Better tell Dave Grohl that “break a leg” shouldn’t be taken literally. Days after the Foo Fighters frontman suffered a fall offstage during a show in Sweden, he announced that the injury has forced him to cancel at least five European shows. But the fall wasn’t enough for him to stop the show short.
In an open letter he retold the story to his fans of the aftermath from his ‘mad dash’ stage right for a solo. “[ I ] wound up feet first over the Edge (pun intended), dropping about 12 feet, dislocating my ankle and snapping my fibula like an old pair of take out chopsticks. Without realizing the extent of my injuries, I stood up to get back onstage and crumbled like a sack of Joe Theismanns. That shit was B-R-O-K-E.”
But even though medics on the scene told him he needed a cast, Grohl decided to go back onstage — with an EMT at his side. “They said I needed a cast (which was 20 minutes away at the hospital) to hold my ankle in place,” he wrote. “So I looked my EMT, Johan, in the eyes and said, ‘Well, then you’re coming up there with me right now and holding it in place until they can bring the cast here. Ready?’ He stared at me wide-eyed for a second and said, “OK, let’s go…”
While the show was able to go on that day, the band has canceled five upcoming European shows. The shows in question include two nights in London (June 19 and 20) as well as a festival headlining gig at Glastonbury. “I’m really so sorry, guys. You know I hate to do it, but I’m afraid it’s just not physically possible for me at the moment. We’re doing our best to work out a plan, so bear with us… But for now, I need to make sure we have YEARS of gigs ahead of us.”
