One of the most memorable moments from Morgan Wallen’s Still The Problem tour.
During a May performance at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado, after a bit of a technical issues when Morgan got to the part where he plays the piano for “Sand In My Boots,” things went a bit awry. Apparently, he couldn’t hear it in his in-ear monitors, which means he couldn’t hear what he was playing at all. It seemed like the fans, at least according to comments I saw on some of the videos, could hear it, but obviously, it’s hard to play the instrument well if you can’t hear it… and Morgan had enough.
I’m sure his sound people tried their best to fix it, but this is live music, so Morgan decided to sing “Sand In My Boots” a cappella, and while the fans didn’t mind at all, I’m sure it’s frustrating as the artist putting on such a massive show, that people paid a hell of a lot of money for, for something like that to go wrong. This part of the show has become a fan-favorite because it’s one the more stripped-back, intimate moments, but the Denver crowd ended up getting something even more unique, so there’s that.
But Morgan seemed to take out some frustration on said piano during night one in Denver, as videos of him flipping it over went mega viral:
@evalyntt I wish I was the piano #morganwallen #wallen ♬ original sound – Eva Toshkova
He joked about it several times, both on social media and during the concert, and a lot of the reaction definitely got blown out of proportion.
And during an appearance on In The Trenches with Spidey Smith podcast, Morgan’s creative director, Justin Clough, gave more insight into what actually happened. They talked about having an instrument not working in front of 80,000 people is incredibly frustrating, but Justin pointed out that the crowd was actually happy to hear Morgan sing like that:
“He just went a cappella and it was so sick. Everybody knew the piano wasn’t working like halfway through the song. And then he stood up and did cappella and the crowd went nuts. He could do his whole set a cappella. The crowd would lose it.”
But apparently, Morgan wasn’t necessarily trying to knock it all the way over, but the piano had come partially off of the lift and he was trying to move it:
“He piano comes up and down on a lift, and I think it was like he was moving it back onto the lift. I think it had moved off the lift and then he just moved it.”
Luckily, nothing else got damaged in terms of the other very expensive equipment they haul around, but Mogran did give some of their stage crew a real scare…
There were about four guys waiting underneath the short, five-foot stage that help operate the lift and everything while the show is going on, though obviously they can’t actually see much of what’s going on out there.
So when they heard the crashing sound, they thought the stage was falling in:
“I think all the tiles are fine. Those things are pretty durable. They’re rated to be packed into trucks and stuff. If you look at the video, there’s like twelve people that get rushed on to stage and go clean it up.
You don’t even notice it because the lights kind of go up. The funniest thing is, the guys under the stage, there’s like five people under that stage operating that lift. And like once it left the lift, it’s like half-on, half off. The production manager is like, ‘Don’t send the lift down. Don’t do that.’ And the guys that were under there, he was like, ‘Dude, they were freaking out!
He’s like, ‘They thought the stage was collapsing! All they could hear is just s*** crashing down under the stage.’ They’re just sitting under there, it’s a five foot stage. They have no clue what’s going on up there.”
Honestly, terrifying… luckily it was just Morgan knocking over a piano.
Co-host Tanner Gallagher, who is Hardy’s photographer, revealed that Hardy also had to poke some fun at Morgan after it became a viral story, texting him:
“I remember HARDY texted him the next day and he was like, ‘Hey, man. My mom needs a piano moved tomorrow. Just wondering if you could you come help?'”
I mean, fair… and it sounds like Morgan thought it was all pretty funny too, as Justin explained Morgan was “laughing” when he came off stage after happened:
“He wasn’t upset about it. That’s what’s so funny. Or I didn’t get the vibe that he was like upset at all. He came off stage like kind of laughing.”
Of course, because Morgan is at the level he’s at, everything he does is going to get press, no matter how small it is, and of course, this was made out to be a much bigger deal than it was and contrary to many press reports when it happened, Morgan wasn’t upset at all and it’s just part of what happens during a live show. Rock stars have been smashing guitars for decades… it’s part of the show.
He joked about it several times after it happened, and I still can’t believe it became such a big story, but he’s a polarizing figure and that’s just how it goes when you’re as famous as he is, I guess.
The full podcast is available below.
