What’s With All the Concert Injuries This Year?

[This is from my weekly column in the Metro newspapers. – AC]

If things had gone according to plan, I would have spent Friday night at Wembley Stadium in London watching the Foo Fighters play the first of two sold-out shows. But a week earlier, Dave Grohl lost himself in a performance of Monkey Wrench at a festival in Sweden and walked right off the stage, badly breaking the fibula in his right leg.

After surgery to insert six screws to set him right again, his doctors told him to take a couple of weeks off to let things heal lest he develop a permanent limp. He may be a rock ’n’ roll superman, but Dave heals like any other 46-year-old.

This has been a bad year for musicians hurting themselves in the middle of concerts. It began with Madonna’s cape malfunction at the Brit Awards back in February. As one wag put it, this was a case of “too much material, girl.” It was an embarrassing tumble, but the only thing hurt was her pride.

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