Axl Rose Responds to Fan’s Microphone Injury Claim
Axl Rose has responded after a fan claimed she was injured by his microphone during a recent Guns N’ Roses concert.
A woman named Rebecca Howe was in attendance for GNR’s show in Adelaide, Australia on Nov.29. At the conclusion of the performance, Rose threw his microphone into the crowd. Howe claims it struck her in the face and caused serious damage.
“He took a bow and then he launched the microphone out to the crowd … and then bang, right on the bridge of my nose,” Howe recalled to the Adelaide Advertiser. “My mind went, 'Oh my God, my face is caved in'.”
Howe, who was reportedly in shock and hyperventilating, was helped by an off-duty police officer. In images posted to social media (see below), she appears to have damage to her nose and two noticeably black eyes.
“What if it was a couple of inches to the right or left?” Howe pondered. “I could have lost an eye … What if it hit me in the mouth and I broke my teeth? … If my head was turned and it hit me in the temple, it could have killed me.”
In a response to Howe’s claim, Rose posted a lengthy message to social media.
“It’s come to my attention that a fan may have been hurt at our show in Adelaide, Australia, possibly being hit by the microphone at the end of the show when I traditionally toss the mic to the fans,” the GNR frontman wrote. “If true, obviously we don’t want anyone getting hurt or to somehow in any way hurt anyone at our shows anywhere.”
The rocker further noted that “for over 30 years” the mic toss has been “a known part of the very end of our performance.”
“Regardless,” Rose continued, “in the interest of public safety from now on we’ll refrain from tossing the mic or anything to our fans during or at our performances.”
This is not the first time a fan Down Under has claimed to have been injured by one of Rose’s flying microphones. In 2013, a man was struck in the mouth by a mic during Guns N’ Roses’ performance in Perth, resulting in $5,000 in dental fees.
Guns N’ Roses’ current trek to the Southern Hemisphere concludes Dec. 10 in New Zealand.