The Chainsmokers' Spell Check Fail
The Chainsmokers have become one of pop music’s biggest acts thanks to their hits “Closer,” “Don’t Let Me Down” and “Something Just Like This.” In support of their chart-topping debut LP, “Memories… Do Not Open,” the pop EDM duo kicked off a world tour in April 2017. During their Pittsburgh stop, The Chainsmokers closed their set with a massive sign in lights thanking their fans for coming out.
The problem was that it read: “THANK YOU PITTSBURG,” misspelling the city’s name. After many Twitter users poked fun at the group for the typo, The Chainsmokers made light of the error and tweeted: “Well at least we got another chance this week in Clevlande.”
After a quiet 2016, Chief Keef kicked off 2017 with a new mixtape and a string of tour dates. During a show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Chicago rapper performed “Reefah” off of his latest tape, “Two Zero One Seven,” and fell off the stage. A pair of security guards caught him and saved him from serious injury.
Days later, he told TMZ he fell because the opening act got the stage wet before he went on.
Guns N’ Roses reunited Axl Rose, Duff McKagan and Slash for the extensive “Not in This Lifetime” tour. In 2016 alone, the tour netted the band $192 million and brought out 1.8 million fans. During the Melbourne, Australia stop in February 2017, the band had what they later referred to as a Spinal Tap moment when their announcer/instrument technician, McBob, shouted out the city of Sydney instead of Melbourne. A roar of boos came from the crowd of 70,000, but according to the Herald Sun, Guns N’ Roses quickly recovered by playing hits “It’s So Easy” and “Mr.
Brownstone” to open the show. Rose, McKagan and Slash all issued apologies on Twitter following the show. “Apologies for the Spinal Tap intro!” Slash tweeted in part.
At the 2016 Grammy Awards, Adele’s performance had a hiccup after microphones fell onto the the piano strings. A year later, the British vocalist’s performance on music’s biggest night once again didn’t go as planned. She stumbled during a tribute to deceased music star George Michael.
Adele started singing “Fastlove” in the wrong key but cut the orchestra off after about 30 seconds. She swore and requested to start over, saying “I can’t mess this up for him.” While accepting the award for Best Song for “Hello,” she apologized for swearing during her performance.
The Moment: Leakage
Christina Aguilera was given the distinct honor of singing an Etta James song at her funeral. While she wowed the crowd with her vocal ability it was her Aunt Flo that stole the show. Midway through James’ classic “At Last” Aguilera suffered from what can only be described as leakage. It is difficult to view in the video but photos from the funeral show it all in disgusting detail.
She tried to brush it off with her other leg to no avail (3:50 minute mark). Though Aguilera’s camp later came out with a statement saying it was accumulated spray tan fluid the red streaks still tarnished Xtina’s moment.
Kings of Leon
The Moment: Bird shit in the eye
Apparently pigeons are not fans of Kings of Leon, they decided to bomb the stage repeatedly during a concert in St. Louis. The guys were forced to end their set early after playing just three songs after a pigeon pooped into bassist Jared Followill’s mouth.
They tried to stick it out but not only was the situation disgusting it was a toxic health hazard, luckily fans were issued a full refund.
Houston rapper and producer Travis Scott joined Drake on the London stop of his Boy Meets World Tour. Scott, known for his energy, hopped on stage to perform his single “Goosebumps,” but ended up falling through a hole in the stage floor. Drake responded by exclaiming “That’s turnt!” and helping the 24-year-old rapper out of the hole, as they continued performing the song.
The large hole in the stage was for an inflatable globe prop, but Scott’s fall damaged it. Drake later told the London crowd he would be paying for their tickets and said, “Hope you enjoyed your free show.” After the show, Scott wrote on Twitter, saying the show was “turnt and epic.”
The Moment: The Stage Dive Fail
While performing in London with Wu-Tang Clan Method Man decided to take a page out of the rock handbook and try a stage dive. He climbed onto a speaker, took a breath then launched himself into the crowd just as the sea parted and and he landed with an embarrassing thud on the ground.
During the final moments of 2016, Mariah Carey performed on ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” in Times Square. During the performance of her 1991 hit “Emotions,” she complained that she was unable to hear the music. Instead of singing and dancing, she awkwardly walked around the stage and talked to the crowd.
Carey’s awkward moment quickly made headlines and trended on social media, and the singer responded by tweeting: “S--- happens Have a happy and healthy new year everybody! Here's to making more headlines in 2017.”
