Adele told the crowd at a Las Vegas show to “stop throwing” things at artists on stage following a spate of recent incidents.
Several artists have had things thrown at them while they have been performing in recent weeks, including Bebe Rexha, who was hit in the head by a fan’s phone and required stitches. Meanwhile, Pink was left stunned by a fan throwing their mother’s ashes on stage at BST Hyde Park, and Lil Nas X had to pause a show at the weekend when a fan threw a sex toy on stage.
Elsewhere, US country-pop artist Kelsea Ballerini was struck in the face by an item thrown at her from the crowd (via Variety). Back in late 2022 Harry Styles was hit in the eye by a sweet while he was performing in LA. He was also struck by a flying object during a gig in Chicago.
Adele addressed these incidents during one of her residency shows at Caesar’s Palace, shortly before a segment where she fires t-shirts at fans out of a t-shirt gun. “Have you noticed how people are, like, forgetting fucking show etiquette at the moment, throwing shit onstage? Have you seen that?” she asked, according to footage posted on TikTok.
“I’ll fucking dare you to throw something at me and I’ll fucking kill you,” she warned. “Stop throwing things at the artist!”
Adele talks about concertgoers throwing things at artists:
“I fucking dare you. Dare you to throw something at me and I’ll fucking kill you.” pic.twitter.com/vy680y8ekm
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 4, 2023
Last week saw Zane Lowe speak out against the issue of items being thrown at artists by concertgoers. He told his listeners on his Apple Music radio show that it “takes courage” and “real vulnerability” for performers to play in front of thousands of people.
“There’s no good intention with doing that. There is none,” Lowe added of the reasoning behind throwing objects at gigs. “You cannot justify it.”
Sharing the clip on TikTok, he wrote: “It’s simple, the ticket does not afford you ‘object throwing’ privileges.
“If we want to continue to enjoy our favourite artists performing live in a face to face environment, we have to stop making our need for contact their problem. Don’t throw shit.”
Elsewhere, Adele asked the audience at another ‘Weekends With Adele’ show last week whether they’d ever visit the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean if given the opportunity.
The singer also said that the deadly implosion of OceanGate’s Titan vessel was “so sad and so tragic.”