Even though streaming music services have made it easier than ever to marathon our favorite artists’ albums and B-sides, still nothing can quite compare to watching the songs performed live. Thousands of Harry Styles fans can no doubt attest to that notion as of late, specifically those attending his European shows that are serving as the closeout dates for his COVID-delayed Love On Tour that began back in 2021. But as it’s happened at an increasing number of recent live performances for artists such as Bebe Rexha and Pink, the good times were marred by someone throwing an object onto the stage and connecting with Styles’ face.
The latest example of this ignorant and needs-to-stop-immediately trend of hurling objects at musicians happened on the night of Saturday, July 8, as Harry Styles was in the middle of performing for an audience in Vienna, Austria. (It’s not the first time the former One Direction member has been hit with stuff on stage, as discussed lower.) As he was crossing the stage and waving to screaming fans, an as-yet-unidentified object hit him directly in the face, as seen in this Instagram video.
It very clearly caused him a bit of sudden pain, as it hit him in the cheek and possibly in the eye. If it was something relatively light, like a packet of tissues, that’s one thing, but anything zinged hard enough to pop him in the face was likely a bit heavier and more potentially harmful. As seen when Bebe Rexha was hit with a cell phone during a show in June, she suffered a gnarly eye injury, and the story-changing assailant who threw the phone will go to court for harassment and assault.
While the impact was enough to stop Styles in his tracks, wincing and bending over while making sure he wasn’t more seriously injured, he was thankfully fine enough to continue the rest of the show. It’s unclear if he addressed the issue at all on- or off-stage, but he probably didn’t, because he’s that kind of a nice guy. But that doesn’t mean such generosity should be taken advantage of by using his face and body as target practice.
Already on this tour, Harry Styles has had chicken nuggets thrown at him, which he amusingly dodged and commented on, and was also hit in the eye with Skittles, which he did address after the fact by asking fans not to throw them. While it’s true that Styles’ fans have long thrown things onto the stage during his concerts, from Pride flags to hats to feather boas, there’s a difference when things are being lobbed directly at his person.
Beyond Styles and Bebe Rexha, other artists that have struggled with fans throwing things at them on stage include rappers Drake and Kid Cudi, and singer-songwriters Ava Max, Steve Lacy, and Kelsea Ballerini. And Pink dealt with some interesting, if less directly injurious, situations when one fan threw their mother’s cremated ashes onto the stage, while another fan handed her a big cheese wheel. (That cheese would knock somebody silly if they took that to the face.) But let’s not let a few less dangerous moments make it seem fine to continue throwing unwarranted objects at musicians, whether they’re performing on stage or not.
All that said, how much are we thinking that Taylor Swift will find a way to set up a fake “fan throwing something on stage” incident during the ongoing Eras Tour that will actually be a huge speculation-sparking reference to something from the upcoming release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version)?
