Pre-gig injuries / The show must go on

davros

Yesterday morning I managed to stick a chisel through my right hand thumb and forefinger resulting in some stitches and 3 immobile fingers (middle finger strapped to forefinger to prevent it bending).

Of course, I had a gig last night. Popped into my small town music store that had some fingertip picks and managed to get through the gig with one on my fourth finger, although it was bloody difficult.

Definitely not my best playing, and some very ropey solos but the gig went ahead and the punters were delighted.

What are your best injury before gig stories to make me feel like I'm not the only idiot on here.

Roland

Chemical burns on the tips of my left hand fingers. Had to stop every three songs to apply fresh micropore tape, which made for interesting conversations with the audience.

Once did a gig with pneumonia. Couldn’t carry equipment. Had to lie down between sets.

digitalscream

Wisdom tooth extraction resulted in the side of my face expanding to look like I had a golf ball in my cheek. Still played the gig, looking like the Elephant Man.

It was far more impressive when you consider that the next day, after having been fobbed off by the dentist for a week, I saw my GP and he told me I was effectively 24hrs from being on a drip in hospital and 48hrs from being dead. Dentist had botched the extraction, cracking my upper jaw through to the sinus causing a life-threatening infection.

fastonebaz

Did a gig with a terrible cold wheezing cough sneezing etc.  After every song I had to get a fresh tissue out to blow my nose,  backing vocals were out of the question,  must've looked horrible for everyone. 

Had a huge pile of tissues to clean up at the end  

ESBlonde

Like the OP, I was in my office on a Friday at 17:10 waiting to go on to my gig ( not worth going home and back past to get 20 mins up the road). So I’m running the backup and decide to shred a couple of old DAT tapes with a Stanley knife…..yep sliced the second finger on my left/ fretting hand. Loads of ketchup.
I drove 5 mins into local town centre, Parked easily and ran to the local hardware store, bought lots of superglue and sat in the car fixing the mess on my hand. Washed up in the local supermarket Boggs and went to the gig which was acoustic guitar and lady singer. Apart from a couple of glue refreshes I got through the night, but boy was it sore the next day!!!

Supportact

Played a gig during a bout of food poisoning.  Felt very queasy and nauseous.  Managed to get through the 45 minute set, sweating with the concentration required to both play the guitar, sing and maintain my continence. A friend who was in attendance later remarked that it seemed  particularly intense performance, and I agreed. 

digitalkettle

fastonebaz said:

Had a huge pile of tissues to clean up at the end  

Just like me when I watch one of your SotM vids

HAL9000

When I was in a band the other guitarist managed to take the tip off his middle finger on his fretting hand a few days before an open mic thing - so not really a ‘proper’ gig. Must have hurt like crazy but he still managed perfectly well without complaining (or grimacing every time he used that finger).

distressed

Cutting my thumb to the bone while chopping onion evening before the gig. And many more.

fastonebaz

digitalkettle said:

fastonebaz said:

Had a huge pile of tissues to clean up at the end  

Just like me when I watch one of your SotM vids

I think i bring out that allergic reaction in everyone  

stickyfiddle

First proper open mic I ever did, and first time properly singing lead in public. Horrible flu already coming on but adrenaline combined with the fact that my new girlfriend (who would eventually become MrsF!) was in attendance got my through. With a couple of hours I was in bed and don’t think I left for 2 days… 

fretmeister

Dropped an Ashdown 4x10 cab straight onto my left middle finger while setting up.

Not a great start for a bass gig that included some Billy Sheehan tunes. I took an excessive amount of painkillers and struggled through.

Got an X-ray the following day, fortunately not broken.

FarleyUK

I sliced the top of my second knuckle off on my first finger of the fretting hand 3 hours before a gig. You could see the bone and everything. Simply put a load of tape on it, bandaged and splinted it and played the gig using the other fingers.... although it wasn't my finest hour!

mudslide73

I burned a hole in the skin between my index finger and thumb on my left hand with a malfunctioning glue gun. Thankfully this was a couple of days before the gig. Really sore after two 45 minute sets. 

Our singer slipped over in the snow and fractured part of his shoulder during the load in (we were sliding about like little kids). He did the gig and helped pack away before being driven to A&E. I think he drank his way through it.

borntohang

We were doing a Swiss fly-date with an immediate back-to-back into two UK dates - think we were in Switzerland for 18 hours including airports.

While we were in the Montreux venue our French bassist, lured by the spectacular selection of fine cheeses available on catering, broke his veganism for the first time in a decade and subsequently came down with an equally spectacular selection of explosive stomach cramps which kicked in as we got to the UK.

He was curled up on the floor of our dressing room like a dehydrated comma until 2 minutes to stage time, at which point we physically carried him out to the stage. He played the show like a champ, immediately went back to his bus bunk, and crashed for 23 hours until the following night where we repeated the whole process. Luckily we were doing two nights at the venue and didn't have any travel scheduled, or he would have had to suffer the threat of imminent and full evacuation with only a no-solids bus toilet to fall back on (don't ask what the procedure for that is). He was back up and fresh as a daisy 48 hours later - a real trooper.

Later in the year our drummer came offstage badly on some wonky steps and twisted his ankle. He got through the encore that evening and then we had four days off before the rest of the run - didn't get better with ice so he went to the hospital and discovered it was a fractured tibia that needed a boot fitting. Went into the rehearsal room with him that evening when he learned the entire set playing a double pedal setup and kicking left-footed with his hats bolted down. We finished the three remaining dates of the tour like that. He took the boot off to play so it didn't look funny and that earned him a shouting from the doctor.

OilCityPickups

When I was seventeen I decided to do the rock star thing and put my foot on the monitor for the solo in the first number ... the monitor slid away from me and over the edge of the stage and I followed it. I played the rest of the gig in agony from what I found out later was a broken ankle ... but I played it. 

davros

Another gig booked for tomorrow night, looking forward to progressing to using my middle finger to strum, the other 2 are still unbendable.

Paul_C

I've cut various fingers with sharp blades and once with a small screwdriver, but nothing major.

A friend did a few gigs sitting down in protective boots because he'd tried long-board skateboarding after a number of years off and snapped both achilles tendons.

DiscoStu

I went for a massive curry in the Indian across the road from the venue one time. Three courses + breads, then straight back to the club to play. I swear the face wipe was still warm as our set started.
But I survived.