The Moment: The fall
Beyoncé took a huge tumble down a large set of stairs at a concert in Orlando, FL back in 2007. While whipping her long mane and attempting to run down the staircase her quick feet slipped out from under her causing Sasha Fierce to land flat on her face. Like the professional that she is Beyoncé hopped straight up and finished the song.
Hopefully she can stick her landings when she performs at the Superbowl next year.
But really it was just... awkward...
Britney Spears had a rough couple of years in the mid-2000s. During the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Spears sang “Gimme More,” the lead single from her first album in four years.
Critics panned what was supposed to be her comeback performance saying her dancing was clunky, her outfit was tacky and her lip-synching was unconvincing. The New York Times wrote: “She didn’t disappoint; she was awful. Visibly nervous, she tottered around the stage, dancing tentatively and doing nothing that sounded or looked like real live singing.”
The Moment: Gravity
While performing the tween favorite “Burnin’ Up” the Jo Bros got a little carried away. After doing a quick front flip the youngest Jonas tried to hop back up but the forces of gravity were against him and he kept slipping.
However, the most embarrassing part of this video has to be their rap sidekick, Big Rob, coming on stage in a sombrero to spit his verse.
It took Jay Z 13 years to earn his first No. 1 single, but he finally topped the charts in 2009 with “Empire State of Mind,” his collaboration with Alicia Keys. The two performed their ode to New York City during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
The performance went as planned, but as Keys and Jay Z posed at the end of the song, rapper Lil Mama crashed the stage. “I did not mean any disrespect towards Jay-Z or Alicia Keys,” Lil Mama said after the incident. “I admire them and look up to them as role models.”
The Moment: Knee problems
Drake was performing with Lil Wayne in Camden, NJ when he fell on stage due to his already torn ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament). Prior to leaving for the America’s Most Wanted Tour his doctor advised him against jumping around on stage and told him to stay off his weak knee altogether.
After the fall Drake was carried off stage by four men leaving Lil Wayne hanging high and dry.
In 1992, Nirvana was among the most popular bands in the world. The Seattle grunge band had one of their most memorable television moments during the ‘92 VMAs. Toward the end of the performance, bass player Krist Novoselic threw his bass guitar into the air but wasn’t able to catch it before it landed on his face, causing him to wipe out. He quickly walked off stage to get medical help in the dressing room.
"Paramedics came in and put a little bandage on, then handed me a long medical release form to sign," Novoselic wrote in a piece published in Seattle Weekly in 2008. "Standing behind them was Brian May, the guitarist of Queen, with a glass of chilled champagne. I signed the release just to get the medics away from me so I could take a sip of Mr. May's wonderful medicine."
The Moment: Standard Procedure For Pete
Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga are not the only ones who have thrown up on stage! In 2005 the Babyshambles front man graced fans with a special version of their live set that included an up close view his regurgitated pre-show meal. This was a special follow up to the beginning of the show where he flung a microphone stand at the photographers pit.
Is anyone really surprised?
Busta Rhymes is known for being one of hip-hop’s most energetic performers. However, he was a little too rowdy during a 2014 New York show. During a performance of O.T. Genasis’ hit single “Coco,” Busta Rhymes joined his protege onstage but was too enthusiastic and fell off the stage, hitting his head. Photos of the incident showed that Busta cut his head, but he quickly assured his fans that he was okay.
“I SALUTE ALL CALLS FRM FAMILY AND FRIENDS MAKIN’ SURE I’M GOOD,” he tweeted. “JUST 4 THE RECORD I’M SUPER GOOD!! WHEN U LOVE WHAT U DO AND UR PASSIONATE ABOUT WINNING U GO HARD!!! WE DONE FELL OFF STAGES AND BROKE LIMBS WHILE PERFORMING AND KEPT GONG !!!”
The Moment: Melting Records & A Heated Rapper
Back in the summer of ’95 DJ Big Kap made his way to San Francisco with Biggie to perform at the annual KMEL Summer Jam. However, what should have been an easy routine for Biggie and Kap was made much more difficult by the extreme heat. DJ Big Kap told The Fader “I’m throwing the records and it’s like, alright, cool we’re going through it. But it’s so hot the heat is actually warping the records.
The records is melting!” Eventually Biggie was so fed up with what he thought was DJ Kap’s incompetence that he threw a water bottle at him and stormed off stage. Even rappers have temper tantrums.
After “singing” her hit song “Pieces of Me” on "Saturday Night Live" in 2004, Ashlee Simpson was supposed to perform “Autobiography,” but the vocals for “Pieces of Me” started playing again. Her response to the awkward display was to do a weird dance.
