or not. ;-). The longstanding joke, then, was when he would ask about something, we would say, "Go ahead and knock yourself out."

And i have more... Good times, good times...

 

[bdplaid]

Well, it happened in Northern Virginia, so yeah, we do.

What was her name? I think I met her as well.

 

[mc900ftj]

Whoa! I'd almost like to see how that happens

I think the poster is not using the correct testicle-related euphemism. He may have meant a blow to the testicle(s) by a flailing XLR connector vs. the common meaning of the term "teabagging". Though if he meant the latter, I too would like to see how that happens.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Here's one, funny story, not quite OT but anyway- around '89 my band was opening a show for Love Tractor at the old 9:30 club in DC- sold out, really big night for us. I worked at a pet store, taking care of fish tanks (yes I had a water bed, bunch of tanks and a bong at home, it was the 80's). While scraping algae, I got stung on my plucking hand a Volitan Lion Fish- very scary, powerful protein- based poison, felt like red hot steel getting shoved through my fingers- we had to get me to the hospital quick before it could reach vital organs. My co- worker threw me in his car, nearly killed us driving 100 mph down residential streets while I was pretty much screaming the whole time. We got there, they hooked me up to the anti- venom and pumped me with morphine until I passed out. I came to later in the afternoon, woke up with my band around me. I was so high I couldn't talk. They basically took my hand to sign the discharge papers, before I knew it we were puling up to the club. Now, the way the anti- venom works, it pulls the poison from your system and it ends up in your stomach- with only one way out- so we pull up, there's a line down the block, the first thing I do when the car door opens is puke my guts out in the street... and receive an ovation from the line. My band mates basically carry me into the club, throw me in the dressing room, and give me a bucket to puke in. I'm hoping I can get it out before set time- i'm feeling no pain due to being full of opiates, but can't stop vomiting. Set time comes up, my band mates carry me to the stage with the bucket, put it next to me, and put my bass on me. I look out at the sold out, packed house, my drummer begins the count, and on three I hold up my hand to stop and puke my guts out into the bucket. Then I received the loudest, longest applause and cheering i've ever gotten from a crowd. We count off again, and proceed to play what has been described to me as an amazing set of music (I don't remember the playing, but I do remember puking between every song- once again, every time I puked the crowd went nuts). We made it through the set, by the end I was empty and dry heaving but I walked off stage by myself. I think they were more into my state and wether or not I would make it through the show than my band lol.
OT, in 2012 I had a full EAW 760 line array come down on me in a wind storm and crush me. Fire Chief called off the festival way too late. No happy ending there, unfortunately, i'll never be the same after that.

 

[JKB1957]

Thumb between a Sound City 2X15 cabinet and a door jam loading up after a gig. Not pleasant. Wish I still had the cab, and Ampeg V4B head, oh well, still have the thumb. Keep the groove.

 

[lpcarter]

Here's three! Same band, all different shows. We played 100+ shows per year so I guess the odds of mishaps increase with frequency...

#1) mysteriously dislocated my kneecap 30 seconds into the first song of a highly, highly attended show (at least for us, about 300 people) everyone in the audience (and band) was confused...music slowly fizzled out while people caught on. It didn't go back in place until I was hauled off stage and taken to a hospital. Show ruined.

#2) Here's where I should note this was a Christian band. We were on tour and just picked up a new guitarist at a Waffle House in Indiana (no joke). We're at our 2nd show with him, about to play. A youth pastor for the next gig came out to see us. The bar gave us a pitcher of beer, but nobody had any...except for the new guy. He drank it all. End of the first song he did a guitar spin and NAILED me in the left elbow. The pain was intense! And at that moment was the most difficult bass part in the song, a pretty fast run that covered the neck. Somehow played thru it. Can't guarantee it wasn't sloppy though

#3) Outdoor music festival. This time, I got my revenge on the guitarist from the second story...I did a move that one of my friends calls a "guitar slap" where you pull the neck back really quickly with a hard beat...sort of like a really zealous fist pump. Well this particular time, I felt my headstock connect with something. I was never good at baseball but I swear, when someone hits a home run it has to feel like how that felt. Turns out, I nailed our guitarist right on his forehead! (No, not on purpose) by the time we finish the song he's stumbling around, bleeding everywhere, but insisting he's fine. Remember where we found him. In fact, the DAY we got him, he threw a cup of Mountain Dew at whoever was driving the van and jumped out. We were going about 40mph...so the bleeding forehead seemed like nothing to him. Ultimately, he was fine after the incident on stage but did end up yelling some really disjointed impromptu sermon at the crowd with no microphone. The bemused crowd stared on until he was finished. No one was saved.

 

[JW56789]

(NOTE: The backstory is yours truly has a BIG head, not 'the big head', I have buy 2XL motorcycle helmets.)

So I'm gigging in Florida with a band whose drummer has one of those BIG kits, double kicks, 8 flying toms, the whole works. He sings, and he uses one of those huge Atlas studio booms, parked in front of the kick drums, which reaches w-a-y back to him on his drum throne. It's really grooving and I'm dancing as best as a white man can, I whirl around and !!BOOM!! right into that fist-sized counterweight on the end of that Atlas boom. Caught me at the top of the forehead at my hairline. I actually see stars for a second, kinda wobble down on one knee, geez. . . . . then I'm right back at it. No blood, just a headache and a pretty good knot on this hard head.

A week later, I've still got the headache. I'm getting worried. I have great benefits from the day job, so I go down to the ER at the local hospital. They decide they want a cat scan, and forthwith, I'm zoomed up inside the thing. They let me out, and tell me the doctor will look at the pics and come see me shortly.

I'm still waiting an hour later. I'm a consummate worrier, so now visions of cerebral hemorrhages, brain surgery, etc., have my mind swimming. I've almost convinced myself I'm a goner when . . . . . the attending physician comes out, introduces himself, and says:
'We're gonna need a few more pictures . . . . .' See, I was right! I'm a dead man walking. . . .

They zap me again, and I get the same 'he'll be with you in a minute' . . . . . probably to schedule my emergency surgery !!!!!

In no time at all, the doctor and another one come out, start looking at my head . . . . . and start laughing !

I'm flabbergasted ! ! ! Finally when they stop giggling, #1 lets on that they 'never had anybody with a head AS BIG AS YOURS in their machine before, so we had to re-aim it, and everything is just fine, your headache will (it did) go away, and take Tylenol as you need it.'

When I walked out of the ER, the sun was brighter, the sky bluer, and the birds sounded sweeter, now that I'd live to see another day . . . . . . and my Doofuss-for-Life membership was paid in full ! ! !

 

[Old Blastard]

I feel much better about my life after reading this thread.

 

[ak56]

I started getting this burning sensation in my upper thigh at a gig. I went to the doctor, and apparently, the standing position puts pressure on a nerve that is near my gut and thigh. That problem has now generalized to sitting down, etecetera -- unless I go out and walk for an hour a day. That makes it go away.

But being on stage for 3 hours in the same position, minus breaks, made the problem obvious. Not really a stage injury, but it sort of fits the topic. The other thing that happened was I have almost hit other musicians in the face with the headstock of my bass. Not good!

I get that if I'm standing too long, or walking too long on level surfaces. Give me a hill to climb or a chance to sit for a few minutes and it goes away.

I keep a stool handy when I play at church, but singing in long choir concerts can be painful.