2023 has been a crazy year so far, hasn’t it?
The word “crazy” has sort of lost its power, considering life has seemed to be pretty hectic since that whole nationwide lockdown thing. By comparison, this year isn’t all that bad, though we’ve basically heard the existence of aliens be confirmed, and concert goers simply cannot stop throwing items at artists while they are performing.
Which made me wonder, if you had to power rank those moments of artists reacting to having things thrown at them, how would that shape up? So on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I took the liberty of cycling through a lot of examples and coming up with a list of Top 5 on stage artist reactions to having something thrown at them.
The most recent example of this happening with hip-hop artist Cardi B is currently going viral, and for good reason. You’ll see that somewhere in the rankings below, because her reaction is absolutely hilarious, and justified in my humble opinion.
A couple of examples that might pop into your head, like Bebe Rexha getting hit in the face with a phone, didn’t make the list because the throwing of the object actually hurt them. I wouldn’t want to make light of situations like that, so if you are thinking of one similar to hers, you won’t see it in this grouping.
So, without further ado, here is a Top 5 list of artists reacting (and owning the moment) to people throwing stuff at them while they are on stage.
And by the way, most of these have happened in the past three to four months:
Honorable Mention: Adele Preemptively Warning Fans
This one is tricky, since she didn’t actually have something thrown at her. However, it’s hilarious that the “Someone Like You” singer got out in front of the issue, and wielded a t-shirt cannon “daring” fans to throw something at her.
Bringing the fight to the fans, I love it. Not a bad idea for artists to consider if this issue keeps coming up, but maybe a “restraining order” should be attached to the concert t-shirt to really send the message to the item-throwing fan. It didn’t make it into the Top 5 because nothing was actually thrown at her, but still worthy of being an honorable mention:
5. Miranda Lambert Stabs A Beach Ball That Was Thrown Up On Stage
Miranda Lambert has been in the country music news cycle lately for calling out a group of fans that were taking selfies during her show rather than listening to her perform. Turns out that the country star has never shied away from telling an audience how she really feels, and she evidently really hates beach balls.
The “concert beach ball” is quite divisive, with some concert goers loving the added fun it offers, while others see it as distracting.
Based on this video, it’s pretty clear how Lambert feels about it:
4. Dustin Lynch Gets Face Cracked Open By Beer Can
When you hear the phrase “crack one open with the boys,” you are generally referring to cracking open a beer, and not a country music singer’s face. Dustin Lynch was performing in Florida in 2014, and right after he finished up shaking up and spraying what appeared to be a bottle of champagne, a fan chucked a can of beer at Lynch and hit him right in the face.
He paused the show momentarily, found the fan that did it in the crowd, had him thrown out, and then performed for another hour to finish out the show.
Afterwards, he shared pictures of him at the hospital getting stitches, which if you ask me, if pretty bad ass. Classic case of the “show must go on,” and the lesser known phrase, “the stitches can wait.”
Take a look:
3. Pink Has A Bag Of Ashes Thrown At Her
What in the world are people thinking? That’s the question that was probably going through Pink’s head when she walked over to a plastic bag that was thrown onto stage and discovered that the powdery substance in the bag was someone’s mother’s ashes.
She hilariously asks mid-song:
“Is this your mom? I don’t know how I feel about this.”
Pink was completely shocked, as someone should be if someone “yeets” their dead parent’s remains up onto a concert stage. There’s no way those were her mother’s last wishes, right? At least the bag didn’t hit the pop singer…
2. Morgan Wallen Launches Boot In The Opposite Direction
Now THIS is comedy.
Morgan Wallen was performing in St. Louis, signing someone’s cowboy hat, when another fan in the pit threw one of their boots at the country star. The what looks to be bedazzled boot bounces off Wallen’s chest, leaving him shaking his head in disbelief.
He finishes signing the hat, then hilariously takes the boot and launches it in the opposite direction from which it came. Looks like someone walked out of that concert with just one boot on, and Morgan set the tone for how artists should handle those kinds of situations.
Check it out:
1. Cardi B Throws HER MICROPHONE At A Fan
An eye for an eye. Cardi B was performing in Las Vegas yesterday when a fan (for some stupid, idiotic reason) threw their drink on the hip-hop artist. What did they think was going to happen after that? Cardi B would thank them for throwing an alcoholic beverage on her?
Cardi B was livid, and immediately launched the microphone that was in her hand at the front row concert attendee. It’s hard to tell exactly what she did after she did it, but it was probably something along the lines of:
“Yeah, how do you like that?”
The fan was then escorted out of the concert, and strangely enough, Cardi B’s vocals somehow continued playing through the speakers after she threw her microphone at the fan. Like I said earlier, if you are going to throw something at an artist, you better be ready for the artist to throw something back. However, in this day and age, I’m sure the fan that threw the drink will probably sue Cardi B…
Take a look:
