19-year-old Michael Clifford of 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER told fans he is “recovering well” from face injuries after stepping too close to a pyrotechnic display
June 15, 2015
These past weekends were tough for Australian pop-rockers 5 Seconds of Summer and their guitarist, 19-year-old Michael Clifford, in particular. The band had already played most of their show at London’s Wembley Arena, before they proceeded to their hit ‘She Looks So Perfect’. What happened next, most of the the audience did not even get straight away, with all the pyrotechnics around, so the crowd kept on cheering for a while, after Clifford put down his guitar rapidly and ran offstage.
What happened was: the guitarist was running carelessly across the stage, through columns of shooting flames, when he apparently stepped too close to a pyrotechnic display, and the next thing the fans saw was smoke erupting from his head – his hair caught fire and seriously injured the musician’s face. Clifford then tried to put out the fire with a towel. Watch a fan’s video recording of the incident below.
MTV reports that 5 Seconds of Summer drummer, Ashton Irwin, later came back on stage to tell the crowd that the show could not go on. “Michael has hurt himself so we will not be continuing the show right now,” he told the fans. “Just want to say thank you so much for coming. He is OK. You guys have been the best crowd we could ask for tonight. Thank you so much.”
Later that evening, a few Tweets from the band popped up in order to reassure fans that the guitarist would be okay. “No one ever wants to see your best friend in the state I saw mike backstage,” read the post from the band’s bassist Calum Hood. “He’s a trooper and is ok.”
“Michael is recovering well after being given the all clear by doctors,” the band’s spokesperson reported to Billboard shortly after the incident. “He will join the band on stage tonight at the SSE Arena for their third and final London show. Michael and the band would like to thank all the fans, well wishers and particularly last night’s audience for their support. There will be no pyrotechnic production for the show this evening.” This decision, AlteRock believes, is the right one, as the guitarist’s face should not be exposed to high temperatures on stage at this early stage of Clifford’s recovery.
Injured Clifford posted a photo of himself the next day, showing his a half of his face covered in bandages. “Sorry I couldn’t finish the encore, but at least I look like two face,” he Clifford. “thanks for worrying every1 x.” Yesterday, June 14, he announced that his injuries would not lead to cancellation of the band’s nearest shows on tour, adding: “Feeling loads better and my face is fine 🙂 excited for the show tonight.”
Australian rockers played their final London show at SSE Arena on Sunday, June 14 and are heading to their following tour destinations, New Zealand and Australia. The tour, titled Rock Out With Your Socks Out, will then take the guys to the U.S. and Canada for a few concerts in July.
There was definitely something inexplicable and weird about the past weekends. It seems like rock musicians were more prone to accidents than ever. Last Friday, Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl was hospitalized in the middle of a live set in Sweden after he broke his leg falling off the stage. As a real trooper, he returned an hour later to play the show till the end, but the band naturally canceled their next two shows afterwards.
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