This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of the "Waltz King"
Katy Perry is one of the few female performers on this list, and for good reason! Many artists have given up the practice because they get groped when they throw themselves at the mercy of a raging crowd. Perry, however, has bravely persevered despite multiple mishaps! A video of her crowd surfing in 2008 at the Warped Tour festival resurfaced years later, showing the singer being thrown around like a rag doll and getting stuck in all sorts of awkward positions as she bounced around.
Some say that punk icon Iggy Pop invented stage diving. This probably isn't true, but he certainly did become a champion diver! Nobody's perfect, though...
In an interview, Styles shared that he expected it to feel like flying, but instead it was more like "a float, and then a sinkhole." The crowd only supported him for a brief moment before letting him fall to the floor, from which point he picked himself back up and awkwardly returned to the stage. One fan claimed to have been kicked in the head by one of his Gucci shoes!
Iggy Pop performed at a charity benefit at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in 2010. He was pulling his usual moves on stage, but it all went wrong when he decided to try crowd surfing. This didn't go down particularly well with a seated audience–no one tried to catch him, and he went straight to the floor.
Post Malone attempted an unsuccessful stage dive at a 2017 concert. Unfortunately, no one caught him! He posted about the incident on Twitter later that evening: "Felt like Jack Black in School of Rock tonight when I staged dived and nobody caught my fat a**."
Vedder's most famous and daring jump was at a 1992 music festival in Amsterdam. He climbed onto a camera operator's crane so he could dive into the crowd from a height. Years later he discovered that the crane wasn't fixed to the ground, so if crew members hadn't held it down, his extra weight could have sent both him and the cameraman into the crowd along with the crane!
British Olympic swimmer Tom Daley is loved by all. Perhaps a little bit too much by some! Daley was at a party during a ski holiday in France when he decided to go crowd surfing in nothing but his underwear. Unfortunately, he didn't make it back to the ground with his underwear still in place...
R&B singer Miguel flew too close to the sun during his performance at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards. His botched effort has gone down in history as one of the most embarrassing and highly publicized stage dives of all time.
Miguel tried to jump over the crowd from one section of the runway-style stage to another, but he didn't quite make it. He landed on a woman in the audience, crushing her against the stage. She later brought a lawsuit against the singer for her injuries.
Labrinth made headlines shortly after Miguel for a similar gaffe. He dived into a crowded pit but instead of resurfacing on a sea of adoring fans, he went down hard and took around 50 people with him.
Method Man from the Wu-Tang Clan is partial to a crowd-surfing adventure. At a London show in 2008, he climbed onto the speakers at the side of the stage and built the crowd up into a frenzy in preparation for his jump.
Famous DJ Skrillex goes wild at his live sets. His unique hair is always drenched in sweat by the end! He's an avid crowd surfer and is usually enthusiastically received by his fans.
He then proceeded to climb to the top of the scaffolding surrounding the stage and tried to jump into the boat. He hit a female fan in the head on his way down. She was knocked unconscious and had to be taken to the hospital, where it was discovered that she had a broken neck. She later sued Aoki for more than US$10 million–he settled out of court. He was back stage diving into blow-up boats not long after.
James Blunt has always had a great sense of humor about himself and isn't afraid to acknowledge his failures. In a TV interview, he opened up about multiple stage dives that went wrong. "I have learned that you have to warn people you are going to do a stage dive. I once didn't give that warning and ran in, the crowd parted and I just smacked the ground in front of my friends."
Jared Leto is best known today as an award-winning actor, but he's also the lead singer of the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars. He broke his nose at a concert in 2008, although accounts of the incident differ. A concert-goer reported that he "flung himself directly off the stage into the crowd and nobody in the crowd caught him." They said that they were given no warning and that he was accidentally stepped on by the crowd after hitting the ground.
Representatives for Leto offered a less embarrassing version of the story, claiming that Leto had walked into the crowd while singing and "his injuries were a result of the crowd rushing towards him in their excitement to be close to him."
Pink is famous for performing incredible aerial stunts at her concerts, but unfortunately one of these stunts turned into an accidental stage dive. At a 2010 concert in Germany, the singer was strapped into a harness that should seemingly have sent her flying into the air above the crowd, but instead sent her crashing into the front row. She had to end the show early and go to the hospital.
Harry Styles is an energetic showman when it comes to his live performances, particularly since he went solo. He attempted his first-ever stage dive at an intimate concert in New York in 2017.
Steve Aoki is another DJ who loves to crowd surf at all of his shows, but his thrill-seeking behavior left a fan with serious injuries in 2012. The incident occurred at an outdoor performance in San Diego. Aoki had thrown a blowup boat into the crowd, as he often does at live shows.
On another occasion, the 'You're Beautiful' singer started running to attempt a stage dive but was tackled to the ground by a security guard who didn't recognize him. In yet another embarrassing incident, Blunt crowd surfed at Glastonbury but then couldn't climb back onto the stage because it was too tall for him.
Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl has performed many a successful stage dive in his career, but no one nails it every time. At a 2015 concert in Sweden, he attempted a stage dive after the second song, but ended up breaking his leg. He informed fans that he needed to go to the hospital but promised he'd return to finish the show!
Grohl kept his promise, and he did it in style! He returned with his leg in a cast to finish the show from a rock n' roll chair.
South-African rapper AKA tried crowd surfing at a gig in Malawi, but the crowd wasn't as friendly as he expected. He appeared to be struggling as he was roughly pushed around by the audience. A fan even stole one of his shoes! When security pulled him out and he finally made it back to the stage, he threw his remaining shoe into the audience.
Sources: (The Week) (Complex) (NME) (Marie Claire)
See also: Embarrassing celebrity wardrobe mishaps
However, when he turned and fell backward into the crowd, he went all the way to the floor. Despite the embarrassing fail, his fans quickly picked him back up and helped him surf his way back to the stage!
The EDM star jumped into the crowd at a 2012 concert and bumped into a young woman. She recovered from her injuries, but later suffered a stroke and took Skrillex to court for liability. The judge ruled that he was partially responsible for her health complications, and he was ordered to pay US$3.4 million.
Scott has received criminal charges for encouraging dangerous antics at his concerts more than once. In 2015, he was charged with disorderly conduct after encouraging fans to ignore security and rush the stage so they could join him and stage dive at Lollapalooza. The ensuing chaos resulted in several security staff, police officers, and fans getting injured.
When the main character achieves something huge in a movie, they're often celebrated by being lifted up on the shoulders of their peers. This image is the epitome of glory–the victor raised up above all others, triumphantly soaring through the air! Unfortunately, it isn't always so glorious in real life.
Hyped musicians, emboldened by the energy of an adoring crowd, often throw themselves onto their fans, expecting to surf effortlessly over their heads. Sometimes, however, they misjudge the reliability of their audience, and are quickly brought back down to earth with a bump!
Click through the following gallery to see which artists hit the ground after diving into unfriendly waters.
Stage dives that didn't go as planned
Crowd surfing is a sport best left to the professionals
MUSIC Musicians
When the main character achieves something huge in a movie, they're often celebrated by being lifted up on the shoulders of their peers. This image is the epitome of glory–the victor raised up above all others, triumphantly soaring through the air! Unfortunately, it isn't always so glorious in real life.
Hyped musicians, emboldened by the energy of an adoring crowd, often throw themselves onto their fans, expecting to surf effortlessly over their heads. Sometimes, however, they misjudge the reliability of their audience, and are quickly brought back down to earth with a bump!
Click through the following gallery to see which artists hit the ground after diving into unfriendly waters.