Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler, known for dancing with microphone stands adorned with scarves, was airlifted to a hospital early Thursday after falling from the stage during a concert at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Tyler, 61, fell while entertaining the crowd by dancing around after the sound system failed during the song "Love in an Elevator," said Mike Sanborn, spokesman for the Buffalo Chip Campground, which hosted the outdoor concert.
Ed Aurand, a security supervisor at the campground who saw the fall, said Tyler stepped backward off the stage's catwalk.
"He does a lot of dancing on the stage and he does a lot of stuff with his mike stand. He put his stand down and twirled around and stepped backwards off the stage," Sanborn said.
Halfway through the performance, Tyler fell onto a couple of fans in the middle of what was a record crowd, Sanborn said. Security rushed to help him and the crowd cheered when Tyler got back up.
"He was good natured about it," Sanborn said. "He was in good spirits when he got in the helicopter. He was talking and joking with the physician."
"It was an unfortunate end to an extraordinary evening," he said.
Tyler suffered minor head and neck injuries and a shoulder injury, but it wasn't immediately clear how serious that was, Sanborn said.
After he fell, which was halfway through the performance, Tyler was eventually taken backstage, Sanborn said. Around 12:15 a.m., Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry came out to tell the audience Tyler was being taken to the hospital and that the show would not go on.
A physician at the concert venue attended to Tyler and the frontman was flown to Rapid City Regional Hospital, the only major hospital in the region, Sanborn said.
Jennifer Horton, the hospital's vice president of public relations and marketing, said early Thursday that Tyler wasn't in the hospital directory. Under the privacy laws, that means the person is either not there or chose not to be included in the directory, according to the hospital's Web site.
Tyler attended Sturgis last year to promote his Dirico Motorcycles line and was back this year to do that again and play at the Buffalo Chip.
Fans were disappointed the concert was cut short but hoped Tyler wasn't seriously hurt.
Lance Yellow Robe, who said he was 8 eight feet from the stage when Tyler fell off, told the Rapid City Journal "you could kind of see it coming because he was dancing all over the stage.
"I hope he's OK," Yellow Robe said. "I could care less about the concert being canceled." (Quelle:Sleazeroxx.com)
Auch wenns unpassend ist...es sieht einfach komisch aus wie er da so wegdriftet
[Heute 14:12] Wizz21 : Aus meinem Mund wird über den Hopp nie wieder etwas schlechtes kommen
[Heute 00:05] Wizz21: np: Joey's Freiheit - Ohne dich (geh kackn!) <- k
Die Tour scheint unter keinen besonders guten Stern zu stehen:
Zitat:Perry said the band had to cancel only a couple of concerts during its first 25 years but has had a run of bad luck the last three years.
On June 28, Tyler hurt his leg at a concert in Uncasville, Conn., and the band had to postpone seven shows in July. Tyler also battled pneumonia before the tour began in June, while Perry fought a knee infection.
[Heute 14:12] Wizz21 : Aus meinem Mund wird über den Hopp nie wieder etwas schlechtes kommen
[Heute 00:05] Wizz21: np: Joey's Freiheit - Ohne dich (geh kackn!) <- k
Zitat:Laut Gitarrist Joe Perry ist es derzeit unklar, ob die AEROSMITH-Tour wie geplant stattfindet. Es könne ein bis zwei Monate dauern, bis sich Steven Tyler von seinem Bühnensturz erholt hat. Tyler stürtze letzen Mittwoch in Sturgis, South Dakota von der Bühne und zog sich dabei Verletzungen am Kopf und Schulter zu.
Zitat:As Aerosmith determines what Steven Tyler's injuries mean for future tour dates, guitarist Joe Perry says the lurching pace of the group's summer excursion has been frustrating.
"It hasn't really felt like a tour," Perry tells Billboard.com. "It's been such a stop-and-go thing. In some ways the band has played the best it ever has, and with ZZ Top on the bill and everything and Billy (Gibbons) coming up (on stage)...it was building up to be the best show and best tour we've done in a long time. In another couple weeks it was going to be a really unique kind of tour for us. Right now I don't know what's going to happen."
Tyler was injured when he fell from a catwalk during a performance Aug. 5 in Sturgis, S.D. He was taken to a local hospital and then returned to Boston, where he was being evaluated on Monday. Meanwhile, Ticketmaster announced the postponement of the group's five-city western Canada swing. An announcement about the fate of the rest of the tour, which is currently booked into September, is expected soon.
Perry, meanwhile, says he's hopeful Tyler's injuries are not so serious they'll force the tour to be canceled entirely.
"Stuff happens," the guitarist notes. "It's just the odds. We had such a good run the last 25 years; I think we canceled two shows until, like, the last four years, and then it all started rolling in at once, what can you do?"
This tour has seemed particularly star-crossed for Aerosmith. Guitarist Brad Whitford had to sit out the first part of the trek with a head injury. Then seven shows were postponed when Tyler suffered a torn muscle in his thigh, and most recently Tom Hamilton had to come off the tour for unspecified medical reasons.
But Perry, who was playing his first tour after undergoing knee replacement surgery, deflects concerns that health issues are doing Aerosmith in.
"I think the band has to look at what it takes to do this gracefully," he explains, "but there's no reason why we can't keep playing until we can't walk. You have to know that you can't do certain things anymore. You can do somersaults on stage or...swing from ropes. But there are other things you can do that are just as entertaining -- like sing, play and put on a good show."
While the tour is in limbo, Perry has stayed busy taking his tour bus to various cities -- including Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland -- to talk about his upcoming solo album, "Have Guitar, Will Travel," which will be released this fall on Jimmy Buffett's Mailboat Records label. Perry has been playing the first single, "We Got a Long Way to Go," and other tracks for radio and press, and while in Chicago he jammed with Jimmy Buffett and with Jane's Addiction during their Lollapalooza-closing set.