She later blamed the need to lip sync on a bout of acid reflux, and Lorne Michaels slammed her after the fact, saying he didn’t approve the move and doesn’t allow lip syncing on the show.
The Moment: One of Courtney’s Many
Madonna was innocently being interviewed at the VMAs in 1995 when Courtney Love decided to crash the party. First we see an unidentified flying object nearly miss Madge’s bouffant hairstyle and then the camera quickly pans to Ms. Love. Madonna is obviously not impressed when the interviewer invites Courtney on stage saying “Should we let her up?
… Courtney Love is in dire need of attention right now.” Courtney then proceeds to the platform where she begins to rant and roll around on the ground. As bad as this sounds it is only one of many embarrassing moments for Kurt Cobain’s former flame.
Or should we say... wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl...
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake had a super eventful halftime show at the 2004 Super Bowl. During the performance, Timberlake ripped off a part of Jackson’s shirt thus exposing her breast on live television in front of millions of viewers.
The incident helped coin the phrase “wardrobe malfunction,” and while it stands to reason this would be embarrassing to a performer, many still question whether it was an accident or a publicity stunt.
The Moment: Biebervom
Justin’s fans got a little more than they bargained for at the Glendale, AZ stop of his “Believe” tour; the teen pop star got sick not once, but twice while on stage. The first time was during his song “Out of Town Girl,” Bieber turned his back to the audience and let it fly. He was better prepared the second time and ran off stage before showing everyone his dessert.
The Biebs soldiered on, finished the show and even treated the audience to an encore.
Obviously not everyone is a huge fan of Wheatus’ 2000 hit “Teenage Dirtbag,” specifically Louis Tomlinson of One Direction fame. Tomlinson botched the words to the one-hit wonder in 2013. It was during his solo, when he was charged with wrapping up the tune in front of thousands of fans.
He apologized to the audience, saying "I just forgot the lyrics. I'm not even going to pretend that I know them.”
Just because her pants were expensive does not meet they were going to hold up well under pressure. Lady Gaga split her latex Versace pants onstage in 2013, revealing her fishnet stockings underneath.
It happened during a performance at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, while she was singing a rendition of “Heavy Metal Lover.”
The Moment: A meme in the making
It would be impossible to make a list like this and not mention Kanye at least once. Though Mr. West has had many head shaking moments his rant on the NBC benefit following hurricane Katrina definitely takes the cake.
Appearing alongside Mike Myers Kanye decided to go completely off book and derail the script by angrily declaring “George Bush doesn’t care about black people!” before the telethon producer quickly cut him off sending viewers to Chris Tucker. It is hard to believe that this is not an SNL skit but amazingly it really happened.
Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly is known for his highly energetic performances. During a May 2016 performance in Las Vegas, the “Wild Boy” rapper got a little too wild for his own good and broke one of his fingers.
Being the trooper that he is, MGK completed the performance without even dropping the mic.
Ahead of the release of her sophomore LP, “Thank You,” Meghan Trainor performed on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” During the performance of her popular single “No,” she took a hard fall at the beginning of the song. "I’m feeling it today,” she said the day after the fall. “I’m feeling little bruises everywhere.
It was great. I actually got up and was like, 'Let me do it again,' but I looked at it and that was the better performance, so I was like, ‘Ah, just keep it!'”
Madonna’s Brit Awards fail wasn’t the only awkward onstage moment she had in 2015. During Drake’s Coachella headlining set, he brought out the pop star during the performance of his song “Madonna,” at the end of which she planted a juicy, unexpected kiss.
The Toronto rapper gave a less than flattering reaction, which led many to believe he was grossed out by the kiss. When asked by a fan during a video chat if Drake was a good kisser, she responded: “Don’t kiss Drake, no matter how many times he begs you to.”
Madonna returned to the Brit Awards for the first time in 20 years in 2015. She performed her new single, “Living for Love,” but in the middle of her elaborate choreography, her cape got caught on one of her backup dancers, which dragged her off of a platform.
Not only did she have a hard fall, but the pop icon also dropped her microphone and failed to recover after her spill.
The show absolutely went on after Mother Monster tossed her cookies at a concert in Spain in 2012. She even tweeted out a video of the incident and offered it up as a “good laugh” for her followers.
In the early years of Destiny’s Child, members were dropping like flies. During a 2004 performance of “Soldier” on BET’s “106 & Park,” Michelle Williams took a literal drop. As Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle began their performance, Michelle took a spill, while the other two members continued the performance.
After she got up, she continued to botch the choreography, making it even more awkward.
