Gojira's Christian Andreu finishes set despite having his face burned by onstage pyro
Now THAT is metal
Last updated 22nd May 2019
Gojira’s lead guitarist Christian Andreu finished the band’s set at the Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival on Saturday (18th May) despite having his face scorched by the onstage pyrotechnics.
The French metal overlords were performing ‘Stranded’ mid-way through their blistering set at the Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio when Andreu took a blast of flames directly to the face and momentarily exited the stage.
Somewhat heroically, despite having a visibly scorched face and being unable to open his eyes fully, Andreu swiftly came back on stage to tear through Gojira’s remaining songs ‘Flying Whales’, ‘The Cell’ and ‘Vacuity’.
Randy Blythe, who was performing with Lamb of God at the festival, witnessed proceedings and shared close up photos of Andreu on Instagram.
Calling Andreu “the hardest Frenchman alive”, Blythe blamed strong winds in the outdoor stadium for blowing the pyro into his face.
“THANK GOD HE HAD HIS EYES CLOSED at that second!,” Blythe wrote. “I looked at him & he was still playing, mostly with his eyes closed, obviously hurting & looking PISSED OFF.
“In between songs he walked over & asked for water & threw it on his face. Then he finished the set, & medics attended to him. He’s gonna be alright (except for some peeling & missing hair & eyebrows) but that was scary & it could have been really, really bad.
“Christian caught a full-on #DRACARYS to the face & still did his job. That is some HARD S--- right there.”
Gojira play the Scum stage in the Shangri-La area at Glastonbury Festival next month as part of their European tour.
Drummer Mario Duplantier recently confirmed that work is underway on their seventh studio album – the follow-up to 2016’s ‘Magma’.